Know your Soul..

I have always read that of the three things that a human being is composed of; namely the body, mind and the soul, and it is the Soul that should be pleased the most. Only then can the other two remain happy. If the soul is happy, the others are bound to be happy. It is perhaps the reason why the happiness in children are most explained. Having the freedom to do what they please and also do things they like.
"Know your soul" is what the gurus keep saying. So thats what I have been trying to do in the past few days... knowing myself better... and it has been helping me in taking decisions.

So this is what i did... one day.. or rather one night!

I had this strong urge of going for a long drive on my bike... convinced my roommate to accompany me and then we were speeding on the National Highway # 7 that connects Bangalore to Chennai in a short while.
The initial plan was to drive, take a few shots of the sunset and be back in an hour's time.
The weather was nice.. and the breeze blowing on my face on the speeding bike just added to the pleasure.
Though could not capture the sunrise, owing to the clouds that played spoilsport, we decided to extend our drive and what a good decision that was!
Decided to hit Hosur, have a cup of coffee and come back.

Once we reached Hosur, we decided to roam the bylanes of the city and get a feel and smell of a small city. In the yonder we spotted a hill atop which was a temple while doing so. And at that moment the only thought that came to our mind simultaneously was to go there!

The Chandrachoodeshwar temple climb was steep and glad that we had a bike to take us there!
And man.. what a sight from that hill!
The city below just beginning to rest for the night...only to wake up to another busy day the next..

And with the number of lights that one could spot.. the skies felt lonely. It appeared that the world had turned upside down and I was seeing stars on the ground rather than the sky!

It's very rare that I don't carry my camera along to the places i visit. Thus there too i had to take some shots of the breathtaking views below.
So i tried some long exposure shots.
Some may wonder how i did this without a tripod... the rocks and the trees served as a perfect tripod to me and i made the full use of it!

Hosur City in the Yonder at Night


The entrance to the Chandrachoodeshwar Temple, outskirts of Hosur.


Hosur at Night


Light streaks across the road


Hoping to make more such trips in the near future!

Shooting on Indian Streets

Its been over a year since i started shooting on Indian Streets. The gamut of subjects that i come across makes it all the more interesting... and thus trying out indoor photography has taken a backseat. I am a big fan of Nature and hence I shoot almost 99% of my shots with Natural light.
I am overwhelmed when people ask me how do i go about shooting on the Indian streets!
I can speak only Hindi and English and hence its not really possible for me to speak to the local people on the streets who speak a different language altogether. This is also important keeping in mind that I interact with people from different states and different cultures almost every month.

I go in groups but then the group does not shoot together. We reach a common place in the market and then branch off; each one shooting what they like shooting. I like shooting portraits and hence one would have seen it in my photo stream.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/happyhorizons

However taking that is not easy, as i said i don't speak their language. So if i approach a vendor, and just shoot, they may get offended. So what I do is first I try and adjust to the situation.
Will go there and even without thinking of shooting my main subject, I will shoot around 4-5 snaps of his/her surroundings. It could be flowers, vegetables or just the street ans as abstract as shooting pillars...
By this time the curiosity in my main subject has arisen and they are ready to get shot.
But I still will not take "the" picture that i am thinking of or have in mind. I will then show them the photographs that I have just taken and then will probably point the camera to them. If they agree then they will get alert and their shots don't look candid.
Thus I will shoot them and show them that posed photo of them and pretending to go... while on my way out when their attention is not on me.. but the joy that they have received on seeing photographs on the camera, I will then shoot the photograph that I had pictured in my mind.
It takes time and patience, but 8 out of 10 time i would come back really satisfied! I just follow the instinct and speak the universal language of smile!

Some really nice Candid shots that I took






Have a nice day!