US Times : Boston

John Harvard [ Founder 1638 ]

Last month [ 18th-22nd May 2005 ] I was on a small business trip to Chicago, USA. I was at my sluggish best on account of jetlag. A 11/12 hr difference [Japan-EST US] literally made my days into nights and the vice verse. No sooner I was done in Chicago, I took a flight to Boston.

The Harry Elkins Widener Memorial Library [ Harvard, Boston ]

Boston been loaded with friends from my schooling and college, I had a royal time. It was a cloudy day all the way in Boston, I was so lazy that I just did a point and shoot photography.Early in the morning of 21st May 2005, I , Srikanth and Anu walked around Harvard Square and hit the Harvard Campus.

MIT

Later in the day Ashok, Subhash,Siva and Naveen gave me a ride to Boston downtown, on the way we visited the MIT campus. For the past 10 years I been looking forward visiting the campus and there I was.

Mr Bagpiper

At Harvard Campus there was a memorial church and a wedding party was on the way. There was this Bagpiper in all his splendor who caught my attention.

Physics lecture notes

Walking down the Harvard Lawn I stumbled on some Physics lecture notes, reminding me of my bygone days.

On Assignment

[ f2.8 ,1/1000s @ 200mm ]
Handheld ,Nikon D70, Nikkor 70-200mm F2.8 VR

Finally I have my dream lens and with no further delay today I planned to get a feel of it. With no shooting location in mind I was at the mercy of wind. Amit , Mahesh and myself checked out of the house around noon and had a lunch at "Maharaja Indian & Nepali Restaurant" around suwa region.

[ f8 ,1/30s @ 18mm ]
Handheld ,Nikon D70, Nikkor 18-70mm DX

Trying to figure our way to Route 20 we landed infront of Kamisuwa castle. It was pretty pleasant, this being my fourth time to this place , never was it so deserted, but that happened to be a blessing for me. I had a real field day. Of late I got used to trying all the text book shots, so to give a break I lowered my center of gravity and got a shot from just above the water level.

[ f5 ,1/200s @ 170mm ]
Handheld ,Nikon D70, Nikkor 70-200mm F2.8 VR

The ducks were a treat to watch, they perched on a stone in the middle of the pond and thats when I switch to my medium telephoto lens and went clicking. A couple of weeks back I swore to myself that I will not be clicking at random but only when I am done with thinking through the shot, well this rather turned counter productive, sometimes one should leave it to his senses.

[ f8.0 ,1/250s @ 90mm ]
Tripod Mount ,Nikon D70, Tamron 90mm F2.8 Macro

Finally I set my eyes on a flower, and I took the macro for a ride. I tried some low DOF with little success. Well trying to be Jack of all trades doesnt work always. Over all it made me feel better, and gave me the required boost for the long week ahead.

Mr Cool

( f/2.8, 1/1000 @ 200mm ) 100% Crop.

Last Night I was testing my new Nikkor lens and tried a shot at Mr Cool the Moon.

Camera : D70
Lens : AF-S Nikkor 70-200mm 1:2.8G
Tripod : Yes

Macro : A Rose

I was shopping at MaxValu, when I found the flower section inundated with fresh flowers like never before, only for me to realize that Mothers day is around the corner.

[1/5 sec , f22]

There were a multitude of rose plants to choose from and I picked a bonzai rose plant if I can call it so, back home I put myself to work with my macro lens on the tripod. The end result was rather OK kind of stuff.I was struggling with the lighting. Need to figure out how to illuminate macro subjects !!

Camera : D70
Lense : Tamron SP AF 90mm F2.8 Macro 1: 1
Tripod : Yes

Utsukushigahara and Mount Asama

It is Golden Week and thereby a holiday time out here, April 29th-May 5th. Probably these are one of those wasted holidays as I plan to stay home, not without a reason the Markins Q-ball ( Head for my tripod ) shipment got stuck somewhere in the transit and I vowed to shoot only with my tripod. Finally it arrived this sunday but the weather kept me home.

