Far Away

Honestly I'm so tried right now that my head hurts. It's been a long and tiring day but a good one.

We went for this film appreciate course which was pretty good.

Anyway one of the scenes in a film we were shown reminded me of this picture.

We went on a short trip to a nearby hill station and I was able to get this picture just before the fog completely blocked our view.

Looking Down

There are some awesome flowers in my mom's garden and this particular plant has a unique pattern.

The largest flowers are always on top and the newer, smaller ones are lower down.

I decided to use this perspective because it looks like the flowers are looking down on the others. That's kinda pessimistic I know but the opposite "looking up" perspective wasn't working out.

Cloud Cover

We've basically had cloudless skies for a very long time now and that's not really a bad thing in winter because that allows the sun to shine bright and keep us warm.

About two days back we had a really overcast sky and it was beautiful. The clouds looked amazing and I just had to take a panorama of it to get the whole thing in.

I did shoot a small timelapse as well but haven't shared it yet.

Behind The Weeds

The sunset that day was just perfect. I might even go so far as to say that it was one of the best sunsets I've ever seen.

These weeds were just begging to be photographed so I obliged. I got had to literally lie down flat on the grass to get this perspective.

I must say my back was aching by the time I was done photographing this scene but it was totally worth it.

Engagement Shoot

My sister recently got engaged and wanted a few pictures since she didn't have any.

So I wanted to do something a little different. The people who live here take tons of photographs of themselves but I wanted a new perspective.

This is one that I took by crouching down into the weeds and focusing on them as the sun set behind them.

Honestly people who saw the pictures couldn't believe that they were taken right outside my house - Mission Accomplished! :D

Through The Foliage

My mom recently bought some really pretty flowers. They look amazing and I'm surprised at how long they last.

This particular one is one of my favourites. It's been there for over three weeks now and doesn't seem to be fading. It's just beautiful.

Just beside that are some plants with leaves that have a little bit of pink in them and I thought they matched perfectly. So I wanted a frame with both in it at the same time.

Looking Back

Here is an iPhone shot for you.

We were walking down the road as the sun was setting behind us. It was just beautiful.

Unfortunately we won't have this view in a few years because of the numerous new buildings that are being built.

Choices

This butterfly was really pretty and although we were in a hurry I just had to get a shot of it.

The day was perfect too. The sun was bright and the clouds looked amazing. I couldn't go close to the butterfly because the plant was in an enclosure.

This is where the massive zoom on the SX50 HS helped.

It seemed like this pretty little creature was having a hard time making up its mind because there were so many flowers to choose from. It finally picked this one.

Playful

This is the juvenile Oriental Garden Lizard that I spoke of in my previous blog post about these lizards. This is only one I've seen that's this tiny.

It was thinner than my little finger - and that's really ting because I'm pretty thin myself. It was tiny but it's tail just stretched on forever.

It was beautiful though and I wish I had more time photographing it. It was really shy and kept jumping everywhere. It just wouldn't stay still. But it was worth it. I hope I get to see more of these this year.

Multicolored Sunset

This was the last sunset with clouds last year.

The sunsets after this were cloudless and a lot less dramatic.

That evening it was just perfect because you could see the amazing colours in the sky and you could also see the giant red ball of fire before it dipped behind the trees.

First Catch

If you read my previous post, you'll know that I mentioned seeing two Oriental Garden Lizards two days back.

Well this is the one the co-operated and allowed me to take a few pictures. It held that pose for about thirty seconds which was more than enough time to grab this shot.

Last year was the first time I ever saw baby Oriental Garden Lizards (I think I'll just call then OGL to make it easier). Lets hope I see loads more this year :)

Intense

Since most of the lizard were hibernating I wasn't able to get good pictures so here is one that I took last year.

This particular fellow won a fight which I'm guessing was about its territory. It then went on to climb a fence and just stayed there for a while before coming back down and onto the grass.

