They cannot scare me with their empty spaces
Between stars--on stars where no human race is.
I have it in me so much nearer home
To scare myself with my own desert places.

- Robert Frost 'Desert Places'

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Lomography La Sardina
Kodak Ultramax 400ISO
2011, At home, Bangalore, India

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After a hiatus of over two years, this blog is back with a brand new template. Plenty has happened in the interim, not the least of which is my new found love for analog photography courtesy the Lomography movement. Who knew toy cameras could be so addictive.

Today's post is one of my recent experiments with light painting using a Lomo camera.

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Lomography La Sardina
Kodak Ultramax 400ISO
2011, At home, Bangalore, India

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Distance makes for strange collaborations. Ritu and me decided (well, she decided, really and I just played along thinking it would be a fun thing to do), a while back, to collaborate on a daily diptych project. I'd send her an image everyday and she'd add one of her own and post the two to her FlickR page.

And as you can see, above, the fact that we're two very different people in two very different cities with two very different agendas makes for interesting compositions.

The first one was a delightful co-incidence and the second, a study in contrasts.

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For the curious ones- my pictures are on the left, and Ritu's on the right.
To see the live project visit here

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Sometimes it helps to see the whole as a sum of parts. The hard, angular lines and the texture that stands out under a hard mid-day sun combine to create a sort of abstract composition.

The humble, and ubiquitous, transformer is elevated to an entirely different place in the scheme of things...

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Nikon D90, 28-105mm
2009, By the roadside, Toy City, Greater Noida, India.

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The desert, the camels- one and the same. Softly undulatnig mounds, both.

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Nikon F75, 28-105mm
Illford BW 800ISO
2005, Camel Fair, Pushkar, Rajasthan, India.

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As you can see, I'm really having to trawl the archives now. Camera's gone in for servicing and replacement of certain parts damaged in drunken stupor during recent trip to Goa. Though, having said that, pictures of pretty women is something that this photoblog can do with a certain measure of...

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Nikon F75, 28-105mm
Fuji 800ISO
2005, Pune, India.

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My younger brother once asked me 'How come there's no pictures of me on your blog?'. So I searched my archives for the goofiest, most embarassing picture of him that I could find. This is it- what I call his 'teeth-brushing' expression.

On the other hand, he's a bloody good surgeon. And the best brother I could have wished for... I love you Salil.

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Nikon F75, 28-105mm
Fuji 800ISO
2005, Bombay, India.

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scha·den·freu·de (shädn-froid)
Pleasure derived from the misfortunes of others.
[German : Schaden, damage (from Middle High German schade, from Old High German scado) + Freude, joy (from Middle High German vreude, from Old High German frewida, from fr, happy).]

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Camels have a sense of humour, methinks

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Nikon F75, 28-105mm
Fuji 100ISO
2005, Pushkar, India

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And there- on a busy market street- like a portal into Wonderland!

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Nikon F75, 28-105mm
Fuji 100ISO
2005, Pushkar, Rajasthan, India.

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in bright white battles
they did their time;
Now, mute sentinels,
with each passing moment
they mark it...

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Nikon F75, 28-105mm
Illford ISO400
2005, Diu Fort, Diu, India.

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India is a colourful country. More so if you visit Gujarat and Rajasthan- both primarily desert states. The weather's arid for the most part, rainfall is scanty and the terrain is littered with scrub vegetation. The people make up for the drabness by filling their lives with colour. Their clothes, their homes, the streets- everything's vibrant and in your face. You can't help but want to shoot everything you lay your eyes on...

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Vijay Lakshmi Sindoor Bhandaar- makers and roadside sellers of pigments, dyes and other colours... The best Point-of-Purchase publicity I've seen in a long time...

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Nikon F75, 28-105mm
Fuji 100ISO
2005, Pushkar, Rajasthan, India.

