Nawam Perahera

Nawam Perahera is a well known photographic opportunity to new photographers to practice night photography. The specialty of Nawam Perahera is that you are allowed to move freely with the procession without much restrictions. Given below are some of the photographs I took in 2010 Nawam Perahera. 

Given Below is an article I published in CamaraSangarawa.org

ලෝක ඥානයෙන් සවිබල ගැන්වෙන ඡායාරූප - [Sebastiao Salgado]

by Nirmana » Thu Sep 29, 2011 11:21 am

ලෝක ඥානයෙන් සවිබල ගැන්වෙන ඡායාරූප - [Sebastiao Salgado]

ඩිජිටල්කරණයේ ආගමනයත් සමගම ශ්‍රී ලංකාව තුල කැමරා, ඡායාරූප ශිල්පීන් මෙන්ම විවිධ ඡායාරූප ද සුලභ විය. 

බහුවිධ මාධ්‍ය ඔස්සේ අපගේ නෙත ගැටෙන මේ නවීන ඡායාරූප අතරින් බොහොමයක් අපගේ නෙත රඳවා ගැනීමට හෝ සිත සසල කිරීමට සමත් නොවීම කනගාටුවට කරුණකි.

අද ලංකාවේ බිහිවන ඡායාරූප ශිල්පීන් බොහෝ දෙනෙකුගේ රූපඥානයත්, ''ගැජට්'' ඥානයත්, ඉතා ඉහල බවට විවාදයක් නැත. 

නමුත් ඡායාරූප ශිල්පයෙන් පරිබාහිර ලෝක ඥානයෙන් ඔවුන් සන්නද්ධ නොවීම නිසාදෝ ඔවුන්ගේ ඡායාරූප සුවිශේෂීබවින් තොර සරල ස්වභාවයක් උසුලයි.

ලෝකයේ ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨ ඡායාරූප ශිල්පීන්ගේ නිර්මාණ අධ්‍යයනය, ඇගයීම, ඔවුන්ගේ සමාජ පසුබිම සහ

 එම ඡායාරූප බිහිකිරීම දක්වා ඔවුන්ව මෙහෙයවනු ලබූ සමාජ ආර්ථික පරිසරය පිලිබද අද නවක ශිල්පීන් උනන්දු වන්නෙ ඉතාම අවම වශයෙනි.

සුපිරි ඡායාරූප උපකරණවලින්ම පමනක් ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨ ඡායාරූප බිහි නොවන අතර,ලෝකය, මිනිසා සහ පරිසරය පිලිබද වූ පිරිපුන් දැනුමකින්,

 අධ්‍යනයකින් සහ දයාවකින් ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨ ඡායාරූප බිහි වන බව මගේ හැගීමයි.

මේ සමග පලවන ඡායාරූප කිහිපය දෙස බලන්න. මේ බ්‍රසීලියානු ජාතික Sebastiao Salgado නමැති ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨ ජීවමාන ඡායාරූප

 ශිල්පියාගේ නිර්මාණ කිහිපයකි. දුක් විදින ජනතාවගේ හගීම්, ඉරණම මෙන්ම ඔවුන්ගේ ජීවන අරගලයේ කටුක, ශුෂ්ක බව මේ 

ඡායාරූප වලින් පිළිබිඹු නොවන්නේද?

වෙළඳපොල ආර්ථිකය විසින් ගොදුරු කරගන්නා ලද, ආර්ථික බලවතුන් විසින් නිරන්තරයෙන්ම පෙලනු ලබන, 

හෙට දවසේ ජීවත්වීම සඳහා පමනක්ම සටන් වදින අසරණ දුප්පත් ජනයාගේත්, ජීවත්වීම අරගලයක්ම වූ කම්කරුවන්ගේත්,

 යථා ජීවන ස්වභාවය මේ ඡායාරූප වලින් නිරූපනය වන බව මගේ හැගීමයි.



