Paris: Le Premier Jour

Paris Day 1. I started towards Sacre Coeur Mont Marc the first morning in Paris. I traveled to the metro, keeping an eye out for Eiffel tower along the way (four metro stops away...how close is that!! :]). Through out the time all I could think to myself was: I don't think ive been to a more beautiful city. Or at least not yet. So I started out at Sacre Coeur and headed to Saint Michel. I think because of how much time I spend in each place - taking it in and enjoying the architecture- I could only cover two to three places each day. I guess I am tourist who believes in spending some time rather than rushing through. Here are pictures from the first days journey.

Up in the Air: En Voyage à Paris

My Trip began as I headed from LAX to Chicago O Hare airport for a transit stop and from here to Charles De Gaulle PARIS!! :] (Lufthansa if you must know the airlines). Its been amazing to see this side of the world from the sky. Usually when I fly towards India its the view of the big empty ocean - which is in its unique way fun and boring. :] This time I spent most of my time in the Air looking out the window with a camera in my hand ofcourse. Here are some arial shots of my flight journey. Enjoy! :]

A New year!

Solvang

This new year day we spent hiking few minutes and walking around Solvang. Ive been spending it with some really good friends and my family. Enjoying it especially with this good company! I love seeing such beautiful places. Here are some pictures taken during this trip.

Falls Close up

Nojoqui Falls View

Nojoqui Falls

Santa Barbara Ocean View

Chicago

Push - Chicago
Focal length: 105mm
Shutter speed: 1/320
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/4.0

This month my bro and I made a trip to Chicago and I must say I love Chicago! Its one of those places that have their things straight...other than the traffic. The downtown was beautiful with a gorgeous view from Sears tower or Willis as its called now. And it took my bro and I a while to realize that it was Lake Michigan not the Ocean. Coming from California we were so use to thinking a large body of water = ocean so we were pretty shocked with enormity of this lake! Anyways, I realized after I returned back to Cali that most of the shots from this trip was Street photography (which is basically trying to find the interaction of humans shot in a candid method or trying to show the "city" aspect). I found myself either looking for children enjoying the city just as much as the adults (like the shot above) or finding metal-jungle-feel of the city. Tell me what you think! :)

Chicago Downtown View
Focal length: 50mm
Shutter speed: 1/2500
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/2.5

Canal View - Chicago
Focal length: 35mm
Shutter speed: 1/125
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/8.0

Silhouette of a viewer- Chicago
Focal length: 32mm
Shutter speed: 1/160
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/5.0

The Train Station - Chicago
Focal length: 50mm
Shutter speed: 1/200
ISO: 320
Aperture: f/11.0

Windows - Chicago
Focal length: 32mm
Shutter speed: 1/13
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/16

Jungle - Chicago
Focal length: 50mm
Shutter speed: 1/3200
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/1.8

Green Pathway - Chicago
Focal length: 50mm
Shutter speed: 1/100
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/1.4

Arches National Park

Delicate Arch
Focal length: 58mm
Shutter speed: 1/1
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/8

Just a few shots from my quick trip to Arches National Park. It was taken on my drive to Chicago this summer. Was an awesome exercise to walk up to this arch, called the Delicate Arch, since the climb was challenging. But it was definitely well worth making it right before sunset. Next time hopefully I get to spend more time than just few hours. :)

Focal length: 32mm
Shutter speed: 1/25
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/13

Focal length: 24mm
Shutter speed: 1/40
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/16

Focal length: 55mm

Shutter speed: 1/50
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/7.1

Festival of Lights

Festival of Lights
Focal length: 50mm
Shutter speed: 1/800
ISO: 1600
Aperture: f/1.4

The Festival of Lights, or what the 6 billion of people of the religions of Hinduism, Jainism, Sikhism celebrate as a triumph of Good over Evil is called Diwali or Deepavali. It is celebrated around this time every year during the New moon day (no moon day). It is the Festival of lights- the lighting of deepas (oil lamps), hence Deepavali or Diwali. Each religion has its own meaning for the celebration. And so it is a national festival in India, and is celebrated bigger than xmas in this part of the world, with deepas, poojas, yummy food and fireworks.

These pictures were not taken in India as most might have assumed. But rather here in my home town - San Diego- for the first time. As more and more Indians are being recognized here in U.S., we are able to take a step into recognizing out festivals and culture. With the Festival of Lights today, I had a great opportunity to capture beautiful light, as it was lit by everyone. :) The wonderfulness of togetherness. So happy Diwali and enjoy a wonderful year!

