Moon and Jupiter conjunction of 2019-08-09

What an exciting night! Our Moon and Jupiter and its moons have been all hanging out together from where we're looking at them since last couple of days. I got to witness them with family and capture this too. It's at times like these I feel I should invest in a telescope but gotta have time to do the research and then make the investment. Hopefully that time will come sooner than later :)

Apparently, Saturn was also hanging out nearby with Pluto somewhere close by, but my camera and lens couldn't get them all in single shot so I shot Saturn separately. Pluto couldn't be recognized to my naked eye. Those photos weren't the clearest so no logs of them here.

More info about the conjunction here: https://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/get-your-telescopes-ready-the-moon-will-appear-close-to-these-2-planets-this-weekend/70009028

Moon and its gorgeous craters

Moon, Jupiter on lower right and Jupiter's four moons (if you zoom-in enough)

Super Blue Blood Moon 2018

What an exciting morning! Feeling truly blessed to be in a geographical area where this was going to be visible. Thanks to NASA, I had already put alarms for various times for this morning. So I was up by 3:45 am (woke up three times before that just out of sheer excitement) and got outside with my camera and tripod, which I had already setup the night before. By the time I was out there, it had already started! The eclipse that is; and it was nothing short of extraordinary.

This one is taken around 4:10 am. It’s getting darker (and colder! brrr) by the minute.

By 4:40ish it’s already turning a darker shade of red.

And the crimson glow at totality (around 5:29 am) looked something like this:

The stars surrounding the moon began to show up and the moon itself went almost invisible to the naked eye. It was an incredible view! Staying out there for over two hours in 43 degrees F was numbing to the toes and fingers and the camera and I got a nice drizzle of the morning dew on us that required both of us to get thawed once indoors, but all of that was totally worth it for this phenomenal event that hasn’t occurred in last 150 years. Looking forward to the next Super Blue Blood Moon in 2037!

Here’s a glimpse of blue moonrise from this beautiful evening of January 31, 2018:

Hiking the Summit Trail at Mt. Diablo

View from the trail

It had been more than a decade since I had visited Mt. Diablo so I was super excited when we decided to do a hike on Mt. Diablo. Our decision was to plan the hike sooner than later while the weather is still a bit on the cooler side. On the day of the hike, we started driving towards the summit of Mt. Diablo around 7 am from Hayward and got to the park entrance around 7:45 when the ranger was opening the gates. I was kind of glad we didn't arrive earlier as planned otherwise we would have just sat waiting (or roamed around the entrance area taking photos ;)) for the park to open.

Entrance to summit is another 10-15 min drive depending upon how fast you drive up. We were the first ones to arrive at the summit. Once there, we walked around the visitor center and checked out the roof promenade and the beacon tower, enjoying the view from almost 4000 ft height. It was picturesque from up there with the morning fog and clouds hugging the hills that surround the peak and golden rays of Sunlight kissing us all.



Summit Trail

We walked around for 5-10 min, used the restrooms and loaded our hiking bags with water and some snacks and headed down the mountain on the paved road. The map was showing the trail-head to be little away from the summit parking lot. After hiking around and getting lost for a few min (on Juniper trail) we finally found the Summit trail-head and started hiking down. It was pretty chilly even around 8:30 so I was glad we had layers on. Hiking down and pausing for a photo or few or refreshing our botany knowledge by checking out the exotic bushes and shrubs and hundreds of pine cones on and around the trail we eventually got to a picnic area after about two miles of hiking. We hung out at the picnic area for a while, had a snack and water and started heading up. By now it was around 10 and the sun was getting almost above our heads. Climbing up was a bit of challenge with the temperatures rising rapidly and we were happy to encounter the paved road by 11 am and get back to the summit around 11:15 and chilling a bit more in shade. We started heading back down the hill right afterwards. It was a beautiful drive down on a gorgeous sunny day.


Checking out the surroundings

If you're going, check out the maps and other info below. Also, start your hike early in the morning and take enough water with you. Not to forget a hat and sunblock.

Some useful links:

http://www.yelp.com/biz/mt-diablo-summit-clayton
http://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/517/files/mtDiabloBrochure.pdf

Hike date: Sunday, January 19th, 2014
Accompanied by: RP, AN, Nikon D5000

Hiking the Dish Trail at Stanford

This weekend's hike was at The Dish in Stanford, CA.