Mt Asama

So today I set myself to test my new Gitzo G1227LVL and Markins M20 tripod. Took the bus to the Utsukushigahara Kogen (plateau) which is in backyard of Matsumoto city. Being a clear sunny day, the panoramic view was just awesome. I was able to clearly locate Mount Asama ( active valcano). Last year I had a plan to trek this Mountain but currently trekking out on Asama is banned as they found some signs of eruption.

Mt Asama was steaming out and it was quite visible from where I stood. I tried for a panoramic , the tripod operation was very smooth, I tried shooting with the circular polarizer filter on but had little luck. I goofed up again by not locking the exposure, the end result is artifacts while blending/sticking the images together.

Utsukushigahara sports an Open air museum. One should plan to spend atleast 2-3 hours. This being my second visit to this place I walked straight to the sculptures which I missed in my last visit. When I walked up one elevated platform, I realized the 360 degree view it offers. One can view Mt Fuji a range of all the 2500- 3000+ mts mountains.

So this marks the only outing for the Golden week this year.

Spring Barbeque '05

I was lazy all the way to sit before the dashboard and scribble a bit, well better late than never. Spring is suppose to be the best season in Japan. The onset of the spring is greeted by the blooming Sakura flowers. If your in Japan at this point of time then you cant miss the Spring Barbeque parties.

We set the table for the Barbeque Party at the Skypark near Matsumoto Airport. It was an awesome sunny day and a near clear sky and this happened to be my first Barbeque party on this planet. We made some veg curries at home and carried along for it turned out to be a saviour for the veggies.

I played for a while flipping and toasting the meat slices and then serving it. Basked around the park for a while before I started munching the curry-rice. For some of the Japanese colleagues the curries sounded a bit hot.

Shortly Ichikawa-san logged in with his kids and we had some fun playing baseball. Ichikawa-san started his shooting session with his Canon-EOS 10D. I had a feel of the camera and it was rock solid. But what appealed to me is the Lens : Sigma 18-200mm, obviously it was an cool consumer lens. I very much enjoyed the perspective that lens offers.

Ichikawa-sans friend checked in with his EPSON RD-1. The worlds first Digital Rangefinder. It looked more like a collectors choice. It had a Carl-Zeiss Lens mounted with f2.8. When I checkout the price of that camera, I just dropped my jaw in awe. Its 3000 USD. Well I was aware of Point and Shoot Cameras,35mm SLRs, Medium and Large Format Cameras but what is this new breed of cameras called Rangefinder. Back home I did my search on the www to figure out that it has its roots stuck deep in the past. The Rangefinder happens to be a hot favourite for some journalists. Though its very much digital all the settings in RD-1 are manual. Its ultra large view finder was very impressive, but shooting though it is somewhat like trying to blend 2 images,get them in focus and then click.

To be honest the second part of the Barbeque party was like a Photo Assignment and all trying to give their best. I was rather lost in observing the rest. There was this unusual clock in the park which drew attention every hour. The clock starts with a new tune 3-4 mintues ahead and then strikes the bells to the count of the hours when its dot on.

Over all its what I call a relished day.

Sakura

[ 1/200 sec , f10]

The Sakura (Cherry blossom) started blooming around my region, running from shades of light pink to white, they form quite a hotspot . I planned to move around to Matsumoto and the hills around but thats when it struck me, do I need to travel that far ? when all I intend was to shoot Macro. To be honest I was bit lazy to travel, so I jumped onto my bicycle and rallied towards Shinsu-sky park (3Kms from my residence).

[ 1/200 sec , f16]

I hardly got as far as 200 mts that I bumped into a sakura garden. It was 0800hrs and hardly anyone around, I started with my assignment. Playing around with the DOF(depth of field),I started at f10 and worked my way up till f16, thats when the shutter speeds started dropping below 1/60 for the best exposure, which would induce an element of shake when handheld.So I could not try anything above f16.

