Colors of faith

Trying out the "widness" of the Sigma 10-20mm wide angle lens. This photo was shot handheld, with the camera almost touching the ground. The lens sure is quite wide - so wide that this shot had my face on it which has been cropped out.

Himalayan high

On the way to Ice Lake, I asked one of our fellow trekkers to go on top of that hill and pose for a shot. Once he was there, I'm glad I shouted on top of my voice "JUMP!". With Annapurna III in the background, this photo is the result.

The simple life

Came across this elderly women during Annapurna Circuit Trek. Thinking that I'm a tourist, she asked me money for taking her shots. But once I spoke in Nepali she was like "oh!" and did not mind posing for few pictures.

Annapurna range

View of the Annapurna mountain range seen while returning from Sarangkot (30 mins from Pokhara). Me and wife spent the night in Sarangkot hoping to get the best view of himalayas early in the morning. And yes, did get some "ok" shots but this one, taken from the bike while returning to Pokhara turned out to be a favorite.

Starry night

Stars move around Annapurna Himalayan Range at 3am in the morning in Dhampus.

This photo is one my favorite of all time because of what I went through to get the shot! I am a huge fan of Anton Jankovoy. His night photos of himalayas are legendary. I had always wanted to take his type of night photos, and got the change in Dhampus (2.5 hours from Pokhara). Here's what happened:

I put an alarm for 3am without realizing that 3am in Dhampus would be dead cold. I quietely put on my jacket, shoes and was careful not to wake up my wife. When I came outside the lodge, there was a huge WTF moment - it was pitch black and I was not sure if it was a good idea to shoot the mountains in such darkness. Nevertheless, (very quietly) I went to the terrace of the lodge, set up the tripod and pointed the camera (with a wide angle lens) towards the North (where the mountains are supposed to be). I put the camera in "Bulb mode" and used a remote to trigger the shot (Bulb mode keeps the shutter open for as long as you do not press the "shutter open" button again). And the long wait began. My eyes had adjusted to the darkness and I could finally see stuff around the village in the moonlight. But doing nothing for about 5 minutes, I was very sleepy and the cold wasn't helping.

After 10 minutes, I decided to go back to the room and get a nap while the camera captures the night for the next half hour. While walking away, I turned around and saw the tripod with the camera, alone in the cold night. And it felt like I was leaving my body part behind! I stayed around for 5 more minutes but was under the blanket the next minute. It was just too cold. Who knew, I did not get a wink of sleep for the next 30 mintutes! Why? Because I kept thinking - what if my camera wasn't there when I went back?! Yes, it's a sleepy village and no one really cares but that did not help, not one bit.

30 minutes later I went back to the terrace and I've never been happier to see my camera! I released the shutter using the remote (being so careful not to move the tripod) and waited for the photo to get processed. After what seemed like forever, the photo finally popped on the camera screen. And boy was I happy! Happy that I could finally go back and get some good night's sleep for few hours. I'm sure I would've stayed up again if the photo did not come out as it did.

When I showed the photo to my (half asleep) wife, she did not believe that I had taken it in total darkness. Not that she noticed, but I smiled, turned off the lights and went to sleep.

~

To learn how to take such photos, check out All about night photography and photographing the sky by Anton Jankovoy.

The parking lot

A boat, probably rowed by locals, heads towards the shore of Fewa lake. Many people living in hills around the lake "park" their boats at the shore of the lake all day while they go to work in Pokhara city.

Pokhara

View of Pokhara city from the terrace of a lodge in Sarangkot. The bright lights on the right hand side is lakeside, the most happening touristic place in Pokhara.

This is not exactly a sharp photo technically. It was clicked on a 4 seconds exposure, but I somehow managed to shake the tripod. It was cold and windy in the terrace and I did not have the will power to stay there too long click more shot. A decision I regret now.

A boat returns to the shore of Fewa Lake as darkness sets in. Rowing a boat (yourself) in the lake after dark is NOT recommended as it can be pretty terrifying. I know this from an experience from a previous trip :)

My wife and me had reached the shore 15 minutes before this shot was taken. Before that I had rowed a boat not-stop for 4 hours and reached the end of fewa lake - the hills in the background, is were we reached. And what's over there? Well a whole bunch of nothing except for a small village and a whole lot of quietness and the pleasing sound of birds chirping - just the perfect scene to spend quality time with your honey on your honeymoon trip :)

Pokhara - heaven on earth

View of Annapurna mountain range seen in the early morning from damside in Pokhara.

I have been to Pokhara few times before. But this time was different. May be because it was the first (honeymoon) trip with my wife. In 4 days we went to every place in Pokhara I had wanted to but could not go before. Damside was one of them. We hired a motorbike the previous night and left the hotel at 6am. It took only about 5 minutes to reach the end of fewa lake (pictured above). It was freggin' cold.. but was totally worth it.

No picture can express the feeling of being at that spot, watching the sunlight slowly fall on the mountains. Priceless.