Hiking up the trail at The Dish @ Stanford

This was my first time hiking at the place so I had no idea what to expect except for the reviews I had read on yelp. It turned out to be a perfect combination of moderately strenuous hike and what I call a photographer's heaven (I think that was more because of being there earlier in the morning ;)). We got there around 7:40ish and waited for our friend to arrive. Once all were there, we started the hike around 8:05 am and got back to the parking area around 9:22 am. It's a 4-mile trail and initial 0.5 mile are the most strenuous. Rest of the trail is pretty leveled in terms of elevation change. It's a very beautiful trail and I hope I get to do it again around sunset time. Saturday morning was so thick with fog that I had a hard time seeing anything beyond 30 ft while I drove to Stanford only to realize that even the trail was covered in misty fog. The fog added so much more different kind of beauty to the trail. I got hollers from my buddies to keep up with the hike because I was getting too distracted by the scenery and was taking longer time shooting photos. ;)



Hikers, Morning silhouette

Right at the entrance we had read a warning that coyotes had been sighted around the trail area so we were hoping we'd run into one. Well, guess what! We did actually run into one. Poor thing look very frail, starved, and ugly. However, it was great to see wildlife and that made it just more exciting.

I think I went crazy with silhouettes that morning. I have never been so excited to shoot against the light as I was then. Wow! What incredible views were there at every step and every curve.


Trees on trail at sunrise

For a glimpse of the trail as my Nikon D5000 saw, click here --> http://www.flickr.com/photos/kanan/tags/thedish/

If you're going, check out these sites for good info about the trail and the Dish:

http://www.yelp.com/biz/the-dish-stanford-foothills-palo-alto
http://www.everytrail.com/guide/the-stanford-dish-hike
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dish_%28landmark%29

http://www.destinationpaloalto.com/pages/d/stanford-dish-walk?visitor_info_id=27


Hike date: Saturday, January 4th, 2014
Accompanied by: RP, VNP, Nikon D5000

Hiking Fern Canyon Trail

Fern Canyon Trail is located in Russian Gulch State Park in coastal town of Mendocino, CA. I got to hike this trail during the last weekend of December on my visit to Mendocino/Fort Bragg.


Fern Canyon Trail

This is the trail that takes you to the waterfalls in the park. The trail-head is near camp site 30 and initial 1.6 miles are paved trail that you could ride bicycles on so technically wheel chairs and strollers can also go on them. After that, comes the tiny picnic area from where the trail splits into two, both sides leading to the same waterfalls and making a big loop. The left side of the trail is 0.7 miles one way to the waterfalls and is a bit more rigorous than the right side one, which I believe is somewhere around 1.5 miles one way. In total, we did about 2.3 miles of hiking one way.

The best thing about trails with waterfalls on them are the reward you get at the end of the trail for hiking all the distance because the view is totally priceless. This trail was no different.


Fallen fern-covered tree trunks surround the water falls


It seemed like it had rained either the previous night or earlier that morning so the entire park was drenched in shiny water droplets and the mossy trees were so green I didn't want to leave the park.


Moss-covered Trees on the trail

We started around 1 pm and were back to the parking lot around 4. I wish we had time to do more hiking in the same park. There's a really nice bridge right at the entrance of the park that potentially had ocean views, but lack of time didn't allow me to make a stop there to take photos. Gotta save some stuff for next trip! ;)

Hike date: Saturday, December 28th, 2013
Accompanied by: MJ, RP, Nikon D5000

A haiku

After so long, I felt like writing and all that came out was a haiku. After looking at this photo. I'm glad the writers block has gotten a hole in it.
 
A green burst
Brightness amidst
Make my day

Bamboo Forest on Pipiwai Trail in Hana, Maui, Hawaii

Happy 10th Birthday to my first SLR & March Photographs

Yesterday marked the 10th anniversary of my adventures with SLR cameras. The journey has been wonderful and filled with amazement and excitement that knows no bounds. Here are some of my favorite shots from this month, including my first HDR image!



Merced River





Moonrise (Holi)



Sun & Rain




Golden Gate Bridge




My very first HDR!

Fullmoon tonight...

..was so gorgeous! I had to run out to take a pic.

Kutch Highlights - Day 2 - Anjar, Mata No Madh

Day 2 in Kutch started out with shopping and sight-seeing in Anjar - the sword & knife capital of Gujarat. As soon as we got there, we went straight to the market as we were going to hangout with one of our acquaintances, JS, there. After spending some time with Mr. JS, we went around shopping for some quality knives, and sudi. Anjar is famous for the metal handicrafts such as swords, knives and all other kinds of metal items. We shopped at this place called Palan Sarota Works.

