Himalayan Flower Bed

Himalayan Flower Bed

Himalayan Flower Bed

The journey from Kaza to Chandratal was long and tiresome. The sun was harsh, and I was weary after a sleepless night at Langza. It was probably the high altitude that gave me insomnia, and I hadn’t slept a wink. Earlier that morning, I was up early, shooting the beautiful fields at Langza and that made me all the more tired. We left Kaza at 10 am to Chandratal, our final destination in Spiti Valley. A few hours into the rocky journey, our pilot vehicle suddenly stopped at an unexpected location. Arun, our tour leader, had chosen a spot with beautiful wild flowers. At a distance, we could see snow-clad mountains. Although it was nearly midday, the sky was perfectly blue and filled with fluffy clouds.  Picture perfect! The only thing left was for us to get creative with our photography.

Now the thing about shooting landscapes is that it is not as simple as holding the camera and pressing the shutter button. The lens attached to the camera has a different field of vision compared to our eyes. Our brains can balance what is near and what is far. But ultra wide angle lenses, the type used to take landscape photos, generally cannot do this. The foreground is usually exaggerated, and only a part of the scene can be in sharp focus. So the challenge is in composing your frame such that it makes your audience feel like they were there. In this photograph, I used a Canon 24mm Tilt-Shift lens. This is a unique lens that helps you get both the foreground and background in focus. You can also shift the lens to shoot a panorama and get a large field of view.  By giving importance to the foreground, I have tried to portray the bed of wild yellow flowers – what got us so excited after seeing vast areas of barren land.

Pro tip: Wesley Picotte talks about using a Tilt Shift lens to shoot panoramas here.

Village of Langza in Spiti Valley

Langza in Spiti Valley

Langza in Spiti Valley

Langza is a village situated at a hieght of 16,500 feet or 4400 MSL. At that altitude, things are not the same. For one, there are no trees (as you can see). We saw only one or two trees during the four days that we spent in Spiti Valley. Also, oxygen is very thin at this altitude. This makes breathing difficult and even simple activities require extra effort. Think about how it feels like wading in water. That is how you tend to move about in Langza. But astonishingly, people have lived here for centuries. Small kids are as active as any other. Big people go about farming like in the plains. It is mostly us travelers who huff and puff just to move our butts out of the bed.

I took this photograph at half past five in the evening, just before our vehicles entered Langza. We were to halt in the village at a home-stay, for the night. The drive up from Kaza was breathtaking, as we gained altitude by negotiating narrow and sinuous dirt roads. Langza is on a plateau and I was relieved to see flat land. The village is surrounded by green fields. We stopped the vehicle because the skies cleared for a brief moment, giving us an opportunity to take photos of the houses with the Cho Khang Nilda peak visible in the background. If you look closely, a statue of the Buddha in seated position overlooks the West. Of course, the tall snow-cad mountains dwarfs everything. In my lifetime, I may not get to see Shangri-la, but this view of Langa is probably a good substitute.

 

See more Himalayan landscapes here.

Nandakini River on the Kuari Pass Trek

Nandakini river in the village of Ghat, Uttaranchal

Nandakini river in the village of Ghat, Uttaranchal

Ghat is a tiny village in Uttaranchal. Most travelers here are on their way to Kuari Pass. When we stopped overnight at Ghat in 2009, we too were embarking on the trek to Kuari Pass. A taxi dropped us off the next morning where the road ended – and from there we set off on foot to the village of Ramni where we camped in the open. What followed was 3 days of hiking deep in the jungles of the Himalayas, and then the ecstasy of reaching Kuari Pass.

This photograph was taken at the banks of the Nandkini river in Ghat. The river was in full force, carrying icy cold water from the upper Himalayas. Earlier that day, we left the noisy town of Srinagar (not the one in Kashmir!) to reach Ghat. Visiting the river gave us a chance to shake away memories of the city and get closer to nature. A precursor to the next few days we would spend hiking. The village kids joined us as we set up our tripods to shoot. We probably gave them good entertainment for the evening. I have one other frame from this shoot when the sun turned a little more golden. You can see it in the portfolio section.

Savandurga, Karnataka

A view of the monolithic Savandurga

A view of the monolithic Savandurga

Savandurga is a popular trekking spot close to Bangalore. Considered as one of the largest monolithic rock formations, it takes about 2 hours to climb up. This makes for an easy day trip. When my friend Arun Bhat and I were figuring out places around Bangalore for landscape photography, Savandurga emerged as a suggestion. We studied Google maps and realized that the place has good potential due to the presence of a lake in the vicinity of the mountain.

With two other friends, we set out early from Bangalore, as always, to make the best of morning light. Our first stop was Manchinbele dam. The authorities do not allow public near the water, so we hiked up the hillock which is close to the road, hoping to photograph the Arkavathy river during sunrise. Being monsoon, there was nothing exciting about the sun rising. Except for a brief moment of blue skies and white clouds, Manchinebele did not have anything great to offer. We continued the journey to Savandurga, and reached at around 8 am. In between we had excellent thatte idlies at a small shack on the Ramnagara Magadi road. We were one of the early visitors and certainly the only ones with tripods and DSLRs. After making some inquiries, we parked the car and began walking towards the lake. The entrance to the lake is gated, and you first need to cross a nursery and a children’s park (that looked unused). The area is housed within an electric fence, suggesting the presence of elephants. The lake is in the Savandurga State Forest.

