Leaves or careless strokes of an Impressionist?



On personal front, back home after visit to Hampi. My trip notes and countless pictures need some work before they are shipshape. I am glad that 26th is a holiday - for it will give me time to dragoon appropriate words to assume their rightful office in my trip write-up. Not too happy with the way the pictures have finally come out - clicking historical ruins in harsh sunlight for a whole day is obviously an endeavor very different from my usual urban escapades! I have also realized that my knowledge of Indian History rests on a very shaky ground; an abject inadequacy that I must address in coming days.

For now I have to deal with my fusty apartment which is only marginally better (especially in accumulation of dust) than an excavation site.

"For now I have to deal with my fusty apartment which is only marginally better (especially in accumulation of dust) than an excavation site."

LOL...that brings to mind that pic you'd once posted of your broom, which left untouched for several days had sprouted some weeds! :-)

By  G Shrivastava, at 23.1.05  

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The broom did it again! I actually deposit the used head of my brooms into my balcony plant-pot. For some reasons, ants have colonized them!! The other day when I tried to water the broom-heads, an entire army marched out hurling imprecations at me... so I am torn between saving the plants and saving the ants (that they rhyme is purely coincidental!)

By  Deepak, at 24.1.05  

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Oh Deepak :)

Me too been to Hampi, with a camera. Me too unhappy with the sunlight and most of the results. Me too saddened by my Indian history knowledge or the lack thereof :)

"Travelogue" and pictures.

By  sajith, at 24.1.05  

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:-). I've firmly resolved to go there again but before that I better address my historical deficiencies. I learned a lot through this visit - including some important (though fundamental) lessons in photography!

The next time around I intend to spend a good two-three days and restrict myself to just a small area.. I went through all the frustrations that you mentioned - waiting for people to clear up and then baking a sun-burnt shot as a reward for your patience! I have some five odd pictures of the seventy-five I took (talk about being trigger happy - digital photography aggravates the problem!) that've come out really well - the others I'd be embarrassed to be associated with ;-)

But overall, just being there at Hampi is awe inspiring. I want to do something with the sites there. Perhaps stay away from all the clichés [almost all the pictures I saw of the stone chariot outside the musical pillars look the same :-( ]and focus on something which has a definitive individualistic stamp - a different treatment perhaps of well known aspects or exploration of lesser known facet - I don't know. But given the spread of the excavations there *has* to be scope for fresh work. Perhaps we can gang up!

As for the sunset - I did not go to the Tungabhadra Dam precincts itself but stood somewhere nearby. The sunset drama both in the skies and underneath calls for a long write-up and I should be able to pen it down soon...

Cheers,
Deepak

By  Deepak, at 24.1.05  

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I have seventy-two frames. Of which, I really liked just two... and there are more than a dozen that would embarass me :) Among other things, hope you didn't have to test the patience of your companions, while experimenting for a better composition and exposure.

Yes, Hampi is really inspiring. The stone chariot will not yield that easily, I guess. Really wanted to avoid that shot, but oh well, the camera is a recording instrument also. You need been-there prints as well... that should explain the trigger happiness.

Thungbhadra dam's reservoir is very, very vast. Unfortunately photography is prohibited at some spots. I shot from top of the nearby hillock, and longed for a wide-angle lense. Those didn't turn out well anyway :)

I need a camera first, for ganging up. Looks like we should :)

By  sajith, at 24.1.05  

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:-), I went there alone (yes, people stare at me in disbelief when I utter this ;-)) so the only person whose patience was being tested was me!

I think I clicked more than my fair share of "been there" posts. But then that's Hampi for you - even if you point your camera into vast nonthingless you'll end up with a "been there" shot!

I heard some muffled complaints about photography not being allowed in certain parts of the dam but I was spared the agony as I did not step into the dam complex. I just traced the route that our bus had taken to the dam, backwards (on foot) and planted myself at a spot which gave a reasonable (if high-tension power-cable cluttered) view of the horizon and clicked merrily till the sun was doused for the day.

By  Deepak, at 24.1.05  

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or the nature captured impressively by an imaginative?

i'am eagerly waiting to see the pictures u took recently.

By  Anonymous, at 24.1.05  

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This is one travelogue i'm eagerly looking forward to! Hope you have pictures of the eco-system growing out of your broom as well? ;)

By  Nimbus, at 26.1.05  

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This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

By  Deepak, at 26.1.05  

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Thanks for dropping by Anonymous! The pictures are more or less sorted.. I am keen to post them soon!

Hi Megha.. slowly but surely I'll put it all here :-).. The broom displayed no prolific organic growth this time (just one tiny sapling), I guess these days its too dry and warm here for plantations to start coming up in my broom on their own :)

By  Deepak, at 26.1.05  

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