Blog's back to life

I know it's been a long time, almost a year since i have blogged here and posted my photographs. You must have been wondering if i have quit photography and this blog has been abandoned. Thankfully the answer is no.

I have not quit photography and this blog is not abandoned, but I had taken a break from Photography since the beginning of this year. The break wasn't intentional, but there were quite a few things happening on other fronts that had kept me busy and occupied.

A deep love for nature and the pristine landscape and a passion towards Landscape photography made me take up photography. All my photography pursuits so far have been towards Landscape Photography and there is no alternate emotion to me than the joy of being out there pre-dawn and photographing the magical landscape. Though i have not pursued it sincerely and not done justice to it, i have had immense joy in going out there in the field, setting up the equipments, waiting for the light and producing whatever photographs i have shot so far.

Off late, i have been getting attracted to street, people photography and actually shooting everything that's around you. I tried and to be honest, it was quite disappointed to see what i had shot, as i was more conditioned to working in the landscape photography style, but the interest has only been increasing by the day.

The time off from Photography has given me an opportunity to think about my changing interests within photography and also think a lot about the photographs i have shot so far and realize how regular shooting could have helped in improving them a great deal. I have also noticed an inclination towards black and white photography and my interest in doing a BW Series of the place i love the most, Hampi.

The Joy and Passion for Photography was rekindled recently, thanks to a friend's wedding and to Frames of Mind(FOM) 2008 edition and i am back, dusting my equipments and processing my pictures.

Travel hasn't been great either, but i did manage to do some very memorable trips last year including a trip to Monolake and Bodie, where i had one of my best sunrises ever, a road trip along the Pacific coast from San Franscisco to the Redwood national Park, a few miles away from the Oregon - California border and a very memorable, soul soothing and life changing trip to Bhutan.

Bodie, in particular has been very kind to me. Two Photographs of Bodie gave my first ever photo sales at FOM 07, another photograph of Bodie was used for a Proline Clothing series advertisement and another one now going to be exhibited at FOM 08.
Nothing big, but small things that gave me some joy, encouragement and a kick to do more.

I also made a "no agenda do nothing" trip to Hampi in Jan this year, where the only thing we did was to sit and see the magical sunrise and sunset everyday, in the company of birds and boulders.

A Road trip along the coastline of Tamilnadu and a trip up north rank high on the wish list this year.

I had held back the photographs of Bodie and Bhutan, from posting in this blog so far. I am going to go ahead to post those photographs in this post and upcoming posts on Bodie and Bhutan.

I intend to be more active in my photography and blogging again. Here's the first one.

Mount Everest seen from the Druk Air Flight to Bhutan

I hope you like it and as always comments/critiques are always welcome.

Enjoy !!!

Stirring light

One of my favourites from the Monolake trip. The delicate morning light playing on the Tufas, stirring the soul.

Silence

Silent, peaceful and calm is what you feel when you take a deep look at the picture.

Monolake in the morning.

This picture was displayed at "Frames of Mind 2007", Bangalore Photography Club's Annual Photography Exhibition.

First Light

The Second picture in the Monolake series.

First Light

Sun rising from behind the Tufas.

Tranquility at Monolake

In Summer of 2004, i was introduced to the Fredmiranda Landscape Photographer Forum, one of best forums around, for Landscape Photography and in turn to Monolake, in the Eastern Sierra region of California.

Since then, Monolake had been on my photography travel wish list and every post of Monolake and the surrounding sierra region on FM, only increased my urge to visit Monolake.

Three years later, on a Summer morning in April 2007, when some of the photographers from the Northern California Photographers group planned a trip to Monolake and Bodie, i grabbed the chance and made the trip to Monolake.

We hit the road and after 7 hours of driving (thanks to our over confidence. Despite getting clear route instructions, we ended up driving for miles on the wrong highway, only to find about 3 feet of snow, a few miles before the destination). The road was closed and we had to turn back.

We summoned our GPS to give us the driving directions and it led through roads where only two wheelers would make it. We trusted the GPS and drove through small villages, mini forests, small towns and it did finally put us on to Highway 88, from where we drove to US 395, the highway that goes around the Eastern Sierras.

The First view of Monolake was breath taking and spell bound. The sub zero degree temperature, the wet sand, the chill waters, the snow mountains in the background, the interesting Tufa formations in the lake seen through a layer of fog and the whole landscape lit by a full moon and pre dawn light was just ethereal.

Standing at the bank of the lake during the first light, you go speechless, your eyes get moist, you feel like coming down on your knees, spread your arms and submit yourself to Mother Nature. Neither words nor pictures can make any justice to express the feeling one gets, when you first visit Monolake on a chilly winter morning.

I spent two mornings at Monolake and shot some images of the lake. The Pictures do not make any justice to the beauty of the place.

Here's one of my favourites from the trip.

Pre dawn at Monolake

Monolake and the Tufas, shot before Dawn.

