Abhishek Adhikari Photography

Weekend getaways - Pawna Lake (Lonavala)

2015-03-17T02:46:00.000-07:00

Mumbai is known for its weekend getaways and this one is a sheer 100km drive and the most visited mini-hill station. While I feel there isnt much to do at Lonavala due to the huge crowd on weekends, Pawna Lake and Dam is a nice getaway from the maddening Lonavala crowd.

Pawana is located on the way to Tikona Peth and Tikona Fort, leaving Lohgad on the left.

The lake is huge by my standards. I mean, I kept driving for over five kilometers at least along the lake and it didnt leave my sight even once. What surprised me however, during this visit was the number of vehicles (read people) who had just come over to spend the day. Several resorts have come up along the road that follows the length of the dam and sometimes it become too crowded to find a good parking place to click pictures.

I have my favourite spot here however; a small pumping station going several meters into the dam like a jetty. It is very strategically located, given the fact that from here a panorama will give you the view of entire length of the Lake. There is an nice camping place below this pumping station. (18688107, 73.473600)

Here is what it looks like from this point.

Pawna Lake Panorama

It is a nice place to click some great pictures with several rocks, the lake and the hills in the background. If you choose a clear day for the visit, be prepared for some dark photos due the sun in the background and blinding light due to the added reflection from the lake. However, clear day also means blue waters of the lake. During the Monsoons the lake waters appear dark and murky but everything is lush green around.

Not many places to eat around this due to the hygiene and quality (unless you are booked in a resort). Also the road is pretty narrow to always park and stop over for a snack. So I would recommend a small packet of dry food and definitely a lot of water for this trip.

Lights.... Camera.... Fireworks!!!!

2013-11-01T04:45:00.001-07:00

With the festive season around the corner, i am often confronted with questions regarding fireworks and colourful festive low-light photography. Since its been quite some time since I wrote, I thought why not add line or two on these...

The world of Fireworks...

Fireworks have always fascinated me and capturing the colours and the grandeur of fireworks is what I have always liked. Certain points to be noted here though...

Things needed...

Shoot RAW - absolutely necessary here since we are living in regions where the sky and ambient color keeps changing. raw shooting helps a lot in post processing like white balance, exposure, noise, etc. unless you really like orange skies to be captured
Strong/Heavy Tripod or fixture - this one is another absolute necessity unless you have really really steady hands (read not possible). the camera's position in the 3 dimensions needs to be fixed and why so, we'll come that in a bit.
Wide Angle Lens - preferably 18mm and below to get the whole landscape

How to...

typically on a dark night of diwali, you would want to set-up your shooting on a tall structure (building terrace, hill, etc.) near lots of action
mount your camera on the tripod and align your camera to get the composition you like
set your camera on Manual, with shutter at around 10sec (not 1/10sec) and take a click at whatever other settings the camera is at
with hardly any movement, other than strong winds, you should be getting a bright image of the otherwise dark cityscape
notice the orange tinge (ideally for polluted cities like Mumbai), if you like it then no issues, otherwise a Tungsten White-Balance can remove the orange tinge
a camera wireless remote or wire-triggers to reduce camera shakes
I would preferably shoot at

Shutter - 5sec to 20sec

depending on the speed of the fireworks (you dont want overlapping fireworks else it will be a ball of white light)
remember, longer the shot, more time for the camera to process and hence more of missing action
also longer times are good if the fireworks are happening on a wide area and not starting from the same place

Aperture - f8 - f11

depends on the first shot you took; if it isnt sufficiently bright move to higher apertures

ISO - 100 or lowest values
WB - Tungsten
Long Exposure Noise Reduction - OFF

if your cam has this, better to keep it off and remove the noise in PP

once the fireworks starts.... what are you waiting for... just SHOOT!!!

Shooting People & Low-Light Photography

This one's interesting, since these would be mostly candids and missing the moment is missing the shot. Very rarely would get another chance with the same expressions and emotions. So you need your camera to capture as much details as possible in the shot.

Photography is all about capturing and light and for such quick moments, you need a fast lens - one with a large aperture. f2.8 and lower I mean. And that's because, you need a higher shutter speed for capturing moments and if you recall my last article, shutter speed and aperture are inversely proportional, so you need a large aperture.

Another way is to use flash to freeze the motion and yet this doesn't always work. Flash power and its light's spread is limited.

Finally, you can compensate for smaller apertures and higher shutter speeds by using higher ISO speeds. Limitations for higher ISO is the digital noise, which can be cleared off in post processing only to some extent.

Okies enough of the gyaan here... the most important part of photography during festivals is DO NOT keep the camera INSIDE your bag or you lose the moments.

Keep clicking... and Happy diwali...

Photography 101 - The DSLR, Aperture, Shutter and ISO

2013-01-09T10:15:00.000-08:00

In most of my discussions about photography in general and cameras and lenses in particular, one thing that I have realized is that there is a mixed reaction towards the Manual Mode of the camera. While I can easily attribute it to laziness, a bit of introspection and inspection made me realize that there is a partial understanding of the basic concepts in the first place. While most of my friends have had the liberty to discuss these topics openly, many haven't had that chance or a medium perhaps.

So here are the basics of photography... Photography 101... for the sake of argument, this article is limited to Dslrs and Slrs, but the techniques can be applied to any type of photograph recording device.

Lets attack unarguably, the most common term in photography - A Dslr

Digital Single-Lens Reflex (camera) is basically digital cameras which use the (old) Single-Lens Reflex (SLR) technology and replace the film with a digital back (sensor). The Single-Lens Reflex is of interest to us at this point since we are going to use it further in this article and manipulate it in subsequent topics. To think about it in simple terms, think about a periscope, only in this case, the light is first bounced off a 45 degree mirror into a condenser lens finally into a Penta-prism before emerging out of the view finder. When the shutter release button is pressed all the way down, the mirror retracts and the sensor sees what you essentially saw earlier through the view finder. Hence, the term Single-Lens Reflex. Based on the sensor (film) size, they can be categorized into Crop Sensor (APS-C), Full Frame (35mm format), Medium Format and Large Format cameras. Most of us will be wielding a crop sensor camera with a crop factor of 1.5 for Nikon and 1.6-1.7 for Canon. I am going to restrict our discussion to crop sensors and full frames for ease.

Photo courtesy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_single-lens_reflex_camera

The terms and concepts that follow have certain uniqueness. Each of them can be attributed to a part of the entire camera and normally aren't swapped or mixed.

Shutter - Body function
Aperture - Lens function
ISO (ASA) - Sensor (Film) function

Whether Film or Digital, it has always been the amalgamation of these 3 things that takes the snaps. Lets dive a bit into each of these.

