How to find great shots while on the road

Took part in a blogging competition at Dreamstime and got the first prize. The topic given was “How to find great shots while on the road” Reproducing the blog here.

Great shots happen when you least expect it. So whenever that inner instinct tells you “this can be a good shot”, just grab the camera and click.

Rule number one, never click when the vehicle is on the move and you are driving. It can instead be a good opportunity to take pan shots (videos) if you are the co driver and the road is smooth. If you are in the car and while taking photographs, make it a point to roll down the window. A piece of glass in between your object and the camera reduces the quality of your picture.

Recently I had been to Bhigwan (in western India) with my friends to click photos of the Flamingos.  On the way I saw an assortment of birds fishing in the shallow waters and it was perfect against the rising sun. I requested my friend to pull over for a few minutes and clicked these pictures  

On the way back I saw this truck being loaded with sugarcane. It occurred to me that this could be a good picture to show how things got transferred from the farm to the factory. The bullock cart added to the effect. I took the pictures from the car.  

Once while travelling in the Nilgiri hills, we turned a curve. It was a neat perfect curve and I got out of the car to take a picture. The white lines and the wet road added to the effect. 

On the road, does not mean being in a car. I was in a buggy in Bruges when I saw this lady opening up her flower shop. Buggies on cobblestones can be very shaky especially when you are trying to click. Luckily for me the buggy momentarily stopped and I could click this. 

Always be on the lookout for something unusual, like this car I saw in Mumbai, in front of the Taj Hotel. It looked like all the crows were waiting for the driver to take his seat and start the car so that they could go for a spin. A rare sight and worth a click. At times like this you don’t have the time to set up the camera and wait for the perfect light. You just click before the moment vanishes. 

While on long drives, do stop in between to stretch your legs. And while you relax just look for the smaller creatures that make this universe spin in a balanced way. They are beautiful and fascinating to watch and in the process one learns to respect and give space to every creature on this planet.

Taj revisited

Had been to south Mumbai (Bombay) recently.
Took a walk around the Gateway of India and the Taj Hotel early in the morning.
Its been more than two years since the 26/11 attack took place, but it has left its scars and tell tale mark.
The earlier blog on the same subject was in a lighter note with a bit of sarcasm sprinkled in.

Sauntered into the Leopold hotel to have tea. As it was just opening time for them there were hardly any customers. While having my Toast and jam with tea, I realized that my table was right next to the glass pane which had three bullet holes (they have preserved it as it is)

For a minute I was just trying to imagine how the scene must have been once the guns opened up. Noticed the owner Mr Farhang Jehani behind the counter, but I did not speak to him regarding the subject. Not a nice thing to bring back bad memories early in the morning. While coming out of the Hotel, I clicked this which has a good vintage look.

(some how I like these old Coke ads, though I don’t like any of these aerated drinks)

The paper man was just lining up the morning papers


Whenever I am in that area, I don’t miss a chance to peek into Mondegar (another hotel in the next lane) Just love to look at those colourful murals by Mario Miranda.

In 1925, the Yezdegardis, an Irani family, bought the home of a French sailor Monsieur Monde. Inspired by its Hindi reference ‘Monde Sahib ka Gar’ (Mr. Monde’s house) the Yezdegardis soon converted it to a café called ‘Monde-Gar’. It started off as a typical teahouse that also sold tobacco, foreign liquor, wine, breads and specialties from Iran like saffron, almonds, and pistachios..

In fact the ambience of this hotel is really good, complete with a juke box. About 5 years ago I had posted another picture of Mondegar in my Flickr account which had some 84 comments and 3300 views.
It was good to see that life was getting back to normal in and around the area, with some extra precautions. (had never seen the Gateway of India before with an armoured vehicle parked permanently next to it)

Saw some tourists going about their normal procedure of checking out of the Taj Hotel.

A balloon vendor was trying out his luck with prospective customers.


Many of us have seen the Taj Hotel from the east side but this is a view of the main dome from the west side

One common sight in front of the Taj hotel is the flock of pigeons that sweep down to feed on the grains provided by the tourists.
But this time the jostling and the fluttering (of the birds) was too much and I discovered the reason. Apart from the normal tourists there was one guy who came in his car and took out a sack of grains from the boot of the car. (yes one huge gunny sack)

He then just scattered the contents of the sack on the footpath. The swoop of the birds was so powerful that I was reminded of Alfred Hitchcock’s movie “The Birds”


And this time there were crows too. One observation I made was that the crows dined separately and the pigeons had their own group. No mixing up. It was also funny to see some of the crows perched on this guy’s car (with the dicky open)
Talk of trying to take the loot directly from the granary!!

© Photographer: Joezachs | Agency: Dreamstime.com

I have put up this picture for sale on Dreamstime. Wonder if any one will like it.
(click on the image to see large)

The Indian Express

My wife said that we have to switch over to The Indian Express.
“Why can’t we also subscribe to The Indian Express and read all the leaked news instead of reading about some Techies being hijacked and murdered and how bad the traffic jam is going to be today with that lady with the saree over her head trying to fly some plane”
I said: “Its not good to read leaked news, and shame on you. You don’t know the name of the president of India. You have to give everyone a chance. It cannot be Kalaam forever”
Meanwhile my son interjected: “Papa what is this Liberhan report?”
Me “It’s a long story son. But the jist of it is that nobody did anything 17 years ago”
Mother-in-law : “Oh my God look they are demolishing the . . . . . . . . .”
Me : “for Gawd’s sake. . . . .where is that remote. . . . . . .some one please put that TV off.. . . . .. ..Ma I told you umpteen times what they are showing is something that happened many many years ago”
Son: “So what happened 17 years ago?”
Me :“Son, do you know what Bofors is?”
Son: “No”
Me : “See, that is why commissions and inquiries are set up. At regular intervals they will open and close the files so that every generation down the line will know what Bofors is”
Son: “Papa that picture you took of the Taj hotel, was it before or after the incident?”

Me : “What incident? No incident happened there”
Son: “But Pa, we have video footing of Kasab with an automatic. . . . . “
Me : “Don’t jump to conclusions. Those video things are the result of some faulty CCTV installed at the wrong places. Investigations are going on and maybe after about 17 years we will hear actually what happened and where the bullet proof jacket disappeared. It will also be established that the Judge was right in giving Kasab non-veg biriyani in the prison. For all you know he may be put in a rubber dinghy and send back the way he came. Poor fellow”
Son: “and the other picture that you took in the night, was it because you knew that it would be torched in the night”

Me: “What utter rubbish. Don’t go about spreading such rumors. I just clicked some pictures because I liked the way Taj Hotel looked at night. As it is I am having a bad name because people are using my pictures in their blogs and Viquipedia in some foreign language which I can't read. Somebody has even put it on Newspapers24.com , whatever that is. . . . . . .Hey who put that TV on again?”
Wife: “Aha there is our PM. I hope Obama bends properly when he greets our prime minister”
Me: “It is not for us to decide the degree of difficulty whenever Obama meets heads of states”
Mother-in-law: “With our PM in the USA and our President in Pune who is going to take care of our country in the centre?”
Me” “Don’t worry Ma, this is not a classroom where we need some one to mind the class. We have got some well behaved elected members in the centre who can take care of us. After all we have elected them”
Son: “But Pa you did not tell me what Bofors is”
Me: “So far I have only understood that it is some big gun and something to do with some one by the name of Quattroachi”