5 reasons why you might not want to sell your Point & Shoot

I have been quite often, asked about this, from many of my colleagues and friends. Not that I am a tech guru or the most known photographer in town, but maybe I happen to be the one around the corner, when the thought bubbles to them. Seeing someone holding an SLR suddenly makes lot of people think that they might be making excellent images and chain of thoughts from there. Lot of people also feel that buying an SLR is a step which is going to change their photography for good. They see this as a natural succession and hence their trusted P&S camera feels like a mediocre gadget, a blocker in their way to stunning pictures.

Here are top 5 points on why I think you should not give up your P&S and jump into SLR world:

(One of my award winning photo titled "Faith & reality", shot with H50)

Understanding art: This has been said many times in different ways, but cameras don’t make good pictures. The eyes do! The photographers do! Buying a Ferrari doesn’t mean the having the best driving skills, a professional knife doesn’t mean the best food. If this point is understood by an individual, the other aspects are relatively easier to understand. The perspective lies in your eyes, in the way you see things. Camera and other gear is just a medium. So, preserve your P&S and experiment with it. Work and try new things. You would understand its qualities and limits. Get to know it better. You would surprise yourself.

Motive & quality comparisons: Majority of the times, we use the images and share them only on the internet. Very few times, we go out and print 4*6 or max out at 8*10. Rarely does someone print photos in larger sizes. Where latest P&S are not handicapped in printing sizes (thx to 14MPXL cams everywhere in market), only when used for professional purposes, the difference might be felt or visible. So, why get into the rat race for SLR! See the motive behind it. Enjoy your creativity rather than sulking on gear.

(Street shot, using sony h50)

Mobility: While you enjoy using your P&S today, with a SLR, mobility becomes an issue. You would eventually be carrying a camera and set of lenses which take quite a bit of space, handling and care. Now imagine, all of this compared to a small bag tied to your waist with a 14 mpxl P&S. Mobility is definitely a point you need to consider when you are thinking of moving away from your P&S. carrying 6 kg bag with camera, lenses all day around could be an hassle when your purpose of moving to SLR might just be for fun.

(Bird Photography @ Hebbal lake, Shot with H50)

Ease of shooting: The ease of shooting is what I have enjoyed the most with P&S. While shooting birds, I have made lot of photos with patience and using my p&S effectively. Where my older h50 camera would give me 465mm optical zoom in a jiffy, my fellow friends would be either changing lenses or just be contented with a 200mm lens. The detachable live view in some cameras makes taking macros and shots in awkward position a breeze. 

(Street shot, Shot using h50)

Moollah: The last and may be the most important part is the cost aspect. I am not trying to say that costs can deter you, but just adding a perspective. A P&S, say Sony h50 costs me around 20k. It gives you a crisp macro of 1:2 ratio (Sure!) and a length of 465mm optical zoom. Now consider a simple comparison with a SLR. The body with a basic kit lens should start from 20k. Now, add a macro lens, not a top notch but just a basic macro which can give you 1:2 ratio and length (ex:canon 55-250), that should cost you 11k.And this is just one lens which suffices length and basic macro. The whole point is, that you would be buying different lenses to suffice your needs and that’s an arena which gets really cash hungry.

In the end, the whole point is to bring a perspective on the table. Are you buying it for a specific reason, or is it just that everyone is getting it and so are you! This is still your personal decision, but if I can fire up some thinking with the perspective and shots shown here, I would be happy.

© SAURABH MITTAL
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
If you would like to buy this photograph for commercial use or would like to buy rights to this photography, contact me at quitefar@gmail.com for further details.

Use without permission is illegal

5 things that motivates me to photography!

I have written a lot of articles and some of them have been huge. I am now shifting this towards writing smaller pieces and write them more often. Hope that turns out to be interesting and useful to my readers.
My family has been very supportive but often is amazed by the commitment I have towards photography. I am often asked as to what motivates me towards photography. I have made statements that if I am going to quit my job, this time it’s going to be for photography as a full-time thing, I am asked, what makes you think so! 