මෙම ඡායාරූප වලට පිටුපසින් සිටින Sebastiao Salgado ආර්ථිකය පාලනය කරනුලබන බලවතුන් විසින් ජනතාව කොතෙක් පීඩාවට

 පත්කරන්නේද යන වග පැහැදිලිව අවබෝධ කරගත් පුද්ගලයෙකි. ආර්ථික විද්‍යාව පිලිබද පශ්චාත් උපාධිධරයෙකු වන

 Sebastiao තම වෘත්තිය ජීවිතය ආරම්භ කරන්නේ ආර්ථික විශේෂඥයෙකු ලෙසිනි.

ආර්ථික සමග බැදුනු සමාජ ක්‍රමය විසින් පාගා දමනු ලබන අසරණ මිනිසුන් පිලිබද වූ තම ලෝකඥානයෙන් සන්නද්ධ 

තෙවෙනි ඇස මේ විශිෂ්ඨ ඡායාරූප බිහිකිරීම දක්වා යොමුවී ඇති ආකාරය ප්‍රසංශනීය නොවන්නේද?

දුක්විදින අප්‍රිකානු ජනතාව වෙත හෙලනු ලබූ සානුකම්පිත බැල්ම Sebastiao හට "Unicef Goodwill Ambassador" තනතුරක්

 පවා කැදවාගෙන ඒමට සමත්විය.Sebastiao Salgadu විසින් භාවිතා කරනු ලබන ''ගැජට්'' පිලිබදව කිසිදු නිනවුවක් 

නොමතිව මෙම ඡායාරූප රස විඳිය හැකි නොවේද?

විවිධ කැමරා වෙළඳනාම, තාක්ෂනික මෙවලම් හා ඒවයේ යෙදවුම් ගැන කෙස්පැලෙන තර්ක විතර්ක කරනා අපේ ඇතැම් 

ඡායාරූප ශිල්පීන් තම ''ගැජට්'' ආකල්ප පසෙකලා අපේ රටේ අපේම මිනිසුන්ගේ ජීවන අරගලය , දුක, සතුට, 

ආදරය ලොවට හෙළිකිරීමට තම රූපඥානය මෙන්ම ලෝකඥානයද මෙහෙයවන්නේ නම් කෙතරම් අගනේද?
විශිෂ්ඨ ඡායාරූප සහ ඒ හා සබැදුනු ඡායාරූප ශිල්පීන් මෙන්ම එම නිර්මාණ බිහිකිරීම දක්වා ඔවුන් මෙහෙයවනු ලැබූ 

ඔවුන්ගේ ලෝක ඥානයේ භාවිතය පිලිබද හරවත් සංවාදයකට මෙම ලිපිය පෙරවදනක් වේවා..!
----- නිර්මාණ ජයතුංග ------




Children's ward in the Korem refugee camp



Dispute between Serra Pelada gold mine workers and military police



Gourma-Rharous



Refugees in the Korem camp

First Day with my DSLR..!

The above is one of the first photographs that I took on my first day with my DSLR. It was a bright morning at Kelaniya temple. Most of my own favorite photographs are taken in early hours of the day. 

You need the right lens to get the optimum magnification. But on my first day, I had only the kit lens. I started to feel that I am little handicapped without right tools to get closer to the subjects. But.., stop worrying and start living is my style. 

I had to crop the picture to get the above frame. As a new comer to digital photography, cropping was something I liked that much. 

How to select the right DSLR for you..?

This was a simple yet complex question that I had in mind when I wanted to purchase my DSLR. 
The enthusiasts were having a non ending argument of Nikon or Canon..? 

My personal ideas is that Canon OR Nikon argument is useless exercise. I have listed below the cause of action that I took in selecting my DSLR. 


1. Consider what are the highest and lowest specs of good camera brands. I considered only Nikon & Canon. 


2. Think clearly, why do you want this camera...? What purpose..? since you are going to buy your first DSLR, do you actually want the top of the range..? Or do you just want to buy a average DSLR?