Store selling knives


While shopping there, these two Kutchi women stopped by for some shopping and I got to shoot them. :) It was nice to see the details of their clothes and jewelry from so up close. They were shy at first but then smiled and posed for their photos eventually.

Kutchi women in traditional Kutchi attire


More shopping needed to be done but first thing was first. That was to visit the Samaadhi of Jesal Jadeja and Sati Toral as they close in the afternoon so we headed straight to this place. It was interesting to visit this historical landmark and hear about the story of Jesal-Toral and how he (a dacoit) went to steal the Tori ghoDi (horse) at the home of Saansatiyaaji - husband of Jesal and ended up kidnapping Jesal. They spent the latter part of their lives here.

Main entrance to Jesal-Toral Samadhi

Right across from the samaadhi are little shops selling all kinds of things such as swords/knives, music, books and other collective items.

Knife & sword store

Next stop was at the temple of Ajepal (Ajay Pal) dada. City of Anjar is named after him and there's huge class of his devotees in and around Anjar.

Entrance of temple

Once we were done with roaming around Anjar for sight-seeing, it was time for shopping! First stop was at Ahemad's Handicrafts. Oh my goodness! this place has some of the most fantastic bedsheets and dress materials I've ever seen. Even the lungis were so beautiful, I couldn't help but buy three of them for myself. Now what I'm going to do with a lungi is something I still need to find an answer for. May be I'll get a top made or use it as a table-cloth or open it up and use it as a bedsheet. If you are in Anjar, don't forget to stop by here


Ahemad Handicrafts

and also at the garment shop of Katri Ismail Haji Abdul Latif. This place is THE PLACE for ready-made clothes, baandhani dress materials/saaris, purses, wall pieces, other handicrafts along with tops and many other similar things. Their gaji silk saari are totally drool-worthy and you wouldn't want to get out of there without some for yourself/your loved ones. :D

Garment store of Katri Ismail Haji Abdul Latif

After spending relatively less amount of time than what I wished, we were off to Mata No Madh. This is where they have Maa Ashapura temple. While driving to Mata Na Madh, we got to see the TV tower, which reminded me of the Space Needle tower of Seattle,

TV tower near Mankuwa

and the Lignite project plant of Gujarat Khanij Vikas Nigam Limited and a very beautiful sunset.

Sunset

Once at Mata No Madh, we got some flowers and prasaad for the temple and headed inside the temple for darshan. As like most temples, this one doesn't allow photography inside also so I couldn't take photos of the outstanding intricate work on the inside of the temple. The visitor center personnel did let me take some photos from outside after I requested him numerous times.

Temple at Mata no Madh

If you're visiting this temple, make sure you are there to be part of the evening aarti at the temple. OH MY GOD! It is out of this world experience to be part of that event. I guarantee that it will be an experience that you have never had before. After the aarti, I just wish I had an opportunity to record even the audio of it but it practically transported me to this divine world and all I could feel was that every single hair on my body was standing up with happiness and feelings I can't describe. I'd go to this place just to be able to attend that aarti of Mataji. With the sounds of bells and nagara playing during the aarti, it was one of a kind experiences! It is said that when the district of Kutch had severe drought, this place was the only one where water remained and people came from faraway distances to drink water around here.

By nightfall, we arrived at Narayan Sarovar and had really nice, simple dinner of khichadi-kadhi at Shri Kutch Narayan Sarovar Annakshetra and Bhojanalay and spent the night at the dharmashala there.

More photos of Anjar & Mata Na Madh.

Kutch Highlights - Day 1 - Gandhidham

Imagine that you've never seen this ad of Amitabh Bachchan or never heard him say all the things he says in the video about Kutch, including "aapne Kutch nahin dekha to kuchh nahin dekha.. kuchh din to gujaaro, Gujarat mein! hai! AYE KAKA!!" and moreover, you've never really heard of things to see/do in Kutch. The only thing you remember of Kutch is that Lagaan was shot there and read the horror news about a massive earthquake. Then you find out that you're getting to go there just the day before you are supposed to leave for Kutch.

This is exactly how I was the day before I left for my first visit to this magnificent land called Kutch. The original plan was to visit Rajasthan, possibly Jaipur, Udaipur, Ambaji and whatnot, but work took higher priority so I didn't have enough days left for the planned roadtrip. That's when plan B came to rescue - everyone else suggested we go to Kutch instead and my only requirement was that we pick a place none of us have seen before. This worked out pretty well because none of us had been to Kutch before, except for my youngest cousin. He said that he didn't mind visiting it again and got super excited about it so we were all set to go.

