Panning Life

Capt. Nandu Chitnis first introduced me to this technique. It is quite simple to understand but requires a lot of patience and control to get a satisfactory shot. On the first day of our experiment at Lavasa, I could find only one worthwhile picture in my first 100 clicks. Came to know that a professional motor sport photographer has to click 300-400 for every good shot he takes. Being a beginner, it seemed nice to have better success ratio but later I realized that it is the difference between my and his in definition of "one good shot"! :)

While Nandu has clicked a lot of bikers, he always wanted to have one of his own pan shot. And who else could better help him ;). Fortunately, one of my click on our second shoot at NDA road got explored! on flickr!. Sounds like a good omen! Here are some more interesting ones that we clicked during this panning experiment.

The Dock on Fire

This Sunday, finally, we found time to grab our BN calendar. Pravin's wife accompanied us for the first time and we happended to reach Rucha's place in San Francisco by evening. We had a chat over quick round of tea and delicious homemade pizza. Then come Sai's suggestion - a walk to Marina near golden gate bridge. My decision to carry camera and the new 10-22mm lens, even though no shoot was planned, turned out to be wise.



This particular photo was an accident. I changed the shutter speed from 15 to 30 sec and mistakenly moved the camera thinking it was still 30!

Here is the pic without fire.

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.