Lighthouse Blues

Its early Saturday morning and I see a missed call from Pravin. I callback. Plan is a dusk photoshoot near Santa Cruz, Joy is also coming. How can I say no?

Flickr Set

Bikenomads 2009 Calendar

Unlike its biweekly nature in 2008, the latest BN calendar has monthly format. So only 12 could find place. Good thing is that it is reaching even more number of people this year. Check out this slide show from Sayan's gallery.

View SlideShare presentation

2008 for me almost went without rides. I had opportunity to click some pictures during BN meet with a TOI reporter in Mutha Ghat before I moved here, glad to have one of these clicks appearing in the calendar. Another memorable ride for 2008 was done here in Big Sur, California with Nandu. I could not actually ride the bike that time and so was just holding the camera. The place is so wonderful and I wish to ride here one day.

the calendar was made possible in short time by many folks especially Sayan from Pune and a great guy from Bangalore - Venkat who has been sponsoring this calendar since its first year.

Read the making of BN calendar for 2009.

Discovering The Backyard

Its been almost 6 months since I have this camera. Owning a SLR with L series lens, I was expecting dramatic improvements in my photographs. But despite of shooting at scenic places like Yellowstone, Oregon, Crater Lake in US, I was not completely satisfied with the results. At times, my previous camera gave better results. I couldn't quite understand why, until last Sunday.

Just to give some background, a week before last week, we had planned to visit Eastern Sierra region near Yosemite National Park in California. This place is famous for its beautiful fall colors. But to my disappointment we had to cancel the trip due to bad weather. I knew fall colors have started disappearing fast and I had to do something.

Sun was shining nice on last Sunday. Roommate had some work in the office. I had whole day and nothing much to do. Suddenly, an idea flashed in mind, I knew my office campus in San Ramon was something which I wanted to capture from long time. So without giving it much thought I grabbed the camera and asked my roommate to drop me at the office.

With number of Mapel trees, the campus has something to offer in this time of the year. I spent 2 hours walking from one corner to the other of the campus. Here are some of the shots I was able to click.




Heading back home with the satisfaction and a new learning - spending more time at the location creates a BIG difference. The camera wont matter.

More images on Flickr.

The USA collection.

Sinhagad, Dusk & Those 15 minutes.

Went to Sinhagad yesterday with few friends for whom it was the first visit. Though I was going there after a long time I was not really excited as it is not the 'green' time of the year - the time when the fort is at its best. In my last 6 years in Pune I've been to Sinhgad quite a lot of times but never had opportunity to watch the sunset. We went in the afternoon and wandered around the fort under the full sunshine. It was hot and not that enjoyable. Finally, we arrived at the 'wind point' where I expected to get a proper view of the setting sun. We saw the sunset. Thats it. It was good but somehow not a perfect one. I got a feeling of 'something-missing' as we were leaving. I was not able to click even a single satisfactory shot today. But anyways we had to leave as most of the crowd was already gone and rest was also disappearing very fast. We started walking slowly towards the main entrance of the fort. Everybody was quite. With camera in my hand I was walking behind everybody. Then I saw this small pond which was reflecting the colourful sky quite nicely. My feets stopped automatically. Hands positioned the camera and this picture got clicked. Those who were ahead of me shouted at me asking to move quickly, "Its getting late!". I looked at the sky. It was shining differently showing all possible shades of evening light. I told them "Go ahead. I'll catch up in 5 minutes". Now it was getting interesting. Something had really changed over Sinhagad after the sun went down. For next 15 minutes camera was on full swing. I would look around, frame something interesting & just click. I liked the results I got in such a short time frame. When I came back to consciousness, I was running towards the main gate with a fulfilled heart. Finally, the 'missing part' was found in last 15 minutes. Yippie!










Find all photos on flickr in the set Sinhagad at Dusk.

Bikenomads 2008 Calender

The Bikenomads 2008 calendar is out. It is a fortnightly calendar having different images with theme of Bike + Nomadgiri. Images are the original works of all fellow nomads.
.. and guess what it features 4 images that I took! I was glad to know this when contributors list got posted on the group. Waiting to get my hands on it. Should publish its pics soon :)
these are the lucky folks who made it

> JANUARY
Suyash Sonawane- Been There Done That
Asad Zaidi- Amongst The Clouds
> FEBRUARY
Prabul-
Sachin Koppikar-
> MARCH
Ashish Chamoli- Lost in Tranquility
Sachin Koppikar-
>APRIL
Deepak Dongre- Chakan Meet
Arnob Gupta- Twisties in Paradise
>MAY
Manas Sharan- Gokarna Ride
Manas Saran- Green Alleys of Nature
>JUNE
Kartik Ayyar- Can we fly?
Suyash Sonawane- And I took the road less traveled
> JULY
Suyash Sonawane- Getting lost
Kartik Ayyar- Miles to go before we sleep
>AUGUST
Praveen Sathaye- Curve Hugging
Prabul-
> SEPTEMBER
Adding routes to the Map Harshad Sharma
Blaze of Glory Aditya Bhelke
> OCTOBER
Metal Monster. Mystical Beauty. Praveen Sathaye
Ride in the Clouds. Praveen Shirali
>NOVEMBER
King of the Jungle -Vasanth
Misty Jungle Road -Suyash Sonawane
> DECEMBER
Them Boys be Bikenomads - Harshad Sharma
Hell Freezes over -Sumeet Popli