Special Post – Pope Francis Visit to Sri Lanka 2015

Posted on January 13, 2015 by bhagisiva

Deviating from Travel & Documentary, today I thought of sharing a historical event currently happening in Sri Lanka.Pope Francis has arrived in Sri Lanka as a part of his 6 days Asian tour and he will stay in the country from 13th to 15th of January 2015.

catholics sri lanka, francis the pope, pope, pope christianity sri lanka, pope francis, pope francis 13-01-2015, pope francis escort, pope francis visit sri lanka, pope visit sri lanka, pope visit sri lanka 2015, security escort pope francis in sri lanka, sri lanka 2015, sri lanka pope, sri lankan people, sri lankan people welcome pope francis, vatican pope

A banner displalyed in the Streets of Colombo in Celebration of Pope Francis visit to Sri Lanka

People started to gather in the streets and celebrate the visit of Pope Francis to Sri Lanka

Securities were tightened at the Archbishops house in colombo

Students belong to Muslim ethnicity happily waiting to welcome Pope Francis in the streets of Colombo

Large crowd awaits in Colombo – Sri Lanka to welcome Pope Francis

Pope Francis looking at the crowd in Colombo – Sri Lanka

Pope Francis in his popemobile vechicle in Colombo Sri Lanka

People looking through the fences around the archbishops house to get photographs of the deligates visited with pope Francis

Some more pictures from Jaffna Dutch Fort

Posted on February 25, 2014 by bhagisiva

The old dutch fort which is an iconic landmark in Jaffna, Sri Lanka was renovated recently and the looks were kept closer to how it looked like a century back.

pannai bridge,jaffna fort,jaffna dutch fort,jaffna attractions,jaffna visit,trip jaffna,travel jaffna,asian pictures

The sunset at the nearby pannai bridge casting a vibrant yellow on the newly renovated Dutch fort in Jaffna – Sri Lanka.

ruins of jaffna fort,renovation of jaffna fort,jaffna fort,jaffna dutch fort,jaffna attractions,jaffna visit,trip jaffna,travel jaffna,asian pictures

The stairs to the top platform of the Colonial Dutch Fort – Jaffna, Sri Lanka.

A church at the shore

Posted on December 7, 2013 by bhagisiva

Jaffna landscape, jaffna scenery,naguleshwaram jaffna, jaffna religious places,jaffna churches; christianity in jaffna,jafffna shore,seascape jaffna,jaffna culture,jaffna places sri lanka,sri lanka cultural places,beautiful sri lanka

From 1580, when the first church was built in Jaffna, by the Portuguese-the Christianity started to flourish in the peninsula.Many people were converted into christianity and sooner it became a religion to be followed by most of the people in the land, second to Hinduism.Due to the geography of Jaffna it was easy to access it by ships and boats, and it is obvious that christianity is being followed by most of the fishing communities at the coastal stretch of the region.Beautiful churches can be seen everywhere, at the beautiful locations- spreading religious harmony in the region.

Helping Little Hands

Posted on December 5, 2013 by bhagisiva

highway trincomalee; sri lanka children; sri lanka child labour; child labour asia; asian child labour; child rights; children rights; human rights children; child selling at roadside; asia people; asia street scenes; poor children asia; poor children sri lanka; child; vakarai; selling; tarmarind

This child, around 9 years old, could be mostly seen at the highway connecting Batticaloa to Trincomalee near vaakarai.During every evening after school, along with his village friends-both girls and boys around his age, he used to hang around the roadside with few bags in his hands, containing freshly plugged tamarind,mango,and lime.He will almost jump infront of the running vehicles hoping to sell the bags, which will earn him few hundred rupees, that will help his poor parents to run the family.However im confused whether to add this into child labour.. so decided to end the conversation with the child by just saying…go home and study !!..after buying the last bag of tamarind hoping he would go home..and im happy he did , along with his sister..

