It seems like a season of marathons are happening all around. The past month has witnessed marathons for running, walking, bicycle and now photography marathon.

It was an event hosted by Canon where about 230 photographers participated. It was a one of its kind experience where the participants were given 3 themes after every 2 hours. The photos had to be clicked on the day and then submitted before the announcement of next theme.

People from all age groups were seen. The youngest member was around 10 years of age with his photographer father and the eldest one being over 60. A nice mix of people with varied backgrounds and creative skills.

It was a fun activity and I was surprised to see so many shutterbugs at the venue at 8:30 am on a Sunday morning.
You see all of us are motivated enough.

The first theme was Read more

The stage was set for the Fireworks show to begin on the occasion of Diwali. I had purchased the Canon 40D. It was an ideal setting for me to try my hands at low light photography and the Fireworks show in sky.

It is a difficult time also as the show is completely random with every neighbor blasting a cracker in a different direction. It called for my patience test and then after many unsuccessful attempts, I managed to capture the below shots.

I am quite pleased with this initial shot as it early times for to explore the camera details and check for its long exposure settings.

For information, the shot was taken at F/14 and 30 sec shutter speed. It was also a test for my fragile tripod which had held its fort on my Point and Shoot camera of Canon A640.

People less familiar with Diwali, it is a festival of lights which is celebrated all across India with great pomp and show. It is the day when Lord Rama came back to his kingdom after defeating the evil king of Ceylon (Sri Lanka). To celebrate the welcoming home of their prince Rama, the people of his kingdom celebrated by lighting candles and earthen pots.

It is this legacy which has carried on with time and modernization where people like me get an opportunity to shoot the Fireworks as an enjoyment activity.

Hope you liked one of the first shots from my newly acquired Canon 40D which is a beauty even after years of its release.

Last post was the travelogue to my long past visit of Sharavan Belagola. This post will not extend that discussion but is a pdf form of the complete travelogue.

My intention is that these documents might help people in as a guide to their trip. Do’s and Dont’s maybe. If the document gets printed it can be used as a focal item for the trip.

Shravana Belagola is a holy place for people following Jain religion. One of our college friends is a regular visitor to this place. He asked us if we would be interested to join him. I along with my roommate confirmed for the coming weekend. Our friend was nice enough to alter his plan to accommodate our convenience.

We planned for a night stay at the holy place as we were not sure how much time it would take for the whole trip. It was not a tourist season so we managed to get a good place to stay at big discounted rates. This trip was made in March 2006, long time back.

We started our journey on Saturday reaching there by late evening. The bus journey took about 3 hours which included one halt for some snacks.

The actual place of worship is on a hill top which has to be climbed bare foot. The hill is built up of solid rock and gets heated up quickly after sun rise. We planned to start the climb before sun rise making the climb comfortable. To get up early we had an early dinner and slipped in beds.

We got up at 4 am lazily completing the morning chores to get ready by 5:30 am. That was quite early for me. On the hill top is the statue of a Jain saint. People willing to climb on top of the statue to perform a sacred ritual have to buy a specific color of cloth to be worn during the ritual. Our friend also bought that set of clothes which have to be bought at the base of hill.

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The weekend of Oct 11, 2009 was an memorable one!

I finally bought a DSLR camera from Canon family. The Canon 40D is a delight to play with and capture shots. It has been couple of days and I am super excited with my new gadget.

The equipment I have purchased is as follows:

1. Canon EOS-40D
2. 17-85/4- 5.6 USM IS Lens
3. Lowepro Bag 250
4. 3 Sandisk Flash cards 8GB each
5. Lenmar DLC511 Lithium-ion
6. Zeikos ZE-CBG50 Battery Power Grip

I felt this was quite a big purchase for my pocket and not be burnt completely through :-)

It will take sometime for me to learn the gear and capture some memorable moments with it. Stay tuned here for some first shots.

Hopefully I would have learned enough to capture the "Big Five" when I go for an African Safari the next year.