Tag: Travelling

My travel tales and the photographs.

TTL: Tamhini Ghat

It had been planned by the group that we must go on a trip. So, a group of about 40 photographers, varying from novices to professionals, we made our way towards Tamhini Ghat. About 60 kms out of Pune, this place is known for the lush greenery and the numerous waterfalls.

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It is here, thanks to one of the members, that I got to use the Tamron 90mm macro lens for the first time, and I simply loved it. The lens is not a speedster at acquiring focus, true, but once you manage to focus it right, you are in for a treat. The following images ought to convince anyone who would be doubting whether or not to get a macro lens towards the lens.

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Now, this lens can also be used for shooting the perfect frame too. Its all about how you choose to use it.

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A huge thanks to the Pune Photography Lovers group for the trip. Special thanks to Medha for lending me the macro lens and to Rutuja for being my model 🙂

Till the next trip, cheers!

by Categories: Photography, TravellingTags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 5 Comments

TTL: Tikona Fort

They say, the forts around Pune, look amazing during the rains. Heard this so many times, and have been enticed by so many photos, that finally, we gave in. We loaded us on a couple of bikes, and went on our day trip to the Tikona Fort, morning, 7 o’ clock on a Saturday. This is the account of our trip. There may not be photos of the fort in here, rather, there are ones of what you can see from the fort.

Keeping true to Murphy’s Laws and the weather reports, we lost our ways a couple of times, splashed into huge puddles of water and finally made it to the hill and found it engulfed in fog.

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We caught our breath for a minute and took in the amazing view, though limited view from the base of the fort.

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Post maneuvering through some muddy and rocky paths, we reached a spot, from where the path ahead was this…

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For the sake of railings, there was a co-axial cable cut and bolted into the hill face, and we had to climb on the rocks, which were at least a foot high and slippery. The gradient felt close to 60 degrees. Well,  it was just the beginning though. Some time into the climb, things became more slippery, and agreeably, scary too.

It was the views that kept us going and pushing to reach the top.

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We got the view of the greenery that had been so much referred to, and also realized that after all, monsoon may not be the best time to come to this place. Not because of the rain, but because the clouds obstruct the visibility.

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This is a nice place to be for a day outing. As we climbed down, we saw tiny kids and even toddlers climbing up the trail, so it is not very technical climb or a difficult one as such. One must always exercise a certain amount of caution though.

The location ought to be an amazing one for night time photography and star gazing. The peak of the climb experiences quite strong winds so the ones venturing up should take the necessary precautions.

While climbing down, some caution had to be maintained as the place had become very slippery and narrow approaches forced us to move in a single file.

On the whole, the trip was a nice way to unwind and to get some of the much needed fresh air.

Cheers!!

by Categories: Photography, TravellingTags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 10 Comments

Glimpses of Mumbai: Dhobi Ghaat

For the ones who have followed my Glimpses of Mumbai set, and thought that it was over and done with, well, not quite. I have been bogged down with post internship formalities and college classes, hence these never made it out of Lightroom, until now. Here is, a glimpse of the world’s largest open air laundry.

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Located right off the Mahalaxmi station on the central line is this location. Interestingly, if one would want to have a look at the various strata of the society, the serving and the served, that is also visible right from the flyover.

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On the way from Dadar to Mahalaxmi, one can find this certain location too, seems perfect for a eerie shoot!

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And to end, some local fauna!

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This too shall not be last post of the series, there should be at least one more to it. Do keep an eye out.

Cheers!!

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Glimpses of Mumbai – 200 M above earth – 2

It has been quite some time that I haven’t posted the photos. Here I am, back with the promised photos.

Its easy to see miles after miles into the city from the vantage point, atop a 51 storied building. Once you get there, you can see, that yes, the city is growing, rising skywards, and that that the slums are diminishing by the hour. The slum dwellers are shifted to newly constructed  slum rehab towers and on the hence vacant land, come up skyscrapers. I guess now this is how we shall define development, the phase of construction, when slums are converted to high rise towers. Squalor and luxury, opposites together, C’est la vie.

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These are the last of the photos that were taken from the internship site. As per the posts, there are still two places to publish. So, stay tuned, for next iteration of Glimpses Of Mumbai 🙂

Cheers!!

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Glimpses of Mumbai – Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (Victoria Terminus)

Continuing with the coverage of the icons of Mumbai, this place is one of the first places you shall visit when you make it to Mumbai, the CSTM railway station, earlier known as VT station. Its one of places which look simply amazing, and are kind of hiding in plain sight. Most of us have seen it looking amazing and grand in the daylight, here is how CST looks at night.

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On the other side of the road, is the municipal corporation, which too has a grand look to it.

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About the next post, I cannot make promises. Schedule is packed tight. Lets see what I can pull up.

Cheers!!

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Glimpses of Mumbai – 2

It has been almost a month at this business hub of India. In my earlier post on Mumbai, I said, people appear to be distant, and that they bother about their own business mostly. Well, that feeling hasn’t changed. A certain respect has come up for the people who manage to squeeze into the suburban trains in the peak hours. The Hanging Gardens, Mahalaxmi Temple, Haji Ali Dargah are the places that have got ticked off the list. The Chowpatty is a must go place for the kulfi and falooda loving public. As for the beach, okay, its fine, too crowded for my liking. The area near the Banganga Tank, was different. It looks as if the place is still stuck in time, do visit it if you happen to be in the Malabar Hill area. Now, the photos.

