This weekend, I was reviewing some old film scans, and this specific image made me pause. I made this in 2018 with my Mamiya 6 (with a 50mm equivalent lens.) I used Kodak Portra 400 film. It was around this time, my photographic eye started to develop. I started eliminating the excess from my frames … Continue reading A quiet foggy morning over Lake Merced
film photography
Why Bother with Film
I recently watched a video podcast on YouTube where one of the panelists asked a question many have wondered but never voiced: Why do photographers bother with the idea of taking photos on film only to scan them and make them digital again? I thought about it and came up with three potential reasons: You … Continue reading Why Bother with Film
The Cameras I used on my Ladakh Adventure
- iPhone XS Max.
- Leica M-A with a Leica f2/50mm Summicron.
- Nikon D850 along with Nikon f 2.8 24-70 and Nikon 2.8 70-200 lenses.
I had initially planned to bring along a Leica TL2 with an f1.4/50mm (equivalent) Summilux, but somehow that didn’t work out, and at the very last minute, I decided to rent a Nikon kit from a camera rental operation in Bangalore. Continue reading “The Cameras I used on my Ladakh Adventure”
Confluence
One of the most magical sights — at least for me — is the confluence of Rivers Indus and Zanskar. The two rivers have very distinct colors, whether you are looking down from the mountain road that hugs the mountain on its side, or right from the beach. And I am not the first one to stop and take photos at this spot. It is a tourist haunt, and perhaps that is why it was a challenge to find new perspectives and give my spin on this spot. Continue reading “Confluence”
Gateway to Heaven: Ladakh
Photography oriented trips are a visual Marathon. You are always on the move; your eyes are still looking, scanning, cataloging and telling your brain what a photo worth making is. I usually drive around with a local and then stop at a location that clicks. Pun intended! And then I would spend either minutes or hours at a location, and work it.
But after a while, your eyes start to tire, and you stop looking. It usually happens on the last day and today was no different. Luckily, Arun Bhat, who helped organize this trip and our man-Friday, karma, were there to push me. “Why don’t we drive up to Tanglangla,” and stop along the way and look at some Monasteries,” Arun had suggested. The drive to the second highest motorable pass in the world (maybe) is beautiful, and with early snows coming, the roads are going to be empty and pass through a beautiful landscape, worth looking and not just photographing. Continue reading “Gateway to Heaven: Ladakh”
An Emotional Road
By the fourth day in Ladakh, without my phone and Internet, my mind and body had finally tuned into the rhythm of the place — slower, simpler and silent. After spending a night at the Hotel MoonLand in Lamayuru. It is called MoonLand because the region around the Lamayuru is supposed to remind you of moonscapes with its bright yellow mountains, high but shaped into curves with time being etched into the rock face. The monastery, which gives Lamayuru its name was built in the 10th century is one of the oldest in Ladakh.
I woke up super early and went for a walk. You could smell the early morning fires starting up, cutting like a scythe through crisp morning mountain air. Somewhere the bells around the necks of cows made tinkling noise. I needed coffee; instead I got a chance to reflect on a lot of personal stuff — and no, I don’t mean work. And perhaps that was a sign of the day to come. Continue reading “An Emotional Road”
You just never know what life brings
When I went to sleep last night, I was excited about the prospects of the new day. I had no idea that it would turn out to be one of those red letter days that teach you pretty much everything about life. Now that I think of it, it was a good parable for life, and a reminder of how despite our illusions, we are never really in control. Continue reading “You just never know what life brings”
King of Ramen
A friend of mine scored two tickets for a pop-up at the Ramen Shop by Osamu Tomita, King of Ramen in Japan. They say that the Rich Tonkotsu Gyokai Tsukemen (Dipping style of Ramen, Pork and fish base rich soup) by Osamu Tomita is to die for! With all the ingredients flown in fresh from Japan, … Continue reading King of Ramen
On Film: San Francsico LongExposures
As I wrote earlier in the year, my goal for 2018 is that I want to learn how to express myself better on film. Long exposures are a form of expression for me, and it makes perfect sense that I would try and replicate some of my long exposure experiments on film. I want to get good enough and feel confident in what I am doing. Continue reading “On Film: San Francsico LongExposures”
[Photos from a] San Francisco Weekend
One of the targets I have set for myself is that I will walk a minimum of additional 8,000 steps every day for rest of the year. Walking out of the house with a camera is a great motivator and before I know it, I have surpassed my daily goals in a jiffy.
Yesterday, I decided it was time to play around with a film. I picked up my medium format Mamiya 6 camera and off I went to make some long exposures. The manual settings, the manual calculation of the time it would take to properly expose a photo and the idea that you for to wind-the-film forward were quite therapeutic compared to the rather automated world of digital. I did end up cheating a little. Continue reading “[Photos from a] San Francisco Weekend”