It provided me with loads of really great picture opportunities and I must say that those pictures were some of my favourites.

Also I think the lizards are slowly coming out of hibernation because yesterday was really sunny and I saw two of these amazing creatures. I was able to shoot one (with a camera, obviously).

Figure In The Fog

We had a few really foggy days two weeks back and so I was able to do something I've been planning for a while now.

This is my first conceptual portrait and also my first self-portrait this year and I love it. It turned out better than what I've expected.

The fog was really thick and as I've said before. I just love the way the lights look in the fog so. I haven't really edited this much other than mirroring the background in Photoshop.

Preparing For Flight

We had to build this wooden fence to keep our dog out of the garbage and now that fence has become a place that the birds love.

The sparrows especially love this because they just sit there and enjoy the sunlight in the morning. It really nice watching them.

They don't always come here but when they do they never miss this fence. It's almost like a park for them.

Depths Of Beauty

A friend of mine recently got a new camera and he wanted some help with it, so we met up and spent some time taking pictures.

The place he was staying at had some really pretty flower. This particular one was my favourite.

My camera had a really tough time focusing for some reason so I had to switch to Manual Focus for this. It's time like this that make me wish I had steady hands :P

Different From The Others

I really love photographing flowers. There are so many different ways you can shoot just one flower.

My mom just bought some beautiful new flowers but I wasn't able to take pictures because I got home late from class. Will try and get some shots tomorrow.

Took this picture during a recent trip to Darjeeling. We stopped at Batasia Loop and the garden was stunning!

Fitting In

This little spider tried it's very best to hide and it almost lost me.

I thought the brick looked weird and it was only when I got really close that I realised why it looked weird - it had eyes!

Nature is amazing at camouflage and it always amazes me how we can miss beautiful things that are sometimes right in front of us simply because we don't look close enough.

Towards The Source

This is a plant that is underrated. Sure, it's a wild plant and just grows on its own but it does have some really pretty flowers.

Another thing is that these flowers last for weeks. It adds colour to this world so I just don't get it when people say that it should be destroyed.

I would understand if it was getting in the way and stopping you from doing something else but if it's just growing on its own then there should be no problem but people have still always maintained that we should get rid of it for no reason.

Fortunately we didn't and it grew tall and these beautiful flowers blossomed :)

A Part Of History

The day we visited this monument the first time wasn't very dramatic but the second time was just great. The sky was beautiful and the clouds were amazing so I just couldn't help myself.

As I mentioned before, I wanted a picture that was unique and different from hundreds of other pictures of this same monument.

I thought incorporating the train tracks would be ideal since this is an integral part of the monument.

Light Burst

The one thing I really love about the fog is the way the light beams can be seen.

They just look stunning and make for great pictures. We haven't had a foggy night in a week but the last time we had thick fog I got some really cool self portraits that I will share shortly. 

Leaf Eater

We've had this cherry tree in our front garden for a few years now and one of the best things about it is the wildlife it attracts. There are loads of birds, bats and Oriental Garden Lizards that love this tree.

I've seen birds and bats eating the fruit but I've never seen an Oriental Garden Lizard eating one so I was curious when I noticed this little lizard munching on something. Turns out it was eating the leaves.

It was completely engrossed in what it was doing that it didn't even notice me sneaking up on it to get a picture. This has got to be one of my favourite pictures of this beautiful creature.

You can find this picture and more in my new "Best of 2013" video on my Youtube channel.

On The Way

We had to go out today and the sunset went from beautiful to stunning. Unfortunately since we were using public transport I couldn't carry my camera.

This is the best I could get with my 3GS.

Harmony

These two red vented bulbuls were flying around and were part of a much larger group which settled down on a tree right in our garden. The others soon took off but these two stayed behind and just sat there as if they were enjoying the view.

It was really nice to just watch them. It seemed like a really calm and peaceful moment.

It is good to break away from the crowd and just enjoy a moment of peace away from daily routines.

