Category: Personals

Additions to the arsenal

Change is the only constant, they say…and one must always strive to be better. To change, to evolve and to try out new things. Keeping in track with time, there has been a couple of changes in my photography and travel arsenal.

Poco F1
This phone, from Xiaomi, is a wonderful piece of technology. Sleek, light and with 6GB of RAM, it packs quite a punch. It has a 12MP primary camera with a 5MP secondary camera to assist in depth perception. Doesn’t shoot RAW files, but does shoot slo mo videos at 120fps, 240fps and a restricted version of 960fps. The camera is quite fine to shoot in a jiffy. Of course, nothing as close to the Nikon D7200, but then, this is the camera that is on me 24/7.

Lensball
This tiny piece of crystal ball is one the most innovative photography aid I have come across in a long time. It is basically a glass sphere which is being used as a lens. It forms an inverted image on the lens surface, when viewed from the focus, typically around 100mm. If done properly, the images hence captured can be quite interesting.

Am still in the fiddling and getting to know the new toy phase of things with the lensball and honestly, am loving it. When paired with the Poco F1, it does quite an amazing job, I daresay. To me, this lensball is special, since it was a gift from my beloved.

Links to where one may find them is below.
Poco F1 from Xiaomi and Lensball.
Do note that the lensballs come in various shapes and sizes from a variety of dealers and of various quality too. Choose wisely.

Here’s to making amazing photographs. Do tell me about your thoughts on my recent acquisitions.
Cheers!

by Categories: Personals, PhotographyTags: , , , , , , , , , , , , 4 Comments

A Bengali Durga Puja!

For the bengali folks all around the world, Durga Puja is one of the most important festivals of the year. It is basically a festival of the victory of good over evil.

Arati in progress

Durga Puja is a multi day festival with each day earmarked for certain pujas and celebrations. The puja is celebrated in a grand manner. 
Generally, the pujas are carried out in two forms, one, the community joins in to have a common puja. People of the locality form groups, they collect the necessities and the puja commences; the other form, in which the puja is a family affair, where all the family members of a particular family are involved and they pitch in to make the puja! 

Granny and the godess

Here, what you see are glimpses from the Sen family’s Durga Puja – 2018. As with most family’s puja, the tradition continues for years and often spans generations. 

The main pujas  commence from the 5th day of the 10 day span. Every day have their own set of rituals that must be carried out and specific worships that must be done. 

Aunts, maa and papa returning home post rituals
  • Aunts and ma en route our temple
  • Papa
  • Maa carrying out puja rituals, aunt in tow
  • Papa shielding our family god from the sun as he is brought to the house
  • Maa and aunts carry out the rituals

The incantation to the goddess in the form of Arati is carried out every day. 

  • Aunts, maa, grandmother and the Mother!

Off the various lamps used during arati, on the juncture of the eighth and ninth day of worship, there is a special lamp, 108 of tiny little lamps make this one huge one, which needs to be lit in 1 minute by the married ladies of the family. So, it becomes a joint effort, and does offer nice photo opportunities.

  • Maa and aunts light up the ceremonial lamp
  • Arati using the 108 lamp behemoth

On the penultimate day of workship, there is a yagna ritual which must be carried out.

On the last day of the celebration, it is a grand send off to the goddess with her being fed sweets and milk. Often the ladies have a conversation with the Mother as they send her off and wish to see her soon the next year. The send off follows playful smearing of vermilion on each other.

 With the immersion of the idol complete, we all return back and it slowly turns to business as usual and we disperse back to our different workplaces across the country.

So, this is how a simple family based Durga Puja looks like in India. 

I hope you enjoyed the glimpses and it shall be a pleasure to host you, my dear reader at my ancestral place during the upcoming Durga Puja. So, in case you want to have a close up experience, do let me know 🙂

Cheers!!

by Categories: Personals, PhotographyTags: , , , , , , , , , 2 Comments

New year…new targets

It has been ten days into the new year. Had this been a few years back, you would have found me going all bat shit crazy with photos of new year celebrations and fireworks and what not….guess I kinda became lazy 😛

Anyway, my dear readers, Happy New Year! Happy, for the fact that we are having a home to live in, we have clothes to wear, food to eat, some money to spend and internet to blog 🙂

On this first post of the year, I would like to share some stats with you.
My blog started in the late 2014. That year, I posted 33 posts. In 2015, I posted 142 and in 2016, 54. The viewership increased at 1064% in 2015 and 154% in 2016. Now, the numbers may seem  deceptive, but when you compare it against the number of posts, one thing becomes very evident, you, my dear readers, have liked my content. You have followed me, and you have come back for more. This, makes me happy. Thank you to all of you.