Aperture and Depth of Field (DoF)
When light travels, through the camera lens, it is actually travelling through a tunnel or a pipe. How much light reaches the other side is determined by the size of the hole or the opening. Aperture when loosely translated means a opening. Based on the size of the opening, the volume of light hits the sensor. The concept of aperture has been developed from the pupil in the human eye. Brighter the light, smaller the pupil to avoid irritation. Lesser the light wider the pupil so that we can see better. The second concept of Depth of Field or DoF is again borrowed from the pupil. Bigger the pupil, more the optical aberration and hence 'messier' the image, while smaller the pupil, sharper is the image and also the distance over which the image is sharp. If we extend it to the camera lens, bigger the hole size (aperture), more the light and optical aberration and hence shallower the DoF, while smaller the aperture, less light, more is the distance over which the image looks sharper and hence greater is the DoF.

This Ladybug is around 5mm in length. Notice how the head region and the body in that plane is sharp. The back and the grass in front are all blurred out

Aperture Priority or Aperture Value Mode - A (Nikon), Av (Canon), AV (Pentax)
In this mode the Aperture value is fixed and the camera processor decides the shutter speed for the correct exposure. When you turn the dial, what essentially happens is that the diaphragms in the lens open up or close down to control the size of the hole. In film cameras this was done by an aperture ring on the lens itself. In dslrs, this is done from the camera body. But finally the lens opening is only adjusted through a small lever extending from the camera body. The visible figures on the screen look something like this - f4, f4.5, f5, f5.6, f6.3, f7.1, f8, f9, f10, f11, so on and so forth. Interesting to note here are two things -

amount of light decreases with increase in aperture value and vice versa; ie f4 allows more light than f5.6 and conversely f11 to f8 allows more light
f4 is half of f8 while f5.6 is half of f11. So there are two mathematical series going on here.

Without going into the mathematical (geometric) progression (beyond the scope of this article), please remember that f4 to f8 progression is 2 stops similar to f5.6 to f11. Hence, f4 to f5.6 is one complete stop. Now here is the most important part - every time you change one whole stop, the light changes by half or double. So from f4 to f5.6 the light has halved while f11 to f8 the light has doubled.

Most of the cameras these days have the provision of breaking down the complete stop into 3 steps, but the relationship remains. The above confusing relationship is what will be widely used further for proper exposures. It is confusing in the beginning but as you practice more, it becomes much easier.

This is taken at f2.8. Notice the narrow plane of focus. The mushroom head and some grass below it is in focus.

For DoF, lenses with F1.4, F1.8 and F2.8 are called fast lenses since their apertures are very wide. For these lenses, at the Max aperture (smallest aperture value = Max hole size) the focal plain will be few centimeters wide and hence everything else will be blurred, giving a wonderful appearance. Since such aperture sizes are difficult to manufacture repeatably, such lenses are very costly. Similarly at aperture values approaching f6.3 to f8 and beyond, the DoF is several meters wide which means most of the photograph will be in focus and sharp.

This is taken at f16. Notice the sharpness which extends right up to the structures way behind.

From application stand point, Higher Aperture (smaller f value), More Light, Lesser DoF. Lower Aperture (higher f value), Less Light, Higher DoF.

Shutter and Shutter Speed

Essentially, the dslr sensor is like the film. Moment you expose it to light it will start recording data. Whether you are at the right focus or frame or is the light sufficient; it simply doesn't care. So what we have essentially here is a curtain; a piece of black cloth on a spring, which hides the sensor (film) from light till we feel we are ready to click. Hence, you might have observed that the Shutter release button has 2 stops - first, at half way, it adjusts focus (in case of auto-focus) and finally it clicks when you press all the way through. Shutter Speed would then literally mean, the speed at which we open and close the curtain to allow the light to fall on the sensor (film). This brings us to the next term.

This is the D7000 Shutter assembly. Important to notice is the marked region which shows several shutter curtains.

Photo courtesy: http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/d7000/specifications.htm

Shutter Priority or Time value Mode - S (Nikon), Tv (Canon), TV (Pentax)
In this mode, the camera allows us to fix the value of the shutter speed. What you control is the rate at which the curtain opens and closes the sensor (film). In turn, what you control is the amount of time for a volume of light (determined by aperture) falls on the sensor (film). When you use the wheel or the dial for the Shutter speed, the numbers either increase or decrease on the screen. What you see for example is 250, 320, 400, 500, but what it means is 1/250, 1/320, 1/400 of a second. Now the important part in this part of the discussion - 1/250 of a second is 1/2 of 1/125. Hence 1/250 lets the same volume of light to fall on the sensor for 1/2 the time of 1/125. Hence 1/125 to 1/250 is one full stop and exposure time is half. Similarly 1/60 to /30 is again a full stop while exposure time has doubled. The series goes something like this - 1", 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 1/15, 1/30, 1/60, 1/125, 1/250, 1/500, so on and so forth. Newer cameras give 1/3 stop arrangements so you can get something like 1/60, 1/80, 1/100, 1/125, 1/160, 1/200, 1/250, so on and so forth. Even though, 1/60, 1/125, 1/250, is the original series, the relationship between 1/100 and 1/200 is the same.

Fireworks - it is a 87 seconds exposure (motion blur)

Water drop - taken at 1/320 of a second (freeze motion)

From application stand point, Higher Shutter Speed, Lesser Light and Motion Freeze. Lower Shutter Speed, More Light and Motion Blur

ISO (ASA)
The final of the triangle, ISO, as pointed out earlier is a sensor (film) characteristics. It is basically a medium to gather more light. Loosely, ISO can be compared to worker ants. More the number of ants, faster is the food collected. Say it is a bright day outside. For the same brightness of the image, keeping the other settings the same, the amount of light collected by ISO 100 will obviously be less than ISO 200 and so on. However, as your ISO increases, so will the digital noise. This is primarily because ISO produces brightness artificially through pre-written algorithms. Lower ISO is a darker smoother image, Higher ISO is a grainy image. A balance needs to be set and each camera has its own sweet-spot.

Here is a cheat sheet summarizing the above.

Photo courtesy: http://livinginthestills.com/cheatsheet

So long for now. Happy clicking and experimenting...

Cheers!!!
- Abhishek

Voices of Nepal...

