Gold’s Glitter Guarded

From The New Yorker‘s website, a slide show on the recent article about last year’s discovery of gold buried in a temple in south Kerala, and a remarkable set of observations from the photographer assigned to that story:

In India, deities can own property, and this temple, dedicated to Vishnu, has been accumulating gold for centuries. “I was asked to photograph it from the outside; it is strictly forbidden to take photos inside,” Goia said. “Jake and I found ourselves jumping from office to office calling whatever number possible to try to get permission to access the security area.”

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Tuning In

I went birding yesterday. For a rookie like me, that means taking a walk somewhere scenic with my camera, aiming and shooting (the lens) at birds, hoping my amateur work churns out something recognizable, then researching and identifying the species.

Bee in action on Palo Verde tree

As I moved along from tree to tree and bush to bush, detecting movements and sounds, I felt myself identifying a couple of birds by their calls, and hunting them out in that way. Suddenly it felt as if the volume was turned up – I tuned into the busy conversation that was going on above my head. Continue reading →