My first trip to Vaishnodevi was unimpressive. Climbing was hard, and it only served to highlight how badly out of shape I was, while my in-laws managed to cope so much better. Further, I hadn’t quite realized that the cave experience wouldn’t be the same as I had imagined, since the original cave was only opened at certain times a year, and that we only entered a newly created tunnel, one far easier to access, and hence more manageable with the crowds that thronged the mountain shrine. The resulting experience at the shrine, for barely a fraction of a second, hardly compared to what I had expected / imagined / heard about. So, for me, Vaishnodevi was like any other temple, nothing to write home about, something that was reflected (though not explicitly mentioned) in the blog post I wrote then.
For the last hour,I have watching the partial solar eclipse, explaining the phenomenon to Samhith, and trying to get a reasonably good photograph.Success at last!!! Guess what I used to take these pics!!!

(ANS. a double layer of film for the first 2 and 4 layers for the last 3!)
For More pictures of the solar eclipse, check out the following blogs:
Ashish Parmar's Nature's Imagery (Bangalore)
Mridula's Travel Tales from India (Delhi)
Quest's Quest beyond eternity (Thiruvananthapuram)
awesome, i might sound silly, but the partially eclipsed sun looked very powerful even in the photos..
ReplyDelete@AJCL: hey, u dont sound silly at all!!!! in fact, the sun was so bright that the eclipse which i could see thru dark glasses wasnt even visible when i took pics... i tried all sorts of things to reduce the brightness but to no avail.... even tried taking a pic thru the glasses!!!
ReplyDeletefinally, i was looking at some pics on the net of people gathered to see the eclipse and there was a pic there of a child with a photofilm... that gave me an idea and i tried it out.. even then, one layer of the film wasnt enough... as u can see, the more the layers, the better is the pic!!
amzzzzzzzzzzing anuji u did wonder for us by capturing this moment...how did u do this. i wud like to click the same way next time...so please teach me the way..
ReplyDeletelovely images anu, I was kind of expecting this when I came to your blog. In banglore the eclipse was more complete. It was incredible...Thomas
ReplyDeleteI too tried to capture the eclipse between a day full of taking classes. I managed to take it by clicking the reflection though my office window and missing lunch :D
ReplyDeleteLoved the hue of your pictures.
@ Sabr: Thanks a lot.. but theres no real technique.. just read the comment above... simply trial and error!!
ReplyDelete@T&S : Hey, I was just seeing some blore pics of the eclipse and wondering if u had taken some too..... and also wishing i was there to see it...
@Mridula: im sure it was worth missing the lunch!! actually so did we, for we dont eat during the eclipse :-(
and i tried taking pics of the reflection,but somehow it didnt work out well.. waiting to see yours....
Hey Deepa Akka...Absolutely Fab photographs...Amma and Shyam saw them too :) Chance'ille!! Shalu
ReplyDelete@Shalu: thanks so much!! great to hear from u...
ReplyDeleteSnaps of solar eclipsed are awesome.
ReplyDeleteluved that red tinge - luvly
ReplyDeleteThe sun was indeed too bright.....saw the eclipse with naked eyes :) and got a few pics too
ReplyDelete@ Quest:Hey, u should be a little more careful! but the pics are great!!!!
ReplyDelete