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Brisbane City Council hosts Diwali Festival of Light (Deepavali/Devali) 2011 in King George Square, City Hall.
For Hindus Diwali is one of the most important festivals of the year and is celebrated in families by performing traditional activities together in their homes.
Diwali (also spelled Devali or Deepavali in certain regions), popularly known as the “festival of lights,” is a festival celebrated on the one new moon night, between mid-October and mid-December for various reasons.
The festival starts with Dhanteras on which most Indian business communities begin their financial year. The second day of the festival, Naraka Chaturdasi, marks the vanquishing of the demon Naraka by Lord Krishna and his wife Satyabhama.
Amavasya, the third day of Diwali, marks the worship of Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth in her most benevolent mood, fulfilling the wishes of her devotees.
Amavasya also tells the story of Lord Vishnu, who in his dwarf incarnation vanquished the Bali, and banished him to Patala.
It is on the fourth day of Diwali, Kartika Shudda Padyami, that Bali went to patala and took the reins of his new kingdom in there. The fifth day is referred to as Yama Dvitiya (also called Bhai Dooj), and on this day sisters invite their brothers to their homes.
Diwali marks the end of the harvest season in most of India. Farmers give thanks for the bounty of the year gone by, and pray for a good harvest for the year to come.
Traditionally this marked the closing of accounts for businesses dependent on the agrarian cycle, and is the last major celebration before winter. Lakshmi symbolizes wealth and prosperity, and her blessings are invoked for a good year ahead.
There are two legends that associate the worship of Lakshmi on this day. According to the first legend, on this day, Lakshmi emerged from Kshira Sagar, the Ocean of Milk, during the great churning of the oceans, Samudra manthan.
The second legend (more popular in western India) relates to the Vamana avatar of the big three Vishnu, the incarnation he assumed to kill the demon king Bali. On this day, Vishnu came back to his abode the Vaikuntha; so those who worship Lakshmi receive the benefit of her benevolent mood, and are blessed with mental, physical and material well-being.
I first learned of Albert Kahn by watching the acclaimed BBC4 television series, The Wonderful World of Albert Kahn.
As an idealist and an internationalist, Kahn believed that he could use the new autochrome process, the world’s first user-friendly, true-colour photographic system, to promote cross-cultural peace and understanding.
A sentiment I whole-heartedly agree with. 
Kahn used his vast fortune to send a group of intrepid photographers to more than fifty countries around the world, often at crucial junctures in their history, when age-old cultures were on the brink of being changed for ever by war and the march of twentieth-century globalization.
These privileged men documented in true colour the collapse of both the Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman empires; the last traditional Celtic villages in Ireland, just a few years before they were demolished; and the soldiers of the First World War — in the trenches, and as they cooked their meals and laundered their uniforms behind the lines.
Amazingly, they took the earliest-known colour photographs in countries as far apart as Vietnam and Brazil, Mongolia and Norway, Benin and the United States.
Such pioneering feats make me green with envy and wishing I was born in an era when there was still so much of the world and technology to explore.
At the start of 1929 Kahn was still one of the richest men in Europe. Later that year the Wall Street Crash reduced his financial empire to rubble and in 1931 he was forced to bring his project to an end.
Kahn died in 1940.
His legacy, still kept at the Musée Albert-Kahn in the grounds of his estate near Paris, is now considered to be the most important collection of early colour photographs in the world.
Until recently, Kahn’s huge collection of 72,000 autochromes remained relatively unheard of; the vast majority of them unpublished. Now, a century after he launched his Archives of the Planet project, the BBC Book The Wonderful World of Albert Kahn, and the television series it accompanies, have helped bring Kahn’s inspiring imagery to a mass audience for the first time and putting colour into what we tend to think of as an entirely monochrome age.
Inspired by Albert Kahn – here is a sample of the faces I met on my travels through Cambodia.
The Australian Body Art Carnivale is Australia’s premier body art event, attracting artists and spectators from across Australia and overseas.
Amazing artworks and music are performed all weekend and along with a sensational Sunshine Coast Street Party, with multi-cultral food stalls and local produce and craft markets.
The Carnivale was a ‘A Festival of Colour’ centred around body art in its many and varied forms.
It is nothing short of phenomenal to watch the human canvases take shape during the competitions.
For artists the carnival presents an opportunity to showcase their creativity, experience the amazing atmosphere of the Carnivale and compete for over $16,000 in cash and prizes.
The Australian Body Art Carnivale is held annually in Eumundi, the dates for 2012 are from Saturday 12 May and Sunday 13 May.
The 2012 theme is “Under the Sea”, providing an absolute wealth of inspiration for artists.
While they are a little harder to come by these days, it is worth hunting around for a Nikon D40. That’s because within its price range ($400-$600) there is NOTHING that compares.