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Next post is about my experience in the famous Chor Bazaar. Stay tuned 🙂

Cheers!!

by Categories: Photography, TravellingTags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , 7 Comments

Glimpses of Mumbai – 1

Mumbai, the city of dreams some say. I am here for a couple of weeks now, owing to an internship in one of the huge multinational companies.
Since am already here, its only fair that I should go out and go clicking, as and when I get some time.

These are some shots from the past few weeks.

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In my limited exposure to the people here, I realized, the public is generally impassive about their surroundings and their neighbours. Everyone keeps to themselves and is bothered about just their own. Its not necessarily a bad thing, but then, I felt a certain lack of compassion in the air for the fellow being highly prevalent. I may be wrong, or maybe I just met people who were having a bad day. Whatever be it, Mumbai is different. Its true when people say, there are two ways of doing things, the normal way, and the mumbaikars’ way.

More to come, stay tuned:)

Cheers!!

 

by Categories: Photography, TravellingTags: , , , , , , , 16 Comments

TTL: Velas

This post is special.
Special because it is about an event which has so much of risk, uncertainty and struggle that you must marvel the outcomes.

This post is about the tiny Olive Ridley turtles of Velas, Maharashtra.

Every year, thousands of female turtles swim their way from across the world to this little known beach in Maharashtra. They make nests, lay their eggs and wade back into the sea towards an uncertain future. Over time, the eggs hatch and baby turtles make their way into the sea on their own. The interesting thing is, all the females which would be born at Velas, would come back to the same beach to lay their eggs.

We made an overnight trip from Pune. About 200 kms to Velas, took us about 5 hours through the hilly,twisty turny roads of the western ghats. We made occasional stops and then we reached the spot, early morning.

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Since the hatching of the eggs is a natural phenomenon, we missed it. The day we went, the turtles didn’t hatch and we couldn’t see them. We were a bit sad about it, and with some heavy heart, we made our way to Hariharishwar beach, spent some time there and then we came back to the Velas beach once more to have a look at the rock formations and the landscapes that are there.

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Our trip ended the following night as we drove back home.

A few days later, one of my friends went, and she was luckier than we were and got some amazing shots of the turtles as they made their way from the sands to the sea.

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Special thanks to Medha for letting me use the photos. Am happy that you got to see them babies and you shot them.

The turtles can be seen during the months of October to December as they come to lay the eggs and from end February to mid April as the babies hatch out. The months are based on general observations and they do vary. So does the hatching. It may be so that you make a trip today and see no hatching while your friend who went a day earlier saw a basket full of them. Most people spend the weekend over there, which generally guarantees some sightings.

To the travelers out there who have not yet been to this place, go on, make a trip. The route, the location, the beach, they are worth the distance. Its a tiny village, about 50-70 homes, some offer homestay facilities too. Have a look at the MTDC website for further information.

Have fun all. Next trip, next outing, should be interesting. See you all later.

Cheers!!

by Categories: Photography, TravellingTags: , , , , , , , , , , , 5 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

TTL: Mumbai

A couple of weekends earlier, with an amazing group of photographers from Pune, under the banner of Pune Photo Lovers, we went to Mumbai for a photowalk for a day.

The route was simple, from the CST to Gateway of India and back via the Leopold Cafe.

The 50 mm prime being the only lens with me, it was an amazing experience to restrict myself and work. Here are how the things looked once I came back and processed the photos.

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The thing about street photography is that you need to keep the eyes wide open and be able to handle the camera fast enough. Missing a shot because the camera was not set right, is honestly a shame.

Keep shooting and keep practicing.
Cheers!!

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TTL: Panchghani and Mahabaleshwar

What do you do when you have a whole day to yourself and are itching to take a break….you go on a trip.
Thats what we, 5 of us, did. We booked a car from a local self drive car rent company and off we went to a local hill station named Panchghani and then from there on to another station, Mahabaleshwar.

We started at the dead of the night at about 0200h and reached the vast table top expanses of Panchghani right on time for the sunrise.

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Post admiring the sunrise, we had a photo session, kinda expected right, when there are two photogs in the same car :p

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From there, the next stop was the Mapro Farms on the way to Mahabaleshwar. Strawberries and pizzas and chocolates, that was our brunch.

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As we were about to leave, there was a rumble, a thunder and sets of gleaming chrome made their way  into the cafe and we were all awestruck.

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Next up, was the Mahabaleshwar temple, and the surrounding viewpoints and finally the famous fort of Pratapgarh.

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Finally, we were on our way back in the evening. In about ₹1000/person, we had an amazing trip.

Next trip….lets see 🙂

Cheers!!

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The colony of gulls

Anyone, who has visited the ghats of Varanasi, during the sunrise and the early morning, they might have seen the colony of gulls swimming flying and frolicking about. For the ones, who haven’t had the opportunity yet, have a look here.

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Whats amazing is that these gulls respond to being called at for food.  For more shots of Varanasi, including some amazing evening Arati shots, click here.

With exams approaching at speeds faster than I would like them to, its time for me to scale back on the blogging and get studying….but not before I post the most recent trip I had to Lonavala. Night shots, shooting stars, blinking aeroplane lights and some more. Stay tuned.

Cheers!!

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