My 5 Reasons

Hence here are the 5 reasons which motivate me, and hopeful top reasons why people are motivated towards photography:

1. Express yourself: It’s an old adage that a picture is worth a thousand words. Photography gives you a creative medium to express. It could be capturing the beauty of nature or capturing peoples on the street or using it for journalism. For me, it’s always been about capturing something I see it and being able to express it in my photos. I love to shoot people, their emotions, and expressions. I love to narrate their stories via my pictures.
2. Get creative: Photography is an artistic medium and there are no boundaries. You can delve deeper into any category, any form, any discipline to realize the depth is infinite. Every day millions of photographers push those infinite limits by being creative. It could be learning light painting or HDRs, using a zoom lens to make panoramas! It could be using the same technique and implement in a different form! It’s always fun and there is no end to it.
3. See places, enjoy moments: Photography, in its vast form, makes you move around. You travel, you get to visit a lot of new places and see a lot of things which you otherwise might not be doing. For a lot of people, travel is their job so photography gets added as a result, but it happens the other way for most of the rest. I love the opportunity my camera provides me, with which I always am in search of new places to shoot. It could be the busy market in the city heart or a distant tourist spot, a photographer always finds a new place.
4. Make a difference: Photography does provide you a chance to make a difference in someone's life. One could do photo stories and spread awareness about the nearby school in bad shape or old age homes and the lonely life elderly spend there. There have been many photographers who have involved their art for community purposes. In a very simple way, while we have shot a couple of local markets, we have gone back with the printed photos, tracked back those people, and given them their photos. I can’t explain how it feels when they see their photo and thank you! For lots of them, maybe their first photo printed after the one on their ration cards or driving licenses.
5. Make money: Photography again, if pursed seriously can turn out as a career option as well. If not for a career, you still can make money as you win contests, sell photos as Stock galleries or do local exhibits. I involve in all of them and can say for sure, that it’s not bad at all if done properly.

Do share as to what motivates or pushes you towards photography! Would be really interested to hear from people.




© SAURABH MITTAL
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
If you would like to buy this photograph for commercial use or would like to buy rights to this photography, contact me at quitefar@gmail.com for further details.
Use without permission is illegal

Tablets of 2011- Apples & androids

Market has been revolutinized by many factors and my products. as they say, if you could meet consumers unmet needs, you have innovated. So, does smart phones qualify to be a major innovation and market transformers.
 today, Social media is the buzz word. there is no successful business, without getting itself established as an identity over the internet. your friends become patrons of marketing and they share what they appreciate with their friends. this ultimately becomes a chain reaction, which could benifit organizations in no time. Can that be called an innovation! certainly.
 The article i sat to write about was to define or understand another similar innovation.
Ipad2 is a cool gadget. The fury in the market for the new ipad2 has been so that till now it isnt available in stores. you just cant walk into an apple store and buy one. The 3G ones are available though but most people are not buying that. On my personal experience, when i made up my mind to pick an Ipad,
when i walk into an apple store on Friday, the store executive told me that i should come on Tuesday at 8 am. the store opensat 9ambut people line up at 8am since every morning theyrecieve their shipments and those get sold like "hot n fresh pancakes". While i was driven out by this mad fury, I started reviewing other options in the market Its better than acer iconic, asus transformer,motorola xoomsince its an apple product and just that only:

1. Its doesnt have good cameras- it has VGA cams.
2. It doesnt have usb ports.
3. It doesnt have HDMI out.
4. It doesnt have support for additional memory.
5. It doesnt have support for flash at all.
6. It doesnt have better screen resolution. it isat 1024*800.
7. It doesnt let you organize stuff by anything else otherthan itunes. Major dependency.
8. It doesnt have support for 4G except i believe verizon's contracted Ipad2.

Ipad2 is so better :) Market dynamics have changed so fast.

A thought-Being yourself

Came across this beautiful quote
"“I don’t know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody.”

So apt. Most of the time, we just tend to do things in life to keep everyone around us pleased. More than self, opinions of others starts to take precedence. But does, in a man life, everyone ever will agree to the same point.
 Everyone has their opinions and different perspectives, making it even harder for you to please everyone. Opinions, tastes can never be booleans.  Had it been any easier, Starbucks would just be selling Cups of tea like Ramu Kaka outside Delhi university or Strong filter Coffee outside Spencers in Chennai. So why even try.
           The key is, to be yourself! Find your own style and take it from there! You cant convert yourself into something who you are not. Slowly you would start to understand your flair. Work on that! Enrich your style. Gain more knowledge. Read more, if possible try and share! Do some sessions, write some tutorials or may be do some video tuts. That will take you much farther, than what bothering about opinions would. As someone said, the most important part of taking advices and opinions is from whom they come. So, listen to everyone! but use your own mind!
Be yourself. Power to you!

