AtoZ Challenge: Y – Your Rapport

You and Your Rapport

This is not a photographic term, as one may call the others, but rather is an important supporting virtue to have if you intend on taking portraits. In my opinion, it is best to establish a rapport with your subject before you proceed to take a photo.

It puts them at ease and the expressions that you get and genuine.

And, it also helps you to know, who can help you produce the shot that you want.

The above photo needed to have someone with a super expressive eyes, and knowing Gowri, I knew she was the perfect choice.

Even if you are shooting someone new, for the first time, take a moment, talk to the person, and then take the shot, makes things easy.

In the last series, Y was for You.

Cheers!!

TTL: Clean Beach, Clear Water ; Diveagar

Within the group, we had all joined our respective jobs in April, and by the time it was September, we were desperate for a break. So, when the Dusshera break presented an opportunity for 4 days of holidays, a trip was immediately planned and executed.

We had planned to go from Pune to Diveagar. About 150 kms drive west through the western ghats would take us to this beach. We had heard of it to be quite a picturesque and clean one, so we were quite interested about it. I was looking forward to the drive, it had been quite a few months since I had gone for a drive. The Google Maps screenshot depicts the route we had taken.

Route from Pune to Diveagar
We booked ourselves a self drive car from Zoomcar, a snappy Honda Jazz and we were away at the crack of dawn; at about 8 am.

Me posing with the Honda Jazz

The road we took, would take us through the scenic Tamhini ghat and then further on, we shall reach Mangaon and then on to the beach.

Clouds enroute to Diveagar

Random flowers by the street

Hillscape enroute Tamhini Ghat

Long open road

En route Tamhini Ghat

Natural beauty galore. The road is patchy at places, with ditches which needed us to creep over them, but over all, the road to the beach was kinda fine.

Once near the coast, there runs a parallel road to the beach, with multiple points of entry to the beach. Find the right fork and one can take the car directly to the beach.

The beach road to Diveagar Beach

The beach was quite amazing. Wide and clean. The slope is a gradual one, making it ideal for families consisting of kids to come over and have fun too. Options of water sports were present too. The water is clear and absolute fun to splash about it.

Horse drawn Tongas on DIveagar Beach

Water Scooter at Diveagar Beach

Diveagar Beach

Small waves at Diveagar beach

The wide Diveagar Beach

Quad bikes on the Diveagar Beach

Clear Water at the Diveagar Beach

Diveagar Beach

Diveagar Beach

The friends gang posing at the Diveagar Beach

In terms of crowd density, this is not a dense beach. One can find space to run about and play happily on the beach or have their own peaceful time. Be advised though, there is almost no shade on the beach and no provisions for chairs or umbrellas are present. Only a handful of shops selling water bottles and snacks could be found, so carry your food and water positively.

Once we had exhausted ourselves on the beach, running about  and splashing about in the water, we were on the ride back home. Instead of taking the route we had come by, we chose to take the alternate route, which would have us join the Mumbai- Pune expressway near Khopoli. On map, all we could see was a nice long almost straight road. What it actually turned out to be, was very close to a nightmare. The road is non existent for most of it and there are murderous ditches all along. Ditches the size of dustbins which would gobble up a wheel and some of the axle too. By the time we had reached the expressway, we were tired as hell and still had another hour and a half worth of travel left. So, take it from me, do not take the return route that we had taken, it was horrible.

We did make it safe and sound, albeit worn out and tired. Had a nice big meal at an old haunt of ours and we retired for the day.

When I look back, yes, it was tiresome; true, we could have gone to some other places too, but in the end, it was fun, and absolutely worth it.

Until next time!
Cheers!!

A Furry Friend

On a Sunday evening, few friends met, and what ensued, was peace, happiness and a lot of cuddling!

Featuring, the amazing Vikram Karve, stunning Tanaya Haldar and the absolutely adorable Chrissie!!

 

 

This post marks a major change in my blog. Let me know when you see it 🙂

Cheers!!

En route Lavasa

The plan was made on an impulse, so the three of us, Mahajan, Jobin and I, we grabbed helmets, managed a couple of bullets and we were on our way to Lavasa.
Lavasa is a cool place to be, nice lake town, planned and built nestled within the ghats. True! The flip side is, they charge ₹200 per person as an entry fee to the town, and somehow, the minute they see a DSLR, they assume the owner to be on a professional shoot, and they charge you ₹5000 for a day’s pass (unless it has changed recently).
Now, our agenda was clear, to get some cool photos of us, on bikes. So, again, why Lavasa?
For, the road to Lavasa, offers amazing curves, and is not very crowded. Here are what we shot 🙂

Mahajan came charging round the corner, I turned back on the bike, and click and click!

Man on Royal Enfield Bullet taking a turn

We stopped to shoot 🙂

Man on Royal Enfield Bullet taking a turn

Man posing with a Royal Enfield Bullet

Two men on Royal Enfield Bullet taking a turn

Man on Royal Enfield Bullet taking a turn

Two men posing with Royal Enfield Bullet

Three friends posing with their bikes

Even I got a shot of mine. Loads of thanks to Mahajan for the shot 🙂

Man on Royal Enfield Bullet taking a turn

Spotted this yet to be launched Tata Nexon test driving around.

Tata Nexon car test driving

With mission accomplished, we turned back. Since all three had been to Lavasa earlier, we didn’t miss it at all. The trip was fun, the ride was awesome.