[ 1/200 sec , f10]

I was rather not pleased with any of the shots, but the object of the day's shootout was met, I learnt a bit about the DOF with the Macro Lense. But some old habits die hard I only realized at the end of the shoot that I am still with the Manual Mode when I was asked to switch to the Aperture Priority mode.
Well I have figured out a logical excuse to the use of Manual Mode : When I have all the time in the world to compose my shot I would stick to M mode but when my subject is fast moving and want a control over the DOF then for sure I will switch to A mode.

[1/80 sec , f16]

Let me generalize the learning of the day till I find it convincingly fallible. On a Macro Lense the average DOF should be greater than f16 for a decent composition of flora.

Camera : D70
Lense : Tamron SP AF 90mm F2.8 Macro 1: 1
Tripod : No

Portrait of a simian

Browsing through all the potrait shots shot in the last 2 years, I came across this which I shot when I was climbing up the Seven Hills, Tirumala to the Lords Abode on Feb 14th 2004.

The monkeys out here are least afraid of humans, that gave me a chance to approach the monkey with ease and shoot it from 2 feet away with a Sony P-10 cybershot.

Spring is in the air '05

[D70, 90mm F2.8 Macro, 1/250 sec , f7.1]

Spring starts to set in after the rocking winter. The air is so comforting that I got onto the street in shots. Well finally my new macro lense (Tamron SP AF 90mm F2.8 Macro 1:1) arrived on saturday, but I'm a bit unlucky with the tripod and the Q-ball, they ran out of stock.

Saturday I scouted for some flowers around my apartment, figured some real good ones beside the road on the way to a colleagues room and scheduled to shoot them on sunday.

[D70, 90mm F2.8 Macro, 1/250 sec , f7.1]

It turned out to be a pleasant sunday. With enough read and experimented at home I hit the field. The wind was a bit harsh at times. Resenting that I miss the tripod I squat on the road and gave the best I could. No matter what be it the images turned out blur.

I got so engrossed in the shooting that I started following the flower path and set my self in position to get the shot of the evening, thats just when a loud dog bark got me flat on the road. Oh!! I over looked the kennel thats right next. With little interest in drawing attention, I pulled my self up and trotted away to safety.

[D70, 90mm F2.8 Macro, 1/400 sec , f5.6]

The very me in me

"The Journey should be as interesting as the destination."not sure whos quote it is but what if that very "interesting" turns into a adventure or rather a mis-adventure !!

Last month I was on my way back from India to my foster home out in Matsumoto. Since we(I and Amit) couldnt get a decent mode of transportation that evening from Tokyo, we booked our luggage with a luggage service, which was destined to be at my residence the following day at 1500Hrs. Then we made it to a friends room close to shinjuku station. We freshened up and then at 2300Hrs hit the road, had a quick dinner and as the rest planned to venture into the night life of Tokyo, I was pretty much tired as I been hopping flights from Vizag - Hyderabad - Bangalore - Kaulalumpur -Tokyo and also needed to take the early train the next morning to Matsumoto.So I checked online :if I take the 1030Hrs train I will safely make it in time, but preferred the 0900Hrs, and finally it was 0200Hrs when I slumbered.

At the 0800 Hrs alarm, I gave my self to some snoozing which resulted in an unsettling 0920Hrs. I jumped into my trousers and ran like Glenn Cunningham to the local station and at 0950hrs was in the `Q` to buy a ticket for the Azusa Express(shinjuku-matsumoto).I asked for 1030Hrs Azusa, but was prompted by the travel assistant to take the 1000Hrs as Azusa starts from Platform No 5, to which I hesitantly nodded. I ran in a hurry when I noticed that I hardly have 2 minutes to make it. I was getting down the stairs when I heard the all familiar buzz that turns up before the express train doors lock. I was swift and put my right leg into the Express Train with the other on the platform, when the door slammed in.I tried pulling my leg out but it was in vain. Neither I can push myself in nor pull myself out. I went into a shock, how come the anti lock system not work. I turned my head to my right only to add to my agony that the platform was empty and when I turned to my left only one man stood crossed the yellow line and he was my last hope.Helpless as I gestured that I was not able to move. Totally in a shock not a word came from my mouth.My last ray of hope did the needful and the door opened. I pushed myself in and the doors closed behind me. I just took a heavy breath just to come in terms with what transpired in the last 3 minutes. I started a root cause ananlysis which lead me to: the error(~2 mintues) that crept in when I set the time from IST to JST at the Narita Airport.The trained pulled out of the station and was gaining speed. I was trudging towards my coach when the electronic marquee in the coach read "The Next Stop is Tokyo".