© SAURABH MITTAL
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
If you would like to buy this photograph for commercial use or would like to buy rights to this photography, contact me at quitefar@gmail.com for further details.

Use without permission is illegal

Glimpse in local history-Jupiter lighthouse, Florida

It was Saturday and i was wondering if i could plan an outing. It has been a month in Palm beach garden and couple of top sites near around, were still lingering on my TO-DO list. Decided to start knocking off further from the list by visiting Jupiter Lighthouse. Read about the place and found quite interesting stuff on the website and promised to be a beautiful place to spend a day and learn some stuff about local culture.

Location: Located just off Alternate A1 highway, took me 15 mins to reach from RCA Blvd with a distance of 8 miles. The lighthouse stands tall and as you approach the "Jupiter Island" area, a beautiful, Cherry red guy housing light top against the blue sky is something hard to be missed. the coast and the property are now under the control of US Coast gaurd and hence most of the area is secured and people are not allowed to move around the lighthouse without the officials, but the coast side is open for general public to soak in sun.

This place is divided into three parts.The ticketing center and a museum, the lighthouse and the trail where all the old living style of Hobe Indians, and especially the house of Washington Tindall is preserved and the third is a small park for children on the theme.

Short trip to yelagiri

Well, this trip was planned in a jiffy and what a trip it was. I was reading about yelagiri for quite sometime and had even printed route map sometime ago and as it clicked, we just decided to hit it on a very short notice. The plan just came along and we were on our way early morning on the weekend.

Destination: Yelagiri, Tamil Nadu

Distance: 180 Kms approx from CV Raman Nagar

Route: Continue from Hosur road upto Krishnagiri. From krishnagiri, as you approach the second flyover, go below it and take the road which goes towards Vellore and further continues to Chennai.

Taking break: Through out the route, lot of outlets but if you plan to take early break, then Kamat yatri nivas and Anand Adiyar bhawarn are just at the outskirts of hosur and provide you ample space and locale to have a good time.

We started by 7 am in the morning and soon we were gliding our way over the express way towards electronic city and made our way out of Bangalore. Through the route to Yelagiri, there are three tolls hence keep some change aside for these breaks. if i remember correctly, the three tolls we paid were 25,30 and 20 Rs respectively, with we buying one way tickets only.

As per our plan, we broke for breakfast at Kamat upchaar which came a little too early. A beautifully maintained place with great parking, and lot of open space all around. you could just come in with loads of people and still have something for everyone. The food is steller here and everything you order, comes simmering hot to you. The weather was little cold hence hot Dosas, Vadas, Kesari baths and tea were just too good to resist. The place is neatly maintained and has lot of greenery around.

Reliance petrol pump dawns a huge presence with this kamat stopover and acts as a great refueling place.

Finally it was time to get going towards yelagiri. My 9 months daughter loved the food here and she enjoyed the greenary all around and lesser building. The cold wind was making her feel very happy about this, but as soon as we got started, to got back to business of sleeping.

The journey was nice and nothing new to detail here. Great highways with roads little busy from Krishnagiri with lot of truckers all around but still driving in way not to hamper anyone's way and we cruised through the road. The stretch has good roads and as Wifey and Daughter took a quick nap, time passed by fast.

Finally, as everyone got back, i had taken a right turn. Just a recap, while you take left turn from Krishnagiri to follow Vellore road, you dont have to take any diversions. cross through tirpattur town and soon you would come across a crossing where its clearly mentioned "yelagiri Hills" which is around 25 Kms from there. you wont be able to miss out on this crossing but in case you do, the locals are pretty helpful in finding you your way back. 

As we took that right turn, just before the ascent, we stopped for couple of minutes. My Daughter was awake and was jolly and she needed a change. we were now approx 25 Kms away from yelagiri Hills. The drive to yelagiri, especially the ascent has some 14 Hairpin bends which are known to be quite scenic. we were just gearing for the same.

