Winter 2003, Hyderabad.
Another one from my old alma mater, University of Hyderabad. This was part of an anti-Iraq invasion art show put up by various students of the Sarojini Naidu School of Fine Arts at the University’s tea shop and student hangout area. It is a wonder that I captured something as it was night and the only available light sources were a few light bulbs.
Konica VX-100N
Summer 2002, Hyderabad.
Not a great shot by any stretch of the imagination but this was what I used to see almost every day from my hostel room for almost one year while doing my Masters at HCU. For some reason I was very intrigued by the rock. There was something very fascinating about the way it stood there, all alone, day after day. And I think it still stands there in that exact position to this day.
Summer 2002, Hyderabad.
Summer 2002, Hyderabad.
Hyderabad 2002.
Another one from the University of Hyderabad. This is actually a Neolithic burial site of a tribal chief. Apparently, the surrounding area has been settled since the Stone Age by various tribes. The top of the standing stone is roughly sculpted in the shape of a snake’s head as befitting a tribal chief’s burial site in that age. The site is a protected architectural dig although, as far as I know, very few people in the university even knew about its existence.
That is one reason I love the campus so much. There are all these little surprises tucked away in various corners. All you need to do is wander around through the vast campus. There are plenty of wonderful things to discover. Sadly though, most of the campus is being turned over for ‘development’ and the pristine greenery and interesting rock formations are being destroyed slowly.
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!