In the end managed to get an impression of the activity around the return of the herds. Not yet the beautiful pictures that we saw on the Darter website for this tour, but still nice overview. For me I would say the kids made the day.
This day we use to get to our high camping ground. Heading for Taglang La it is according the signs the second highest motor-able pass (17582ft or 5328m). When I am up I remember the pass from my first trip to Leh, only didn't recognise the road as it was much worse the first time. This time only a small stretch of bad road and exactly there on of the guys on the motors lost control. And looked like only his ego and confidence got hurt. The complete ride and also on the top we could notice that we were heading for the closure of the season. Empty pass more or less, having also this one just for us. Getting to the bottom of the mountain at least a stretch that was more or less flat. Here we turned of the road and got onto the sandy road that would bring us to the nomads. Also here they were working on the road, which means we needed to leave the "track" and ride along in the old tracks or find our own. After some time of searching for the best part of the road we arrived at our camping place just outside the set of houses used for camping by the nomads. Higher up the mountains they used tents but here the first permanent housing was used. For us the dinning hall and kitchen tent were already standing and up and running. After lunch and tea the first sheep and goats were coming back, so start of the course on catching them. Finding the light and angle to get a nice photo, that all with out the capability to run around as the height didn't give us really much breathing space. In the end managed to get an impression of the activity around the return of the herds. Not yet the beautiful pictures that we saw on the Darter website for this tour, but still nice overview. For me I would say the kids made the day. Early dinner and after that getting into the sack for a long night sleep.
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The Saraha hotel was busy with the last week also, many rooms had already the news papers for the windows. But the beds and rooms were warm partly because the heating was on. First time I experienced heated rooms in India. Normally you only use Airco to get them colder. Here it was the real hot water through the pipes, felt almost like Netherlands. After breakfast we left for a photoshoot at Thiksey. We went to the house of Jigmet Angdu that had still the real old kitchen as it was used till 40 years back. The new kitchen was up for renovation after 40 years. Nice to see that even in the new kitchen still a lot was done on the ground (not shown here), this although the it had a large working area also next to the sink. The old kitchen was used to take pictures of Tsering Youton wearing traditional lady dress and Sonam Norphel in traditional dress for men. For experienced women it takes only 10 to 15 minutes to get dressed in the traditional dress, whereas it can take hours for the young ones it seems. For us it was however the challenge to find the right angle and position for the shoots. Dark room with light coming in through two windows. This gave very nice contrasts. For this it was good that there were only 6 shooting as 12 would have been quite a challenge, not only for us but also for the models. Tsering Youton is one of the top spinners and showed us also some of her spinning skills. One of the remarkable things is that they still have the same set of pots, pans, plates, and cups that they use. At least that is my conclusion looking at the items stored in the kitchen. Between the photoshoot and lunch we had some time left to get an impression of the village, nice and quiet. Didn't know the distance but we could see quite far. Also had a perfect view on the monastery on the top of the hill. After lunch we got back to Leh to do some last shopping and slowly prepare for the trip into the mountains. Late afternoon also had time left to go over the photo's of the day.