 I have to accept that the hairping bends didnt excit me much, neither the height gained since this was sort of a regular ascent as you see enroute to Nandi hills though the apparent difference was the crowd. During the ascent we just met  couple of people only and the roads were just squeaky clean. the air was much cooler and cleaner and the stretches were extremely green and this was so relaxing.

The labeling of roads throughout was great and the hairpin bends looked quite nice. Learnt that tamil nadu govt has been pushing yelagiri for sometime now as a tourist destination and hence has maintained the access roads very well.

Came across a beautiful crop of flowers as soon as we entered yelagiri. I had made booking at the "Zeenath Taj Garden Resort" and we had to spend sometime searching for it. We almost reached the other extreme end searching for the same and later realized that this place was just in the very begining of Yelgairi. The town is extremely small but surprisingly has huge number of lodges all around. I was surprised seeing this since there are no major attractions here but for weather.
Finally looking for our resort, with help of locals we located the place and made way towards it. The initial impression was great. It appeared like an enligsh bunglow, as you see in Simla. This private property has a gate welcoming you and then road made of Stones taking you to it deep pathway to reception. The greenary has been made the DNA of this place and extreme variety of vegetation has  been used everywhere. you would be stunned to see such  a property here.

inside the property, there are cottages placed at little distance from each other and the landscaping around them has been done very tastefully. There are ducks which run around the resort and add natural beauty to it. My Daughter was just ecstatic seeing these ducks around.

We finally we got our cottage and voila! it looked beautiful. we got three options and finally i made a choice of this one where i could park my car just next to it. Where do you get to a place where you could get your vehicle just next to your room. At the back of the cottage was a huge stretch of jungle type area. The weather was beautiful and it was drizzling by now.

After we put our stuff in the cottage, it was time to plan for lunch and we were told by "setu" the care taker of the property that the food should be served by 1:30 which was a good hour away. We took walk through the resort and enjoyed the beauty meanwhile.

The Landscaping and the maintenance of this whole resort did put me into surprised state since after looking through the small town of yelagiri, this was definitely much more than one can expect.

The food was ready exactly at 1:30 and this was the next element of surprise. The food was just sumptuous and quite a variety. we took a walk after lunch and explored the place.

Since my daughter was sleepy, we decided to stay back and let her complete her sleep. meanwhile we enjoyed the greenery around.

 

In the evening, while my daughter got up, we went to the city and had a good time at the lake. we had to give the silk raring centre a miss since it closed by 5 pm. later in the evening we went to the nature park, which was nice but nothing special. after moving around we can back to the resort ay 8pm. 

The dinner was served at 8:30 with again a huge variety being served absolutely piping hot.By now, we were too impressed and planned that we would visit this place again. the hospitality of the staff was great. The plan was to start early morning next day so that the important stuff doesnt get hampered next day, but we were too tempted to make changes in the plan.

 With the promise to return back soon, we started back next day morning at 6:30 am and reached back Blr by 10:30 am.

Russell market, a photo story

Russell Market, an aged but still going strong vegetable market, is located near the prominent and much talked about Commercial Street of Bangalore. An early morning visit to this market, unraveled the chaos or the business as usual routines, showing different colors of life. The sheer way people manage to live through ages at these places and with such efficiency these humungous logistics move, is a beauty in itself.

Bhoganandishwara Temple, Nandi Hills, Bangalore

This Saturday morning, we packed up some stuff and headed out for Bhoganandishwara temple. The temple is located in the foothills of a famous tourist destination "Nandi Hills" at the outskirts of bangalore City. As you passover the bangalore international airport and stretch over devanhalli, this temple lies in the serene and calm surrounding of Nandi village.

 Starting early was a good option and also exciting was the fact that our 3.5 months old daughter was to make her first outing with us this day. Hence we were stacked with anxiety and also thrilled about the same. We could only start by  7:30 am, due to all household chores and managed to reached the temple by 9 am. From the main road, once you take left for Nandi hills, you need to continue on the same road, till you reach a T-junction where lot of small hotels and shops are located. It should not be a problem identifying this T-junction since thats the only one in the whole area. If you take left from here, you would head towards Nandi Hills but for the bhoganandishwara temple you have to take right. The temple is approx 5-6 kms from here.The roads are great and luckily the weather was great on this day as well. It had been raining and have been overcast in bangalore for almost 2 weeks now, and i was almost sure of getting some washed out photos, but the sunny morning gave great hopes.

