Little by little, inch by inch,
We built a yard with a garden in the middle of it.
It ain’t much but it’s a start,
You got me swaying right along to the song in your heart.
And a face to call home, a face to call home…

That golden sunrise was just like I’ve sewn it over the course of years in my mellow dreams. That house right beneath the mountains, nothingness that surrounds me for miles and a river flowing by letting me know that I’m there, I’ve reached the end of the journey, or have I? This was the longest render I’ve done with vue and the most detailed one as of yet too, 16 hours, yup, broke all the records again. This was done primarily in Vue and 3ds Max, with a little post processing in Photoshop.

Ratul Upadhyay Photography - A realm where mellow reality unites with those layers of veiled rainbows.

Now I’m rambling through this meadow, happy as a man can be. Think I’ll just lay me down under this old tree. And when I feel them chilly winds, where the weather goes I’ll follow. Pack up my traveling things, go with the swallows. You might get lucky every now and then…

This song, sigh, innumerous numbers of my artworks have been based on the beauty of this composition playing out in the background. And this one adds to that tally, this couldn’t have fit the bill better, being in sync with those beautifully penned down lyrics by Mark Knopfler. The song is called ‘Get Lucky’ from the album of the same name and the shot was taken somewhere near Jaipur during the soaring month of June last year.

Ratul Upadhyay Photography - A realm where mellow reality unites with those layers of veiled rainbows.

May this winding field of greens harmonize with the vibrancy of the ones you dreamt of last night. May your trails be devious, winding, lonesome, enthralling, leading to the most amazing views. May the mountains you tread upon, rise into and above the clouds. May these crooked paths of life, lead to the horizon you always envisioned as a kid.

If you want to catch a star then walk my way,
I will take you where the night is always day.
You can follow me if you really try,
Maybe we will find a rainbow, teach it to fly.

This shot was taken somewhere in Kasauli, Himachal Pradesh, India. And I guess I’ve been able to  seize the essence of this small little town quite well here with this composition.

Ratul Upadhyay Photography - A realm where mellow reality unites with those layers of veiled rainbows.

The rivers swept me off of my feet, green pastured lands rooted me to the legacy that goes down deep. Skies that remind me our earth’s still blue, the breeze reassuring me that this is just a preview. Mountains reaching out into the sky, and was that a sunset I saw, burning the sky and saying goodbye?

And I must, I just have to enter these few lines here from the Immigrant Song by Led Zeppelin, “We come from the land of the ice and snow, from the midnight sun where the hot springs blow. Such a field, so green, can whisper tales of gore, of howling calmed and tides of war. We are your overlords”. Yeah I’m done now for the day guys, that just summed up everything. This 8 shot panorama is of the town Kullu, Himachal Pradesh, India that I clicked enroute to Bijli Mahadev during my last year’s summer excursion. 

Ratul Upadhyay Photography - A realm where mellow reality unites with those layers of veiled rainbows.

Well I ask you a question, what would you like to do, if money were no object? You’ll know, you’ll get your answer, where you should take your life, what direction should you head into, after you’ve gone through with the video clip. Be the change you want to see in this world, go out there, do what you love the most, and as they say, if you desire something hard enough, long enough, there’s no power in this world to stop you from getting it. This 3 minute long narration by Alan Watts would really enlighten you with what’s the purpose of your life and how you live it.

Ratul Upadhyay Photography - A realm where mellow reality unites with those layers of veiled rainbows.

There is this power in music to turn your world upside down, no matter what the situation may be. It can make the best of days look dull and gray, given that some blues are playing in the background. And then again you can be in the sourest of moods, but just a minute of this beautiful composition hitting your ears, can make you imagine a vibrant colorful paradise right in front of your eyes. And to be frank, just take any song ever composed by Sigur Ros, and you’ll feel the same. This band has the power to transcend you into some other dimension every-time you lend your ears to them.

Ratul Upadhyay Photography - A realm where mellow reality unites with those layers of veiled rainbows.

Pain throws your heart to the ground, love turns the whole thing around. No, it won’t all go the way it should, but I know the heart of life is good. Just keep walking…

Ye mahaan drishya hai, 
Chal raha manushya hai, 
Ashru, swed, rakta se,
Lathpath lathpath lathpath.. 
Agneepath, agneepath, agneepath.

I’ve always loved these lines penned down by Harivansh Rai Bachchan and surprisingly I happened to read his poetry when I was 6 years old. It was one of the first poems that I had locked in my mind, frozen forever. Oh, and that song above the poem is called, ‘The heart Of Life’ by John Mayer. As always you should give it a listen if the picture right beside it makes you smile and you feel invigorated. And the shot was taken somewhere in Himachal Pradesh, India last year during my summer excursion.

Ratul Upadhyay Photography - A realm where mellow reality unites with those layers of veiled rainbows.

If one looks willingly one can find smiling faces in everything, wherever you go, whatever the situation, you just need to visualize and nurture your fragile thoughts. When you’re building those hefty little castles in the air, you can even make a completely inanimate object like a tractor to smile back at you. You can never change the past nor control the future, but you can change the mood of the day by touching someone’s heart with your smile.

As Dr. Seuss has put it, “Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living, it’s a way of looking at life through the wrong end of a telescope.” So, everyone would’ve guessed it by now , Bob the Builder, anyone? If you’re a kid from the 90’s and had a thing for cartoons, you would know what I did right there, and it’s coming from a person who didn’t really like this series. I was more of a Aladdin or a Ducktales guy. I don’t know how this idea sprang up in my mind, but it just did once I saw this shot in my library. I took this one last year in Amritsar, Punjab, India.

Ratul Upadhyay Photography - A realm where mellow reality unites with those layers of veiled rainbows.

In the night the stormy night she’ll close her eyes, in the night the stormy night away she’d fly. And so lying underneath those stormy skies, she’d say, “Oh, I know the sun must set to rise”. You can almost always find paradise right where you are right now. Many of us want to run away from our doubts, troubles and fears. Here’s the thing, they all are inside of you, in the same place that paradise is. Know thyself.

I’ve been holding onto this song to match it up with a composition of mine since ages, yes, literally ages. And that is because most of my creations usually resemble to what I consider my personal private paradise. But, this song required a special one, and is this that distinguished one? Well more or less yeah. The shoddy execution made me think twice, nevertheless, it sits in nicely with what I had doodled up in my mind. This was done in Vue, 3ds Max and Photoshop with rendering time exceeding 13 hours, a new personal record! And you all should know the song, I dearly hope so.

Ratul Upadhyay Photography - A realm where mellow reality unites with those layers of veiled rainbows.

In a profound sense every man has two halves to his being. He is not one person so much as two persons trying to act in unison. I believe that in the heart of each human being there is something which I can only describe as a “child of darkness” who is equal and complementary to the more obvious “child of light.”

I see a ninja, an assassin, guarding the castle, alert, with a dagger in his hand. One would imagine darkness, overcast skies, seas of gray, blue and oblivion associated with that description, but no, you see I’ve always been quite different in that aspect. Even if I’m trying to think something really dark, I end up doodling blue skies, bed of greens and some sunlight to go along. And that mash up leads up to something what you see right now. This was done with Hauz Khas Complex in New Delhi, India as a reference.

Ratul Upadhyay Photography - A realm where mellow reality unites with those layers of veiled rainbows.