To know more about Monolake, check out the Monolake website here.

FOM 2007 was a grand success.

Frames of Mind(FOM) 2007 was a grand success for everyone of us at Bangalore Photography Club(BPC). The response was awesome and overwhelming.

I would like to thank everyone who had come by to check out our photography work.
It was a big encouragement for all of us.

Images of the exhibition can be viewed here.

Personally for me, it had been a great moment as i made my first ever sale of my photographs. Two of my BW pictures received very good reviews from the visitors and also from the noted and renowned photographers who visited us. Both the BW's also got purchased at the exhibition.

I will start posting my Monolake series and also the pictures that were displayed at the exhibition, starting tomorrow. Please do visit this blog for my Photography updates in the future. Thank you.

Cheers,
Rakesh

"Frames of Mind" is back

Bangalore Photography Club's annual photography exhibition "Frames of Mind" is back for the 2007 edition.

Frames of Mind 2007 will display the photographic work of about 35 photographers from bangalore.

The exhibition will be held on June 8th-10th at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan,Bangalore.

I would like to invite you to the exhibition. If you are in town during the June 9th weekend, do check it out. The exhibition features very good photographs and i am sure you will have a great time.

I will have few of my pictures exhibitied at the event.

Should you need more info, pls feel free to email me.
Also watch out this space for driving directions to the venue.

View through the caves

View of Upper Shivalaya and the Mantap at the lower level,seen from the Cave temples at Badami.

Abhishek and Aishwarya got married here

in the movie "Guru".

Agastya Theertha temple, Badami.

Upper Shivalaya again

Another view of the Upper Shivalaya, Badami

Upper Shivalaya, Badami

Another impromptu trip, last minute ticket deals, wait listed return journey, zero information about the place, interesting auto rickshaw drives, unclean town, highly touristy, the long walks through the small streets of the town, buying every snack the street vendors sold, beautiful cave temples, pre-ocuupied minds, soothing solitude at the not so easily accessible Upper Shivalaya, the beautiful sunrise and the forgetful crazy return journey.

These events sum up the Badami trip we did, during the last weekend of January.

Badami is a small town in Northern Karnataka, known for its 5th century architecture and the rock cut temples. It is a very peaceful place, but also a very unclean town.
More about Badami here

The trip was very eventful and a lot of fun. We also had a good photo trip.
We loved the place.

Here's a picture of the Upper Shivalaya,Badami.

2007 begins at Hampi

Wish you all a belated Happy New year.

I had wanted to begin my 2007 posts on this blog with my New Year greeting photo,a light paintings shot with crackers, but the Enthu kinda died down and i have finally given up on the idea.

On the Photography front, 2007 began with a bang for me and Nara, as we did an impromptu trip to Hampi, on the first weekend of 2007.

It had been close to 2 years since i visited Hampi and i was more than happy to be there, hang around in the ruins, drive around in the tiny TVS Moped, just sit and watch the big red round sun, kissing the horizon and waving goodbye for the day.

It's been 1 week, since i have returned and i am already missing the place.
I hope to go back again very soon.

Apart from chilling out, i also did some shooting. Here's one of the pictures from the trip.

This is the Stone chariot inside the Vithala temple complex in Hampi.The Wheels are completely carved out of stone and are actually capable of revolving.

We shot it pretty late in the morning and hence the big dark shadows.

Another Day..Another Sunset

Shot it from the top of the boulders en route to Nandi Hills,Bangalore.

Bird Unknown

I am no Bird/Wildlife photographer and very rarely I come across birds that are in shootable distance for the lenses I use. This is one of those very rare times.

I don't know what bird this is. We found it on my friend's farm in Mysore, when we had camped there for the Mysore Dasara. After a lot of hide and seek with this cute little bird, it finally posed for a few pictures. Hope you like it.

Up Close

A very nicely dressed dancer,shot during the Mysore Dasara procession.

Mysore in the Palace

The Entire city of Mysore showed up at the Palace,on the last day of Dasara.

The traffic jams were much worse than Bangalore(yes,that's right) and with thousands of vistors crossing the roads all the time,it was just not the ideal scene for smooth traffic trails.

This shot shows the slow moving traffic on one side and the stationary traffic on the other side.

Talking heads

One more shot from Bombe Mane(the Dasara Doll exhibition).

The Bride

I shot her at the Bombe Manae(the Dasara Doll exhibition)...look at it again, she is'nt a doll.

The Rhythm

This group of kids were one of the pagents in the Dasara procession.

The dance was beautiful with perfect rhythm and grace and it was great pleasure to watch.

The music was just awesome and was played by the kids of the same age group,and the dance perfectly complemented the music.

I enjoyed the dance and the music and i hope you enjoy it in the picture.

Prayers

Women pray to the Goddess Chamundeshwari.Shot at Mysore Dasara 2006 during the Dasara procession.