I could hardly recollect that tokyo comes on the way from shijuku to Matsumoto, I queried and there I was on the wrong train. Cursing my self of all the bad calls I made from the morning I stood helpless. Cleared my head of all the fuss and started the mitigation plans. If I can take the return train from Tokyo to shinjuku and be in time for the 1030hrs train, then I will be home as planned. It was 1015hrs when I ended up in tokyo station, took the chou line and was back in Shinjuku by 1025hrs. Made sure I was on the right platform with Azusa heading for Matsumoto and hopped in. The ticket collector directed me to an unreserved coach, elated that I finally managed to get on to the right train.

Vizag Times : Beach II

Rushikonda Beach

Sun Set from Simhachalam Temple

Vizag Times : Aruku Tribal Dance

Aruku Valley is 100Kms away from Visakhapatnam(Vizag).I along with my parents,mamayya and cousin vinod set out on a trip to Aruku Valley and Borra Caves. We booked for the AP Tourism Rail-cum-Road sightseeing.The train pulled out of the Vizag Station at around 8A.M. The guide gave an account of the days schedule. I munched the garama garam Idly Vada that were served in the train. An hour latter the train started it ascent, I was all set to capture the valley to its best, so I moved to the door and awaited for the greens. The train meandered through the hills and the tunnels.

My date with viridity took the blunt when the guide remarked that the best season to view the valley is in December and not on the onset of these summer months. With nothing much to do I need to figure out a subject and that was none other than her majesty the train itself. Bending to get the best of the shot while my father and mammayya holding me by my collar was the game of the day till we reached Aruku.

The train moved on towards kirandol as we logged onto a coach at Aruku railway station. The altitude was 900mts above sea level. Our first spot was a kind of Botanical Gardens with some tree top houses. Then we moved onto Tribal Museum which gave a modest insight into the tribals lives. My cousine tried some mis-chief with a doll and was caught on the wrong foot, I guess his blood pressure levels where all time high till he got the doll back in place. A hearty lunch at the AP Tourism Center was what we were blessed with. The after lunch session was marked by a Tribal Dance performed by some locals/tribals in the AP Tourism Center premises. I just went clicking and clicking till the visitors joined the dance.

It was 1.5/2 hours journey to Borra Caves. Enroute we hit the Gaali Konda View point. I tried a panoramic shot, it came out fine but with out the greenery the effect is lost, then we passed by some coffee plantations and hit the Borra Caves. Evening tea and snacks got some life to some poor souls. The return journey to vizag started in the bus and it was around 8:30PM when we were back home.

Vizag Times : Sagar Nagar

I and my cousin vinod set out on a road trip along the coast line. We started from Ramakirshna beach and went upto INS kalinga. This is for the first time that I been this far as INS kalinga in vizag.In retro I sense that these places never popped up on my travelling radar. The scorching heat was taking its toll on me, somehow we got ourselves going on and on. Two boats sailing caught my attention, and we were trying to get ahead of them on road and capture them.


Though I was aware that I didnt have a good lense to get that far, we went on for the very fun of it. At Sagarnagar we just got a decent entry point.I was trudging towards the sea as heavy wind was blowing towards me, thats when I took notice of the sand dunes formation. Said to myself "Here they go, let me try to make the best of this, I need not travel thousands of miles to a desert to get the best of the sand dunes".In no time I tried out umpteen variations . I asked my cousine to walk around from the sea front and I lowered to below zero level to get the composition here under. All in all it was a learning experience. One more step up the endless ladder.

