Concealing Glow

Exams are always a pain, especially when you're give the timetable just one week ahead and then you scramble for your books and barely manage to finish the syllabus the night before.

Sometimes in life nothing seems to be work out no matter what you try or how hard you work. I know this is something I've said before but it's exactly how I've felt for the past few weeks/months. However, ever so often I'm reminded of God's love and grace. Ever so often there are little things that remind me of how beautiful life is and keep me carrying on.

Someone called me a tree-hugger before as a joke but I think that might be true to a certain extent. The world around me fascinates me and God's creation is just amazing! Today's picture is another reminder of that. We were returning home after a rather not-so-exciting trip to the hills and the driver suggested we make one last stop before the final leg of the journey.

After much deliberation we agreed and I'm so glad that we made this stop to take in the view. The sunset did look amazing as we were travelling but I'd never seen this view before. The previous times I'd been here had been really cloudy and you could barely see a few meters ahead of you so this view was stunning to say the least and I hope the picture does it justice.

Things might not always be going the way you want to go or how you want them to be but you've always got to remember that clouds move and eventually they part enough to let the sun shine through and when it does you realise that it's going to be OK because at the end of the day you have a God who loves you and cares about you and only wants what's best for you.

Now I should start studying to tomorrow's paper and stop boring the few of you who actually take time to read my blog. Thank you guys! :)

Unsettled

We're having a long patch of bad weather. It's ok when you don't have to go out but when you do it really messes up your plans.

The clouds never seem to leave the sky and usually we get a monotonous colour across the entire sky which is really boring. The high winds seemed to clear some of the clouds around the horizon and it made for a really cool timelapse.

This is one of the many frames from the timelapse I'm working on.
I'll be out of town for a while so I won't be able to reply to emails, messages and comments immediately.

Hope you have a great week ahead! :)

Morning Fire

So we just finished a short film for an upcoming inter-college competition.

I went out one morning to shoot a timelapse for the film. This is what I was greeted with. It was absolutely beautiful!

I can't share the film at this time because of the competition rules but once the competition is over I'll have the link up on my profile across various social media platforms.

God's creation really is wonderful so the theme "Hidden Scenic Beauty of North Bengal" was just perfect.

Final Blossom

These flowers blossomed a few days ago and I just happened to pass by this place at sunset. I noticed the light hitting these flowers and they looked amazing.

So, I decided to revisit this place again and got a good shot. My main purpose was to shoot a timelapse or the setting sun because it just looked gorgeous. The entire scene was bathed in this warm light that had an amazing reddish glow. It was beautiful!

I'm working on a timelapse film of this place that I plan to finish before I leave here.

Under The Clouds

It's been crazy busy here these past few weeks. Just when I thought I would find time to share a few pictures it got really busy again. Anyway I thought I would share something from my last vacation since our vacations for the festivals just got over.

 This was taken as we were flying towards Delhi. It was an amazing sight and the clouds were just beautiful.

In other news, my computer forced me to upgrade to Windows 8.1 and I can't say that I like it all that much. It's not a huge improvement from Windows 8. Actually I don't see a lot of differences. It did uninstall my anti-virus software which is really annoying.

Over The Hills

I still think about last week and the time we spent shooting in Darjeeling. It was truly an amazing experience. This was shot on an iPhone 3GS. We stopped at a place on the way to Darjeeling via Kurseong and decided to shoot a few scenes there. Just before we started shooting the storm clouds began rolling in and I was able to get this photograph.

This is looking towards Siliguri (the vast valley).

Burst Of Colour

Usually when it's been raining continuously for a few days you don't expect amazing colours at sunrise or sunset but one morning the sky exploded with amazing colours. I just stood and watched the colour spread across the entire sky as it kept changing and evolving. It was amazing!

In Amazement

Now that was a week I'm going to remember for a really long time. It was really tiring but it was fun as well and I got to learn a lot.

We worked with a film crew from Calcutta (or Kolkata as it's now known) and it was good.

This was near on of the shooting locations. These are some of my classmates. It was a picturesque location. Definitely one of the best places I've been to in a long time. It was beautiful beyond words. So perfect! God's creation never ceases to amaze!

This was shot on a iPhone 3GS and processed in Snapseed.

