Sustainable Living..

How uncomfortable she indeed was! sipping the tea which came in a plastic Cup..

I bought it for her at the Marine Drive of Mumbai..

Meet Ariane.. an acquaintance of mine whom i met at a Music school i volunteer for.. She is a biologist and a traveler and volunteer from Quebec,Canada..

During our long walks along the old town streets of Mumbai.. a cosmopolitan city of billions of people.. I realized how insensitive i had become.She vehemently opposed we travel by the taxi. Quite justified she was in doing so.
We humans had surely chosen the wrong path.

We had chosen to produce more.. Although producing more is not bad but more of production leads to more of consumption.More of money being spent.Slowly gets created a gap between the rich and the poor.

The rich consume so much and waste so much that there is little or nothing left for the poor to survive.

Can we not walk the 1km from the market to the marine drive?

Can we not take a 'glass' glass instead of a plastic one?

Can we not buy less? And buy only and only what is necessary? Will it harm our big egos? Is that swanky new mobile phone helping me reach your ultimate goal of happiness,peace,tranquility?

We humans since the times we were just a micro-organism have been killing and trampling upon others so that we ourselves can survive.. But now that we have our own logic our own thinking capacity should we not think about the less privileged?

If not we then who would think about them?

Sustainable living is possible.. Try answering the above questions and you will feel the urge within yourself too...

The Power Of a Camera..

"The Power Of a Camera" : Thats Thanamma,Supriya and Vinayak.. It was a routine bus ride for me..but when i decided to bring out my camera and take a photo of these tired kids returning from school.. Immediately their faces lit up with joy and I realized something for the first time.. A camera gives you this power,this unique power which can make anybody smile.. Those blushed faces of the little girls and restlessness of the small boys are something that makes me realize time and again,the "Power of a Camera".. It helps me make people smile.Maybe for a moment.But it does.

You wont find any mindblowing creativity in this picture..
But If you look carefully the girl Thanamma,eldest of all and the most confident one..persuaded the others to pose for me.. whereas Supriya,was younger and shy stood at the back with her shy smile.... and the smallest one vinayak was playfull.. I am happy that the picture could capture the character of each one..
But apart from that,the realization was so important that i had to share this with all of you who love photography.. I believe one should ask himself/herself sometimes.. do your pictures make a difference in someone's life??

This Amazing City..

The city of Dreams.

Whatever said and told about this city seems to be like a drop in the ocean..

Its indeed the city of dreams..

The city of dreams because if you are talented enough and have faith in yourself, there are people who will surely recognize your talents and you'll get your shot.

Atleast once! That is for sure.

And that is Mumbai..

In this particular picture i have tried to capture one of the various emotions of the citizens of this great city,a 'Mahanagari"'as its often called in Hindi..

It shows a family spending some time at one of the most beautiful breathing places this city offers to its residents.. the Marine Drive.. 

Mumbai or Bombay as it is still sometimes lovingly called,is a city where the average man's struggle to get a better life,his efforts are really visible and evident.. 

This man's family is happy and his family's happiness is a hard earned treasure and he is shown capturing it in his mobile camera.For a moment he believes his life is indeed beautiful and he has made it so with his own efforts and hard work.

Life is NOT inherently beautiful.. Its what you DO to make it beautiful, that matters..The Efforts you are ready to put in,that matters. THAT is what makes life beautiful... :)


Well,I would really like to emphasize upon a very important aspect,which i feel is very important for learners..

The 'Camera' i feel now, has become really affordable and approachable for a common man who loves to capture the beautiful moments of his life..

So,what about the Enthusiast?? The learners,the hobbysts like me..

Who feels sometimes that if he/she doesn't have that 'DSLR' can't take good pictures! I have so often read these articles where it is again and again told that the camera DOES NOT  matter.The vision does.IT is really true.

This particular picture was taken using a compact camera,the Canon S80.

I have used this camera for a long time and believe me,people have sometimes asked me,after seeing some of my pictures,which camera do you use?? 

i say,When somebody asks you THIS question,be sure, that you have got a great picture!

I feel one should push his camera to the limits possible.To know the 'limits', to know what best your camera can do; i suggest keep visiting the "camera finder" section of www.flickr.com and check out everyday,what best pictures can be made with your own Compact camera.its really a nice way to keep inspiring yourself to make more creative pictures with whatever camera you possess..