2013-01-01T09:09:00.002-08:00

"the best way to overcome a temptation is to succumb to it.." once said my English teacher in school.

being assigned the lead for the project, i had the unsaid privilege of.... hush hush... traveling to the installation locati... psst psst...

nevertheless, this time, my work took me for a pleasure ride into Nepal via Patna right across the border at Raxaul, crossing over to Birgunj... phew...

none of the world-class technologies at Google could save me from the suffering that lay en-route Patna-Birgunj... a mere 250 km... Google reassured a 3-4 hour journey... we did it in 9... and trust me when they joked that they can transform Shanghai into Bihar in 10 days... they were damn correct....

anyways, we moved into Nepal did some office work and moved to the next site in Kathmandu - the land of the Gods...

yeah Birgunj's heat and hotel's chilled water did give me a 100 deg fever and i carried that straight into Kathmandu's chill, but that didn't really stop me... somewhere deep down, there were voices which kept me pushing... The Voices of Nepal indeed...

as advised the first thing we did in Kathmandu post work was a visit to the famous Pashupathinath temple... the temple stood in pure magnificence... the evening "aarati" amazingly captivating... the enthusiasm was in the air... psychologically you feel the strength just sitting there for some time... and once again Einsteins Relativity plays tricks with you - you just wouldn't know how the hour hand moved from 7 pm to 8 pm...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKlvb0gz2ds

the banks of the idly flowing Bagmati river below the Pashupathinath temple, is a gateway for heaven for all the deceased Nepali folk... the cremation process fills one with awe... but the temple bells chiming far away gives all the hope and courage needed...

with time the spiritual visit further metamorphosized into a much glamorous one...Thamel, one of the shopping centers of Nepal was waiting to treat us... you could just find anything here - from the extreme trekking stuff to mild and soft shawls. i got some shawls for home... claimed to be pashmina - i dunno; aint an expert...

some of the weird things the place had to offer to eat included buffalo momo and hot beer called thungba... bon appetit...

Post completion of the work, the next day a brief visit to the King's palace (now museum) was exquisite...took about an hour to get through the palace. it showed what it is to live life king size!!! only one question that lingered in my mind - if the king and queen stayed in separate rooms, then.... never mind....

the final trip of the day was the Darbar Square... 3 hours flat and yet we couldn't finish it all... the place is huge with huge structures and with a huge number of people... there were huge old buildings resembling pagodas... temples, a kumari palace and museum too.... about the museum - built in 1770 it is made of wood and earth and nine storeys high... beat that!!!! tired as we were, we finished the evening with a late lunch and returned to the hotel...

the next and last day was a quick trip to the work zone and then straight to the airport. airport security is funny in Kathmandu... the'll will touch you everywhere to check if you are carrying something that doesn't belong in the flight.... anyways...

all in all, with the fever, with work, the trip went extremely well... we didnt plan any time for any of these places; thought that work wouldnt allow us... but i guess we were extremely efficient...

For more pictures please visit https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.4738857992009.193434.1311662017&type=3

Mumbai - the last leg...

2011-04-10T17:51:00.000-07:00

A recall of one the significant events in my last 2 weeks in Mumbai...

As I neared my flying off dates, I was constantly reminded of my bond with this city. 26yrs and I had never before felt so attached to the city.
I was again going away - from my home, my friends and most of all my city... Mumbai

Initially, I had started off writing this blog, trying to cover the Kala Ghoda festival, later only to realize that Kala Ghoda was just one of the colours of this city.

There were several others which needed to be captured... The last time I tried to do that, I found one blog to be not enough...

Being a photography enthusiast, I thought that it would be nice to capture some moments to be carried on as memories.

Places which had been long forgotten or hadn't been visited for the lack of time this city offered; I thought it would be a nice idea to revisit them.

So I gathered some friends; organised a get together and to be a bit formal and look serious, came up with a detailed itinerary about the event I called a photo-walk. Some 30 odd people - known and unknown alike, registered for it. It was unexpected and till the day of the "photo-walk", I was worried as to how would I control such a crowd and carryout the "event" as planned rather than have a chaos.

Fortunately or unfortunately, on the day, only my known friends turned out (whichever way you want to look at it). The crowd was controllable and soon the small group of mine were roaming about, around Churchgate and Fort and clicking whatever was in sight.

Finally after a lot of loitering around, we finally had a quick McD brunch and were joined by another group. This one was roaming since 6 in the morning and so some of them went home while others stayed back. Soon it seemed that long lost friends had met.I cut the itinerary short and started for Elephanta caves immediately.

The ride on the ferry was a mini photo-walk in itself. People posed, everyone of us wanted to prove to ourselves that yes we could click. But yes we all could photograph. Whether we had a camera or not, it didn't matter; what mattered was that we all were full of ideas to relish upon.

Elephanta had its own charm - a small toy train, hell lot of steps and finally the sight of the caves; not that its divine, but the sight from the top of the small island hill is breath taking.

Small shops lined the both sides of the stairs, that led up to the caves, giving the young photography enthusiasts millions of opportunities to test the skill and capture the sight in the most mesmerizing way it could have been possible.

The cave had its own charisma; provided us with the window to the rich ancient culture. I had been to Ajanta and Ellora, late last year. But every time I saw these caves, it always left me with a very intriguing question - how on earth did they manage this feat in those days??? Back of my mind I knew that there weren't any answers.

PDA is now common in my city. It shows the unique bonding one had for the other even if life has been too fast for us to even look at each other; so we just find time to bond, whenever life throws an opportunity.

After roaming around for hours in the caves, the group gathered again and we had the much needed group photograph.

Tired as we were, after the entire days ordeal, we scavenged the hilltop for a restaurant. We finally gorged upon the food that the lone hotel on the hilltop served and rushed back to the "last" ferry for the day from the island.

Our ride back on the steamer was unlike the one we had while going to the caves. Anyone hardly spoke; the day seemed to had drained our energy. But the surprise guests who visited us injected life back into us - the beautiful aerial friends of the sea; seagulls.

As the sun began to set we had a wonderful view in front of us - the island city. The sun began to dive into the city's skyline; it seemed it bade farewell to all of us in the ferry, specially to me and we let the mesmerizing sight sink deep into us.

As we neared the city, another wonderful sight awaited us - The Gateway of India. I would like to credit the British for having thought of such an ecstatic name for the stone monument. After some good captures, we settled down to disembark from the ferry.

Everyone was tired, but the faint glimpse of smile was enough to convince me that the things were in place and everyone would have cherished the day as I had planned.

I reeled through my days catch and was filled with a strange sentiment looking at the photographs - something perhaps that just cant be described in black and white.

It just can be felt - in my city, my Mumbai....

Mumbai Diaries - A Day in the Life of Mumbai...

2011-01-21T21:29:00.000-08:00

When I received this invitation for the Dhobhighaat photoshoot, I was excited since it would mean big if I could win. My spirits were dampened first by seeing the number of people participating in the shoot online and then by actually seeing the people present onsite!!!!

God played tricks with me all the time...

Anyways... I refurbished my dreams of winning and I went ahead to shoot the life of an average Mumbaikar...for that matter even a below average guy.

I started with finding someone who wanted to freshen up. I mean on a holiday, I wouldn't freshen up so early in the morning. But when I tried to find one... I found several.
Okie moving forward, I tried to capture the next instant after one freshens up - morning tea. Today wasn't my lucky day I guess. Throughout those 5 hours I couldn't grab a single brother drinking the morning beverage...tough-luck for me I guess.
I had decided to not take my car today.... wherever I would have gone, it would be either on foot or by train or bus.... not even rickshaws or taxis.

