Saturday, April 26, 2008

Camera Critters 3

Check in here for Camera Critters.

Since I don't want you guys to come to the conclusion that I am a real squirrelly sort, as I said in a comment somewhere I do have something bigger. And here it is.

Huh? You are asking. She's not squirrelly! She's totally nuts!
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No.
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Look very very carefully.
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These pictures were taken in 2000 and I wish they were better resolution so they could be blown up so you could see better and believe me. I was taking a lot of video, and my still pictures were a bit of a sideline.
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I was in India for a month on an immersion experience. We worked at an orphanage through the week and weekends we were taken on excursions. This particular weekend we went to the Periyar National Park, high in the mountains between the states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
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We were cruising on Lake Periyar, and saw a lot of cormorants and some wild boar. No tigers--they don't hang out in this part of the park. Oh, did I not mention that the other name of the park is the Periyar Tiger Preserve? So what, you may ask, are those people all looking at? Why, the elephants on the ridge of the hill, of course.
This version will help you to find them.

Before I tell you my other elephant experience from this trip, which I may someday figure out how to transfer from my videotapes to something I can share on the computer, let me tell you about the funny and unique signs in our hotel rooms at the Periyar National Park. (PhotoHunt this week is funny and unique signs and believe me, I would have used this one if I had a still of it.) The signs said, "Do not leave windows open when you are out or you will have visitors." The visitors would be monkeys--curious little buggers they are!
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Now, for my up close and personal elephant experience: I was "blessed" by a temple elephant. Really!
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We were visiting a temple during our sightseeing at the end of our time in India and someone persuaded the attendants to bring the elephant out into the courtyard for us. This elephant was adorned with a headdress and well decorated because it was a temple elephant. We were supposed to each have our turn, and I was first. They brought the elephant over to me and it touched my head with its trunk. I have video--of the elephant coming and its runny nose hovering above me. I have always wanted to transfer that frame to a still shot.
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Apparently we had not made a large enough offering, because after the elephant blessed me, the grumbling keepers took it back inside the temple. The others in the group had to settle for watching.
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Now, so that you can actually see an elephant in this post, here is another elephant which we saw in a park at Kodiacanal, a resort area in the hills of Tamil Nadu.

31 comments:

Carole said...

And I was looking for real elephants!

Katney said...

The first ones ARE real elephants. They are just way up on the ridge.

Teena in Toronto said...

Very cool! The fakes ones are so creative!

Mine's up too :)

imac said...

Well done Katney - you had me fooled haha. great post.

come and see mine.

Anna said...

Oh my this is beautiful...Great choice for this week.. Thanks for sharing.
Mine is up:
My Digital Snapshot

Anonymous said...

at first I didn't know where in the shots the elephants were, until you pointed them out. :)
what a great experience you must have had in India!

Indrani said...

Loved reading the experience of signs warning of monkeys. So that is how you could relate to the alphabets in one of my photo hunt themes.

Great shots for camera critter's theme.

Carletta said...

I was looking closely at your first photo at the trees on top!
Nice post - loved hearing about your trip.

bcmomtoo said...

I thoroughly enjoyed this post! It sounds like you had a wonderful experience.

Anonymous said...

nice capture

Will you visit mine Thanks

Juliana said...

cool....elephant :D

Please check out mine Thanks

Lilli & Nevada said...

Well i looked with all my might but didn't see them but sure do like the last ones LOL

Jane Hards Photography said...

A fun post, had been going right to the last pic. Great

lv2scpbk said...

I wasn't seeing a thing until you pointed it out at the end.

i beati said...

haha interesting

Anonymous said...

You want a still shot of something you have on video... assuming you can play it on your pc: Pause the video where you want the still. Hit Prnt Scrn (top right hand side) on your keyboard. Open your graphic editing program, even MS Paint will work. File, New, Paste... do your cropping and whatever, Save As (.jpg), name it. Of course, pay attention to where it is saved to.

Love that last shot!

Daryl said...

Oh . . . clever .. topiaries .. there was a dinosauer and a dog topiary on the Broadway Mall here on the Upper Westside of Manhattan for a few years .. sadly the dino disintegrated .. no more dino .. but the dog is still there .. Daryl

Katney said...

JC, If I could play it on my PC that would work. I don't think I can, but I will check into it as I have never tried.

DeeMom said...

Wonderful Post...
Clever post

Sharon said...

I couldn't see the elephants but I loved the stories! It must have been a great trip!

This Is My Blog - fishing guy said...

Katney: Those are hard to see but the last picture, I could see that ones.

Misty DawnS said...

Hehehe - what a great post. You truly had a unique experience! I bet you have tons of stories.

Anonymous said...

What a great post! I had fun looking for the elephants, but I'm glad you pointed them out for me.

Jenny86753oh9 said...

OMG! I grew up in Kodai! I know exactly where you were at in those pictures. Great shots! No really...some people go on those tours and never get to see any elephants at all! Did you get to see any working elephants in Kodai? There's usually 1 or 2 walking through town from time to time....well, at least in the 80's-90's there were.

david mcmahon said...

Well done on the real elephants, the topiary elephants and a great story.

Been to many game sanctuaries in India (see the post `Sigmund Fried' on my blog) but not to Periyar.

Glad you liked my macro shot. Yes, it's a lens I'm testing at the moment.

Cheers

David

Unknown said...

Very very cool Katney!
Great post.

Trish ~ ♥ ~ said...

very cool you saw the elephants out in nature and not all cooped up behind fences.

Sheena said...

What a wonderful experience that was!!! ^.^

Hey it's Amy Benson said...

Cute take on the theme...I wonder who shaped those! :D

bundle-o-contradictions said...

Thanks for the arrows. I was wondering what I was missing. The topiary was lovely, too. :)

Paulie said...

Loved that shrubbery elephant! Of course, I enjoyed the storyline also. I had a cute hare for my post this past week --found it in the park, running and hiding from me but I didn't give up and found it.

One question . . . why don't they have screens on yoru windows? Did you have monkeys come in while you were there?