Got to bed early as the days would take enough energy. This is officially the first day of the trip, but as I usually do for longer trips I have arrived a day early to get little bit more used to the area. For Ladakh that is useful as Leh is on heigh altitude (3400 m) and we will stay even higher when we are going into the mountains. Flying into Leh is also taking some time as the flights from Delhi leave early in the morning. This means that the easiest is a late flight (5th October) out of Bangalore to Delhi and then a Lounge night at Delhi airport. We arrived around 7 in the morning (6th October) but had to make an extra round as he wasn't happy with his first approach. With a lot of power he pulled up again to give us an extra mountain view. I was picked up at the airport where I could meet Robert who came over from the USA for this trip and some extra days around. Got to the hotel, had breakfast and then went to bed to get some sleep back. Afternoon was used to get into Leh and look around. The big difference with the first time was that the main shopping/market street was now no longer open for cars, only walking and cycling was allowed. This made it a much better place to be. Next day (7th October) we moved to the hotel we were having for the trip where we would meet the rest of the people joining us. Turned out that we would be with 4 participants, 4 support crew, 2 drivers ( of which one was our local guide) and 2 Darter guides. As Robert and me arrived already a day earlier and hanging around in Leh was not what we wanted to do we made a trip to the Matho monastery. To get to the monastery we had a ride along the Indus and got some nice view on the Stakna monastery and experienced a nice old bridge as the new one (green on the right) was not yet ready. We skipped the Stakna monastery and went to the Matho monastery. As the season was at its end with only one week to go to closure we had the monastery almost for us alone. We only had to share it with a student from Germany who was visiting the monastery for the relics. She was finalising her study and was making pictures of the pages of the books to translate them after the trip. One of the monks showed us around and opened the closed doors for us. Let us into the room that was only for men and for seeing, meaning no photos available. Strange but nice feeling that you can go around take pictures without having to bother who will be in. After the monastery visit we started to get back to Leh and the hotel. On the way back we stopped for a special Camel ride for Robert. I experienced one in Rajasthan so skipped this round. After the ride we went back to the hotel had dinner and an early evening sleep.
One of the items on my bullet list was a trip along the southern coast of India. Starting from Bangalore to the East coast almost at the same height go down along the coast to the south point. From there coming up on the west coast and back to Bangalore. Visited 4 states during the trip but the main ones are Tamil Nadu (east) and Kerala (west). Trip started 13th of August with Mahabalipuram as destination. As it was Sunday the traffic was quite low, except off course for some parts of Bangalore that I believe never sleep. As this was still monsoon time we had some rains during the day, but not that it was giving any problems on the road. Seeing three status with all their own attention for the road, resulting in extreem differences in road conditions. Bangalore has as most you will know in the meantime a combination of good toll roads and free roads that can be very good (after a new layer of tar) to an extreme challenge of potholes. Andhra Pradesh we just touched as this was the easiest way avoiding the heavy trucks. Here it was more or less ok, combination of good stretches and normal holes. No real bad area that I remember. Tamil Nadu is however road heaven in India I would say, beautiful roads, wide and good surface. The last state that we touched on the way back was Kerala and I would compare the road conditions with those in Bangalore a mix of good and terrible. Breakfast is for the first day on the road and that means looking for a place that looks ok and has some decent food. Most safe is in these cases the idly as the steaming process will kill anything that wants to have a bite. Have seen in the past cloths that looked very dirty but that didn't't stop the place to have very nice idly's. Here it was also ok and they made a good morning start. After a short stop at some nice paddy fields we continued to Mahabalipuram with a search for a place to spend the night. We hadn't booked any rooms upfront as we didn't have a fixed plan were to stop for the night. This as we didn't know really what would be a reasonable distance for the days. We had lunch in a resort on the coast that didn't have rooms but had a nice restaurant, not much choice at the buffet so used the menu to choose from. As place it is a challenge for the car, several of the coastal cities had by the way toll to enter which is an easy piece of income but looking at the crowd understandable. Had some problems in finding the room and asking doesn't't really help as the competition is fierce, they will bring you to the place that give them some commission and not the place you asked for. But we managed to get to it after some driving skill exams 😏. Turned out that it was not the best place to stay as the