I have tried out a few themes, made some variations, clubbed categories, made new ones…now its time to evolve one more bit…to get a new domain. The steps towards the same are being taken and finalized as you read this post and hopefully, by the end of the first fortnight of the year, you shall see a new domain.

It is, with your continuous support and immense love, that I find the impetus to carry on. Thank you again.

Since, you read through the entire post, here are couple of pictures of a Golbat, which has kindly agreed to be my model for a few shots.

Pokemon Golbat cutout in light and shadow

Pokemon Golbat looming over a cup of coffee

Cheers!

 

by Categories: PersonalsTags: , , , , , , , , 3 Comments

When Creativity Strikes…

With a little more than 20 years of experience in appearing for academic exams, there is one thing I can infer, with certain authority, creativity strikes precisely at the moment when you know you must study and not be distracted. Then again, not always do we take the sensible path, do we?
So, I happened upon a page from an amazing DIY page, The Bored Panda, and was going through the things you can do with a bottle of soft drink. The one that seemed readily possible to be made, was done, and here is the result.

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This can be used as a vase to keep some fresh flowers on the table or the workstation, or you can use this to stuff your pens, pencils and general office stationery too. This was more of a proof of concept kind of experiment and am happy with the result. Some rough edges, no doubts, but I know how to make one of these, so, next time, it shall be much better.
Check out this page, i found it very useful 🙂 : Plastic Bottle Recycling Ideas

Gotta get back to studies! Cheers!!

by Categories: PersonalsTags: , , , , , , 2 Comments

What type of photog am I?

A question has been often posed at me, what kind of photographer am I? Today, I ll try to answer it.

I am in pursuit of photography with some seriousness, for the past two and a half years now. My peers, who had started along at the similar time, have become specialized. Some shoot only portraits, some are landscape guys while some are wildlife fellows. They have expanded their arsenal with better bodies and lens…and then there is me.
I have not managed to settle down to just one genre yet.
I like shooting portraits.

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Also enjoy shooting landscapes.
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I am not averse to shooting macro

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And even the streets appeal to me just fine.

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And sometimes, I do shoot purely technical shots too.

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I guess, I am just not cut for the strict regime of just one type of photography. Some might say that I am straying and that I must stick to a certain genre, but I’d rather shoot things that appeal to me,even if they belong for different genre. It brings out the me in the photos. This my calling, whats yours?

If things go according to plan, as they rarely do, next week, I shall be travelling to Velas, Maharashtra, to visit the tiny turtles hatch and make their maiden journey to the sea. Stay tuned.

Cheers!!

by Categories: Personals, Photography, TravellingTags: , , , , , , , , , , , , 13 Comments

A Bulb’s story

This is a standard bulb.

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Nothing remarkable about it. It does its daily job of getting shocked and lighting up in awe. Simple, standard bulb. So what was so remarkable done to it, and what led to the doing, that it received wide fame? If you are curious, about the bulb and the photographs contained within, read on.
It all began on a winter morning when I was bored at home. Without much of chores to attend to, and college being some time away, I had ample time to utilize it in persuing random thoughts. The outcome of one such thought trail were these, the shell and the filament.

While I  was shooting them, couple of my  friends were certain that i had gone nuts. Cmon, honestly, how many people in your knowledge buy bulbs to open them up and shoot the filament burn? In my part of the world, the number is very limited. Anyway, I was too bored to even bother about his judgements and went ahead. Post the shots, i was in total awe with the burning filament shots ( in case you didnt see the posts, go see them, they do have good shots). I put them up for some competitions too, didnt yeild much results though. Anyway, forgot about them and they were filed away.
Skip forward couple of months. There comes along a contest of sorts where I had to write about letting go of the past and rising up. That was the first time, the rest of the bulb, the shell came into view and consideration. I liked the idea of rising up, depicted by the photo, and hence, that is what it got called since then. Fast forward, a few more months, IIT Chennai hosts an annual fest, Saarang in January. Rise up, was my entry for the online photo competition. And, it was a winner.
I ended up with a 500px upgrade code and one more piece of serious enviable stuff. But, before that, a few glimpses of chennai.

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And now, here is the original photo and a sketch of the same, my prize, the thing in which the original photo is visible… Apple Ipad Mini4.