An Ornate Light
Focal length: 50mm
Shutter speed: 1/250
ISO: 1600
Aperture: f/1.4

A Decoration of Lights
Focal length: 50mm
Shutter speed: 1/640
ISO: 1600
Aperture: f/3.2

Lined up Deepas
Focal length: 50mm
Shutter speed: 1/250
ISO: 1600
Aperture: f/3.2

Since this post is late a week- BELATED DIWALI WISHES! :)

Mission San Juan Capistrano

Cross
Focal length: 24mm
Shutter speed: 1/60
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/11.0

About few weeks back my mom and I headed to a nearby missionary for capturing old buildings and architectures. California was discovered from Native Americans by the missionaries. I would never state it as discovered for the first time as there were people living in this land before white settlement. So these Missionaries, set out by these white settlers to spread Christianity as well as to find new land to settle in, are historic landmarks to view the lifestyle of the first white settlements in the west. The buildings and lifestyles are greatly influenced by the Native American living as well as the Mexican lifestyle. So enough said, here are the missionary pictures:

The Church
Focal length: 28mm
Shutter speed: 8sec
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/11.0

Holy water
Focal length: 65mm
Shutter speed: 2.5sec
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/4.0

Pink Water Lilies
Focal length: 50mm
Shutter speed: 1/200
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/2.8

Purple Water Lily
Focal length: 105mm
Shutter speed: 1/125
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/5.0

I won EarthShots.org Yesterday!

As my daily routine when i get online I check my emails and flickr explore. I also check National Geographic Photo of the Day and Earth Shots Photo of the Day. I feel like these websites have some of the best choices of Photography. The Photographers behind these photos have and are striving to bring some of the best captures of wonderful places or things in their everyday life.

So I hadn't checked Earth Shots for couple of days since my Internet was down. And this morning I decided to catch up on the winners and their websites. I was looking at today's winner and slowly scrolled down to find my picture. It took me a second to realize...that's my shot! This was a shot i had submitted a month ago and after submitting the picture they tell you the best way to see if your shot won is by checking this site everyday and most likely will appear in a month if you win. Back then I didn't think I had a chance to win on this website. But man was I so happy that I won yesterday! So I checked out my picture and the comments and rushed to tell my family and friends. I was so happy today for getting some recognition for my picture. I just wanted to say thank you Earth Shot for choosing my picture and thank you Earth Shot followers for wonderful comments. And as for you guys following my photo blog...i want to thank you as well for giving me comments from time to time. It really gives me a lot of inspiration when I get feedback. So check out Earth shot and my picture: Morning Bath

End to Vacation in India

One this most memorable day of my generations history, I would like to finish my Summer India Trip photos. So with just about a week left in India, we decided to just hang out with the relatives and visit some nearby places. Right after we got back from grandparents place, we visited another state- Andhrapradesh and its famous temple: Venkateswara Temple in Thirupati. We visited another beautiful temple, a.k.a. Arunachaleswara temple at Thiruvannamalai, only few hours from Chennai and saw some amazing architecture. At the temple, I was able to photograph some Sadhu's wandering and meditating as this was a famous site for pilgrimage. During this visit we were able to visit a nearby ashram and had a chance to capture free nature (wild animals roaming freely).

During the last week, we visited a museum with the different varieties of rural South Indian homes and lifestyles. This included weavers, potters, artisans, and other members of the society that brought their lifestyle into art. It was amazing to see them recreating some of these scenes with people from the same lifestyle. There were Saree makers, potters, and glass blowers, all following the old methods of making the traditional art. It was definitely a blast from the past scene. And the amazing part were the beautifully decorated houses dressed in its tradition. So here are the scenes from all these places. If you would like to know more about each picture, click on it so you can go to the Flickr link. Thanks and Enjoy! :)

An Indian Fast Food, Thirumala Venkateswara temple at Thirupathi
Focal length: 67mm
Shutter speed: 1/15
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/4.0

A Welcoming Hand, Thirumala Venkateswara temple at Thirupathi
Focal length: 73mm
Shutter speed: 1/250
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/8.0

Brotherly Love, Temple Aashram at Thiruvannamali
Focal length: 400mm
Shutter speed: 1/100
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/5.6

A Worried Mother, Temple Aashram at Thiruvannamali
Focal length: 330mm
Shutter speed: 1/100
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/5.6

Peacock, Temple Aashram at Thiruvannamali
Focal length: 400mm
Shutter speed: 1/30
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/5.6

An Orange Robe for the wise, Arunachaleswara Temple at Thiruvannamalai

Focal length: 24mm
Shutter speed: 1/30
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/4.0

A White Gopuram, Aruachaleswara temple at Thiruvannamali

Focal length: 24mm

Shutter speed: 1/200
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/10.0

A Meditating Yogi, Arunachaleswara Temple at Thiruvannamalai
Focal length: 28mm
Shutter speed: 1/100
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/7.1

A Window to another world, Dhakshinchitra

Focal length: 28mm

Shutter speed: 1/10
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/4.0

All eyes on you, Dhakshinchitra

Focal length: 73mm

Shutter speed: 1/15
ISO: 320
Aperture: f/4.0

Handcrafting a Saree, Dhakshinchitra

Focal length: 24mm

Shutter speed: 1/15
ISO: 320
Aperture: f/4.0


Blue Doors, Dhakshinchitra
Focal length: 24mm
Shutter speed: 1/640
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/4.0

Sunset in India, Tamil Nadu
Focal length: 24mm
Shutter speed: 1/640
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/9.0