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When one visits a place like Pushkar, a little town teaming with foreign tourists the year round but primarily a pilgrimage centre for Hindus, the last place one expects to be staying in is a little weather-beaten joint called The Pink Floyd Cafe and Hotel! Nonetheless, that is exactly where I stayed!! A charming little place that you must visit if you're ever in Pushkar... If you go in for that kind of thing, each room is named after a Pink Floyd album- mine was called A Momentary Lapse of Reason. Considering I shelled out almost three times what I would've paid in any other hotel at that time of the year, it must've been exactly that!! This puppet was cheerily posing for me in the rooftop cafe, though the fact that she was hanging from the rafters did seem a little morbid...

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Oh, and I've been tagged by George of 'A Daily Photoessay', so-

Four jobs I’ve had:

1. Code Monkey
2. Part-time Computer Assembler
3. Industrial Design Consultant
4. Entrepreuner

Four movies I can watch over and over:

1. Pulp Fiction
2. Life Is Beautiful
3. Ice Age
4. Sholay

Four places I’ve lived:

1. Bombay, India
2. Kodaikanal, India
3. Aurangabad, India
4. Guwahati, India

Four TV shows I love:

1. I
2. don't
3. watch
4. TV

Four places I’ve vacationed:

1. Thimphu, Bhutan
2. Goa, India
3. Pokhra, Nepal
4. Pushkar, India

Four of my favorite dishes:

1. Mincemeat Lasagna (the way I make it)
2. Spicy Bitter Beans Curry with Thalipith (the way my Mum makes it)
3. Blueberry Cheesecake (haven't had a better one since Churchill's in Bombay about 2 years back)
4. Kadhi-Moong ki dal-Rotli (yes Yash, I know I should be dropping in at your place soon)

Four sites I visit daily:

1. Google
2. Myopic Endeavour (well, almost daily)
3. A whole bunch of photoblogs (see photoblogroll in the sidebar)
4. Core77

Four places I would rather be right now:

1. Biking it from Manali to Leh
2. Attending Partha's wedding in Delhi
3. Visiting my brother in the UK (Stoke-on-Trent, charming little town and all that)
4. Working in Bangalore (?)

Four bloggers I am tagging:

1. Ritu
2. Salil
3. Suyog
4. Ajay

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Nikon F75, 28-105mm
Fuji 200ISO
2005, The Pink Floyd Cafe, Pushkar, India

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Nikon F75, 28-105mm
Illford BW, 400ISO
2005, Pushkar, Rajasthan, India.

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Sculpted metal
Majestic in repose
Dismissive of lessness
by it's very existence.

Streak of silver
Poetic in motion
Exalting the tar-strip
with it's thunder-run.

The squiggly skid marks
The ponderous approach
belie the grace and beauty
it was made for.
Man's desire
to leave Gaia's womb
reflected in that tense arc -
The orgasm of flight.

What a glorious sight
to see the steel bird fly.

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Kodak Easyshare DX7590
2006, The Bright Blue...

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First off, a very happy, very crazy new year to everyone who's been in the habit of dropping by here. Do take time off from work and blogging to go out there and live real.

A very helpful samaritan (you know who you are) took me by the hand the other day and safely got me across the quagmire that is independant hosting. This blog, in effect, will be shifting to a new domain with a spiffy new template that lets me, and you, do much more with it. And, hopefully, sooner rather than later.

On another note, I came across this very nice link courtesy file magazine, and with my fascination for cows (see here and here if you're a Doubting Thomas) I just have to put it out for anyone who hasn't seen it. Its fascinating how a simple subject transforms into art under the hands of a skilled artist!

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Pushkar lake, late in the night, is a sight for sore eyes. No tourists, none ofthe riff-raff that run up to you and ambush you into buying a trinket or souvenir, no priests, no dogs, no cats. Just the still of the night, the lights, the water and the little hill. A nice place to be. For sore eyes and sore minds.

This one's a longish exposure- about 30 seconds or so. As a result there's a fair amount of colour shifting and the photograph looks nothing like what I actually saw there that night. But that's part of the fun of shooting at night with the shutter wide open...

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Nikon F75, 28-105mm
Fuji 400ISO
2005, Pushkar Lake, Rajasthan, India.

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