A nightmare of every photographer - Part IV

Winding up 

...continued from "A nightmare of every photographer - Part III" 

Date: 25-12-2012

Chitkul located @  3450 mtrs above sea level.  

Early in the morning was not really early. It was 8:00am. I had a good night and was fresh and ready to return back. After refreshing up I went the shop nearby and had tea and bread toast for breakfast. I remembered what I had left behind yesterday. I also was scheduled to visit the chitkul devi mandir. I packed my stuff and kept them in the bungalow. Wore my jacket, gloves and skull cap. Went to the chitkul devi mandir and it was closed for the winter. there were snow on the veranda and no body around.

I clicked some pictures from outside the temple and headed towards the valley. On the way I clicked some of the pictures of local houses which I found interesting.  

I walked down the valley approaching the river and it was getting colder and colder. I had seen the bridge which was said to be one of the connection to the base camp for supply and communication. Took some selfies and document shots too. I wanted to go further deep into the mountains towards the border but I thought I am not geared up for that kind of adventure. So I had to leave back to the village to take my leave from there.  

There was a problem. There was no transport available till late in the afternoon and it was still 10am. I didnt know what to do. It was around 25 Km descend to Reckong Peo. Walking was the only option available for me. I gathered my courage to walk such long distance and wanted to take one last epic dp. Got ready with all jacket and kept the camera to self timer mode and .....click.....  

Journey Back

I will post further experience of descending down to 2500 meters (RP) in my next and possibly final post on the series "A nightmare of every photographer!!" (A nightmare of every photographer - Part IV)

Prasanna Hegde

Which one is for me? - A good Camera buy @ Camera Pick - technical Intro

@ Camera Pick - technical Intro

Which one is for me? - A good Camera buy

Courtesy - Canon DSLR 

I walk into the nearest camera store and I look around. I have no clue on what camera to buy, which is good, specifications and which is going to come a long way with me. A lot of eye catchy things. Some of the words/views may seem something like this -

 

And some make me do this in my mind!!

Though I have these confusions I am sure about one thing. And then comes these pictures in my mind.

These are probably some of the decent reasons to buy a camera. But there are other reasons why one would consider too. Which may give you the following picture. 

What ever may be the reason, I need to justify the buy and it should be good. Every reason can be addressed. After all even the companies manufacture with certain target population in mind about each model.  

Some questions I would ask myself - 

1. Whats my primary goal? 
2. Why do I need a camera? 
3. Can I afford to think about it? 
4. Am I capable of deciding or do I need help? 
5. Or chuck all questions, just wanna buy. No reasons. That also serves the purpose. 

Homework for those who want to consider a good buy -  

1. Spend some time with the photographer you know
2. Get to use the camera first hand
3. Get familiar with the terminologies
4. Know about different companies and accessories they provide
5. Know the difference in terminologies between the companies
6. Know donts before dos 
7. Know if you are gadget friendly or if you are quick learner
8. or I would go to a camera shop and converse with the sales person (possibly a multi company dealership holder) 

Some questions I would ask my friends who use a camera - 

1. Available models 
2. Suggested reasonable models in low range, mid range and high range budget.  
3. Deciding features (weighing)  
4. equivalent models from each companies
5. or I would just close my eyes and buy what a good photographer says 

With this introduction to a good buy I would like to post key (details) features of the photography gadgets and suggested buys from my review for various purposes from digital compact to DSLR models from the leading companies. 

Few of the topics @ Camera Pick - technical - 

FAQs, Features, Models, Generation, Necessities Vs Luxury, Professional Vs Basic   

"Buy what you want, but not what they sell"

Prasanna Hegde

Gadget: Nikon D90

The Rise - Part I

The rise - Part I

"Passion projectile on Social networking site"

Phase I - The traveler and the explorer

Its hard to track back and say when I started thinking about doing photography or even when I started doing photography. This photo of my best friends from graduation is probably one of the first documented photo by me on facebook dated back when I was getting the hang of social network on orkut.  

Best friends Dr. S. R. C. ISH, Bangalore

I was wondering if the photography was just a shadow of the love towards nature and wildlife. As I got busy with my education and other stuff, I would have taken up photography to patch up the distance. That sounds like a reasonable explanation on how I started photography. But "when" still remains unclear to me. 

