A Day In The Graveyard!
In the below photos you can see my cute little fellas whom i made friendship with when i went to Helsinki graveyard for photo session. I do have small small incidents during the photo sessions i had in the graveyard. Not to mention how i freaked out in the first session. I went for a photo shoot some 4 months back. Even though it was post winter but still the days used to get darker earlier. If i remember right i went there by around 18:00hrs. Since that was the first time i was roaming arnd the graveyard, selecting subjects which could be good. The Helsinki graveyard is split into 2 and a dead end road runs in between them and beyond the dead end is the lake.
Can I See What You Have Got For Me?
Does that sounds like a scary story? 
The graveyard here is well maintained with lots of gardening work and from the fresh to dying state of varieties of flowers which lies there, i am pretty sure different people must be visiting the grave of their lost-loved ones everyday to mourn. Personally i don’t believe in this ghost/haunting spirit etc. So i can say, i don’t have the fear about those stuffs and my dad/mom never used that as a technic for scaring me with devil thing if i am not going to eat my dinner properly. Being said that, i was roaming around the left side first and then moved to the right side. Usually i have my ear phone plugged and music will accompany me with anything and everything i do. For some reason i was not listening to music this time. I turned around to see if there is anyone lively. I am very sure i was very much normal and dint had my heart pumped up for the reason i was standing in the middle of a graveyard and i was alone. And then after nailing down the subjects and with rough idea what angle would be good for those, i finally decided to start my photo session.
Dude Being So Close You Are Scaring Me!
I have this one very good and very heavy tripod which unfortunately can’t be used to take really low ground level pictures. I saw one statue over grave standing with a torch kinda thing in one hand and posing like the Da Vinci medical sketch. I thought a shot from low ground level should really give a better perception with the light bluish orange clouds in the background. So i just removed the camera from tripod and i have to lie total flat on the ground. By that time some one passed aside me throwing a weird look at me. I really don’t know what he might have thought of me. But i think he might have thought i am a half-wit who is rehearsing for my D-Day! One more annoying thing about these DSLR’s are, they don’t have this option of viewing the subject which is in focus in the LCD screen as like they are in normal digital cam’s. The only option is to view through the view finder and i really wish DSLR’s to come with a swivel LCD so that at least the low ground level shots could be taken just kneeling down. Once the man left i again fell flat on the ground to take the shot i was thinking to. As i was viewing the subject alone through the view finder and trying to bracket a particular spot all of a sudden i heard as if someone is coming running towards me. My god, it gave a chill in the spine. My heart almost stopped for a moment, and then my systole and diastole went for a toss. I just cheered up myself “Come on Arun there’s no one and there’s nothing to be afraid of”. I thought even if a zombie shows up, a blow on its head with my tripod should be lethal enuf. After little bit of relaxation i just kneeled down to take a normal knee level shot. But again this time as i was concentrating through the view finder, a wind blow and the scrunching sound of the withered leaves took the hell out of me. I have to agree here. I WAS SCARED. And then i went to the graveyard again on one bright, shiny afternoon to continue where i left. But i kept on wondering why i got so scared or the reason for my behavior.
Definitely it wasn’t me who is afraid of these things. But then why i got scared that day kept lingering in my mind for while. I browsed few articles, and came across this ATTENTION behavior of human brain. This 300 gram stuff seems to be much more complex that my decision making stuff. Anyway watch the below 2 videos and they should give you a fair idea what i am trying to say in relation to my behavior!
Coming to the part 2, the scrunching sounds i came to know where made by these little fellas. On the second session onwards i started carrying nuts for them. In second session when i threw a nut to one little fella, he/she (sorry i dint noticed tht part :-P) approached the nut cautiously watching my actions. The little fella started munching the nut and was done with the nut in few minutes. Then i showed the seconds nut and kept it on my palm. The little fella approached me very very gently and watching every movement i made. Swiftly sat on my palm, took the nut and ran away. I was wondering, was it so the little fella was full/happy with 2 nuts? So i started looking subjects for my photo session. And then came almost a dozen little fella and i am sure there was tht first little fella somewhere among them. Rather than taking photo the whole session went on feeding the little fellas.
Hey Cover Fully My Tail Too!
Third time when i went for photo session which was in real hurry i took shots of subjects i thought of in the earlier 2 sessions and yes i dint forget the nuts. Finally one little fella came along. First nut. This little fella seemed to be more social and dint hesitated to take tht first nut from my hand. And then second. And then the third was a big WALNUT. As soon as the little fella took it from my hand, looked arnd and went running somewhere. i thought it gonna bring its team. But what it did was something i dint expected. It buried the WALNUT under a tree and then came back jumping here and there to me. This happened every time when i gave a walnut and other time it just ate what ever i gave there itself.
Now Kinda OK!
Latter i was explaining this behavior to one of my friend. He told it might be that, first time when i went it was summer, so the little fella isn’t bothered abt sharing with all. Now in few time its gonna be winter, so its more concerned abt saving. Hmmmm… May be…. Maslow??? No Idea! But anyway these are sweet lessons i learned from those little fellas. 3 cheers!… Ooops 3 nuts to them 
- · Lucky to find something good? Share with other fellas!
- · Enjoy the present with what ever you have in hand!
- · If you consider something is really precious do consider saving it for tomorrow!
- · After certain point what matters more is the feel of being content else happiness will remain elusive!