Karnataka, India

Ancient Rays, Belur - Karnataka

Focal length: 24mm
Shutter speed: 1/50
ISO: 125
Aperture: f/9.0

After we headed back to Chennai from our grandparents place, we had about two weeks to finish shopping and visiting places. It was a sudden plan but we decided to visit Banglore in Karnataka- India. This was all decided because I really wanted to take pictures of these famous temples in Karnataka: Hoysaleshwara Temple in Halebidu and Chennakesava Temple in Belur. These temples are famous because of the amazing sculptural details throughout the temples walls. It is also unique because these temples are laid out in a star shape, which maximizes the space for more art and architecture. So when we booked for a tour of these two places we were set to a package of also visiting Shravanabelagola, a famous Jain temple for Gomatheswara Statue. We had taken a tour for a day, and these were our stops. We have about few hours at each place and with all the coverage, i just ended up snapping some of the shot without looking for perspective.

Shravanabelagola was all about simplicity as there is no distraction from what is being presented. It sits a top of hill overlooking a beautiful little village. The stairs up to the shrine/temple is all carved out of the hill. Its definitely quite a trek up as the stairs are uneven from the carving. The statue itself, depicting Gomatheswara, stands 57feet tall and is monolithic. Next we headed to Halebidu and had lunch before entering the temple. This definitely caught my eye as it is a grandeur of beauty. Hoysala architecture is famous for its star shaped temples as it provides more surface area for art and architecture. Halebidu temple, a.k.a Hoysaleshwara Temple, is used for many Bollywood movie backdrop as well as for Dance arangetrams. The beauty of its details makes it a wonderful backdrop to Dance to. I remember not being able to listen to the tour guides story and just photographing all the details and practically getting yelled at for being slow tourist :P. Afterwards, we headed to Belur our last stop just before Dinner and Sunset. It was a good place to end as I found it to be the most peaceful. This temple, a.k.a. Chennakesava Temple, had vast area with different periods of structures. The main temple itself was from the Hoysala Empire in Hassan District. There were lesser details than the Halebidu temple, but still enough details to give stories. Such architectures make me wonder how they were able to do all these back in those days with very few technology. I guess this is what makes it an Ancient Wonder. So all these places were covered in one day, from 7 am to 10 pm. So here are the pics:

The Feet of Wisdom, Shravanabelagola - Karnataka
Focal length: 58mm
Shutter speed: 1/160
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/7.1

A Rocks Touch, Shravanabelagola - Karnataka
Focal length: 105mm
Shutter speed: 1/200
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/5.6

Gomatheswara Standing Tall, Shravanabelagola - Karnataka
Focal length: 40mm
Shutter speed: 1/200
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/10.0

On Guard, Halebidu - Karnataka
Focal length: 70mm
Shutter speed: 1/60
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/4.0

The Beautifully Skirted, Halebidu - Karnataka
Focal length: 24mm
Shutter speed: 1/160
ISO: 500
Aperture: f/9.0

G.O.D. (Generator, Operator, Destroyer), Halebidu - Karnataka
Focal length: 58mm
Shutter speed: 1/100
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/5.6

Scrolls of Beauty, Halebidu - Karnataka
Focal length: 105mm
Shutter speed: 1/40
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/4.0

Dancing Queens, Belur - Karnataka
Focal length: 24mm
Shutter speed: 1/50
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/4.5

Free standing Pillar, Belur - Karnataka
Focal length: 24mm
Shutter speed: 1/200
ISO: 125
Aperture: f/10.0

The Color of Faith, Belur - Karnataka
Focal length: 24mm
Shutter speed: 1/50
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/5.0

The Chennakesava Temple, Belur - Karnataka
Focal length: 24mm
Shutter speed: 1/60
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/5.6

Hope you had a good vacay!