Girl and the baby

This Bhutanese girl went inside the house every time I pointed the camera towards her. After many unsuccessful shots, I walked away, and right then she came outside and smiled at me. After that she kept posing for the camera - even the rain didn't matter!

This is one of my most favorite shot from the trip to Bhutan.

Junction Bookstore, Thimpu, Bhutan.

Had gone to a book store looking for Lonely Planet book and ended up taking photos of the pretty lady there. The next day I met an old friend from college and it turned out this lady is his girlfriend. Small world :)

Forgot her name though... DO'H!

Say cheese!

An elderly woman with a priceless smile at the Tibetan Refugees Self-Help Center in Darjeeling. Tibetan exhiles have been living there for decades and they share the sentiment that they would not return until they have their freedom back.

Machapuchare (माछापुछ्रे)

Known as the "Fish Tail" mountain in English, Machapuchare is 25 km north of Pokhara. The mountain has been declared sacred since 1957 and is now forbidden to climbers.

Zooming, courtesy of Sigma 70-300mm telephoto lens.

The Daily Commute

A local girl walks down towards a stream to fetch water somewhere near Ghandruk. She looked very happy and as she passed by, I asked her name, but she did not respond.

During the trek, we often talked about how simple these kids' life is in the remote areas, and wondered if they could cope up in bustling cities like Kathmandu.

Trek to kot daanda (कोट डाँडा)

My friends Dipesh and Suzon take a glance at Annapurna himalayas after a 4 hours trek to Kot Daanda (hill) in the Annapurna region near Ghandruk.

Postcard from Nepal

This is one of my favorite shots from Ghandruk. It was clicked around 9 in the morning while we were heading to that little green hill in the middle of the photo. Took us 2 hours to get there and the view was totally worth it!

The mountain in the background is the Annapurna Himalayan range. Annapurna I, stands at 8091m, making it the 10th-highest summit in the world.

Magic

It was 2 AM in the morning, from the corner of my eye, I noticed some fire like stuff outside the window. Curiously, went out and noticed these flying termites swarming lamp after lamp all over the streets!

It's kinda weird to stand by the road at 2 AM with your tripod and camera. People in passing vehicles give you that "what the heck?" look. And I was trying to be careful, not to disturb the neighbors.

These are a type of termites (with wings) solely dedicated to reproducing and founding new nests.

Sploosh!

Spent few hours trying to get these water drop shots. Clicked 200+ shots and got few decent ones. These waterdrops are so darn unpredictable. But fun nevertheless.

Recipe:
Sigma 70-300mm macro lens
Camera flash
Bucket of water
Yellow t-shirt in the background
Few hours to spare
Patience of a cat

A man travels the world in search of what he needs..

A man travels the world in search of what he needs and returns home to find it ~ George Moore

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Lake of gold

This was clicked at the extreme east side of Phewa Lake, Pokhara Nepal. Apparently not many people go there, and it was a pleasure to be at the shore all by myself one early morning.

I sat by the lake as the sun rose, water rippled, mist surfaced, birds chirped and mountain ranges magically appeared reflecting the morning sunlight.

Isn't that the life :)

Heights of tranquility

I fondly remember the time about a year ago, when I was in one of those boats. Needless to say, it's a perfect place to reflect and re-discover yourself. It will be time to do it again... soon!

Shot from the shore of Phewa lake, Pokhara, Nepal.

Blue magic

Clicked in a remote paddy field in the outskirts of North Kathmandu. Blue tones added with Lightroom, and colors was tweaked with Picnik.

Phewa lake

This was clicked while on the way to the World Peace Pagoda (my 2nd Wikipedia photo submission) in Pokhara, Nepal.

It's takes about 45 minutes to reach the Pagoda on top of a hill, and this was somewhere in the middle. A platform there lets climbers enjoy this breathtaking view - which is a nice break from all the climbing :) A natural spring water tap also helps to quench thirst and prepare climbers for the rest of the climb.

8 photos were stitched with Photoshop for this result.

Best days of our lives

This was clicked in the outskirts of Kathmandu, on the way to Dakshin Kali temple.

The weather that day was just perfect. As we (my mom, brother and cousin) were heading to the far South to the temple, we saw a glimpse of this valley with beautiful vista in the background. We had to stop and take a look. It was a perfect place to take a break and soak up the afternoon sun.

King of nowhere

Clicked this at a friend's house before a lovely sunset. It was a fun photoshoot as my friend did not mind showing all wonderful (quirky) poses and jumps for the camera. I like how the golden lining showed up on this one.

Have fun with your frens today y'all :)

Eye 2 eye

After getting some normal shots of this praying mantis, it was time to make interesting photos. And what better way to do that than letting it crawl up to places where it shouldn't! :) Oh, and just in case you are wondering this is not a photoshop trick. I let it crawl all over my face!

No mantis was harmed in the making of this photo.