While I was with my parents in the national park and roaming around in the tiger reserve freely, I didn't have the urge to take photograph. I was happy enjoying the wildlife thinking I wouldn't miss them any time. Had this feeling that "they are all mine". However, I was not allowed to take photographs of animals anyways. My dad said some logic but I didn't get it nor I remember what he said to figure it out now. 

Spending my long school holidays in the wildlife I waited 2 years of my stay in Nagarahole to see a tiger and I sighted the big cat 5 time but none of the time I wanted to take a picture. The tally (number of times I sighted a rare mammal) itself was the biggest thing. There is a mysterious poorly focused photo taken by our first and old camera (kodak). Dad says its a tiger and I have no hesitation to doubt what he says. That photo is still a real mystery for me. 

my family 

Growing up with a family like mine, I need not run away from parents/home to go to a trip. They themselves were crazy enough to visit different places and give what they have got to us (me and brother). I took all the opportunities to explore every time I was with my parents. None of the time they real stopped me from my exploration. Probably they knew this guy isn't going to listen anyways. My mom says she used to visit places even when she was carrying me. And the places where not the holy places or some place for relaxation. But they were all adventure places. 

legendary bike ride

There were trips from college, with friends, my brothers and his friends too. I would get along with all of them without much of a problem. I was not a great entertainer for them but I would mind my business without interfering anybody. I use to carry our second camera (Nikon digital compact) and take photos for documentation of our trip.     

with my brother 

Sathodi falls

Banawasi

We visited waterfalls, boating sites, hill stations, national parks, bird sanctuaries and so on. Very few bike rides were done as I didn't own a bike back then neither did my brother. I used to go the way less taken and climb the steep hill less climbed (shortest cuts). I used to climb up with a curiosity to find the origin of a waterfalls (how crazy can I get) and end up at the peak of the hill where water fall started its descent. 

Thats when I realized... "I got to be at an unusual time, at an unusual place to see the unusual"  ...... which proved to double adventurous. 

(Unfortunately those were another bulk of pictures and videos which I did not save or did not know to save )

Being just a traveler and explorer there were some of the clicks in the digital compact camera which still are as good as they were and unbeatable to any of my photos taken after that. My aim then was to see as much as possible and explore as far and deep as possible. Those were the days when I started considering forest service as my dream career. Every time my dad said my son knows more about wild life than me as RFO, I would start dreaming. Ya I know what actually happened is a completely different story...:-) 

    

With these introductory share of my life I would like to begin the series about few years of my life dreaming big, but only doing a little. Few accomplishments and lot of them seemed to be a failure but they are turning out to be building blocks. 

The social life of my photography may have began with orkut but unfortunately I am unable to track them down which you all know why. So I will just stick to track records on facebook. 

My next post in this series would be The Rise - Part II The Beginning  

Prasanna Hegde

A nightmare of every photographer - Part III

       

Pahari Hospitality 

...continued from "A nightmare of every photographer - Part II" 

24-12-2012

@ Chitkul, Kangra, Himachal Pradesh

It was 8:00pm where I left in my last post and there was still a view of snow capped mountains lit by the night light. 

Taken at 8:00pm

On my way back to the bungalow in charge house I met some of the military guys who were staying there to look after the stocks which was suppose to be sent to the Tibet border. As I was interacting with them, I realized I am in an off season trip and people who come at this time usually are either crazy by mind or crazy by heart. They were living in a small room shared by two and they were cooking dinner. They offered me to eat with them but I told them I have my dinner arranged in the bungalow. But they just didn't stop insisting. I had no choice. I said I will eat little bit there and come back and eat with them. After promising them, I went with a confidence that I can keep my word because I was hungry like a starving dog. I went to place where my dinner was arranger. They had made rotis and some kind of chatni with mixed vegetable sabji. That was the most delicious food for me at that moment and the chatni was made of one of the wild variety of leaves which has toxic thorns. It was called "Bichchoo Bhutti". I ate 8 rotis and I was kind of full. 

I got a chance to go to their house which was peculiar. The cooking stove was at the center of the house and for them it was holy place. No outsider was allowed cook in that stove. The only thought which came to my mind was my promise to the other guys from military camp. 