So I fought my way into the train and finally when I was comfortably placed (read got space for both feet), I started to look around for something interesting. What I found was overwhelming!!!!

Dreams of every kind were floating around the eyes of every shape; some covered, some sleepy, but all of them hanging on to make it to their destinations... ahem... too heavy

I had googled for the location of the dhobhighaats in Mumbai and landed finally in Mahalaxmi. I had never been before here; I mean being at the race-course is one thing but definitely not at the dhobhighaat...

Its an experience in itself; this washing clothes industry is huge and I can vouch for it. In around just 5000 sqft at least 50 Tonnes of fabric of all kinds were being washed - doctors gown, towels, sarees, regular clothes and an array of white shirts (didnt shoot that cos how much ever I tried, the photograph was overexposed)...

The place seemed to be packed with emotions... thoughtful, controller, agnostic.... every kind of them

Mandarin, mauve and harvest green seemed to be the colours of the day.... an array of each of these colours spread over several lines...

Content with what I had shot for sometime and dampened by the number of people trying to shoot, I moved ahead... this time to VT....

The first one to for me to encounter there was the symbol of peace.... hard to make out, however, was the fact that the dove herself was frightened of something....

My long time friend had suggested that I should cover the Fashion Street once; today perhaps was the day... maybe not the right time however....

Colours, however, were awesome... they can just captivate you and anchor you at your place, untill you are woken from your slumber by the nudge at your elbow from a potential seller....

Collection of the junk jewelery was something that bowled me over... my friend was right.... she has hell lot of experience I guess...

Here too, I managed to pull out the emotions in the air... perhaps friendship was the cue here....

Walking through the complete fashion street (which seemed impossible in the beginning), I finally reached the place which I had heard about in many movies during casualties... Bombay Hospital...my photography spree would have ended here, but for these 2 gentlemen...

Finally on my way back home, I got the essence of the practical mood of Mumbai too... Survival...

So as I finally wind up with emotions from my previous walks around Mumbai and this one, I was at loss of words to describe this city..... my friends from my firm-to-be helped me out on this..... this is what they gave me in 50 words from my collection comprising of, by and for Mumbai...

"Bound together by a strong undercurrent to survive and outperform - Yes, this is Mumbai. City, that steps forward and meets every morning with a 'salaam', regardless of what fate brings along. Running through the day with its vintage charm, it pauses only to ponder 'Can I make it large?'"

Aastalavista....
Abhishek

Weekend @ Rajmachi

2010-12-27T10:13:00.000-08:00

Give a man a good photograph and he admires it.... teach him how to click one and he keeps shooting the rest of his life.....

He he... was just trying to be a bit insightful. Anyways, my last team of Aurangabad had almost done nothing for several weekends together. So we finally decided that we go on a trek this weekend, though we knew that one of us had to go for an official trip abroad. So this time we asked some more of the folks. My last trip's photographs had created quite a stir among the otherwise boring folk, who just believed to come and go to office on weekdays and sleep on weekends.

So this time, we pooled in more people; 6 of us - 4 guys and two girls. How I roped in the girls this time, its for them to write and already one of them has written about it; http://aditionly.blogspot.com/2010/12/lights-silence-camerassss-action.html

So there we were at Thane station at 5 in the morning, shivering with my old team-mate searching for something to eat and drink. Anyways we boarded the train from Thane and the girls had already boarded from Dadar much earlier. Finally we got down after about an hour and half at Karjat. It was a sleepy place with sleepy people and only people awake at 7 in the morning were the auto-rickshaw fellows and this guy wading through the cold river.

Base camp for Rajmachi was Kondive village located about 14 kms from Karjat. A simple breakfast of poha and tea was all that was necessary to get us back on track for the next 4-5 hrs journey.

The village was a perfect location for the photographers and we could have spent the whole day there itself... but then we had to reach Rajmachi.

Well about Rajmachi - 3000 ft above MSL, medium difficulty climb and book says 3hrs climb-time (bullshit). But if are packed up well for 2 days or so, you will be taking much longer and if you are a first timer then even much more.

So, we begin marching for towards our target and the only guides to the place were some arrows marked by some perhaps very good people and some locals who knew nothing but Marathi.

After some posing and some photography we kept marching ahead towards our pit-stop of Kondana caves.

Kondana caves had the beauty of their own. Dating back to 6th century, I always kept wondering (one)why the hell these Buddhist guys build the caves and monasteries this high, and (second) how did they keep climbing every time they wanted to pray...

Anyways, we kept climbing further, lefts and rights going up, guided further by the arrows. I took a wrong path ones and got entangled in a spider web... for the first time I felt how the poor fly must have felt...

With every passing hour the climb became steeper and much more difficult... at some point it seemed like we were lost, just when a local arrived and we tried following him. He just disappeared at the next turn...seemed more of a ghost to me...

At a flat piece of land I gave a signal to all to sit down for some snacks; whatever was left the ants feasted on them...

Tired as we were, we three photographers kept nudging ahead... partly because of the distinct flora and fauna around us; majorly because of the spirits that these two girls had...hats off to you both...

After a grueling 5hrs of climb with our unnecessarily heavy bags, shouts from one my fellow trekkers gave us a sigh of relief...the village was in sight!!!

The village was small, 15huts maybe... simple people, no electricity and very simple food, which we devoured down in matter of minutes...

Our place for the night was a simple "pukka" home.... the sun was about to set and we had little time left to capture the surrounds in the golden light of the sun

Night started to fall and our caretaker brought in the evening snacks of tea and onion bhajiya and also fire-wood for a bonfire...

The cold night and the tired bodies slowly dragged our conversations towards weird topics ranging from the IT industry to ghosts and spirits...the spirits in Rajmachi were interested too... notice that white dot in the black region above the girl in the centre....

The next day was superb.... I had planned it the last night itself and I wanted to climb the smaller of the two forts Manoranjan. I even started on foot at 5.30 in the morning towards; pitch black and I got totally lost in the jungle and so I gave up....

By the time everyone got up (9 am) i was thoroughly bored. But then it was sometimes gr8 to be alone, and in the lap of nature...

So finally we set out after a simple breakfast towards the higher of the two forts Srivardhan...

Difficult as it seemed, but it took just about 30 mins to reach the top...

The pit stop in between was modern day temple decorated with ancient architecture to add to the beauty

The view from the top was gr8... we could count almost all the houses in our village...

The way downward was as awesome as going up... it seemed like we were moving in through dense foliage...

After reaching down we sat down for a simple lunch and started on our way back. This time we took the longer route to Lonavala, about 20kms from our minuscule village... we had read that sumos and other strong off road vehicles could make it through that path..... we preferred it on foot....