Dance to my tunes

Probably attracted to the tube light, this praying mantis had almost made it's way inside the house, when I decided to use it as a model for a photo shoot. It was pretty calm and did not even try to escape while I held it on my hand. In fact, most of the times it would freeze in position (probably it's move when it's threatened) making it easy to get the focus right.

Unlike the way many people misunderstand, these things do not bite. Well not until they are completely cornered. The first thing they want to do is escape. This one was pretty cool. After the shoot, it flew away back to the wild.

Rust never sleeps

That title has been playing in my head forever! I saw the title on some photo somewhere on Flickr few years back and since then wanted to take a rusty photo and use it.

And oh, Nikkor 50mm lens sure is legendary :)

Hanging out with myself - II

In part 1 I had taken the shots myself (using self timer), which was fine - because of the location and because there were less shots. But having someone to click the photos, is way much better. That is because you can get some help with composition and framing. A remote can also be used, but I'm not sure if you can wave your hands freely in that case and add realism to the photo. Moreover, in this case, a remote was not an option. With the help of a friend and half hour with Photoshop later, this photo is the result.

The art of seduction

It's been a while since I uploaded a close-up. So here's a random one.

There used to be a time when I thought I wanted to click only closups and macros - forever! That was years ago. Today looking back I realize how, like with everything else, we move on and mature with time.

But I do, sometimes, miss going after these bugs and crawlies like how I used to do back my early days of photography. Ah well, it's a big world and there's much to see. So bugs... move aside... for now at least. :)

Loner

After clicking this shot, I scooted to the beach which was about 100 meters away or so from where we were. Friends were grabbing something to eat and were waiting on me. But there was no way I was just gonna laze around while a beautiful scenery was unfolding close by! In no time I was at the beach and stopped for moment to appreciate what was in front. The sunset made the sky look like molten gold was flowing over the sea via the horizon. It was truly breathtaking.

After admiring the beautiful scene, I started making my way back to where my friends were. On the way, to the far left, noticed this piece of wood like thing. It was getting dark and I was not sure if this piece of junk would make any good photo. Nevertheless, without wasting any time I ran (even faster) towards it, secretly hoping to cook some composition.

Once there, I immediately jumped on the sand on my knees and started playing with different angles and lighting. I was sure that a (very) low angle shot would be the best for this kind of image because I had seen a lot of those on Flickr. After about 2 minutes or so, had 6-7 shots, and I hurried my way back.

Only after going through the photos later I realized that this was indeed one of my favorite shots from the trip to Goa. Although, against time, somehow pretty much everything had worked out well - the composition, light, the angle.

What I learned from this experience is that it almost always pays off to be observant while going on photo walks. You never know, the next piece of junk could help you get the best of photographs :)

And oh, friends.. they can wait! :D

Panorama of Majorda beach, Goa.

If you happen to go to Goa, instead of going to the regular, commercialized beaches such as Calangute or Bagha, beaches such as Majorda or Morjim are recommended instead. These beaches are not at all crowded and more tranquil.

But of course if you are after bare skin, you could get more action in other commercialized beaches :P

Faith

Looking at this photo reminded me of Faith in general, and that in turn made me think of this faith quote by Henry Ford:

"Whether you think you can or whether you think you can't, you're right"

The photo is a little grainier than I'd like, but it was inevitable because of low light condition.

50mm @ f/1.8

The lonely traveler

Just as I was leaving the beach, had to get some last shots. The sun was setting fast. The sunset that day wasn't the best thought. So thought of adding some life to the pictures. Looked around for a bit, clicked few shots and this one came out as I had imagined.

There were quite a few people there. Had to wait for sometime for everyone to clear and for the guy in the picture to lift his camera. Sometimes there would be no one and he wouldn't be in a posture I wanted and sometime he'd be posed and there would be people around. A little patience helped and finally came home with this shot.

Serendipity

I had been to Goa before few times before. It was always fun, but most beaches were always packed with tourists and locals. I used to dream of finding beaches where there would be no one but just me!

This time, I took matters into my own hands - got Goa's map and started scouting for those kind of beaches. I had asked couple of people about such beaches and they told me that I could not find such a place in Goa, because these days everything had become too commercialized.

But I still had hope.

Then someone tipped me about some beaches to the North of Goa. I had never been to the North side and wanted to explore. So I packed my camera gear and a map and headed North at 8 am - pretty early to be going to a beach! But again I thought that would work in my favor because less people would frequent beaches at that time.

On the way to Morgim beach, which is the first beach in North Goa, I couldn't help but notice turquoise water to the left. It wasn't Morgim beach where people go but it sure seemed interesting enough as I saw a blue boat docked to the shore. Also it looked like the whole place was abandoned.

I parked my bike in the shade and moments later found myself looking at this beautiful sight. It was somewhat like a piece of memory from my dream - a beautiful beach all to myself. And this was just the beginning. As the day progressed, I hopped to few other beaches which were equally beautiful and there was almost no one around. The heat all day was pretty intense and getting tanned was inevitable. But everything was worth it when I returned home and looked at the photographs.