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Am I happy? Yup. Am i grinning and bragging? Hell yes!!
So, as a thank you note, I am thankful to the ones who made fun of the effort I had put in for the shots and the ones who made me think in a creative representation of the photo.
Assignments and exams have me buried under a pile of homeworks, new posts shall be coming up soon.
Cheers.

by Categories: Personals, TravellingTags: , , , , , , , , , , 8 Comments

Ornate columns at Bhimashankar

The ornate columns of the Shiva Temple at Bhimashankar, Pune

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by Categories: OCOL, PersonalsTags: , , , , , 5 Comments

The Mega Event: BNLF 2015

It all started when a new tab opened up on the Indiblogger website, with a weird name, #BNLF. Curious, I checked it, turned out to be a blogging event to be held at Mumbai during Oct 31 and Nov 1. I liked the dates, as I would be available, so I joined in.
As days went by, the buzz began to pick up. Slowly and steadily, I found a lot of people whom I follow were attending this event, so the interest got stoked. Ultimately, on the event days, it was a mega hit. Approximately 500 bloggers from all over the country had come. Some of the major motivational speakers, keynote speakers, professional trainers, celebrities, all were there. What more, I was also the part of the Indicrew, which was basically a volunteer group which was formed with the bloggers to help in the smooth functioning of the event. With the camera with me, and in the company of a few more photographers, we covered the event and came up with some shots I can feel proud about.

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Welcoming the bloggers

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A detailed report of the event can be found here.

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Arnab Ray – Guest Speaker, Blogger, Social Influencer

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Kanan Gill – Guest Speaker, Vlogger, Comedian, Engineer

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As for the photos, I am sharing approximately 150 photos covering various events of the meet. Some are solo photos, some are group and some are abstract. You, my dear reader, are allowed to view the photos and also use them in your social media sites and blogs, with due credit being given to me. The photos are copyrighted. Also, understand and respect your fellow bloggers and be responsible while you use the photos. Use them in a way, that would be fine with you, if your photos are used in the same manner.

Should you choose to accept and abide to the above conditions, proceed here. In case you have certain doubts, be a good citizen and turn back from this page.

It was one of the best experiences till date. To meet with so many like minded people and have an amazing interaction with them, a lot of networking, and making new friends too.

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Bruce Dickinson – Guest Speaker, Singer( Iron Maiden), Pilot, Entrepreneur

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The Fangirls

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Met as strangers, parted as friends!

Am waiting eagerly for the next iteration, where I am sure, it shall be bigger, better and be more disruptive than ever.

Cheers!!

 

by Categories: Personals, PhotographyTags: , , , , , , , 19 Comments

Safe Hands

Shooting in the dark is a job that takes patience and care, just to get the focus right. That too in a manual lens. The ISO needs to be high enough to use a decent shutter speed, and a low enough to avoid excessive noise. When you manage to get things right, you get a shot like this.

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Till the next post..

Cheers!!

by Categories: OCOL, PersonalsTags: , , , , , , , , 7 Comments

New Award :D

I shall begin with a huge thank you to Deeksha  and Arun for nominating for the Liebster award. It is really an honour. I apologize to Deeksha for not responding  sooner.

So, the answers to Deeksha…

1. Which is your favourite book?  The Immortals of Meluha

2. Describe yourself in three words. Curious, Dependable and Resolute.

3. Cat person or a dog person? Dog person, any day! But wont mind cuddling the kittens too :p

4. Who is your role model? My father for being sharp and calm. My mother for instilling the sense of right and wrong.

5. What is your ultimate goal in life? To be satisfied and be at peace with life (get the job that pays well, spend my life with my love, have a Labrador, have a Jeep/Thar…..) 

6. What are your hobbies? Photography, and talking to people, making them comfortable enough to be my models :p

7. Which is your dream travel destination? Loved the Andaman Islands, would go there times over.

8. If you could meet one person from the past, who would it be and why? Jiah Khan. She would be an awesome model.

9. Favourite movie? Eight Below.

10. Favourite quote/ proverb? I took the road less travelled, and that has made all the difference – Robert Frost

11. Favourite song/band? Yesterday once more – Karen Carpenter.

And now to answer Arun…

  1. Dream travel destination? Andaman Islands
  2. Preferred mode of transport? Self Driven car and walking
  3. Facepalm moment in any trips? To go to a monument to find it closed for the day
  4. Most beautiful place that you visited? Shillong
  5. Has traveling changed you? In what way?  Yes it has. It has taught me the importance of being able to gel with people and the power of a smile. A smile does open up a lot of avenues.
  6. Solo Trips or Friends group or Family trips? Why? Small group, max of 4 members, else solo. More the merrier works only while splitting the bill, otherwise, more clashes of opinions and indecisiveness.
  7. Have you ever thought of quitting job for travel? Will you do it? Thought, yup! Will I do it….dunno. Need the money to plan the future trips :p
  8. Have you Ever forgotten to carry a camera to a trip? What was your reaction? Nope, never done that mistake yet. Forgot a memory card though, had bought one immediately.
  9. What is your reaction when you see people posting every minute of their life on SM? Its a way to keep people informed of where they are. Loved ones worry less. I post regular updates to keep my mom from worrying a lot.
  10. Have you cancelled any travel plan last minute because something came up at work?  Reaction? Yes, had to. The reaction was a bit of sadness and the plan to go out the next weekend.

