visual journey
visual world through my eyes…
aqua highway..
Deception Pass, Whidbey Island, Washington state | May 2012
Just a casual snapshot or is it ? So while walking on the deception pass bridge, I saw this speed boat (pardon my limited vocabulary of water sports utility vehicles) speeding through and about to pass the bridge underneath. I grabbed my camera and took a very quick snap just before it crossed over. Unfortunately I had a setting from previous shot to underexpose by 2 stops (setting for portrait on a sunny day with flash for subject lighting) and the results, as the camera was asked to, turned out a bit on the darker side and yet like a pleasant surprise, quite dramatic. Given the high contrast scenario under the mid-day light, underexposing, as it happened accidently, would have been the right choice anyways.. Casual snapshots can be fun !
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Rockscape at Arches – contd..
Skyline Arch | Arches National Park | Nov 2011
One of the most accessible arches , a five minute walk by the main park road (towards Devil’s Garden)
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Faces on the street – Gadisar Lake
Saadhu | Gadisar Lake, Jaisalmer | Jan 2012
another example of when just asking an interesting subject might result in them agreeing readily. He seemed someone who had seen a lot of cameras :)
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bibliophile…
book stall | Jaisalmer Fort | Jan 2012
despite the explosive growth of nook or kindle or ipad, these old book stalls still have their charm for the bookworms. Browsing and searching through here might reveal a forgotten treasure :)
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g(re)enie in a bottle
Industrial decay | Ranchi, Jharkhand | Jan 2012
Visiting a small cottage based factory that made glass bulb (or more accurately, used to make ) I had found some interesting subjects, that were in decay and made a few shots. This bottle with the liquid probably had been lying in the same state for many years.
Work has taken a toll and I have been terribly behind schedule with my posts lately. I hope to be able to get back soon on my usual frequency . Would not want my blog posts (and photography) suffer the same decay as this bottle did :)
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bada bagh chhatries (cenotaphs)
Royal Cenotaph | Jaisalmer | Jan 2012
When you come back from the city of Jaisalmer and look at your photographs, especially if includes a lot of architecture (forts, palaces, cenotaphs, temples) don’t be surprised if honey and golden hues dominate the theme.
These 16th century cenotaphs are not very far from the city and the architecture is a blend of Paliwal, Mughal and Rajput style of architecture. The light was a bit harsh by the time we reached, but like i said, you can always find the golden hue, if you looked carefully :)
technical info : used a 24 mm TS-E lens shifted to avoid converging verticals . The only other wider lens I had was a 16 mm lens (without shift) which would have given a wider angle but not the shifting that is kind of useful here.
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adobe walls #2
stairs | Kuldhara, Jaisalmer | Jan 2012
a section of the wall including stairs from the brief photo shoot at the Ghost Town of Kuldhara. Some of the walls and houses have been rebuilt or repainted , probably to keep up the interest alive. For a story of this ghost town read the previous post
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adobe walls
abandoned house | Kuldhara, Jaisalmer | Jan 2012
mid-day light helps bring out the hues and colors of the walls from an abandoned house in the ghost town Kuldhara, 18 kms west of Jaisalmer. When I first heard the story ( more truth than mythology) I knew I had to check it out. This has to one of the most bizarre stories of human migration one can hear. Once a prosperous settlement of the Paliwal Brahmins, all the residents of Kuldhara and 83 nearby villages vanished suddenly one night in 1825, having lived there since 1291. In all likelihood they set up base somewhere beyond Jodhpur but no one has ever been sure.
What made them want to abandon everything overnight? The Prime Minister, or the dewan, is believed to have developed a lecherous eye for the chief’s daughter; it is said the Paliwal women were in general stunningly beautiful. He may even have imposed unreasonable taxes on them. With pride and honour overruling all worldly interests, the chiefs of the 84 villages decided to go away in a single night with whatever they could carry with them.
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shadows
afternoon light on my glasses | Ranchi | Jan 2012
nothing significant here, just the afternoon light and shadows playing with the glasses.
Have a photo submission deadline for a photo-book coming up. I have a lot of digging up to do, to come up with the final three selected photos, from my archives. Without giving you the convenience of having a filtered list to select from , or even a list (in one place) for that matter, if you still have any suggestions, anything you saw on my blog and pops out, do let me know. I would love to hear . In matters like these, gut feeling and heart usually wins over reasoning , and my final decision at such selections usually can at best be described as arbitrary, I would still love to know if there is a populist vote on any of the photos.
and oh ! the portraits (almost but not all ) are auto rejections, as they require a model release. I only have a few models who gave me the releases :(
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idyll moment
idyllic rural Moment, reading in the winter Sun | Khuri | Jan 2012
Having spent the first three days of our Rajasthan Vacation running helter-skelter, trying to soak in everything, see and do everything ( sounds familiar ? isn’t this is true for most of us naive tourists visiting a new place, even though we all know it is an impossible task).
We spent the last day however, in a small village and decided to take it easy and just relax, sit out in the sun, read a book , eat and basically do nothing :) . I found that years and years of life in fast pace had me quite uncomfortable with a contrarian lifestyle like this, which was amusing , surprising and a bit disturbing. I need a few more of those days in my life.