The Burning Clouds

We really haven't seen the sun in a while. We've only been given brief glimpses of the sun. Today evening was different as the rain stopped and the clouds began to clear. One particular cloud at sunset reminded me of this picture.

The colours you see at sunset are just amazing!

Towards The Fading Light

This was one of the last photographs I got that evening. I waited a long time for some birds to come into the frame but they all seemed to be avoiding the frame almost perfectly so I had to resort to Photoshop.

The bird was shot as it was flying towards the west on the same evening - about a few minutes after I shot the background.

Those trees are actually quite a far away.

The Rising Clouds

I haven't been able to maintain this "one picture a day" thing ever since the holiday in June. Anyway I've tried to be as consistent as possible but that difficult with the long college hours and the added assignments they give us everyday.

This photograph was taken the last time I saw this tower. I haven't seen it since because of the weather here. We've had rains everyday which is a good thing since it brings the temperatures down a bit but it's not that great when you have to get to class in the morning.

A Wonder

I'm not quite sure which I like better - the Taj Mahal or the clouds. Since I've only seen the Taj once I think I'll go with that.

It's definitely a magnificent structure and you can't really comprehend how huge it is until you notice the tiny people in the distance. It's huge!

Ethereal Glow

We were on our way back from the Eco Park where I took the last picture I uploaded and this is the view we were treated to. It was amazing to say the least.

We ended up stopping quite a few times to take in the view. It was exquisite, to say the least!

Minaret

The Taj Mahal is a beautiful structure for sure and so it was exciting to see it for the first time.

I ended up taking more pictures of the four minarets that I did of the main structure.
Someday I plan to go back there and spend the entire day shooting. Maybe even do a timelapse or something fun.

The Fading Light

The sun itself was blocked by clouds but this particular portion of the sky was just beautiful as the sun went down.
I decided to shoot a timelapse of the clouds which I'll try and put together soon. Having a slow computer does not help with timelapses especially when it crashes.

Castles In The Sky

Usually when you take a flight to Delhi you get an amazing view of the world's tallest peak, Mount Everest and the amazing Himalayas. Unfortunately for me it was cloudy and so we couldn't see anything but I did see some pretty cool cloud formations.

This was one of them. I took this just as we began our descent towards Delhi. It was like a castle (or a mountain, if you will) in the sky.

Last Light

It didn't look like the sunset would be spectacular but then again that's how quite a few of my posts in the past year have started so you know where this is going.

The clouds looks spectacular so I thought I'd go up to the roof and watch them and see if I could get a few good photographs.
Just before it got dark this particular part of the sky burst with colour. It was just amazing! The colour seemed to make one final peek before it went dark.

Ravishing

Rainbows always fascinate me and I know that holds true for most, if not all people. They're just super beautiful and always brighten up your day.

I noticed the clouds looked absolutely stunning today and so I decided to go up to the roof and watch them while the sun set behind me. It was beautiful. I did have my camera and so took a few pictures from time to time.

However, I did not expect to get this picture. These colours didn't last for more than a few seconds but it just added to the beauty and grandeur of the evening sky and remind me of Genesis 9:13 which says "I set My bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a sign of a covenant between Me and the earth."

Morning Glow

It looked like it would be a mundane sunrise when we left while it was still dark but that's probably because I wasn't really thinking about the sunrise. I was thinking about visiting the Taj Mahal for the very first time.

The sunrise was epic! Nothing short of it. We stopped on the way to the rest the car and that's when I got this shot which I'm really happy with.

The red brick road, the blue in the sky and the yellow glow from the sun that's hidden by the clouds just made it a perfect scene. I did want to stay and watch the sunrise for a while but we were in a bit of a rush to get to Agra early and so couldn't stop unless absolutely necessary.

FRI

No - FRI doesn't stand for Friday but refers to the Forest Research Institute in Dehradun, India. It's one of the best place I've been to and so I'm really happy that this panorama I shot of the front of this building turned out to be one of my absolute favourites from this trip.

This is a really old building with some good scientists and doctors working here - they study plants and all things related to them

I was told that there is no concrete in this building - not on iota. It's a massive building and perfectly symmetrical right down to the lawns and the flowers you find there.