We spent close to an hour shooting near the lake. In this frame, I have tried to include the vegetation and flowers that we saw at the banks of the lake. Plenty of Blue Tiger butterflies were resting on these flowers, but it wasn’t easy to include them in the compositions. In another photo I shot here, I included a rock in the foreground. After taking the time to get satisfactory photos, we recee’ed a larger area, before returning to Bangalore. It was a good day photographically speaking, and I was happy to find one more beautiful spot close to Bangalore.

Crimson Passion Flower

Crimson Passion Flower

Crimson Passion Flower
A red crimson passion flower shot using focus stacking technique.

I used a technique called focus stacking to shoot this macro photo of a Crimson Passion Flower. I found this beautiful ornamental flower in the gardens of the guest house called Cassiopeia in the Niligiris. Focus stacking is a technique to increase the depth of field, while maintaining a low aperture. In this case, I shot at an aperture of f/10, and the stamen are all in focus. This is a blend of four photos. This photo was possible because of the ample time we had at the guest house. Focus stacking requires concentration, and the use of a sturdy tripod. We had the guest house to ourselves, so I had pretty much no distraction. Perhaps, the biggest challenge was the heavy wind. Because we overlap the individual photos during focus stacking, the photos must align as closely as possible.

Chunchi Falls

Chunchi Falls at Bangalore

Chunchi Falls at Bangalore

Chunchi falls is around 70 km from Bangalore, off the Kanakapura-Sangama road. The Arkavathi river cuts through ancient rock and falls into a narrow gorge here. Being summer, the water was flowing thin and did not present anything grand but the pond that you see in this frame had enough water to look inviting. The abstract rock formations and the serenity all around kept my creative juices flowing. There were plenty of small birds for company, and curious rock lizards occasionally wanted to know what we were up to on their turf.

Chunchi falls is not very popular. We reached there by 6.30 am, and had the place to ourselves until about 10 am. This gave us the opportunity to explore the area and get close to the water without any risk of being washed away. The Arkavathi river meets the Cauvery river about 10 km from here. That place, unimaginatively called Sangama, sees more tourist crowd.  My earlier visit to Sangama was quite fruitful and Chunchi falls did not disappoint either.  In fact, Chunchi falls offers more variety in terms of photo-ops. Watch this space for more!

Disappearing Farms

Hoskote Lake

Hoskote Lake

There used to be a  time when friends and I did not have to travel too far from urban Bangalore to get a feel of the country side. Within an hour’s drive, you would leave behind the urban jungle and start breathing fresh unpolluted air. Being a late immigrant to the city, I have many a times heard old time Bangaloreans talk about how today’s posh residential areas like BTM, Banerghatta etc were once the outskirts of the city. Today’s four lane to BIAL is actually cutting across what was once Hebbal lake. It is no secret that the city is expanding and eating into lands that have the potential to feed more people than they can sustain if developed into houses.

This is a photograph that I took at Hoskote in 2014. In a few years, this place may also give way to a high rise. Now is a good time to reflect on the proverb, “When the last tree is cut, when the last river has been poisoned, when the last fish has been caught, then we will find out that we can’t eat money.”

Hogenakkal Falls

A view of the river Cauvery at Hogenakkal Falls

A view of the river Cauvery at Hogenakkal Falls

Hogenakkal is a beautiful picnic spot in Tamil Nadu. The river Cauvery converges from many small streams to flow as one large river. The small streams form beautiful waterfalls, and gorges in the rock. When river and rock meet, photographers can be assured of a visual treat. Just like in Mekedaatu, the water has created very interesting patterns on the rock face over the years. These patterns, though repetitive, delight me. For one, they tell a tale of persistence. They also remind me of how the human brain is wired to appreciate abstract beauty that nature creates.

The waterfalls are a sight to behold as well. We visited in January 2014, which is not even monsoon. There was sufficient water flowing for me to make this photograph. It was sunset, and you can see the faint glow of a setting sun in the top left of the photograph. I used a Lee Big Stopper to expose this frame for around 140 seconds. This image was shot with a Canon 24mm TS-E lens, which I shifted to get a panoramic view of the waterfall and surrounding areas. My love for this lens increases every time I use it!

We traveled for around 4 hours to cover a distance of 130 km to reach Hogenakkal from Bangalore. You can find a number of eateries at Hogenakkal, but very few en-route. The best options to refuel yourself are at Hosur. We used Google maps, and drove via Palacode. The road is good for most part, but the drive is quite boring. In a way that is good, because you are not tempted to stop anywhere on the way. At Hogenakkal, the facilities provided by the government for tourists is good. Clean toilets, a well marked parking lot, and plenty of dust bins. The place was crowded when we arrived, but the tourists began to depart towards sunset. Most of them clearly had a different agenda. You have an option to go on a coracle ride, get a oil massage (and wash off in a waterfall), or drink and create a nuisance. Some people choose to do all of these. Don’t be one of them!