Canon PhotoMarathon 2011 ~ Impressions...

Had registered for this marathon couple of weeks back and sure enough got a call from the organisers and the followed up with an email about the registration details. Somehow, I didn't want to miss it out this year and though it was a sunday morning, I woke up on time to reach the venue on time. This time was a new venue and was next to the Mallya Hospital. Parking was a pain and had to find something couple of kms away.
The registration counter was quite fast and we had to sign a couple of documents and then we received the id card and a white t-shirt with the logos and we were all set for the marathon.

At 10 am sharp, the first theme was announced. There were in all 3 themes and each theme had to be completed in 1.5 hours. The first theme was 'Games People Play'. Though it was interesting topic but not easy to get one,especially on a sunday morning. And yeah, I did miss my zoom lenses, as they have caught up with fungus. I was armed only with my kit lens (18-55) and a prime lens of 50mm. Spend some 45 min in walking around that place, near the Mallya hospital, Kanteerva Stadium and then near the UB city. Didnt really find anything interesting for the theme except the tricks that people play near the traffic signals (which probably even I do). It was nice noticing that and took a lot of shots.

Walking just you get a different view of the place and you can get to see a lot of details. I didn't know that there was a Harley-Davidson showroom in that part of town, though it's the right place for such kind of bikes, considering the number of expensive cars that I normally see in a very short spell of time.

There was an interesting picture that I managed to take , in a house,a very style house with a lot of garden area and an auto-rickshaw parked inside. It did make a nice shot, considering, its exactly opposite the Harley-Davidson showroom.

Some of the shots which I had considered for the 1st theme are below.

From PhotoMarathon-2011

This Ambulance, which was empty, was trying to enter the one-way street from the wrong direction and a policeman standing there, didn't quite mind it. But I didnt manage to get the pic where the police and the ambulance were in the same frame.

After submitting the 1st theme at 11;30, there was a Kannada film actress who had come for the event, Aindita Ray. She was asked some silly question's which she gave some weird answers. She also got a free canon dslr :( Everyone in the hall felt bad about it, as it was quite evident that she didnt know the value of that camera. She did pose with the camera and everyone took a lot of her pics. She also let out the next theme, which was even more trickier to even think of.

The theme was something like this, though I dont seem to remember the exact words. ' Instilling the values in the next generation'. This was a real tough one even to get close to it. There were a few schools around who were playing different games. We all went there to get some ideas. I didn't have much luck there too and went ahead. Finally managed to get something in the coffee day where I went to have a quick bite.

Later on after a lunch served by the organisers, the 3rd theme was unveiled, which was simple and could get lots of ideas. The theme was ' Thinking Green'. I did get a lot of photos for this and I submitted the one which I felt good at the last moment, though it might not be the best one.

Nevertheless,here are some of the photos. Though a very tiring day, with a lot of walking done in a single day, and that too trying to get creative, was not that easy. I guess thats the reason, its called a 'Marathon' and not just a contest. Hats off to Canon to have such an event held every year. They also had a Service center for canon's and they did a neat job of cleaning the sensor of my camera and also cleaned the lens. The lens looks much better now and the photos looking a lot crispier.