night was rather humid and the rooms didn't have real breathing opportunities. First learning of the trip, look for a place at internet and check before really staying. Had dinner at the restaurant of the landlord, nice view with bad experience as somebody drowned during our stay, but seems to happen regularly. No surprise as most of them don't know how to swim. Next morning I hoped for a nice sunrise but the clouds hide the sun for a long time. Todays target is Velankanni which is the first of the two stops before reaching the south point of India. On our way there we came across our first salt "factory" which is an area where they capture the sea water and then let it vaporise which leaves the salt back. This is then put into big piles that are there to dry and clean if I remember correctly. Later during the trip we crossed more of them and they seemed more industrial then this first one. Advantage here was that there were people that gave some explanation of the process. On the way we crossed Chidambaram where we had a very good lunch at the Palagaram restaurant. Little bit difficult to find but google brought us there and the guard immediately cam across the street to take the car and park it for us. They guy even noticed my phone was still in and handed it before we could walk in. Veg restaurant with some special types of organic rice and vegetables definitely a place to go if you are in the neighbourhood and need food 👌. After this continued to Velankanni, which is a place that is having several churches and a lot of people come specifically for that. A sand path is used for doing penance, crawling on the knees for a long distance about 500 meters I think. And although we were their during the week still a lot of people were doing it. If you are there then don't forget to buy the fresh roasted peanuts as they are awesome in taste and smell. The smell stayed in my camera bag for several days, as some of them escaped the plastic bag. The banana chips were not tasty so don't bother about those. Next day brought us to Rameswaram on the peninsula to Sri Lanka. With as real target Dhanushkodi the city washed away in the 1964 by a big cyclone. On our way there we stopped along the coast and noticed that the sea on that side (Bay of Bengal) was extremely flat, no waves at all it seemed. In Dhanushkodi it was a very strange sight with on one side the sea with a lot of waves and the other side very calm. But on the way it was nice to see the enormous amount of boats for fishing, leaving in the evening and returning in the morning as they told us. During the day most likely sleep and preparing the nets for the next trip. On the way to Rameswaram I missed the humps before a new toll booth, which is a shocking experience I can say. But the car survived and we to, most likely the long straight road in very good condition distracted me from the bad parts. At least the breaking at the last moment kept us on the ground instead of really flying of. Used the end of the afternoon to go to Dhanushkodi which was possible as they opened the road just in the weeks before we came. Quite some people but still an interesting place to visit. Combination of the old city parts and the endpoint that looks at Sri Lanka. Got explanation from a former citizen of the place that survived the cyclone and had pictures to show. Currently there are again people living at the place but get the feeling that it a hard life living mostly from the visitors. Definitely a place to visit when you go to the south. Nice swim in the evening in the hotel pool and a good night sleep. Next day the target was Kanyakumari at the south tip of India. First part we had company as a police officer asked if he could get a lift, most likely would not have happened if I had been behind the wheel 😏, not that I would have said no but more that he would not have asked. Expect this was the fastest time he ever had made on the peninsula. This again was an easy day with very good roads and no rains or hardly. That the roads are important was shown but the amount of teams we passed that were busy with road measurements. Stopped for the big salt factory and got captured by the guys of one of those teams, they happy by having a picture with me. For the rest just a quick ride to get to the south point. In Kanyakumari we tried to catch the sunset, but seems that this trip the clouds are present every time again, so no open sky, but nice combinations of sunset and clouds. Next two days were a big contrast with the first part of the trip. Going up on the west coast was 180 degrees of difference. We had a lot of rain, the road is not to be compared, the stretch feels like one big city as it seems that there is no place that is not used for living. The Western Ghats is a beautiful area but driving along on the sea side on the coastal road is not really to enjoy. So we covered in two days the stretch to Kozhikode with the first night at Thanneermukkom. Here we learned that Google is doing a nice job to keep you on the road as even a de-tour is handled very well. Brings you to roads that show how happy you are not coming with a truck from the other side as I wouldn't know upfront how to pass. But most of the times even that would be possible. In Khozikode enjoyed our last evening on the coast, rainy but nice. Again no real good sunset but still nice from photography point of view, no dull sunset.