One of my fellow campers had already developed cramps; rather had got a pulled hamstring... she had already quit the Srivardhan trail before.... but she happily agreed to this walk.... hats off to her

13kms down and totally devoid of any energy that was left in us... we were resting near a bridge and still deciding the right way to go.... when I suddenly heard an unusual sound... no it wasn't a sumo or for that matter any other car... it was a TRUCK!!!!

One shout and we were abode the truck... it dropped us at Lonavala... this was really an icing on the gr8 trekking cake that we had all this while... for the last 2 days....

At this point I would like to invite more people before I take a break from the treks for sometime with my good old fellow campers.... I have a visit to Sindhudurg left for the new years weekend....and i guess one or two more to some other places that we had planned including Gir sanctuary.... anyone interested may want to call up and join in.... I am sure you would enjoy....leaving for now....

Aastalavista....
Abhi

Nvr thght History was gr8 out of d books - Day 3, Daulatabad, Ellora and Bibi ka Maqbara

2010-12-19T05:56:00.000-08:00

The morning at Lonar was wonderful. And so was the trip back to Aurangabad - a small auto with 3 over sized bags and people, a maurit van that stopped at every place where there were people and finally a state transport bus... We reached Aurangabad at midday freshened up, hurriedly had lunch at the roadside biriyaniwala and stepped into the autorickshaw to explore the last realms of our trip...

We reached base of the Daulatabad fort which was around 14 kms from the Aurangabad City. The climb to the top was another 150 meters but the last two days had pumped in enough strength and stamina for this last climb.

Daulatabad was a warehouse of history. Right from that antique door above to the mysterious corridors below, the place was a loaded and bubbling with stories of Shivaji and his endeavours...

I guess this is the right time to give one stark observation about Aurangabad - on one hand we had this hardcore Marathi culture and on the other hand there was a distinct flavour of Hyderabad...

Whether it was the brilliant and tasty chicken biriyani or this Minaret, Hyderabad seemed to form a distinct part of the dialect...

After some exciting forty five minutes, we reached the top. The look and feel of the place seemed to place it straight out of the Harry Potter comic book...
The climb down was through a maze of tunnels with absolute darkness and only bats for company and their shit adding a strange aroma to place. We reached the bottom and finally started towards Ellora...did I mention that on our way to Daulatabad, the accelerator wire of the rickshaw had snapped off and we saw a really awesome "jugad" for driving...

Anyways we reached Ellora in one piece and the first thing to notice there is cave no. 16. The largest single rock-cut temple in that area. Ellora to be precise was the much larger than Ajanta; with over 34 caves and spread over 4kms from end to end...

Ellora is more of Hindu literature coming straight out of the books. This one being the Kailash temple and rest dedicated to other Hindu gods.

Visit to these places really made me feel a complete waste - I mean the time during which these were made, there was very limited technology and yet they managed this feat.
Anyways, we were too tired to carry on with the rest of the caves and rather skimmed through most of them, and we also had visit the "Poor Man's Taj"...

Bibi ka Maqbara is a splendid piece of architecture. It beautiful to watch at night, so I wonder what will it be like during the day. More than that was the fun watching people trying to click this piece at night. I mean I wanted to go and explain the folly, but it would have meant a crash course in photography... So I restrained myself... and only kept the amusement to my fellow wanderers...

Competition brings out awesome stuff I must say and the above piece was the result of the same. But at the same time its gr8 to see someone capture the techs and depth of photography so well.... so heres a perfect night shot to end this 3 day trip...

Our way back also included Pawanchakki but I didn't manage to capture the amazement there...

We finally boarded our bus to Mumbai and thus marked the end of the wonderful trip...my only expectation is from the association that we had formed... I hope to carry it forward for a long time...

So thank you my fellow mates for this wonderful 3 days of super-fun-filled-adrenaline-charged extravaganza....

Aastalavista...
Abhishek

Nvr thght History was gr8 out of d books - Day 2, Lonar

2010-12-19T03:39:00.000-08:00

The nite ended rather early. I was already up by 5.30 in the morning. I had been instructed by my other two "campers" that we had to catch the first bus at 7.00. Well I got up, freshened up, only to return to find that they were still sleeping in their cozy beds.

Anyways, we finally made it to the bus stand on time. The scene at the bus stand was awesome. It was hell crowded. We managed to get "one and half" seat only, such that at any point of time, either I could sit alone or only the other two... :P

We reached Lonar after a cruel 150kms and 5hrs in the state transport bus. A short stint in the rickshaw and there you are at the Lonar crater. Now you have to trust me about Lonar Crater; it is the most beautiful place that I have seen so far... Created some 55000 years ago, this crater is 1.8km in diameter while 137meters deep from the top. At the base of the crater there is this lake and it is 1.2 km in diameter.

Well we stayed at the MTDC bungalow (mind you it is the only place where you can stay there). It is a sprawling multi-storey building, with several rooms and dorms. The bungalow itself was very beautiful... you might even consider not getting out...

Well we started the descend by 12 noon with the sun on our head. But the location was such that we completely forgot about the heat. Well 500 mts above the sea level it's a bit cooler too... The hedge at the bottom of the crater is dense, awesome path moving right into the jungle...

One small standing instruction for first timers with regards to trekking in Lonar; the water of the lake is Alkaline. Loads of caustic fumes around. Carry a large cloth, wet it and tie it around your nose and mouth.

Coming back to Lonar... the region is damn pollution free and the skies are so clear and blue that once you look up, you are just "sky-struck". There are 12 temples around this lake; we figured out around 8 of them.

Most of these temples are abodes of bats. But then one of them is maintained very by the locals. There are some Shiv statues in various forms around this main temple.

The view around the temple was awesome. Apart for the smell, colors were so very good that one could just stay back and keep looking. Green waters, blue sky the perfect tree and a beautiful lawn... I had almost decided to build a house there; only a little while later I got choked with the smell after a waft of breeze swept across.

We took a different route to go back to the top. The structures on the way back were equally enthralling... who placed them there or why where they there in the first place....we had no idea.....

After we reached back to the top, we sat on the edge to relax. As the view surged in, our contemplative sides started to take over.

The lights slowly started to fade out as the night started to take over. The evening over the crater was as breathtaking as the crater itself. Soaking the last rays of the sun we let our tired bodies breath as the last 2 days had been quite tiring physically.
We slept quite early partly because of the tiring 2 days we had so far and partly because of the classic malvani food that the MTDC resort had cooked for us.

The morning of the next day was as beautiful as the whole place itself. A classic view from the back of the hotel gave a beautiful panorama which I had missed earlier...

We left the hotel in the morning and started for our final phase of our classic trip...

Aastalavista...
Abhishek

Nvr thght History was gr8 out of d books - Day 1, Ajanta

2010-11-28T07:03:00.000-08:00

So what do you get when a bunch of 3 idiots from the same office, just plan stuff out of nowhere for the weekend??? Yeah you get a gr8 trip with an awesome package of entertainment; in fact, the embedded fun so much that no other package tour can offer.