We started out from Bhavnagar after lunch on Monday and arrived at Gandhidham by night. For dinner we stopped by at this all vegetarian dhaba-like place called Shri Chamundakrupa Restaurant in Samkhiyali, Kutch. This is on highway and serves really nice all-you-can-eat thaali.

Shri Chamundakrupa Restaurant, Samkhiyali, Kutch

In Gandhidham, we stayed at this really nice place called Hotel Gokul. We had a booking at another hotel near by but that one got more people than they expected and gave away our rooms to other tourists before we got there. So instead of getting upset and nervous, we roamed around a little bit on the Gandhidham highway and found this really nice place called Hotel Gokul! It was better than the place we were supposed to stay at and had a wonderful time because we got two rooms connected from inside so all seven of us could stay together. I definitely recommend this place.

Hotel Gokul, Gandhidham

Next day, we had super delicious South Indian breakfast at Chawla Cafe in Gandhidham downtown and started driving towards Anjar by 10 AM.

Chawla Cafe, Downtown Gandhidham

Adalaj Stepwell (vaav)

Adalaj ni vaav (step-well) is a must-see place if you're in Ahmedabad area. I was fortunate to have visited the place during my last trip there. And whatever amount of time you will have there will not be enough. I know for sure that I'm going back there again. It's less than an hour worth of drive from Ahmedabad and if you leave early in the day, it might be half an hour or so. The place has nice market like thing to hangout at and spend the afternoon or even make a picnic like trip.

It was so much fun to shoot the photos as it was a clear bright day. In India, it's not so hard to find such a time but when you don't get to see that during winter season, it just makes you appreciate it so much.

At the step-well, they don't allow videography or flash photography. There's personnel there to enforce this. They might look like normal visitors but they're actually employees (of Archeological Survey of India? I'm guessing). They allow visitors to take pictures without the flash though so I was really thankful for that. I didn't have more time otherwise I'd have checked out the graves of the workers who created this vaav back in the day (A. D. 1498).

Here's a glimpse to the vaav and the history of it:


Details on the stairs




Details and damaged walls




Jharukho (balcony)




Multiple levels of the well



View from the bottom




Details on the walls



Pillar stacks and walls



Banyan tree (vadvaai & vad)


More photos of Adalaj Step-well.

Independence Day Fireworks - July 4th, 2010

The best part about 4th of July this year was the fireworks! That was mostly because I was going to get an opportunity to experiment more with my D5000 and take some crazy fireworks photos. And indeed, they turned out to be some of the most beautiful fireworks pictures I've ever taken. Here are the instructions I followed and some of the photos I took. :)


















It took a while to get used to the fact that in these settings, the camera actually takes quite a while to record all the information and generate the preview of photograph. I got annoyed at one point because it seemed like the battery was low because nothing would happen. But the camera was in fact working on capturing the most amazing (and continuous) images of the fireworks. I am glad I realized sooner, that it was actually just fine and I needed to be more patient. That helped quite a lot.

More fireworks photos on flickr.

Choosing my first DSLR...

...was surprisingly enough, not the toughest decision I had to make. Thanks to many family and friends who are professional and almost-professional photographers.

I had been contemplating over this one for years now. Finally, when Ykaka suggested I should graduate to a DSLR already, I said to myself, this was it! After being a proud owner of a regular SLR camera with film, it was about time to makeup my mind about digital SLR and just go for it. To be honest, I didn't do too much research on any particular area about cameras because I wanted to buy something that I could use for everything - portraits, macros, scenes, and everything else. So for me, it was more of a decision to pick out the best entry level camera there was. My budget was sort of flexible, but I didn't want to go overboard with it.

Some thoughts to share if you're in the same place where I was before yesterday: If you can't make up your mind at any given point, the thing to do is, wait... the best part about that is, you'll probably get a better camera for the same money you'll spend. The bad thing about it is, you'll lose out on taking pictures during that time. And the worst is, the wait never ends if you keep doing that. So I finally decided to decide.

Here are some of the reasons why I chose Nikon D5000 over Canon T1i.