Since a couple of weeks I have Lightroom presets from Sleeklens to make the photo editing easier. In principal they do what you can do all also manual but having a preset that takes you to the settings for a sunrise will help as I find it difficult to get the overview of all options. The many subtle changes that are available give for me too many options to find the right combinations. It was always the standard set of sliders that I would use. Now I noticed that with some more help it is possible to get even better pictures from color point of view. Challenge with this is to still keep the pictures within the levels that I see it as real as you might go too far very easy. No examples of that but definitely during the first steps I had already some views where I returned as it was no longer natural for me. The differences can be small but still good to have and I think difficult to reach for me without some help. The coming time it means that my landscape projects will need some more time for processing as it is also a learning process to get the right preset and combination of presets as full and as brush. The brushes are used for more focused work as can be seen with the sky differences. New steps for my landscapes and might also look for the portrait ones if I have more experience in usage.
In the website demos it looks easy, but still lot to learn as titles need to get linked to results. This will take time but sometimes looking at the examples might help. For full overview of the first set see my photo page Sleeklens, the originals are not added to that page so you might need switching between some pages, mainly America and Off the Grid. For more information on the presets you can visit the Sleeklens Lightroom landscape preset pages on landscapes or the Lightroom general presets. They have a lot of different areas that might be useful for other types of photography for this see the full overview with also the Newborn templates (maybe interesting for some of the previous members of the photo group that helped me starting up) or more for fun the Gift Certificate Templates. Just yesterday returned from three days at Off the Grid which is about 9 hours drive from Bangalore. A place that I got from one of my colleagues with the message it is really of the grid, so no power, mobile phone connection and no internet. Next to that there is hot water but it comes by the bucket. I was able to get some nights although it was quite booked, but with limited rooms, cabins and a tent this is still a nice and quiet situation. Took my bike with me in the car to be able to do some cycling. Total activities done:
First of all beautiful flowers, small and challenging to take pictures with the right content. For these the light was a real search. In the shade of the tree or in full sunlight, which background. Only thing that was clear was the aperture needed. Next the beautiful morning light combined with the damp or fog hanging around. Which as always makes it difficult to stop and only that the best ones.
These were the four larger activities that took my time. The rest of the time was for relaxing, taking photos, swimming and having a nice drink and not to forget the splendid food served. Started the days with green tea and after that activities, including simply relax and read a book. Swimming pool with shower was available at less than 5 minutes walk, free of charge. Overall nice stay and definitely something to remember and go again. Anytime outside the monsoon time as that is a period that the house is rather difficult to reach by the road. The car wouldn't make it on the road that would certainly be very slippery and muddy. This with some descent and climbing would get most of the cars stuck. For all photos see the photo page Off the Grid
Last month I had the opportunity to combine a business trip with a short holiday, this to see something and attend the wedding of my nephew. With all my travels to the US I never had a reason to take also some days of and enjoy the country for more than just a weekend stay. Together with my oldest son I spend a 1,5 week to see several of the known places. Flying in to Las Vegas but didn't see much of the town as I was more attracted to the other attraction like Hoover Dam, Grand Canyon and Sedona. As most of the things during the trip the Hoover Dam is large or big what ever term you want to use. The water is already for many years at a low level as you can see on the white marks on the hills at the side. Still a lot of water that is generating enough power for a lot of households in several of the surrounding states. We had a bicycle with our room which made it possible to also see the area at a more convenient pace. Next target was the grand canyon, which is somehow a surprise. In a total flat surrounding the canyon pops up or better sinks away as you approach