Yeah... so where was I, yup I remember. It was thursday morning and I had reached the office much later than the usual, and as I settle down, what do I hear across the partition??? "Something something..... Ajanta......something something..... Daulatabad......" So, with my brain perked up with this newfound source of energy on this unusually boring day, I got up to find out the exact source of this particular frequency, only to find that it was the guy across the partition. He had planned a trip, with another colleague of mine, to Aurangabad for 3 days....

No before we move into further, a quick word of acknowledgement. I owe this wonderful 3 days of adrenaline filled adventure trip to this particular guy from my office.

Yeah now moving back to where we started... this had to be a low cost trip. So strictly no alcohol. Moreover we had plans to ascend and descend lots of hills and mountains, so for the heck of safety. Our journey started from Thane in a semi - "luxury" bus (read low cost) and we reached Aurangabad in the morning.

After a quick refreshing stint in the International Youth Hostel, we set of for Ajanta caves, 110 kms from the city. Here, since we had missed the morning bus, we had to hire a cab (cost us a bomb)...

Ajanta is a hell of a place. We didnt follow the conventional route, the route usually taken up by the family people. Instead we climbed down the hill, a drop of almost 150 mts straight down into the valley. The 7 step waterfall, the view of the caves from the top of the observation point added much more of excitement to the trip.

Wiki says Ajanta comprises of a total of 31 caves (damn we figured out only 26). All the murals and frescos depicting the Buddhist and pre-Buddha cultures with the ones starting from the Satvahana era up to an era of Kanishka. In fact these structures were constructed in different periods of history separated by over 4 centuries (beat that)...

As we climbed down the hill, the highest observation point kept diminishing in size, and so did the second one. There was a sense of an achievement that we were actually moving down a steep slope. Back of the mind however, there was this thought that kept shooting back that we had to climb back again the whole hill since our cab waited there. Truthfully, I guess I was only one with this thought...... :P

The climb down was excellent; easy to be precise. The flora and fauna was excellent feed for a photographer. I had this admirer (same guy who had planned all) all the way long. He had shown keen interest in photography and with a little help, he really clicked gr8 images.

The old bridge between our hill and caves creaked under out weight. But the view was breathtaking.

And the kids who ran around us, they were cute too....
Hmmmm......moving over to the actual caves, the caretaker told us that the cave nos 9, 10 and 23 are the most important of all, but then we had this adventure bug in us, so it was a unanimous and implicit decision that we roam around all of them whether we have the light left with us or not (yes the caves close down at 5.30pm)

Some of my grabs in these caves...

Thats all I have with me right now for Ajanta. For other grabs of Ajanta please visit http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=100783&id=1311662017&l=6a40530ca3

This was actually the Diwali day, but it had poured cats and dogs in Aurangabad. There was a heavy haze and to add to it was the fog from the fireworks.

So as we returned and searched for a good hotel to pounce upon some good food, all of us recalled what a day it had been....

Our faces and body were tired.....but then there was this thin smile of satisfaction, for we had a gr8 day..... and also there was this curiosity how our next two days of our trip will be....

Aastalavista...
Abhishek

Rendezvous with Raw Nature....

2010-09-11T08:55:00.000-07:00

It just happened that last night as I was about to sleep; I got this lovely thought that its about time I should visit the National Park - Sanjay Gandhi National Park. For others it could have been boring; for me it isn't considering my recent endeavours. It had been 15 years plus since my last visit as a kid.

So there I was at the gates today...wow they had changed a lot. Now they have a tiger and lion safari, some wild life museum, and yes above all the Kanheri Caves trek.

Urbanization has hit Mumbai hard; it wouldn't have spared the National park either. On you way into the park as you just cross the main entrance, you can see the neighbouring construction encroaching the National Park. I surely now understand why the poor felines enter into these societies....

Anyways, as you walk from the main gate towards the pickup point of the Lion/Tiger safari, you pass a beautiful stream. God knows the name of this stream, but it is one of the best companions for you since it stays right up to the top of the Kanheri caves; rather starts from there.

As you move further into the National park you come across a dam. Inquisitiveness drew me right to the middle of the dam. With nothing much interesting to be found there, I turned around to find this gentleman staring right into my camera and me. I had a mental block then and I guess he understood that, since he left me to recover from the sudden surge of adrenaline which at other times would have forced me to flee. Anyways...

Trying to refocus, I immediately shifted my attention to the tiny little frog croaking away happily on a nearby rock. I followed it, but just after the first pose, it showed utter lack of interest in me or my photography and hopped away into wilderness.

Helpless, I then thought of sharpening my photography skills even more and so I shifted my attention to some water-droplets neatly arranged on this leaf. I took a couple of photographs and satisfied, I moved on.

Finally, I reached the pick-up point, after a long walk, for the tiger and lion safari. In India, having too many people most of the times has negative effects. This was proved to me very accurately. I had to wait for more than an hour so that the bus would be filled up to its threshold of 15 passengers.
With nothing else to do, I shifted my focus to other things in life; to be specific, I caught a couple making out in one corner of the park, through my telephoto. But then, a bit of social sense made me put only the lichens photograph up here on this blog.....anyways......

As the crowd gathered in the bus, this young couple - no I should say family, sat right in the front of me. The little kid kept eying my lens curiously; as I was drawn towards the thought that I would be in the same position in a couple of years and another guy like me would be clicking me from somewhere. Good the bus started just then to get me back to the real world.

So as we moved further, my excitement about the tiger safari was short-lived. All the tigers were behind fences and they didn't even bother to roar at us. Seemed like they considered us a caged animals....

The Lion safari was quite awesome. Unlike the tiger counterpart, the lions and lionesses were left out in the open here. Her Majesty showed herself, and let out her partner call. That was enough to let out shrieks in the bus; initially, which later died down completely with another roar. The otherwise bustling bus had now become a silent machine as in a war zone, behind the enemy lines.

I was at the last seat when Her Majesty walked right up to the bus. Seemed like she had smelled me and the pounds of fat hanging around my waistline. Finally she decided to give upon me and walked into the jungle.

The safari ended and I managed to gather some good photographs. I walked back to the main gate to catch the bus for the Kanheri Caves. Little did I know that I needed to wait another hour there for the bus. So I decided to walk right up to the Kanheri caves. This turned out to be an even bigger mistake. The walk was around 8kms. Anyways...
I reached the base of Kanheri and the most interesting site was this.
This dude reminded me of a very popular photograph of a squirrel often tagged as "Got Balls"
A little up the slope and I found this fellow. I tried giving him a piece of guava that I was having, but he posed. I moved back wondering if he didn't like the guava or was simply camera shy....