A Royal View

The Palace in its Grandeur, Madhurai Palace
Focal length: 24mm
Shutter speed: 1/1250
ISO: 125
Aperture: f/9.0

During our temple visit in the famous city of Madhurai, we were able to visit this well-known Palace called Thirumalai Nayakkar Mahal. This Palace is always booked to be the backdrops of Bollywood songs and one of my favorite directors: Mani Ratnam has used this place for couple of his hit songs, like Tere Bina from Guru and Kehna hai kya/Kannalane from Bombay the movie. This 17th century palace has beautiful architecture with its high ceilings and grand space. It almost feels like you are in the world of the giants, like from the story of Jack and the Bean Stock. The details on each arch, the paint colors, the enormous columns and the play of light on all this makes this place feel ethereal in beauty. I decided to dedicate an entire post to this place since we got a special tour up on the rooftop of this palace. and I was fortunate to be one of those to be able to capture a unique perspective that most tourists don't get to see. So yay! Its the little connections in life that make u see some incredible things in this world! So thanks to our taxi driver who knew the gate keeper of this palace, we were able to see the special tour that only movie directors who use this place get to capture. So here are the pictures and to get more details on each picture, follow my links to Flickr for each photo.

Kings Court at the Palace, Madhurai Palace
Focal length: 24mm

Shutter speed: 1/50
ISO: 500
Aperture: f/5.0

Looking up at the Dome, Madhurai Palace
Focal length: 24mm
Shutter speed: 1/60
ISO: 400
Aperture: f/6.3

Archway into Light, Madhurai Palace

Focal length: 24mm
Shutter speed: 1/40
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/4.5

The Royal Lifestyle, Madhurai Palace

Focal length: 24mm
Shutter speed: 1/1600
ISO: 400
Aperture: f/9.0

The Secret Passage, Madhurai Palace

Focal length: 24mm
Shutter speed: 1/125
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/8.0

The Big Picture, Madhurai Palace

Focal length: 24mm
Shutter speed: 1/125
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/8.0

The Royal Colors, Madhurai Palace

Focal length: 105mm
Shutter speed: 1/500
ISO: 125
Aperture: f/4.0

Temple Trip in Tamil Nadu

After a week and half at my grandparents place we headed for a trip of temples in the nearby cities. Temples in India are seen as an area for worship as well as a place to admire historic architecture in their story telling way. Architecture in each temple is different as its based on when and who built the temple. Some describe dance posses and some describe epic stories of Hinduism. We took a three day trip by renting a car and traveling to these famous temples. We traveled on the first day to Namakal and to Trichy. We stayed overnight and traveled to all the Trichy temples the second day. We then went to Madhurai and Tanjore on the third day and headed back to grandparents place. It was fun to photograph the bhakti (faith) aspect of India and to photograph how each temple was maintained for its historic beauty. Even though we were only able to spend few hours at each destination it was enough to go around each temple. So here are some pictures I decided to post. I will post more on my Flickr so check it out if you are interested. Thanks!

Entrance, Rock fort temple at Namakal
Focal length: 24mm
Shutter speed: 1/8
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/4.0

Doors to Temple, Sreerangam Temple at Trichy
Focal length: 84mm
Shutter speed: 1/40
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/4.0

Gopuram standing tall, Sreerangam Temple at Trichy
Focal length: 24mm
Shutter speed: 1/125
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/8.0

On the Gopuram, Thiruvanaikovil at Trichy

Focal length: 105mm
Shutter speed: 1/200
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/6.3

Namaste, Thiruvanaikovil at Trichy

Focal length: 65mm
Shutter speed: 1/20
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/4.0

Hall of Light, Thiruvanaikovil at Trichy

Focal length: 24mm
Shutter speed: 1/40
ISO: 1600
Aperture: f/4.5

Stairs and Halls, Thiruvanaikovil at Trichy

Focal length: 24mm
Shutter speed: 1/125
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/7.1

Ancient Cholan Writting, Brihadeeshwara Temple at Tanjore

Focal length: 24mm
Shutter speed: 1/10
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/16.0

Ancient painting, Brihadeeshwara Temple at Tanjore

Focal length: 32mm
Shutter speed: 1/10
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/5.6