it at the top. The overview is impressive and difficult to explain. Completely different compared to mountains in the Himalaya, but still huge and something to enjoy in silence. We had the luck to be there with the rise of the super moon. So after the sunset that you see above the moon came up at the other side. Unfortunately I wasn't able to bring all photo stuff so no long lens to capture this. So you have to do with me telling that it was an amazing view. Just also saw it through a telescope that one of the people present had with her. Which gave a good view of the structures on the moon. Next morning again a beautiful start of the day, back to the canyon to get the sunrise. This time sunrise at one side and moon set (sounds strange) on the opposite. This time very lucky as a german guy had a good tripod that he didn't need at the moment so most of my pictures with low iso instead of out of the hand with high. Nice to feel the fresh cold in the morning and slowly getting warmed by the rising sun. Used the day to head down the canyon to also experience the height as everbody was telling you need to go down at least for some meters and experience the view from below. Finally we ended uo at a station three miles heading down. not sure what the real difference in height was but the view was indeed different. That evening and the next morning the weather was not as good as the day before, so no real nice sunset and sunrise. But still a nice view and experience made special by a group that tries to create connections and made a line of people all connecting and stating the place they stay. Yes it was almost from all over the world. Next heading was Sedona to experience the Red Rocks, beautiful drive coming in from the North. A valley with streams that are very nice although fall was getting to an end. The evening showed good sunset although some clouds were present. But that turned out to give a nice view from the room Next day enjoyed the sunrounding around Sedona, what some hiking and just enjoying the environment. Again sunset but this time at the other side of town. After this we headed for Phoenix to be on time for the wedding. Here we visited the hole in the rock and the museum of fire trucks. A nice history of fire fighting with a big difference in presentation between US based and rest of the world. Seems US based firemen want the trucks to be shiny and spend extra money to get that done. Copper instead of Steel to get a better looking truck that can be used for parades. Sunday was the day of the wedding which can't be compared to Indian weddings. Intend is different and that means also the execution is. But still a very happy couple that was celebrating with friends and family the happy day. Monday back home to get back in Indian time zone and workpace. For all photos just visit the photo page
Last weekend I went with Darter to the Western Ghats for waterfall photography. As it is still the monsoon time of the year we could expect any type of weather. We probably earned it all as we didn't have any problem with the rain or wind only some waterfall showers at the Unchalli Falls. Started Friday with an early trip to Majestic as we would take the night bus to Yellapur up North in the Western Ghats. This was my first bus trip so was hoping for a good night sleep although it would be in the chair. Was on time but still late for the bus as I was at the wrong place, terminal 2 and platform 2 are different places. Didn't recognise this until late as there was a nice sign mentioning Yellapur and Sirsi. But yes this wasn't the right one but still was on time to drop the bag and get into the bus preparing for the night. Headset in to make it silent and chair in sleeping position after we left. Reasonable comfortable as you good put the chair back quite far, got a blanket and water and off we went. After a stop for dinner we left into the night. Can't remember much of it other than that I got the message around 5 in the morning that we were at our stop. Dark bus station in a nice quite almost empty area. Picked up by our local transport for the weekend and brought to the resort. Early arrival at the resort, meaning we had some extra night time to catch. After the first introduction and a presentation on photography we made a walk from the resort to a lake and temple. Catching the first photo's including a nice snake and working lady. The temple was on the side of the lake so combination of lake and temple was popular. As always i walked around and came to a different view of the temple. Also caught one of the boys being present with a nice background. Later in the day we went for the first of the three waterfalls. Total program was:
Overall the trip was nice and relaxing. Unfortunately the weather was good but didn't give us the top light. But nice area to be and enough to enjoy the trip.