Holy place for a Pahari woman

I left from there to their room and that was the most difficult decision to make. After looking at what they had prepared I couldn't say no nor yes. 

Roti and Brinjal sabji

My calculation was 8+7= I can't walk. I distracted myself by watching tv at their house but I couldn't hold it for long. I felt I had eaten enough food for the rest of my life. It was amazing and I couldn't walk back properly to the bungalow. After all the struggle I got to the room and without much thought I decided to fall asleep. I put the camera battery and phone on charge. Recollecting all that I did since morning and looking through some of the pictures I felt somebody pulled me down to my deepest sense to just sleep it off. That's how the a day before xmas ended and I shall write my concluding post soon. 

End of 24-12-2012

Prasanna Hegde 

Next post - of 25-12-2012 "Journey back to Reckong Peo from Chitkul" - A nightmare of every photographer - Part IV

A nightmare of every photographer - Part II

The stay at Chitkul Devi's Home

...continued from "A nightmare of every photographer - Part I" 

24-12-2012

@ Chitkul, Kangra, Himachal Pradesh

As I concluded in my Part I I reached my final destination which is also called the home town of Chitkul Devi. I was surprised. Indeed extremely surprised and happy that Chitkul was literally empty with no tourists around. There were only few houses with some residents and a military stock house. Rest every shop were closed as it was the beginning of winter.    

Chitkul -A small village at the Indo-Tibet border

Chitkul was just as I was expecting though it was late through the day. Sun was casting darkness on most of the valley but there was still some golden shaded peaks from very next grassy hills to far off snow caped mountains. Though it was late in the evening the dawn had its own effect on the way I could see the beauty and capture them in my DSLR. 

The beautiful village

Frozen

Before I decided to go for exploration I wanted to make sure I had packed some stuff for the rest of the days. I went to a near by shop. I bought some chocolates and snacks. The shopkeeper served me with hot tea. It was amazing. Chai is one thing which keeps people alive there. I inquired about the stay and food for a night. And there comes the shocker. He said there is a bungalow at the entrance of the village and his i/c is his brother. He took with him and walked through the snow filled village with no sign of water flow. All that was flowing was just frozen as if someone was playing statue game with the water. The village was almost empty with no movement till I could see. As were going towards the shopkeepers brother we could see camp fires in a basement and there were couple of people warming up for the cold night which was arriving. We inquired about the stay and he said the whole bungalow is free. Wow, that was the moment and I wished to be married and wished I was with someone... :-). It is unusual for me to be staying in village with countable residents and far off from the society. However, I visited the place and it had 4 double bed rooms which looked like designed for honey moon exclusively. There were no room heaters. All that one could do is crawl under the thick rajayi, or just close the windows. It was an isolated bungalow where chill breeze had its way easy through the windows for some times. It was a British type stone bungalow with two guards (goats) at the front to welcome me.     

The Guards

Government rest house

After offering me the best accommodation in the village they also said that there will be dinner ready by 8pm. I told them I will explore a bit and take some low light photographs. After arranging my stay and dinner I left with my camera. I didn't require the torch light as there was little sunlight and it was full moon day (I am not sure but it was not pitch dark). As I walked through the snow filled foot path I managed to follow the track which was already used and that made it easy for me to walk.  

On the high banks of River Baspa

Walking through the valley was great experience and it was little scary too. I clicked a lot of pictures. In low light the snow shades were appearing like a canvas. The river was looking greenish and white snow shade was making the view more beautiful. There were probably only 3 colors which I could make out in that situation - white, greenish brown and black.

Far off bridge which connect the village to Army base camp at Tibet border

After long walk I decided to head back as it was getting late for dinner. I could see a bridge far off where I wanted to go. I thought I shall visit that place first thing in the morning. Took some great pictures which unfortunately I don't have to frame them.  

It was 8:00pm and the last picture of the landscape with slow shutter and It just came out how I wanted it to be. 

So I will take a leave from my, 24 - December, 2012, evening's photography session in the middle southern Tibet border. I will narrate more about my experience with Pahari folks, their hospitality and rest of the things I did the on xams day. See you all. 

Prasanna Hegde 

www.prasannahegde.com