Incredible India thru my Lens

Morning Photo Shoot @ Annanagar Tower Park

Though I reside close to this place, I was not able to go there for the past 6 months. I have been waiting to visit a place where I can shoot some macros using my extension tube. My new D7000 seems to combine well with the extension tube. So, decided to visit the Annanagar Tower Park, last Saturday and managed to take few shots of Dragon Fly swallowing its prey. It’s a difficult subject to shoot as it easily mingled with the green leaves.

So, here is the photographs taken in Annanagar Tower Park.

Quick Visit to Hampi Ruins – Part II (Jul’ 11)

Travel Information to Hampi

Travel-By Bus: You can take an overnight bus from Bangalore to Hampi. The bus starts from Bangalore at 11:00 PM and reaches Hampi at 07:00 AM. The bus is well maintained and a semi-sleeper. Ticket cost is around Rs. 375 per person. You can book your tickets from KSRTC Website itself. If you are looking for more luxury then you can take one of the volvo’s passing through Hospet. From Hospet there are frequent buses to Hampi.

Stay: There are some good staying options in Hampi itself. Most of them are located just opposite to the Bus Stand and the price range starts from 400. If you are comfortable staying a bit away from the crowd then you can head to Virupapur Gaddi / Hampi Island / Hippie Island. The staying options are good and the price range starts as low as Rs. 150/- per day. But the only problem is that after 6 or 6.30, the place looks deserted and it’s not recommended to roam around alone. Apart from that you have some good restaurants which provides some excellent dining ambience with drink :).

Food: We had food in few restaurants in couple of days and all seem to be ok. But if you wanna satisfy your taste buds then you must head to ‘Mango Tree’ restaurant. It’s located just behind the Virupaksha Temple. Ten minutes walk along the river side road will lead you to the restaurant. Order anything and you won’t be disappointed. This is the BEST restaurant in Hampi with river facing.

Getting Around: There are numerous options to getting around Hampi. Best would be to buy a guide book and rent a bicyle/motor bike as per your convenience. You can cover most of the places in a day’s time and can cover the remaining on the next day. Else, there will be auto rickshaws who are more than happy to take your around the important places. I rented a bike from Hippi Island for Rs. 250/- but without proper brake. So, do check the essentials before you rent a bike. You have to put petrol on your own as they will give the bike with just enough petrol to reach the petrol bunk. 1 or 2 litre max is enough for you get around the ruins in Hampi. The best part is that you can ferry your bike across the river in a motor boat for Rs. 30/-.

Quick Visit to Hampi Ruins – Part I (Jul’ 11)

This was rather a quick visit to the ruins of Hampi. I am presenting here some initial pictures of Hampi, kind of overview of the places I visited. The place requires at least a week to explore every nook and corner. More detailed report will follow.

Nikon D7000 Test Shots (Jul ’11)

Finally laid my hands on the most awaited gear ‘Nikon D7000’. A special thanks to my wife who has gifted this… It’s a big leap from D60 and it has got umpteen controls to use and I started loving my new gear. I got this set with 18-105mm lens & 50mm 1.8 lens for some portrait photography. I didn’t get a good sleep last night and on the road around 4 AM itself. Roamed around Marina and took some test shots.

An encounter with Taylor Bird @ Home (Jul ’11)

Recently, while cleaning our house, a small ‘Taylor Bird’ fell from a mango tree. Initially I thought it would fly on its own, but it struggled and crows around starting shouting. Sensing danger, I took the little one in my hand and it stayed quiet for a while. It didn’t try to fly away, so took some snaps. My partner was happy to have the little one as long as she could.

After sometime, we heard sounds from the parent birds and we put it on the ground. Then the parent birds flew down and taught the little one on how to fly step by step and up went the birds. It was nice little encounter with the Taylor Bird.

An Early Morning Visit to Kolavai Lake, Chengalpattu (Jul ’11)

This was rather a quick trip to the lake, which is around some 60km from Chennai. I have been hearing about this place quite a while and planned to pay a visit this weekend. Spoke with couple of friends and finally 5 of us from different parts of city decided to assemble just after Tambaram. It rained last night and I am bit worried about making it to the place and also worried about sunrise as the condition seemed overcast. When inquired about the condition in Porur, my friend confirmed it’s not raining in Porur and decided to start as planned.

This place lies on Chennai – Trichy highway and can be reached easily in an hour from Chennai. If you are interested to see sunrise from different places around Chennai, then this is just another perfect place. We all assembled at the place just after Tambaram around 4.40 and from there we reached the lake around 5.20. Parked our vehicles and went to the spot around 5.30, perfect time for shooting.

While my friends were checking out different vantage points around the lake, I tried to venture out another point, which is just opposite the lake. But you need to climb a rocky hill. I told my friends about this and started to climb the hill. When climbing, I got a very good view of the entire lake and a shot which will show the ‘S’ curve and the lake together, where morning trains will pass through quite frequently. A passing train on the ‘S’ curve will be a nice shot. But as expected, we couldn’t witness the perfect sunrise but it played cat and mouse with the clouds and we got some superb sun rays shot. Also, got one of my favorite shot of a train passing the ‘S’ curve.

Overall, a very satisfying outing with my friends….

Now enjoy the pictures and post your valuable comments 🙂