Bus ride back was one that I remember as not that comfortable. Not enough sleep so will avoid that level of bus trip in the future. For total set of photos see the photo page on Waterfalls Although not the real wedding season I had three weddings in a short span of time. This time not all in Bangalore but spread over different states. This gives the opportunity to see the differences between the weddings but also the similarities. Big difference compared to the Netherlands is that it is much more a bond between two families. Result is most of the time a ceremony and celebration that is much larger than I was used to. Until now I have only experienced Hindu marriages so it is difficult to say if the Muslim or Christian weddings would give the same feeling. First wedding was Surjith & Abinaya in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu. Followed the typical order of many weddings of having the reception in the evening followed by the wedding the following day. This is certainly not the rule as I had also weddings that took more days to fulfil all the rituals. Also what I mostly see is only one part of the wedding as very often there is a second part (second reception/ceremony) in the native place of the bride/groom. I didn't notice that this is done in a specific order so assume that it is just what is most convenient. Maybe even more depending on the availability of wedding halls and priests. Second wedding was Rakshatha & Sudheendra close to home in Bangalore. This was second wedding I experienced to be done in one day, starting early morning till end of the afternoon. This also didn't have a real reception but still enough opportunity to wish the couple the best. Third wedding was Venkat & Usha who got married in Kurnool, Andhra Pradesh. Which was different in the way the "reception" was done as there was no real reception or it started only very late in the evening (night). I believe they were a couple of hours behind plan, which means I left before the end to have some sleep. Still the evening was a lot of new parts, like the way the couple was coming together. Venkat had to cut the ribbon before he could enter the hall to find his future wife hidden under one of the 5 or 6 baskets. He found her so the evening could continue. Standard part is the food, depending on the moment of the day there is Breakfast, Lunch or Dinner. As most of the weddings span the full 24 hours it means that for many guests it is all three. The meals are vegetarian only at least that is my experience. Most of them are served on a banana leave on long tables covered with paper. This way it is easy to clean and get a fresh cover for the next set of guests. First time is really an experience as there are some things you need to know. Starting with washing your leave with water, to clean the latest dust but also to activate the leave I was told. Somehow it adds to the food which makes it more healthy. On this you well get a lot of different items with sweets, rice roti, dosa etc. and exact content depends on time of the day and the region. Also order like starting with sweets or ending is region specific. In the south I believe curd rice is a typical part, but if you don't like it then keep your hand flat above the leave and it will pass you I know by experience. Food distribution is also little bit different as it is served from big steel buckets. Which means that man will come by in a row and give you a pice of the meal. This from the bucket or for dosa from a big plate. If you want more later you just need to tell and the right bucket will come once more. This way you can make sure you had enough at the end of the different items. Normally the food is served while the ceremonies are going on and the couple will only be the last to have the opportunity to eat. Sometimes it is more served like a buffet but didn't see that often. With Venkat it was done as buffet and it was my first experience that the couple was roaming around and had the opportunity to talk to the guests in a more relaxed manner. This instead of having the reception in the evening. The preparation of the food starts early and is an important part of the work I always find it nice to see this and noticed that the cooks always are very happy to show what the prepare and how it is done. And as many weddings have hundreds of guests this is always done in large kettles and quantities. The wedding part starts with several pujas before the real tying of the knot takes place, which can be compared to the moment they are declared married. But before this is done a lot of small items will take place all. The reception if done first is in principal a straight start. No special things before that but this might also depend on the region and the family habits I expect. The reception is the moment where all friends, colleagues and family of not only the couple but also the rest of the family will come by and will wish the couple the best for the future. So when ever in India don't be surprised if you get an invitation from a colleague to attend a wedding of a brother, sister, son or daughter. The reception part dress is mainly a suit for the groom and a beautiful dress for the bride. The reception is a time consuming part as the guests will come to wish the couple the best and then will pose with the right persons next to the couple for the picture. This is from photography point of view a tedious work because every time the line must be made and then the picture. Making of the line can be easy if it is just 5 or 6 persons but as soon as the larger groups come it is a real challenge to put 12 - 15 people in such a way that all are visible in a good way and it fits the photo space. Many people get introduced to at least one of the two and sometimes both if the relation is further away. Parents, brothers and sisters are constantly around to help with this and also to be present in the photo when appropriate. Before the wedding ceremony there are different kind of things that will take place. An important step are the pujas that will be performed. These are almost small ceremonies which can be compared to a kind of prayer. It has however a lot more actions with most of the times incense