Mobile Photography 2

Next post, I promise, will be using a DSLR.
However, I enjoyed this weekend as well. I swam in a lake and took pictures of Lonavla and Bombay.

Mobile Photography

A survey taken a few years ago showed that the mobile camera in the Nokia cell phone was the most used camera in the world. It's an incredible statistic, given that Nokia was never even into camera manufacture.
Mobile photography, over the years, has developed. Since the first mobile camera came out, developers have gone out of their way to develop the perfect mobile camera. Sony Ericsson released its CyberShot series, a widely popular range of camera phones, which intensified the competition between cell phone manufacturers over the quality of the camera.
Apple then came out with its camera in the iPhone 3G, 4 and now 4S series. The Android market decided to enter the competition and suddenly, you have good quality mobile phone cameras everywhere.
Personally, I'm an old-timer and prefer shooting with my Canon 350D, but I thought that a little experiment with a mobile camera would be fun.
Given that I have an Android, with a 5 MP camera and an application called Blogger Droid, I was excited to upload a number of images online.
However, Blogger Droid is painful in the sense that it doesn't allow me to upload more than one or two images at a time, so I had to go back to the old laptop.
Incidentally, I also managed to download a mobile version of Adobe Photoshop, so I managed to edit some of them as well.

So here you go. Check and comment

Life with a bit of edit

Sometimes, we see things. And then, we put a camera between our eyes and see things differently. Unfortunately, a camera can never actually capture what our eyes see. If I had a still option incorporated in my system, I - come to think of it - all of us would be the greatest photographers on earth.
That's why editing software came into existence. While we like the picture we've taken, there is always scope for improvement. While some may have mini touch-ups, I go crazy with others.
I've posted some of these pictures before, but others in this list have never been put before. Take a look. Feedback is welcome.
Cheers.

Rains

I love the rain. I mentioned this in a note before. We're in July. The rains are here in full force. I still love the rains. However, there are several people who do NOT share the same sentiment as I do. For them it means delayed trains, traffic snarls, chocked up roads, overflowing storm water drains, shit mixing with piss and rainwater, malaria, leptospirosis and other things too disgusting to mention.

I empathize with this group of people, which I assure you is a majority in Bombay or any other part of urban India. However, when you have a camera in hand, you see things that you ignore in your day-to-day life. Things that are mundane, since all of you are busy avoiding that speeding vehicle spray water on you. Again, I don’t blame you.

In this little experiment that my sister Harini recommended, I realized why I love the rains so much.

Have a look:

Raindrops can reflect so much in life. Take a look if you don't believe me

It's bright in a day of gloom

The flowers laugh, making you forget about everything else

seems to like the rains too

Rains result in chaos. What is life without chaos?

East of the Sun

It's 7.24 pm on a Monday evening. I sit at the computer, sweat dripping off my head, trying to adjust to Bombay's humidity, which was as bad as Calcutta's and miss the -3 at Nathula and the 17 at Gangtok. I'm pondering the week that has gone by. I look at the photographs - an astonishing 678 clicks - and think, "Wow. My annual vacation is over!"
It's been one of the more hectic vacations that I've had. Not a day has gone by in the last one week, where I've not been up by 6 am (two days were 4 am, but that, dear reader, will be read in the latter part of this note.). Like those Facebook groups that say 'You know you're from Bombay when...", there should be a group that says, "You know that the sun rises in the east when your room is bright at 5 am".
But I have no regrets. It's been a brilliant vacation.
I loved Calcutta. I loved Gangtok even more. Sikkim is definately a place that I would like to go back and visit - probably spend some more time over there. Who knows? Somewhere down the line, I may even think of retiring there.
It's a pity that it's over, but here's a memory that I'd like to share with all of you. This is a small collection of some of my favourite pictures that I took on the trip. The rest will be on the album. As usual, each picture carries a story behind it, which I will try and explain.
Happy viewing!

The Victoria Memorial is in the heart of Calcutta. Located right next to Fort William, where we lived, it is a great place to walk, take pictures and spot the odd couple making out behind the bushes

Evening moon at the Victoria Memorial. This is one of my favourite pictures of the trip

A traffic cop tries managing Calcatta chaos, but life is psychadelic, as the picture shows

Tequila The Kitten was an important member on our Sunderban adventure. While I didn't get too many great images on that day, I'm pretty fond of this one. The kitten provided us with plenty of entertainment on a pretty hot, humid and animal-empty day

The New Market reminded me of a cleaner and more disciplined Crawford Market

Gangtok by night. While the picture isn't one of the best ever, it's on the list because I'm in love with that town

The Live and Loud, a Gangtok pub, and perhaps the best one I've visited in India

I'm on Top of the World looking down at creation...

There is a jingoist in all of us. When I saw this, I couldn't resist

The Chinese flag fluttering with the Himalayas at the background

Calcutta 2011: The Old

Calcutta 2011: And the new