Kooththu – An Ancient Tamil Tradition

Posted on November 7, 2013 by bhagisiva

‘Kooththu’ is a traditional Tamil cultural art form that is practiced in Sri Lanka mainly in Jaffna & Batticaloa districts.It is a mixture of dances and drama sequences.Performers were trained by ‘Kooththu masters’ (அண்ணாவியார்).With the emergence of the modern era ,these centuries old ancient art-forms are now at the risk of extinction.See more images at my official site www.theasianpictures.com.

asia tamil culture; asia tamil cultural dances; sri lanka kooththu dance; sri lanka tamil culture; sri lanka native tamil dances; tamil traditional artforms; tamil traditional dances; asia traditional dances; koththu dance; preparing for traditional tamil dance; sri lanka culture; southeast asia culture; people of asia; documentary asia culture photos; makeup; being; applied; kooththu; performer; batticaloa; sri; lanka

A face makeup being applied to a Kooththu performer in Batticaloa – Sri Lanka.

A young kooththu performer dressed-up as a prince.Future existence of ‘kooththu’ lies on these young volunteers from the rural villages.Certain schools in the Batticaloa district now have implemented curriculum for the after-school training of this ancient art form.

A kooththu performer dressed as a king is showing an aggresive stance.The trainer (kooththu master) usually stands at the center along with his team.They sing together, cheer-up the performers and even help the actors when the usual make-up faults happen.

A Fisherman in Batticaloa lagoon

Posted on August 1, 2013 by bhagisiva

I recently heard of an unique fishing method followed by few fisherman in Batticaloa lagoon.Out of curiosity i decided to embark on a journey one fisherman takes daily.

fisherman,fishing,fishing in sri lanka,batticaloa fishing,boatman,boatsman,boating asia,asia fisherman,sri lanka fishery,batticaloa lagoon,sri lanka lagoon,sri lanka waterscape,landscape

63 years old Raju starts his work at 5.45am every day – Till 9 am he travels around the lagoon collecting the fishes he caught last night with the boxes made out of metal nets,a unique way of fishing which you will encounter in this lagoon.

Foods made of rice,flour,sea weeds are kept inside the cage,to eat which,the fishes come inside the trap and never return.

From the shallow waters to the deep part of the lagoon in the middle,Raju have made traps.This is somewhere in the middle of the deep lagoon,where he tries to take out the trap.He marks the area with a long stick,which often disappears if large amount of water comes from the sea during night.However this man with 43 years of experience can find out the places at easily.

That was a happy day for this fisherman.A great catch.That will earn him around 2000 rs today.

Some interesting silhouettes

Posted on July 30, 2013 by bhagisiva

On my recent trip to a rural village near Kokkattichoalai in Batticaloa – Sri Lanka ,i was really lucky to end up near a stretch of palmyrah trees all along a gravel road.The time was perfect as the sun was already setting in.I spent some productive time making pictures of interesting people traveling in the road as silhouettes.

Tip on photographing silhouettes – It is not a big task, as a basic knowledge in camera functions will deliver us some really interesting keeps at the end of the day.I always feel,that it is best to preserve some details of the subjects.Get an exposure reading of the outer lighter part of the setting sun,usually the yellow rim around the sun.Increase the metered exposure slightly around 1/3 or 2/3 stops either manually or through exposure compensation.This will help retaining some shadow details of the silhouette without making them 100% black and unrealistic.If you feel this is little bit difficult and you can spare some time for post processing, then you could play with the shadow sliders to bring out some details.

village scenery, photographing silhouette,sunset scenery, village sunset, sunset silhouette, silhouette humans, silhouette cyclist, silhouette people, people cycle, people walking with cycle, borther and sister, displacement, replacement of displaced people, displaced people, batticaloa displaced people, batticaloa scenery, jaffna displaced people

Three siblings are returning home at sunset after collecting woods for cooking – Sri Lanka

village scenery, sunset scenery, village sunset, sunset silhouette, silhouette humans, silhouette cyclist, silhouette people, people cycle, people walking with cycle, borther and sister, displacement, replacement of displaced people, displaced people, batticaloa displaced people, batticaloa scenery, jaffna displaced people, people scenery, story telling image, rural lifestyle, man riding a bicycle,village lifestyle

Silhouette of a man riding bicycle with a cigarette in one hand at sunset – Sri Lanka

Check at my official portfolio site at http://www.theasianpictures.com/

Pictures Of Sri Lanka

By Bhagiraj Sivagnanasundaram – Travel & Documentary Photographer