Rules:
Thank the one who  has nominated you.
Answer the questions thrown at you as honestly as you can and make 10 questions of your own.
Nominate at least 5 members who you think are deserving the appreciation and go on spread the love. Let them know by commenting on their posts.

My questions..

  1. Travelling solo or in a group? Why?
  2. Backpacking or Luxury trips?
  3. Planned trips or spontaneous plans?
  4. Local food or food chains? Why?
  5. Do you take a guide or an audio guide or trust the internet?
  6. The hills or the oceans?
  7. Do you try out the adventure sports? Which ones have you done?
  8. Bikes or cars to travel around?
  9. DSLR/Point and shoot or Go-Pro and variants?
  10. Do you take a lot of selfies? Why and why not?

My nominees are:
1. Nimmi
2. Rutuja
3. Shreya
4. Subhashree 
5. Raksha
6. Soumya
7. Jasan

Feel free to use the following Image as your badge, for you have earned it for sure. Congratulations.

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Cheers!!

 

by Categories: Personals, PhotographyTags: , , 5 Comments

Birds of the same flock: Pune Bloggers Meet

Time and again, I have come across invitations of bloggers meet but have never managed to attend one. Reason being, none of them being organized in my city. So, this time, as I reached Pune, my first thing to do online was, to organize a bloggers meet.
Proper channels were used and the date was set. As for the venue, 11 East Street Cafe was my first choice. This is a cafe which I hold very close to  my heart. A lot of memories and nostalgic emotions are attached. To avoid any issues coming up at the last minute, I went there personally and booked the slot for our meet.
So, here I was, organizing a bloggers meet, which would be a self sponsored one….it felt just too bland, too simple. So, I called up Zomato to see if they could pitch in something and they agreed. Now I was happy. I managed to get a major food review site associated with us too.
On the eventful date, it was an amazing event. We had bloggers from quite a large spectrum. And I dare say, I made some amazing friends, Vikram, Vibhuti, Tara, Aziz, Shubhashree and Vatsala and the evergreen Rutuja.

Here are some of the photos from the amazing evening.

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Vikram

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Vibhuti

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Aziz

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Shubhashree

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Rutuja

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Tara

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The amazing trio

It felt amazing to meet these wonderful people and to discuss the ways to improve. To me it was a great experience and am sure, the future meets shall have much more participation and we’ll make some more friends.
See you all in the next meet.

Cheers!!

 

 

by Categories: PersonalsTags: , , , , , , , 5 Comments

Versatile Blogger…Awarded!

I begin this post by thanking Damini Shah @ https://lifemyntras.wordpress.com for nominating and hence awarding me with the Versatile Blogger Award, many thanks.

As per the rules of the award–
1. I must thank those who have deemed me fit to be awarded the award.
2. I must write 7 facts about myself.
3. Must nominate the bloggers I feel are deserving of the award.

I would like to thank Damini once more, I really feel elated and honored. Thank You.

7 Facts about me–
1. I am a Mechanical Engineer, who has served 13 months in the IT Industry as a Software Tester.
2. I took up photography as a hobby quite recently and am self trained.
3. I am a foodie and like to review restaurants often.
4. I love to travel, and often have unusual, sometimes solo, travel plans.
5. I like making elaborate birthday cards for my female friends, pardon the bias.
6. I cook 😛
7. I love to drive cars. Riding bikes are fun, but the car feels a bit better for me.

Now, I nominate the following for the award:

  1. Pooja Dasgupta ( https://dialifestyle.wordpress.com/)
  2. Shreya Das ( https://shreyadas1.wordpress.com/)
  3. Karen Anderson ( https://expressingmyvision.wordpress.com/)
  4. Tuhina Mitra ( https://tuhinamitra.wordpress.com/)
  5. Ami ( https://yearful-of-sundays.com/)
  6. Amy Sampson ( https://playingwithmyfirstdslrcamera.wordpress.com/)
  7. Bob Byrd ( https://byrdwords.wordpress.com/)
    8. cjdraper1961 ( https://dancingechoes.com/)

Should you choose to accept this award, you must follow the above mentioned rules too. And once you have complied, feel free to copy the image and use it.

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Have fun, and keep blogging!

Cheers!!

by Categories: PersonalsTags: , 14 Comments