Climbing up the hill, you come across Kanheri Caves. This is a Buddhist cave dating back to 10th century BC. Most of these caves were meant for studying, living and meditation. Interesting to note were that the lower rooms were for lower cadre students while the teachers stayed in the rooms much higher up in the mountain. This is the central prayer hall.

Nearly 51 legible inscriptions and 26 epigraphs are found at Kanheri, which include the inscriptions in Brahmi, Devanagari and 3 Pahlavi and several other epigraphs.

Several such carving adorn the walls of the caves. I kept wondering how these craftsmen climbed so high with all the tools to carve these.

The main prayer hall had these huge pillars, each with special inscriptions. There was a huge Stupa at the center of the room.

There was a group of people who prayed around these Stupas. These Stupas had special cut-outs meant for keeping the lamps.

I loved the whole feel of the place. Seemed like I was teleported to the 10th century itself.

On the way back, I again committed the same mistake of walking back. However, this time the walk was better; it was down the slope. I often wondered the life of the Buddhist monks; I mean walking up and down the mountain all the time...... anyways..... The view from the top was beautiful....breath taking.....

The way back was very long.....I mean after about 4 hrs of trek up and down a mountain, you wouldn't really want to walk back 8kms. I even thought of sitting down in the middle of the road and plead for lift from the occasional car that passed by. But the slight roars that I heard, kept me on my toes and I kept praying that none of them would want to pay me a visit.

I had a lot of stuff to eat walking back - from malasa cucumbers to sweet guavas and loads of juices. I never expected my way back would be such a fun. My only regret is that I couldn't take a dip in that stream.

Anyways, this is a must place within the limits of Mumbai for a trekker or a photographer. I clicked several other photographs throughout the trip. You can have a look at the rest here http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=80210&id=1311662017

Just like any other trek, there are some ground-rules that need to be followed. Mainly dealing with safety. Food items should not be littered anywhere and avoid carrying strong smells. Whatever said and done, please remember that this is a forest; respect it.

Bye for now....

Aastalavista,

Abhishek

The Vintage Mumbai...

2010-07-15T23:30:00.000-07:00

Browsing through my stock photographs I came across a lot of photographs which spoke silently, volumes about the life of vintage Mumbai.

Presenting some of these photographs that give a peek-a-boo into the life of Mumbai. These photographs don't cover the entire of the Mumbai or for that matter all the "tourist" locations of Mumbai, but do cover some of my favorite locations and what I feel is the essence of the city itself.

The Gateway of India: This one doesn't need any introduction. It is the very reflection of this very city. The most important thing about this monument is that, whatever be the season or time of the day, the crowd that you see below is of the same numbers.

These lovely glass pieces are found at the most crowded places in Mumbai - the railway stations. Record number of people travel everyday through the life-line of Mumbai, the local trains, which brings me to the next photograph.

Yeah, this is how the average, common Mumbaikar travels every day - to work, or to any other place the want to reach out to...
Disruptions do happen sometimes to his time-bound schedules...like the other day when the train got derailed and for hours everyone was stuck.

But then its okie and people do know how to get around such things...

Often the Mumbaikar gets tired and relaxes...
wherever he can get a chance to sit and release his stress; stress that this city's fast life offers in return to the thousand dreams it fulfills...

The Queen's Necklace embraces all these tired souls. It also embraces a lot of those love stuck souls too; who want to take sometime out of their busy schedules and spend sometime with those they love.
This photograph was taken on 11th July - World Population day...
The best part about this place is that, irrespective of the crowd it carries, it still offers you some sort of an eternal peace - it gives you a chance to think; to contemplate...

I know its got a bit heavy...so I would like to divert a bit here....

Mumbai has got this beautiful network of roads... well you need to trust me on that since I have been driving around for quite sometime now...yeah some places the roads are damaged but then its the same everywhere...
Anyways coming back....for drivers like me...this road is a heaven....you can think of breaking the 100kmph barrier on this road....irrespective of the traffic....
This bright streak of light is that car which was doing a 120...this is the Eastern Express Highway...
which brings me to my very own road that I have been treading for the last 60000kms that I have driven so far - bike and car combined since 2003...the Western Express Highway...
though its has the express highway tagline....i have always seen it laden with jams...with hell lot of infrastructure construction around what else do you expect???

Moving away from traffic and noise, Mumbai does offer a lot peaceful places...places where you only find chatter and laughter of friends or quiet and serenity of a couple in love... well yes am talking of the famous Bandstand, Bandra...

This is the aerial view of Bandstand from the top floor of my engineering college....4 yrs and yet we visited Bandstand properly only in the final year..

Mumbai has a host of serious places too...places where rituals and poojas take place...one such location is Banganga...

One of the best seasons for me in Mumbai is the rains...I dont care what people say... but seriously its beautiful...

the way the drops bring about life everywhere around you; its magical...even the most barren parts of the city get covered with the greens during the rains...magical...

Mumbai has got some beaches...I wouldnt dare call all of them lovely...but yes some of them are really great...some really dirty...

This is Marve beach...same is the condition with Juhu Beach...
But then some beaches are still not that frequented by people and hence still kind of virgin and clean and beautiful...

Mumbai also has some beautiful lakes too...the Powai lake for example, post its beautification project, really looks lovely on a moon-lit night...

Mumbai has host of places and you can literally categorize them as per your needs - chill out zones, fun zones, movies, theaters, holy places, places for friends, places for love.....you name it and you'll get it
To get a complete picture of Mumbai in one photo-blog is absolutely impossible...just with history I can go on with 2-3 photo-blogs
Every place here has its own significance...whether its an elite shopping mall or a simple market, high rise buildings or shanties....each of them have there share of story to tell....

This is the city which has been my home for years...

This is Mumbai - the city of dreams....

Aastalavista...
Abhi

World of Macro...

2010-07-08T00:08:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my world of Macro photography...

This photograph was shot in my MBA hostel kitchen sink using a borrowed cup and a laptop bag for the black background.

Tears in an Ocean...

The above photograph was the first shot in which the black background was absent.

Hope: Bringing light into the darkness...

Helicopter: of crouching dragons and hidden cameras...
This is what you get when you loaf around for 2 hours in a jungle situated between a river-cum-drain and the worlds largest slum.

Grass Flower: start of a new life...
Same location as above this is the flower of the common garden grass, seeds can be seen on the flowers.

Photograph from one of my road trips to Lonavla, this wasp sat on my car windshield giving me a good view of its underbelly.

Suspended in mid air, this is an image of a small twig suspended by nearly invisible, fine spider-webs...
The Visitor: Shot at Mahabaleshwar Mapro farm, file photograph shows a penta-floret with a tiny visitor.

Propagation: let the light spread...
One of my fire photography macros.

Another one of the same cadre.

Thats all for now....will get back with more in sometime.....

Aastalavista...
Abhi

With flora and fauna....