The most noticeable feature (and it is definitely a feature) from when you first pick up your D40, is its weight – or rather, lack of! Compared with its big brothers (Nikon D2/200, etc.) and even its competitors, it is as light as a feather.
My husband, Andrew recently bought me a new 10-24mm Wide Angle lens for my birthday. When I attached it to my D40 body I was reminded just how lightweight it really is. It is so easy to carry; I never leave home without it.
The D40 comes with an outstanding 18-55mm lens and sometimes you can even get a starter-kit, which comes with a bonus 55-200mm VR lens, which is great for getting up-close and personal from a distance.
Capturing Fast Detail from the Sidelines
The 18-55mm lens is my favourite mid-range zoom. It has outstanding optical performance and I can easily and precisely manage the zoom with just one finger. With a super close focus and far-reaching zoom my D40 provides great versatility in one lens shooting minute macro detail to wide open spaces. And again, it weighs almost nothing, which allows me to carry my D40 EVERYWHERE.
The D40 has a built-in flash but if you are going to get serious about flash, grab the SB-400 flash which provides beautiful soft light, especially when used in bounce mode, and adds little weight to the D40.
Since August 2008 I would have taken over 18,000 photos and my D40 and it still works just as it did the day I bought it.
The battery life is phenomenal! I bought a spare battery when I bought the camera. I always keep it charged and ready to go, but I have only needed it once – at an all-day/all-night wedding where I took over 2500 shots. It would be safe to say I consistently get 1000 images per battery charge.
I also bought a tripod with the camera. But hardly ever use that either, as my D40 gets such great hand-held results. Even at slow speeds my D40 has incredibly low shutter and mirror vibration.
My D40 has a brilliant, and when I say brilliant I mean Brilliant – big, bright, sharp rear LCD screen. It is excellent for quickly displaying large vivid images and navigating the very user-friendly menu.
The menu is straightforward and simple but still has some advanced editing options. The menu comprehensively guides you through various options and settings and even comes in a choice of colours.
So what’s bad about my Nikon D40?
Really the only thing bad I could say about my D40 is its’ lens compatibility.
My D40 only auto-focuses with the latest AF-S lenses, as well as older professional, AF-I lenses as it does not have an in-body focus motor and so requires a lens with an integrated auto-focus motor.
With traditional AF lenses you have to focus manually. Which then excludes older lenses, with a few exceptions such as macros, fisheyes and some ultra-wide angle lenses that you can easily manually focus.
However, the included kit lens and modern lenses out-perform older lenses you may have wished to use with the D40 chassis.
But it is only 6 Megapixels you say?
Well only 6.1 to be exact! And that’s the way I like it! Don’t buy into the mass buyer psychology that you have to have 10 Million pixels to get a good shot. More pixels do not help, but holding your camera still certainly does. You can enlarge prints from the D40 without limit. Some of my images, even macro, have been blown up to 4meters long (click here to view) with no noticeable distortion.
I love my Nikon D40 because it gave me the confidence to explore my talents and take my hobby to the next level.
I will carry my D40 with me even when I upgrade to a D300s because it is such a great lightweight camera to quickly capture special moments.
If you can’t get your hands on a Nikon D40 the next best thing would be a Nikon D5000 ($600-700) before moving up to the big boys.
Happy snapping.
Natalee-Jewel
http://irem.com.au
Owner/Principal Photographer
It was a great opportunity to catch up with some REAL LIFE professional Bloggers, Darren Rowse of Digital Photography School fame and Yaro Starak the BlogMasterMind!
Natalee-Jewel & ProBlogger Darren Rowse
I extended the invitation to a client of mine, who shares an interest in Blogging and Internet Marketing.Top10System’s, Tony Barlow, whose slogan is “Software not Menswear” :{) came along as my “Wingman” to drinks with the probloggers.
We were both excited and curious to be face-to-face with such online-successes but were pleasantly surprised to find everyone was really down-to-earth, approachable, friendly and insightful.
Both Darren and Yaro were keen to learn about everyone’s ventures and generously passed on a couple of hints and tips.
Learn Yaro Starak’s 10 Blog Traffic Tips by clicking here.
Natalee-Jewel & ProBlogger Yaro
The evening was also a great opportunity to mingle and make some new acquaintances. Obviously, like any business – networking is simply part of a Bloggers success.
You never know who you are going to meet? It could be your next JV partner, or simply someone who has that final piece to the puzzle, you have been racking your brain over! Regardless, it is always interesting to discover what weird and wacky things others are blogging about and to also share the challenges and highlights of your experiences.
Thanks Darren for giving up your time to organize the get-together and share your insights; and to Yaro for the invite! It is always surreal when you meet your heroes and people you admire. Thanks for not disappointing me 🙂
Natalee-Jewel