Take Off

There is a migratory bird that visits every winter. It's massive and it's beautiful. This year I didn't think we would see it because last year it was chased away by some people who were up to no good.

I was really surprised when I did see it in the fields right in the middle of the day. It usually visited early in the morning but this time it was there around noon. This is a lesser adjutant stork.

I was getting quite close to it when some other people working in the fields started walking towards it and it suddenly flew off. What surprised me about that was the fact that they seemed unaware of this massive bird flying right in front of them. I have no idea how people can ignore such beauty and majesty.

Anyway this is the shot I was able to get just when it took off. The noise nearly killed this shot but it's not that bad.

Beauty Before Darkness

2013 was a good year for me when you look at it from a photography point of view and I can only thank God for that.

Someone stole my camera in 2012 and I didn't think I would get one soon but he provided one and so I was able to take some of the best pictures I've taken so far.

Today's picture is one of those images. It was a really beautiful evening and this picture was one of the beautiful ones I was able to get.

You can see my Best of 2013 on my Youtube channel - you can click right here (here) or just scroll down for the embedded player.

Best of 2013

It's finally here.
Best of 2013. Hope you all like it :)

Fight Fight Fight

I watched as one lizard came a little too close to another and then the other just pounced at it and they started fighting.

The fight lasted for about 20 minutes and it was a sight to behold. Although I photograph these Oriental Garden Lizards a lot this was the first time I've ever seen them fight.

The lizard that tried the failed sneak attack had to walk away timidly after a crushing defeat. They other lizard must have sensed my presence because it ran off and climbed the fence where it stayed for quite a while.

Also my Best of 2013 video will be up tonight. I'll post the link here before then just so that the blog is ahead of other social media.

Through The Fog

This one is definitely one of my favourite shots from 2013. When we left home to just drive around and see what shots we could get it was perfect weather.

The sun was bright and the clouds looked great but all that changed within a few short minutes as the fog rolled in and covered up the hills. It was so thick that we couldn't even see two feet ahead of us. The fog lamps were useless.

At one point we had to stop because we just couldn't go any further as we couldn't see anything. We waited a while and the fog gradually began to lift off and this beautiful scene unfolded right in front of us and to think we would have nearly missed it if we hadn't stopped.

Rising Above

This one is definitely going to be added to my "The Tower On The Hill" series which isn't really progressing this time of year because of the fog. In the mean time I think I'll just try and come up with a better title for this project.

Anyway this was taken during a relatively cloudless day so the sunset didn't have tons of colours but the clouds around the tower caught the sunlight and looked pretty good along with the tower.

Also the "Best of 2013" video is nearly done. I'll try and have it up on Youtube by Monday.

Walk Together

This was taken during a short visit to a hill station. My sister wanted a few pictures and this one made the final bunch. I kinda like it because of the trees and the lines.

Fortunately we were the only ones there for a while and we were able to get a few quick shots before everyone else showed up.

Been working on the slideshow/video. Hope to have it up by Monday.

Full Bloom

This is one of the pictures that will probably be in my Best of 2013 video that I'm currently putting together.
It's quite difficult trying to pick favourites from your own pictures.

Anyway this pretty flower was just growing by the wayside and I'm glad I took a picture of it when I did because it had been trampled to the ground when I saw it the next day.

Which reminds me of how the beauty of this place is lost on the people that live here. So I'm going to make it my goal to showcase the best of the beauty of this place. When I get a new camera I'll start timelapses, long exposures and other new things because there are just so many things to be photographed.

Looking Forward

So the year has just begun and I can already see tons of statuses and messages from people wishing each other a Happy New Year :)

I guess this is when we all look forward to making this the best year of our lives. So all the best to everyone! :)

This sparrow wasn't alone when it got to this tree. It was part of a really large group. They were actually quite noisy but left pretty soon. However this little fellow decided to stay back and relax.