Learning to be Your Own Photocritic

To be a critic of your own photographs is the hardest of all.To know instinctively what improvement your picture needs come with lot of practice and needs time.I feel it has to be developed with lot of efforts,Learning from masters,reading articles,learning new things,looking at more and more pictures without being "awed" is more important.


Start out first by imitating the greats,then slowly define your own style.Easier said than done ;)
But of course,learning has no end.

This is my second post to my blog.

Actually,i had planned that i would be posting some of my own clicks and talking about it. But today,my friend sent me one of her pictures.

It so happens that she has just started learning photography,and i am expected to be a critic for her clicks,Which i am happy to be so :)


Readers are welcome to make an analysis of the picture too and leave it as a comment..
I hope this post would be useful for learners too.. 

Well, this is my analysis of the picture: 

A Photograph by : Prithvi Rao

One word : AWESOME 

it is simply great because of a few of reasons:

1. u saw the beauty out there and decided to capture what people wud have otherwise not noticed.

MOST IMPORTANT :

2.U unknowingly bent a few rules of composition(PLEASE READ THIS ARTICLE).It is often adviced that the 'horizon' shud be kept at the one-third to keep the sky such as to cover vertically,2/3rds of the frame for a good picture.

      With this picture You proved the great photographer Ansel Adams correct : 

“There are no rules for good photographs, there are only good photographs.”
Read about ansel adams here

3. The timing when the picture was clicked is 11.45am . though the midday sun is not good for good photographs.But again u proved the that rules are meant to be broken.The golden colour of the grains was complimented by the sunlight.
“There are no rules for good photographs, there are only good photographs.”

4.You bent down and looked above and included the sky which gives a nice background for the image.

5.U chose to keep ur subject in the center of the frame which is otherwise considered a "weak spot" to position ur subject,BUT in this case,for ur photograph,placing ur subject in the middle of the frame gives the "Wide angle" effect.Which is looking good.

 Please see some wide angle pictures here

Now i did tell you the good things about the picture but i did find a couple of things u can/cud have done to improve the picture:

1.you shud have taken care and not let the electrical tower come in the background.It is a slight distraction.
2.Decrease the blur effect which u have brought using picasa.Decrease it slightly and increase the saturation a bit,it will improve the colours even more.

TIP: Share your pictures on photo sharing sites such as www.flickr.com, www.500px.com, www.facebook.com, www.plus.google.com. Not to brag about ur photos but to learn from the critics who might also see ur picture.

Where it all Started....

Well i am happy that i could finally overpower my laziness.. and here i am with my long cherished dream of a photo blog.. I hope we have some people reading it too ;)


This particular picture was taken back at home in Ranchi during my holidays and it has a story behind it.The story of how i developed an interest in Photography..
I have always thought about it myself..
Why do i love it so much?? 


Well actually this book,The Complete Kodak Book of Photography belongs to my father.I unearthed it from his secret trunk.. which has his name engraved onto it.. every student is given a trunk when he goes out into the big bad world to study,to make a life.. Its a reminder of good old days,so every man keeps it preserved. and i found this book there hidden in there.. Not exactly hidden but forgotten..


i myself dont remember when i found it,how old was i when i found it for the first time... But when i was a kid,after my mother would bathe me and leave me to play or do something on my own,I would bring out this book and flip through its pages.It has some amazing pictures in it.Those pictures left such an impression in my mind that i would never forget them later...
it wonder what is such an instrument that could capture such beautiful moments,the rain,the clouds,the playing kids,the old man..


Each picture had a story..


well it so happens that my father was a photographer himself,his College yearbook describes him as,'you can often find him taking pictures of unidentified objects around the campus'..
Once in a blue moon,he would keep his camera and equipments in the sun,to dry them up.
Those black things,i was forbidden to touch,but my curiosity grew...


One day on a special request my father let me use(read see through the viewfinder of) his Pentax K1000 fitted with a sigma 70-300mm lens...


That was the moment!! It got me hooked on.. i didnt know what was Depth of Field but never thought that the garden rose could look so sharp and beautiful and the background so blurred out..
It was pure magic for me..
That was the day when it all began..