A few months back, I spent a lot of time on cnet reviews reading about DSLR basics. It is a wonderful site for some excellent info and confused me quite a lot. So this time, the keyword for me was "entry level" so I started out with the timelines for different cameras from both of these brands. I searched on google and wikipedia mostly to find which cameras fell under these category. I narrowed down on 3 models of Nikon and 3 models of Canon. Then it was time to compare them all amongst each other and within their same manufacturer. This helped narrow down even further to 2 models from each brand. Then I went on to quite a few websites to compare the features and check the prices of these four models. The feature comparison helped narrow down even further to two models that I mentioned above.

These are some of the sites I spend hours on to compare prices and packages:
BestBuy
Ritz Camera
Costco
B&H Photo Video
Fry's electronics is also another option along with Amazon.com. I didn't check either of these as it was creating information overload in my head.

I should add that one of the main reasons to choose a Nikon was that I already own a Nikon N65, which has already made a unique place in my heart so I was a bit partial to begin with. Then came the following points:
PROS:

1. Automatic mode - Nikon offers an automatic mode that Canon does not have. This makes the camera shoot like a normal point and shoot one. I liked this option a lot for the simplicity of use. Until I get into the details about the DSLR shooting and utilizing all the features, this would be like a default that I can use.
   
2. Image sensor - Nikon has slightly bigger one. The difference is in less than a millimeter.
   
3. Burst mode - Nikon has it and Canon doesn't. To be honest, I don't know a thing about burst mode, but that wasn't my deciding factor.
   
4. Weight - Nikon weighs almost the double at 28.8 oz where as Canon is at 16.9 oz. I talked to a few photographers and they said this was because the insides of a Nikon used magnesium alloy or similar metal for the core of camera where as Canon used plastic. I liked the fact that Nikon was heavier. That would make it heavy for usage but a sturdier camera too.
   
5. Price wise, Nikon was about $50 less than Canon.
   

CONS:

1. The LCD/live view screen size is 2.7 in in Nikon, Canon has 3 in.
   
2. Megapixel - Canon had 15+ Nikon has 12+ but I was told that resolution of more than 10 didn't make too much of a difference unless you were printing huge posters.
   
3. HD video - I am guessing the Nikon had 720p HD video where as Canon had 1000+p HD video. I'm not entirely sure though.
   
4. Nikon's weight is more making it a bit bulkier camera than Canon.
   

Everything else was practicaly the same. They both have video mode, live view, and support JPG, RAW and JPG+RAW (this means it generates both of these files for each photo) formats for photograph files. So after evaluating all these, I realized that I can live with the cons of Nikon better than the cons of the Canon.

Some really good suggestions that helped me make this decision were:

1. Do not think too much. Spending months or weeks deciding about cameras are not reasonable and don't help you make a better decision.
   
2. Once you decide on a camera, don't doubt your choice. Just go with it and enjoy yourself.
   
3. Get an upgradable camera and don't be afraid to spend a bit more to get a better longer lasting camera. You are not going to buy another one for at least five years, or atleast you want to think like that. ;)
   
4. Like everyone else using a DSLR tells you, and Sandeep said it here too, lenses are very important so get a camera that works with wide range of lenses with interchangeable mount. Doesn't have to be wide range of manufacturers.
   
5. When you purchase lenses, and if they are Nikon, be sure that they have VR (vibration reduction) and DX (Digital extra format - sensor type, majority of Nikon lenses use this).
   
6. Definitely get at least the haze filter or UV filter to protect the lens.
   
7. Do not buy a DSLR without the carrying bag/case. That helps protect your prized possession.
   
8. Don't do something because someone else wants you to do it. Do it because YOU want to do it.
   
9. Go with your gut feeling.
   

I added the last two points in there. :) Now comes the most challenging part: learning how to use it. For a starter, I watched the video of Bob Krist, the photographer for National Geographic. It was very helpful. Now I'm reading the instruction manual and keep taking photos in between to test what I just just learned. Still getting more comfortable with holding such a big camera and learning about a gazillion settings on it. The photos are not coming out as what I'd expect them to be. They're not bad, just completely different. The details in the photos are excellent. My Sony digital point-and-shoot has 14 MP and that one doesn't have nearly as much detail as this 12.3 MP camera. It's very interesting to note that. Am also learning what filters do and learning what is meant by different terminologies such as f stops, aperture, shutter speed, wide angle, etc. Gotta be patient with self and the learning process.

Here's a glimpse to some of my newest creations:


Bay Bridge - shaken not stirred ;)



Ghirardelli



Port of San Francisco



White flowers