sticks and al kinds of food can play an important role. This preparation takes place at and around the wedding hall and for me it is a good opportunity to get pictures of the bride or groom alone in concentration. Most of the time supported by family who are chanting on the background. Also the wedding itself starts with a lot of pujas where the priest has the lead. Although in some cases the photographer takes over when he needs specific shots, in that case the action can take longer or has to halt for some time. There are several other rituals that take place but are strongly depending on family background or region. As said Venkat had to find his bride under a set of baskets, whereas Sudheendra had to be persuaded to get married. For this he got all kinds of presents when he was walking away from the hall. With as first action after the "surrender" I would say the washing of his feet by the parents of the bride. Next step I would almost describe as the meeting ceremony as in many cases in the past the bride and groom didn't know each other. Through all kinds of action the family and the couple will meet each other. Where at some moment the couple is facing each other but is divided by a cloth either simple or very much decorated. Where mirrors can be used to get a first glance of the partner to be. But also all kinds of "blind" blessings can take place over the cloth like pouring rice on the head. An important moment is the ceremony of the seven steps which is again done in different ways but comes back in some way. These are the seven vows the couple makes: 1. May this couple be blessed with an abundance of resources and comforts, and be helpful to one another in all ways. 2. May this couple be strong and complement one another. 3. May this couple be blessed with prosperity and riches on all levels. 4. May this couple be eternally happy. 5. May this couple be blessed with a happy family life. 6. May this couple live in perfect harmonyŠ true to their personal values and their joint promises. 7. May this couple always be the best of lifelong friends. For Venkat this was symbolised by taking the foot and put it on different spots on rice, I have also seen seven piles of rice used and other ways. For me the most important moment of the wedding is the tying of the knot which is comparable to the "I do" or in Dutch "ja-woord". With this the bond between the two is made. further strengthened by items like the too rings that show that a lady is no longer single but married. Tying the knot is always nice to see as most of the groomed struggle with this. Which is no surprise as it is done from the front in the neck. A long pony-tail is the first obstruction (which is heavy by the way) then off course you can't see hat you are doing. In most of the cases the ladies of the family jump in and help to get it done correctly. As Photographer this makes it difficult to get the act captured as many hands are busy and you have to look for the best place to capture it. After this you will have the blessings of the family and friends for the couple. main item in this is throwing rice onto the couple either one by one or together depending on the positions. Many occasions they are sitting opposite of each other having the hands together with a coconut as main item. This is then extended with leaves and bananas. Then people come and put some coins on the top and poor milk over this and after that throw the rice on the couple. During all this there is lots of time for the family and friends to meet and get updated on the latest status of things. Which gives me the opportunity to take photos from beautiful peoples, dresses and joy. All of this you can see on the different sub-pages of my photo page.
As every year making a picture / card to express the wishes for the new year is a nice challenge. This year I didn't have anything that was directly nice to send out. No snow or christmas tree with balls. I started with what to use this year and ended up with bringing back the year to just a day or even less as it is just the part from sunrise till sunset. Staying in a resort called OurNativeVillage gave me the opportunity to be close to sunrise at Hesaraghatta Lake. Normally I am too late as it is an hours ride from home and looking at the road I don't want to do that in the dark. Now I had the early sun and the time of the year created the beautiful fog that takes care of the disguise that I needed to hide the details of the day (year). This is just one of the first photos and in the end not the right one to use. Although most of the times not used in the cards for the beautiful new year I wanted to include some remains of the current time to remember that we are not just starting fresh but have also unfinished business to take care of. I hate to say but even here it was not difficult to find some garbage lying around and spoiling the beautiful morning and environment. To connect it to the party most of us will have to close 2015 I took one of a beer bottle thrown away. For the sunset I stayed closer to the resort as there was a large open meadow just outside. Hard to put in the right content here. Used an old tree pointing to the future again without showing the things created during the day. Leaving open the real content to build 2016 open for everyone to fill in. During the morning there are a lot more beautiful moments to capture. You can find the full overview of the photos from my short trip at the photo page. The different elements captured are Nature, Animals and People. One of the nice things seen at the resort was the different animals "helping" each other. This was shown by a crow that was cleaning a cow. This by taking part of the eye cover in his beak, the cow appreciated this although it seemed she expressed her feelings at certain moment by opening the mouth in a special way. The garbage I have seen and captured has served its purpose and is no longer part of the photo page as it doesn't fit in the overall feeling I want to keep for these days.
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I am Wim Corbijn living in the Netherlands after 8 years Bangalore. Archives
October 2021
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