2010-06-04T01:26:00.000-07:00

White Sly: Serene still waters reflecting the tranquiled sky splash over the scheming bird...

Location: Kankaria Lake, Ahmedabad

Kankaria Lake is a multisided lake that was built by Sultan Qutab-ud-Din in the year 1451 A.D. It is basically an artificial lake with thirty four sides. Lying on the south eastern side of the Ahmedabad city, the lake also has a fascinating island summer palace. People are of the say that Kankaria lake of Ahmedabad was often visited by the Mughal Emperor Jahangir along with his wife Empress Noor Jehan.

The photographs above is that of the Little Egret stalking its prey. The adult Little Egret is 55–65 cm long with an 88–106 cm wingspan. It weighs 350–550 grams. Its plumage is all white. It has long black legs with yellow feet and a slim black bill.

Leap of Hope: is what I call this one....truly it is.....one small leap for a squirrel.....one huge leap for the squirrel-kind!!!! Shot at the same location heres a photograph of a squirrel leaping over the wall. Squirrels spotted in Ahmadabad were generally of two kinds, the regular Stripped squirrel and Grizzled Giant Squirrel.

Relax: Anywhere, Anytime!
A further exploration of the places helped me get this one.

Moving from Western India, I traveled across to Eastern India to my hometown in West Bengal. The above is a late evening photograph on a full moon.

Wedged: Aiming high, Being shy, Lead me there, Where everyone’s fair!
Sparrows have socialized with humans since a very long time, perhaps since a time when civilizations started. However over a period of time due to changes of adaptation, city/village sparrows have been different from the jungle sparrows. The brown plumage actually helps to camouflage in the city environment as a protection against predators.

The Real Web World: Entangling myself in the hope of survival...Argiope Aetherea shown above belongs to Argiope family. They are characterized by the 'X - form' in their webs. Normally harmless to humans, they might bite if grabbed.Their venom is relatively harmless to humans though they contain a library of polyamine toxins with potential as therapeutic medicinal agents.

File photograph shows white Periwinkle (Vinca Alba) with the common black garden ant (Lasius Niger) drawing nectar and dew from the flowers.

File photograph shows a Black and White stripped butterfly. I could not locate the species though. If it would have been orange in colour, then it could be the Monarch or the Viceroy butterfly. Photograph taken in Bintan, Indonesia.

Photographed in Bintan, Indonesia.

File photograph shows a flower exhibiting androgyny. Photograph has been taken in Bintan, Indonesia. The flower is expected to be of the Lily family considering the arrangement of the petals and parallel venation.

Coming back to my home is Mumbai, this photograph was taken just before the monsoons. It shows a wasp on the bottom of the leaf. Normally the wasp would have laid her eggs on a flower, but hardly some were available at my place.

Shot en route to Banganga, Mumbai, this feline gave a perfect pose... I extremely like the color of her eyes.
Shot again at Banganga, file photo shows a white goose. Its lovely to watch the majestic beauty of these birds.
Final Photograph of this series, this particular fly came and sat on my car windshield while I was driving to Lonavla. Actually need a macro lens for these...

By the way....watch out for this space for the Macro Assignments.....

Aastalavista,
Abhishek

The Time Traveller...

2010-05-30T23:54:00.000-07:00

Divine: Peeping thru the cloud windows, I assure you that I am with you forever and ever........ This is a breath taking view of the sea from atop the Fr. Conceicao Rodrigues college of Engineering in Bandstand. On the left (barely visible) is the "Late" Sea Rock hotel. Further left is the Bandra fort built in the 1640s by the Portuguese as an outpost...this is also a popular destination for couples...

(I am starting with this photograph since that time I didn't have a SLR; just a cell-phone camera)

The Victorian Ecstasy: Welcome to the mystic world of Victoria Memorial, Kolkata. The foundation stone of this monument was laid in 1906 by the "Prince of Wales" as a tribute to the success of the British empire in India. The sheer view of this place from any location around the monument is breath taking.

Banganga Tank: This Tank was built by Laxman Prabhu of the Silhara Dynasty, Kings of Thane, in 1127AD. Later it was rebuilt in 1715AD out of the Walkeshwar Temple trust. Legend says thousands of years ago Hindu Mythology god, Lord Ram, Prince of Ayodhya, during his exile had stopped at this spot in search of his kidnapped wife Sita. Overcome by fatigue he asked his brother Laxman for water, who shot an arrow into the ground creating a tributary of Ganga (The Ganges), several miles away using a Baan (arrow). Hence the name Banganga.

Khajuraho: On the lines of Khajuraho, statues of these kinds are found all around the place in Banganga Tank, Mumbai. The history of this place dates back to 1127AD, the Silhara Dynasty.

Wafi Mall: The Wafi Mall in the Wafi city opened in 2001, Dubai. This mall's construction is based on the Egyptian pyramid designs and it also sports a Pyramid on the top. A lot of Egyptian hieroglyphics can be seen on the construction.

The Haunted: Discovered this house en route to Amby Valley, Khandala, India. I liked the look and feel of the house. This house was actually located amidst greenery, but I just wanted to project how a changed perspective can affect the bias.

God Bless us All: Located outside, in the campus of Se de Santa Catarina cathedral. Built in 1882, the statue gave me a very protective feeling and hence it is here.

The Lone Ranger: The Defied Sea King..... taken at Marine Drive against the backdrop of the sun. It gave me a sense of power and freedom. At the same time it taught me humility.....how small the man is amidst the vast ocean.

Frozen in Time: This is a time stamped photograph of my friend and his better half. The effect was premeditated and came out in one shot. The place is Aksa beach, Mumbai. One of early experimentation with shutters and apertures.

Identity: Is what my friend named this photograph. God's best creations standing back to back chalking out a space....individuality.......in todays rat race. Location was same as before, Aksa beach.

Witness: Standing just outside the Gateway of India, Mumbai, the lampposts there have been silent witnesses to the 26/11 massacre in Mumbai. The history of the structures around date back to 1911 to commemorate the visit of King George V and Queen Mary to India.

Reality: One end the city of Ahmadabad boasts of its wealth and development. The other end I come across a row of such shanties on the roadside. Problem is we keep running away from the reality rather than facing it. Time to wake up....

Freedom: My dream is to fly.....but how far and till when??? A common sight at the Gateway of India, the pigeons have always been the symbol of peace...Irony of the situation - location is same as that of the 26/11 shoot-out.....

Burj Khalifa: Grand opening of the Burj Khalifa, Dubai. The sheer engineering marvel, standing tall at 828m, was a spectacular site to watch with all the grand fireworks.

The Journey: "The Time Traveller..." comes to an end with this photograph. I would only say that life being a journey we need to pick up whats been the best for us so far and leave the undesirables behind....

Abhishek Adhikari
(Photographs: 2005-2010)