Photo Hunt - Theme 'I Love -----'

This week's PhotoHunt theme is 'I Love ___'

Travelling and photography is what I love the most. And as much as I like travelling in general, what I enjoy most is going to places of natural beauty. There is nothing more grand or awe-inspiring than being mesmerized by the beauty of Nature. I like mountains and forests more than I like the sea, by the way. For the same reason, I enjoy landscape photography more than portraits or street photography.

Enough said. Now I leave you to one of my favourite shots. A shot like this is what the effort of travelling and lugging around heavy camera equipment & tripod worth it in the end. This is a sunset taking place over Jackson Lake in Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming, USA.

Photo Hunt

Taken with Nikon D40X with 18-55 AF-S DX Lens fitted with Tiffen 0.6ND filter

Shots from the Past - 3

In this post, I am showcasing the ruins of the ancient city of Pompeii in Italy. As many of us know, Pompeii was a Roman city which was completely buried in volcanic lava & ash after a cataclysmic eruption of the nearby Vesuvius volcano. The eruption took place in 78AD and was rediscovered in 1748 (source: Wikipedia). Since then it has captured the imagination of many, and became a subject of many a book & movie (most famously, The Last Days of Pompeii).

I visited Pompeii as part of my trip to Italy in March, 2005. Since it is not very conveniently served by public transportation, we took a guided tour from Rome. Our guide was a colourful character - animated, alive and with a lilt in his voice. I love the way most Italians speak English, with their soft 't's and almost musical accent.

The shot above is of the Forum of the city of Pompeii, with the Lattari Mountains in the background. It was the social, political and religious center of the city. The shot below offers a tantalizing & touching insight into how little time the citizen of Pompeii had before fate struck them a cruel hand. When Pompeii was excavated, the archaeologists poured Plaster of Paris into the cavities left where human bodies once had been. Then they broke open the natural casts formed by ash & lava, and found shapes like the one below.

The two shots below illustrate how the houses of ancient Romans used to be. Well to do families had a open courtyard in their houses, quite literally the center of all activities in the home (first photo below). The second photo below shows a kitchen hearth, preserved almost intact under the ash.

The last one is my personal favourite. This is an ancient zebra crossing to allow pedestrians to cross the road. Note how the stepping stones have gaps between them to allow the chariot wheels to pass through - ingenious!

More from the Shots from the Past series here.

Trip to Gangtok, Nathula & Chhangu Lake

"These mist covered mountains
Are a home now for me..."

- Brothers in Arms by Dire Straits

That is exactly how I felt last weekend on my trip to eastern Sikkim. Usually bad weather never fails to accompany me when I go on vacation, and this time it was no different. The mountains were shrouded in mist and were soaked by occasional spells of rain. I missed out on the a sight that is worth dying for - a view of the majestic Kangchenzongha. Added to the trouble caused by the rain gods was further trouble in Siliguri (the major rail head for North Bengal & Sikkim) when we landed from Kolkata.

But in spite of the hiccups and the irritants, overall the trip turned out to be fantastic in the end. Most of all I was glad that finally I had got a jinx out of the way. Though Soumyajit and I been friends since we were 3 year olds, somehow this is the first real long distance trip that I had made with him. We had planned & persevered many times before but never failed to match our schedules.

We had pre-booked the ride to Nathula Pass & Tsomgo (Chhangu) Lake from Kolkata itself. Foreign nationals are not allowed at Nathula and even Indian nationals need to get a permit to go there. It is a good idea to pre-book as the number of visitors the Army allows in each day is limited. One cannot be sure of getting a permit at short notice, especially during peak season.

The experience of travelling through stunning mountain landscapes and reaching Nathula Pass at 14,000 feet was awe inspiring. There was a sense of history as we travelled through the famed Silk Route of yore. It was touching to talk to the Indian soldiers posted in these heights. Equally moving was to be able to trade handshakes with their Chinese counterparts across the barbed wire. The album below contains photos from the Nathula & Tsomgo (Chhangu) Lake daytrip.

Nathula & Tsomgo (Chhangu) Lake

We utilized the only other full day we had at our disposal to do some local sightseeing in Gangtok. Of course, the bad weather robbed us of the chance to get good views - but Tashi View Point, Ganesh Tok & Hanuman Tok are all nearby and offer excellent views on clear days. Rumtek Monastery is the headquarters of the Kagyu sect of Mahayan Buddism and is about an hours drive from Gangtok. I would also recommend a trip to the Himalayan Zoological Park - it is extremely unlike a typical Indian zoo. It offers unrushed and upclose views of Himalayan animals and ample scope for photography.

Gangtok Local Sightseeing

The album above contains photos from Gangtok as well as that from the resort (The Hidden Forest Retreat) where we had put up. We found the accommodation to be expensive but it was an extremely nice place to be in. The resort is family run. The food was fresh, cheap and great tasting. The staff were extremely polite & courteous. Most of all, the resort is far from the crowds & nestled in the hills. The forests that border the resort abound in orchids, rhododendrons & many varieties of birds.

Shots from the Past - 2

"Wonderful Copenhagen" - that is how the city of Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark is touted as. It is certainly a wonderful place, very Scandinavian and very charming. I was there for almost two years on a project - memories of which I will cherish forever.

When I first landed there, I was a somewhat dismayed by the lack of people on the streets and the rather subdued & understated architecture in the city. Copenhagen is by no means as flashy as Paris or as historical as London. But then slowly I started enjoying the charm of the city and by the time I left, I had formed a bond.

Places to see in Copenhagen are concentrated primarily in two areas - the City Center/Town Hall Square (Radhuspladsen), and then the Walking Street leading down from there to Nyhavn (translated as New Harbour) and the adjoining Palace & waterfront.

This is the Amalienborg Palace square. Amalienborg Palace is the winter residence of Denmark's monarchy. There are four different palace buildings (two are visible in this picture, on the left and the right) that open out into the octagonal square. The bronze statue in the middle is of King Frederik V. The church in the background is called MarmorKirchen (The Marble Church).

As you turn around a 180 degrees from this place, the sight below greets you. The fountain and the adjoining garden (Amaliehavn) is right across the road from the road. It forms the gateway to Copenhagen's waterfront. Across the water is Copenhagen's new Opera House. It was donated by the Denmark's largest business house, the Maersk group, to the Queen of Denmark.


Other must see places in Copenhagen are Nyhavn, Walking Street, The Little Mermaid, The Church of our Saviour, Tivoli Gardens etc. Hope to post more photos from this fascinating city very soon.

All posts in the Shots from the Past series here.

Shots from the Past - 1

This is the first in a series of posts that I am going to make featuring some photos from my travels in the last 3 years or so.

Although I have been into photography for roughly the same period (3 years), it is only very recently that I have developed a huge fascination & keen eye for the subject. Now I am slowly coming to understand the basic technicalities and trying to achieve them in my work. In my Flickr page I have put up the ones where I think I did a decent job technically (Albeit some of them are unconventional choices with deficiencies such as centrally placed horizons, uneven exposure et al).

In contrast, the ones that I am going to post in this series have little or no technical merit. They just relate to some good old memories that i cherish. So here goes!

This is a view of the city of Bern (or Berne), Switzerland taken on a rainy day in April, 2005. I found Bern to be a lovely little city - very European, very charming and very elegant. The city center of Bern has been recognised as an UNESCO World Heritage Site. Walking the narrow cobbled streets lined with medieval architecture, one can sense why. Quiant little red trams trundle along providing a flavour of modernity amidst the old world charm. The building below is The Clock Tower, the most prominent building in the city center.