FotoBuffs : I havent done the vignette correction to the snaps

Vizag Times : Borra Caves

Borra Caves, located 90 Kms to the ~North of Visakhapatnam(Vizag) in the Aruku Valley Region. These caves are more than a million year old. There are innumerable stalactites. The caves are some 900mts above the sea level.

All my childhood I been hearing about these caves but it took me 20 long years to make it to this awesome place. The caves are prefectly lit to give the desired visual impact. Since we reached Borra late in the evening around 1600Hrs, we hardly had an hour to go through the whole place, as after 1700Hrs or so they are going to power down.

A photographer can put his imagination to test. Though I throughly enjoyed my parents and mamajis company, they are so over protective of me and my cousin they went on cautioning, every stone we stepped and every rock we climbed. We felt so pampered time and again.

The funniest event of the day was when some visitors mis-judged me for a photographer who makes his living by shooting visitors at Borra.

These caves are so vast that its worth all the travel. Legend has it that this place was discovered by accident by a shepard who went in search of his cattle that fell through one of the cave holes. December tends to be the best season to visit this place as its lush green.

When I mailed these snaps to some of my friends. One of them came back asking : "where is this place Borra in India ? Kerala?".

If Andhra Pradesh does a better packaging of Vizag then for sure it can turn out as one of the top tourist destinations. For information on travel checkout at AP Tourism

Its been 12 years

Back in my schooling days I used to paint with all the passion in the world.I hardly won any painting competition but enjoyed it as much as a kindergarden kid would when he gets hands on his first crayon.

Last week when I was in Vizag, I came across a painting, hanging on the wall in my aunts house. It was one of those painting that I painted exactly 12 years from that day. It looked more like a collage.



Dated and Signed under : 23-26/03/93.

Vizag Times : Beach I

Kailashgiri View Point

At the Far End is Rushikonda, where my engineering college GITAM is situated. This road along the coastline was what we used to run along for 4 years. The road has been widened and it looks awesome. They have set up a rope way to Kailashgiri hill top. All of a sudden some how vizag looks much cleaner and beautiful to me. But the only thing that disgusts me is the illegitimate use and core dump of polythene covers.


RamaKrishna Beach

The Tsunami (on account of the earthquake around Sumatra region) had the positive effect along vizag coast. It has widened the shrinking beaches of vizag. Now the sea looks much calm than I ever noticed. At the far end in the above snap is the Dolphin Nose which happens to be the entry point to the inner harbor. Vizag seems to be reallying developing into a wonderful tourist destination. Had I stayed a week longer I would have made it to all the places around and captured the breathtaking views of vizag.

India times

At last here I am. A place where I can reinstate that WorkDone is zero.It was 1st week of March and nothing seemed working for me as I was at the onset of a new project. All I could meditate is of a vacation before I get dirty in couple of months. Some XYZ god/godess came to my rescue and I was on vacation to India for 2 weeks. There are a zillion things that transpired which itch me to blog right off, but I will hold those for a warm spring afternoon and will pop one by one out of my stack.
Here goes the first.
Anand who is my colleague out here was travelling back from Bangalore to Tokyo via Thai airlines on 26th March 2005. In the flight from Bangalore to Bangkok he was greeted by the passenger sitting next to him.
LADY : "What is ur destination ?"
Anand : "Japan!!".
LADY : "Oh I am also travelling to Japan. What for are you going to Japan ?"
Anand :"I am working in Japan. I have come to India on Vacation, now travelling back...."and then Anand goes on giving an account of his work etc at length. to the Japanese Lady.
Anand : "So how come you are in India ?"
LADY : "I am working in India.In Infosys."
Anand : "Oh!!"
LADY : "I am going on vacation to Japan."
Anand : "Oh..!!!...Oh..!!"
LADY : "I am a programmer, there are 10 more Japanese working out there, and my boss happens to be an Indian."
(To which anand nodded to himself : I work with my Indian colleagues out there and my boss a Japanese..!!)
Anand : "Oh..!! how come in India? There are lots of opportunities in Japan right ?"
LADY : "Well Global companies are in India not in Japan!!"