Man on a bike in an empty road

Till the next post…

Cheers!!

Wedding Bells : Raveena and Amiy

Am at an age, where, slowly and surely my friends are getting married. Some are having kids too though :p It has been about a couple of years since I quit my previous job, and I missed my friends. So, when one fine day, Raveena, one of the first friends at CapGemini, let me know that she was getting married, I was happy. Happy that she’s getting settled with someone she loves and also that I’ll get to meet with my old friends after quite some time. So, I packed my bag, along with the camera…and I was off to meet my friends, and the bride to be.

Friends posing with the bride

Amid all the fun and frolic that followed, as all of us decked up and ready for the events, I went ahead with what I do best.

Without further ado, I’ll let my photos take you on a tour of the wonderful wedding.

The bride in a blue dress

Boys all decked up

The bride doing the rituals

One with the family

Happy bride

Being funky

One with the brother

Bride's sister applies turmeric, rituals

One with the sisters

Friends of the bride

One with the friends

 

The bride in the doli

The exchange of garlands

The bride in all beauty

Friends decked up at the wedding

The bride and the groom

The pretty bride

Putting vermilion

 

From bride...to a wife

Here’s wishing Raveena and Amiy a very happy married life.

Cheers!!

We went shooting…

I don’t recall what suddenly came on to us, and four of us clambered on two bikes and made our way to a nearby coffee shop. I had my camera on me, and the other three were quite happy to be my lab rats, I mean, my wonderful models.

The day was glum, wanted to have a shot of someone brooding, retrospecting….thinking… quite like this..

Man thinking with a cup of coffee

We managed some though…

Woman with a cup of coffee with focus on engagement ring

Man sitting with a cigarette in his hands happily looking forward to future

 

Girl sitting in a coffee shop thinking of past

Man sitting in a coffee shop with cigarette in hand thinking about past

Man stirring a cup of coffee looking forward to the future

Man stirring coffee thinking deeply

Man sitting at the coffee table smiling

But what we got mostly, was pure fun.

Girl playing with her hair and smiling

Girl peeking from behind a guy and smiling

 

Girl sitting looking pretty has a smile wearing a beanie

Girl stirring coffee has a smile on her face

Three friends sitting and laughing over a cup of coffee

Did I get good shots? Absolutely. Was it a fun time, hell yes! This is the advantage of shooting with friends, you can talk, laugh and fool around to your heart’s content and still get lovely photos!

This time, next year, we all would in places which are worlds apart. Each pursuing our career, chasing life goals, being happy. So, I ll take this opportunity, in my last post for 2016, to thank each one of you. You, my friends, my followers here and all my readers who have visited my site, Thank You, you are amazing!

Take care all, see you in the new year.

Cheers!!

The previous Saturday….

Almost every other day, after attending classes till 1730h, little energy is left to pursue the passion, so the previous Saturday, I called out to three of my closest friends at college for a impromptu photoshoot. Having a photo shoot with friends is one of the best ways to unwind, I am sure you would agree. Also, I had to shoot for a competition, the themes I chose were Silence and Fear.
Silence, can be very very loud if portrayed correctly, and I wanted silence to ring out loud and clear. Hence, the following photo.

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Not every silence is voluntary

Here, a commendable job by Gowri, my model here. Such expressive eyes are very rare and she understood the scene to the letter. She featured in the next photo, for Fear.

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Now, the demons have familiar faces

Again, such vivid expressions, that too from an amateur model is simply awesome.

While shooting these, it did take a toll on us. The mood had turned a bit depressing. So, we changed the location and went to the lawns for another shot of Silence.

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Peace and Tranquility

The best part I feel here is the beginning of the smile that has started to creep on Laxmi’s face. She is calm, peaceful and is happy. Agreed, we needed to take a few retakes as we would all keep on laughing, but she managed to hold on to the smile for just the right amount of time and the shot was done.

One of the prettiest photos of the evening was of Rishika, who is to credited for the shot ideas for fear and the second shot of silence.

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Pretty You

Some more impromptu shots were taken too and the mood became much much lighter and better.

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Featured in connected
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My model trio 🙂

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Featured in connected

Then, as evening descended, hunger crept in. So, we left the college premises for some snacks. And with this final shot, my camera went in the bag for the day.

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Lots of thanks to Rishika, Laxmi and Gowri. You guys are amazing.

Its been quite some time that I havent gone out to shoot the nature around Pune, lets make a plan soon.

Cheers!!

In touch..

In the digital world, when we say connected, the first image that comes to us has something to do with the phones.

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Look beyond the phones, and do remember that being in touch with your loved ones is very important. So, go on, make a plan right now, and go meet up with the ones who are near to you 🙂

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Just remember, do not lose touch!

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Immense thanks to Rishika and Gowri for being my models for the evening and to Laxmi for being the helping hand. Thanks a lot you guys! 🙂

Cheers!!

Good days they were..

It has been sometime that I have left my job and am now a student. Being back at college is awesome, no doubts, but a little tiny part of me, misses those deadline oriented work at break-neck speeds, pulling 14 hours shifts when needed, looking forward to the Friday and Saturday nights….above all the friends I made 🙂
This post is to some of the best days of my life!

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Assignments, tests and presentations have kept me busy pretty much. So I am reduced to the weekly posts and some occasional compilations. Soon though, I intend to make a trip to the nearby locations and come back with some mesmerizing shots.

Cheers!!

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!!