(Name etched in stone at the entrance)

(lush Lawn outside)

  The temple entrance is a huge gate which gave us initial glimpse of the huge lawn area to both the side. The walls corroded, with lush grass on one side with beautifully maintained ferns at the corners. This looks like an ideal setting for shooting a documentary. Lot of maintenance work seems to be happening here, which is encouraging enough. We move in taking shots around and reading about the place. At the entrance of the temple, there was a beautiful set of huge circular stone wheels on one side and a cart of wood being prepared on the others. There are ample trees though the campus and the wind was blowing past the leaves making beautiful sound. We could hear the birds chirping and amazingly, your hearing abilities start to catch these sweet sounds, whenever you break your city life routine and come out to a countryside like this. We were already feeling very relaxed and the environment was adding to it.

 (Serene Place)

 Though the time was not very early for a saturday morning, there were no visitors here. We were the first ones to enter the temple. A security gaurd greeted us on the main gate and asked us to do the darshanas. Buying the tickets, we took some photos and then finished darshans of lord shiva and other deities of the temple.

(Beautiful carvings on the wall)

      The first impression was of a very beautiful, extremely clean temple which is a marvel in the history books. Bhoginandishwara temple stands tall for more than 1000 years now and has amazingly rich cultural connect. You can read lot more stuff about this temple online or the priests should be able to give you insight. We thoroughly enjoyed small conversations with them. Built in dravidian style, it has a set of mantapas, with each having history tied to them. The most famous being the "Vasantha Mantapa", which if is to be believed, is where Shiva and parvathi got married.

(Main Mantap in the inner sanctum)

The sanctum of the temple which is exactly in the middle, comes from the chola dynasty and is more than 1000 years old. The gopuras, as you would notice were built by the vijayanagara empire. The most interesting part was the maintenance of the place, the silence around and the carvings in the stones. The combination of these three factors was just intoxicating. We moved around and then came across an opening through which we entered into the pond area. this is a huge pond with three entrances and chautaris on all its side. The view was beautiful here and we spent sometime here.

(Gopuram)

(The famous pond)

 Finally, we came out, spent some moments in the outside lawn and then started back to bangalore. Here are some facts/details about this trip and leaving you with some photos. Do share your experiences if you have been here or do write to me if you need more details on visiting this place. An exciting day all in all.
Distance: From Tippasandra, bangalore to Temple-Up & Down:125 Kms
Road Condition: great Roads through out the journey.
Direction: Catch the nandi hills route, from the T-junction take right and 5-6 kms thereafter is the temple.

1. No videography or stand photography(using tripods/monopads) is allowed.
2. If starting early you should club visit to this temple with nandi hills trip.
3. In case you stop in the village, the kids/some people are in habit of chasing you and asking for some money. I personally don't think they should be entertained since this just sets a very wrong trend for others as well.

Pottery Town revisited

This Saturday was the day when i had to go out. Few of my friends, and especially om had dropped by couple of times in less than a months time to check if i had stopped writing for any reasons. Essentially, i was busy in hand-over from my old job to new one and a little tight schedule spending time with my daughter, hence i was not shooting much or traveling.

 Cutting the chase, had been wanting to visit Pottery town for sometime now. The beauty of this place is the chance to experiment and amazing number of combinations of those clay figures, let you never run of of options.  You can keep coming back to this place and find nothing but the same old earthen clay pots, cups and various other items and yet go back with different perspectives in your shots, everytime.

 

I just wanted to get some time off my routine life and spend on some creative stuff, and this was it. the weather was cloudy and typical June morning with drizzling cloudy cold environment, which makes driving down to any part a heavenly experience. we cruised through to Pottery town, which is just near the Cox town and spent sometime clicking through. we also went to the house of a potter and spent some quality clicks capturing the majestic phenomenon of making clay items on their electric wheel. Leaving you with some shots from the morning. 

Do share your experiences, if you ahve been there!! it might be that you plan to visit it or you have been an avid visitor and a fan of this place, do share how have you felt about it.