January 2007, Berlin.

To my intense surprise I learnt today that I’m a finalist for the 2007 Photobloggies under various categories as I never do well in popularity contests. This photoblog is a finalist under the categories of ‘Best Southeast Asian Photoblog’, ‘Best Black and White Photography’, ‘Best Abstract Photography’, ‘Best Portrait Photography’ and the biggest surprise of all, ‘Photoblog of the Year’! The judging process is ongoing and the results will be announced in Chicago at the end of April apparently. Looking at the quality of the other photoblogs I seriously doubt if I’ll win anything so it is honor enough that I’m a finalist. Therefore, at this point, I’d like to thank everyone who nominated this photoblog. This wouldn’t have been possible without your support. Thank you very very much. Moving on, do check out the many excellent photoblogs nominated under various categories here.

Summer 2002, Hyderabad.

January 2007, Edinburgh.

December 2006. Somewhere between Munich and Füssen.

June 2005, Berlin.

The cupola inside the Norman Foster designed dome on top of the Reichstag, which houses the German parliament.

February 2005, Hyderabad.

An art installation at the State Art Gallery by an artist whose name I cannot recall. The gallery had been recently opened then and is housed in a building made up of assorted design elements. It was as if the architect was trying to put in everything he had learnt in architecture school. But the whole experience was rather interesting from a photographic p.o.v. The outdoor gallery cafe has an amazing view, perfect for having a cup of coffee in the evening and watch the sunset. The gallery mostly exhibits modern art but ironically it does not even seem to have a presence on the net! In addition, although the gallery was built at great expense, like most government galleries/museums in India it was languishing in a state of semi-obscurity. When I visited it with a friend, I think we were the only two visitors in the whole building! There was not even any basic security for some of the art installations and paintings. I hope the situation has changed now and more people in Hyderabad know about its existence. I also hope they take better care of whatever art they put on display there as it is a nice place to check out the results of the contemporary art scene in India.

Hyderabad 2002.

This is a really old photo, circa summer of 2002 if I remember correctly. If I’m not wrong it is from perhaps the first roll of film I used on my then recently acquired, Zenit XP, my first ever film SLR. The Zenit is an old Soviet era workhorse apparently based on the Zorki rangefinder camera series, which itself was a copy of Leica. I got it from the grey market in Cochin through friends for what was a sizable amount of money for me as a student back then. It came with a nice bag and a Mir-1B 37mm/2.8 M42 screw mount lens attached (apparently this lens is something of a marvel). Of course, all this information I didn’t know then. Lacking a manual I really didn’t know what I was doing. It was only today that I realized (after doing some research online) that this camera has TTL metering but since I didn’t know this then I used this camera without batteries and therefore with no metering whatsoever! Except for the loading of the film, setting aperture and shutter speed and focussing, everything else was pure guesswork! Even then, somehow, I managed to get a few photos that I still like. So you will see a few more photos from this camera over the next few days. Now that I know a little more about this camera I think I’ll put some b/w film in it and start shooting with it once more.

Today’s photo was shot in my old alma mater, University of Hyderabad, which has a huge and very beautiful campus. Most of the campus is wilderness and has some amazing rock formations. Once I return to India I intend to go back there, camp there for a few days and shoot these unique rock formations to my heart’s content!

Berlin 2007.

Munich 2006

…and I’m back. Sorry for the lack of new posts but was traveling all over Germany & Austria and only returned yesterday. Here’s wishing you all a very Happy New Year folks! Hope you all have a wonderful year ahead and thanks a lot for your regular visits as well as precious feedback here. Now I’ll go and get on with the processing of the tons of photos I shot over the trip!