Temple Gopuram, Brihadeeshwara Temple at Tanjore

Focal length: 24mm
Shutter speed: 1/40
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/4.0

Painting a Story, Meenakshi Temple at Madhurai
Focal length: 105mm
Shutter speed: 1/50
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/4.0

Hallway, Meenakshi Temple at Madhurai
Focal length: 24mm
Shutter speed: 1/8
ISO: 320
Aperture: f/4.0

Small Town Girl

After our trip to Kerala, we went back to my grandparents place in the state of Tamil Nadu to relax. Since my grandparents city was located between small villages it was fun to go through these small towns and to see their distance from technology. I was born in the place my grandparents reside. It used to be a very small town back in those days with a few T-shirt companies as its most famously known for. Now since they have had big exports to other countries, this small town has grown to have some five star hotels and a booming business lifestyle. Its amazing how some few years changes a place so dramatically. But I'm glad to say that the surrounding villages definitely show the country side as it was. So here are some pictures I took while I travelled with my grandparents and traveled to the neighboring towns:

Pink Temple, Tamil Nadu

Focal length: 24mm
Shutter speed: 1/80
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/9.0

Prayers, Tamil Nadu

Focal length: 50mm
Shutter speed: 1/20
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/9.0

Wild Peacock, Tamil Nadu

Focal length: 400mm
Shutter speed: 1/200
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/5.6

Baby Kitten, Tamil Nadu

Focal length: 105mm
Shutter speed: 1/40
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/4.0

Little House, Tamil Nadu

Focal length: 40mm
Shutter speed: 1/80
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/6.3

Hard Labor, Tamil Nadu

Focal length: 50mm
Shutter speed: 1/125
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/2.5

Kerala, India

Morning Bath, Kerala

Focal length: 88mm
Shutter speed: 1/50
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/4.0

Week 2 was spent with grandparents and traveling. It takes 8 hours of train ride to travel 300 miles from aunts place to grandparents. And once there we are only few hours from the next state, Kerala-India. Kerala is known for its tropical weather as some call it god's green thumb. It has its heaviest monsoon in India and is known for the use of a communistic state government. It is also known for Indian Elephants and the variety of Coconut and Banana trees. So we visited Kerala and took my grandparents along. We went mainly for the Guruvayur temple but we were also able to visit the Elephant sanctuary next to the temple called Anakotta and see our old house in the nearby city. We stayed overnight to cover all the places and to take photos of the place. It was all wonderful since we got a taste of the Monsoon at Guruvayur, which in the humid weather was a good feeling. And we also got to eat some authentic Kerala food which I personally enjoy since its rare to find it here in the U.S. So all in all this trip was a lot of fun and gave me some excellent pictures which I treasure for their uniqueness. So here are the pictures:

Oh btw, i had gotten a new lens before leaving for India. Its an awesome lens- a portrait lens: Canon 50mm f/1.4. I'm in love with it as it blurs and bokeh's the background. It also brings the DOF (depth of field) down and only focus on the subject, which is really good for portrait photography, as your main focus is only one subject. The pictures are crisp and clean and the Lens is fast. The f-stop is the lowest f-stop I have so far. Since I had to find a place for it in my camera bag, I had decided to leave my Macro lens behind. I planned to not take macro photos in India because I decided my photography for this trip is going to focus more on the culture, the architecture of the buildings and people of this country. So here are the pictures from my trip in Kerala:

Eye of a Giant, Kerala

Focal length: 400mm
Shutter speed: 1/160
ISO: 500
Aperture: f/5.6

Tusks, Kerala

Focal length: 400mm
Shutter speed: 1/125
ISO: 250
Aperture: f/5.6

Elephant Bath, Kerala

Focal length: 65mm
Shutter speed: 1/400
ISO: 1600
Aperture: f/9.0

Going Banana's, Kerala

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

Working Women, Kerala

Focal length: 50mm
Shutter speed: 1/500
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/5.0

Farm Worker, Kerala

Focal length: 50mm
Shutter speed: 1/500
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/5.0