A Rainbow in Black-n-White

I left office early this evening because the weather looked promising for exploring Leiden through my lenses. It was cloudy the entire day. However towards the evening, sun peeked out through the clouds and the sky began to look quite dramatic. Once in the Leiden center, several things caught my attention. One of them was the Marekerk church besides a canal. The domb of the church looked beautiful which was further enhanced by the soft light from the sun playing hide-n-seek through the clouds. I took a few pictures of the church and was walking back. I then passed by a man who was squatting by the side of the road and carefully pulling out a camera from his bag. I tried to take a look at the camera and it looked like an old camera. I wasn’t sure if it was a film camera. For a moment, I thought it’s a Leica.

As I walked pass by him, we had a brief eye contact and seeing that we belong to the photography fraternity, we exchanged smiles. All the while, I was trying to figure out his camera but couldn’t! After walking for a few more yards, I turned back to see him again. I saw him pointing his camera towards the church dome and taking pictures. This surprised me as the spot where he was standing, in my opinion, was not a good spot as it didn’t provide a clear view to the church — only the dome was visible. I myself didn’t shoot the church from this spot and had walked couple of meters further.

I then took a close look in the direction in which he was taking pictures. I then realized and rushed myself there to shoot. He was actually shooting the rainbow which beautifully curved along the church dome. Given the position of the rainbow, the spot he chose was perfect. After taking pictures, I crossed him again. This time, I stopped to thank him for the beautiful shot which I would have otherwise missed.

He then said, “I’m curious to see how the picture would come. This is a film camera”. I said, “Oh ok. Interesting! You are using a film camera”. He continued, “It’s a black-n-white roll camera”. I was surprised, “Black-n-white!!!” I asked, “Any specific reasons why you are using B-n-W”? He said, “I recently bought this camera from a flee market for about 10 euros. I often buy old cameras and try them out. I also use a Canon digital camera”. I further asked, “Did you develop any pictures from this camera until now”? “Nopes. This is my first outing with it”, he said. We then greeted each other good bye and I walked away. Before leaving him, I took a picture of him with his camera. I turned back after a while and saw him taking more pictures from the same spot in the same direction.

I wished that the man’s picture comes out well. I could sense a kid-like excitement in the man when he talked about his camera and his hope for the picture of rainbow.

As I kept walking, the thought kept me occupied – “How would the rainbow look like in B-n-W?” Still intrigued by B-n-W rainbow, I edited my picture into a B-n-W picture.

For We Walk by Faith, Not by Sight

The first thing that came to my mind when I saw this was ‘faith’ and a reassurance of the believe that indeed faith is unbounded.  Although man differentiates on the basis of caste, color, religion, language, nationality, etc., his faith knows no such boundaries. It doesn’t take one to be Christian to believe in Jesus or Hindu to believe in Ganesha. Faith is  a feeling, irrespective of where it comes from, which gives us the strength to face the odds and inspiration to strive. As beautifully said in  2 Corinthians 5:7 – “For we walk by faith, not by sight”.

In Papa’s Arm

In this picture are my friend Joris and his lovely 5 months old daughter Astrid. I took this photo during the baptism ceremony of Astrid. It was a timeless moment and I felt that it could not be conveyed better than in B/W. This scene is imprinted in my heart where a father is so lovingly holding his daughter and his eyes reflect that she means the world to him. Astrid is comfortably snugged in her dad’s arm, feeling so save and secured that she is least bothered about the world around her. It reminds me of my childhood days when as a kid, I always had the feeling that the most secured place is the arms of my parents and it was as simple as running into them. Well today I might have outgrown the physical security but emotionally it’s still the most secured place.