3. Do you really want to pay for any features that you will never use..?


4. Mega Pixels..? The mega issue in selecting a digital camera. Think about the  size of the photographs that yo are expecting to take. High number of mega pixels will bring yo bigger pictures, but at a higher cost. If you do not want to spend a lot, my advise is to go for a medium sized mega pixel option. (We can find enough examples of very good photographs taken even with 6 mega pixel DSLR)


5. Consider how much you can afford and start small..!


6. Do you want additional lenses..? I could not afford any additional lenses when I purchased my DSLR and the kit lens (18mm-55mm) was fine for me. 


7. Any other accessories...? Wait wait...get familiar with the camera and basic operations first. 


8. Then the big question..NIKON or CANON..? When i made my choice, I selected two models from both brands. Then went to both local agents and inspected the cameras physically. There is a very big difference between two camera designs and I selected the camera that fits best in my hand. Ergonomics..! Yes that is very important. 


Small note on Nikon Vs Canon. : Both manufacturers make great cameras. Different models have their own merits. The color reproduction of these brands are different and what is best is totally on personal preference. 


Actually my final selection was based on ergonomics and user friendliness. Keep in mind my friends...user friendliness is a very personal feeling. 

Re birth

As I mentioned in my previous post, my photography was neglected for about 11 years and the technical aspects of photography evolved to the digital era during my absence. My wife wanted me to buy a small digital camera for the purpose of taking some pictures of our wedding. 


And I continued to shoot picture with that Nikon Cool Pix and my wife found my photos are above average for that camera. She was not aware about my heavy involvement with photography during my school age and when I told her about my old time hobby, she persuaded me to buy a DSLR by financing the project by 50% regardless of what ever the camera I wanted to buy. 

Shown above is one of the photographs I shot with my Nikon CoolPix. This is the view from Banrarawela National Holiday Resort. With all control on auto as no controls available in the camera, this was shot before the sunrise by keeping the camera stationery on a garden bench. 


In January 2011, I purchased a DSLR camera with the support of my wife also and started shooting more controlled photographs again.  

The Start..!

This blog is a part of my efforts to communicate, share and interact with the people who enjoy photography. I already have a fan page on Facebook, which is currently active with regular updates of my personal photography work. 
My Photography Fan Page.


Photography is my all time favorite hobby and my first step of photography was taken with my father, going to photography exhibitions, going through great photographs on foreign and local magazines etc. My father is totally responsible for opening my eyes in to visual beauty. As I grew up, I was fascinated by various B&W photographs that I came across as well as my father took me to various international film festivals held in Colombo, where the cinematography was world class. 


We didn't have a camera at home, but my father had a good collection of photographs by various local photographers as well as some photographs taken by him long years a go. Even though I was a photo enthusiast, I was not in to any kind of active photography until joining the "Royal College Photographic Society" (RCPS).


I became a member of RCPS in 1993, and was an active member as long as I was in school. I was lucky to be elected as the student chairman of the society in 1997. RCPS gave me opportunity to meet a lot of prominent photography professionals in the field. further to that I was exposed to various photography overages such as annual price giving, other annual events, big match etc. That was a rare experience for any one in school age. 

I consider my self extremely lucky to join the photography classes conducted by Mr. Lal Hegoda in 1999 and continued my photography studies with "Hegoda School of Photography" up to Diploma Level. At that time I used a fully manual YASHIKA camera which I still love to hold. 


Higher education, unprofessional studies, career development, lack of time and money resulted in a total negligence of my lovely hobby from year 2000 to 2010. YES...I was totally out of photography for almost 11 years. I was taking pictures when we go on a trip or at any family gathering ect.., but that is not photography is all about. Fortunately, the proper photography education that I received form "Hegoda School of Photography" remained back of my mind.