Aliens of this world

Been a while since my home made lens reversal adapter broke. Fixed it last Friday and went out to shooting. Following are few images from the shoot

A Garden Snail A tiny rain drop stuck on grass blade Wing details of a Crimson tip Another angle of Crimson Tip A fly A mosquito of different kind A spider doing Yoga A little shiney bug with Bling A wasp on top Do I look like a frog? A grasshopper with colorful collar A fly with designer eyes Honey sucker - Crimson tip

My first lightning images

Finally I have been lucky with Lightning photographs. All these years I was so unlucky that I couldnt be in right place at right time. Following images are clicked using Canon 7D Opteka 6.5mm @ 30" f8.

2013's Monsoon is here

All of the images are panoramas. Image 2 and 4 are 360 degree panoramas.

Sunset at Vadodara

Panorama of Sunset created out of 16 images. Used canon 400D along with Canon 18-55mm @ 18mm.

Nal Sarovar the winter destination of Flamingo - State Bird of Gujarat

Since I moved to Vadodara in 2010 I have been waiting for a chance to visit and click flocks of Flamingos. I wasnt lucky till this February. I had chance to clicke couple of flamingos before but they were all very few to be called as flock. My first sighting of Flamingo flock was on 14th March 2010 at Pocharam near Hyderabad.

Nal Sarovar is one the very well know wetland to spot and view Flamingos, its located at 40 to 50 odd kms from Ahmadabad

I visited Nal Sarovar on 3rd Feb 2013, this was my 2nd visit and I was not expecting to spot Flamingos as I had very bad experience on my previous visit, when the locals misguided and we ended up sight seeing ourselves.

There were many changes at the wetland this time, it was very well organised. First and foremost being that they have created a buffer zone where they were not letting the visitors/tourist to drive in their vehicles. There was parking and the ticket counter where they issued tickets for entering the wetland area. Good part is ticket costs just 25 INR per head and 100 INR for still camera. Entry point is around a kilometer away from the main waterbody. To reach the water body one can walk, or take a camel cart or take a shared 6 seater car. 6 seater car charges 10INR per head one way, where as Camel cart will cost you a 5 INR per head one way.

Even before you reach the ticket counter the guide will flock you to get their boat services with their tall claims. You have to be careful while dealing with them and you have to make sure that you only pay half of what you have agreed to before getting on to the boats, tell them that rest you will pay after returning from the ride only if you have got to spot the Flamingos.

If you are lucky and have reached the wetland very early and are one of the first visitors of the day then there are chances that you will get to view the Flamingos near to the shore. If you are late by even 30 mins boat might need to travel long distance say a 8 to 10 kms minimum before you spot the Flamingos. We took around 2 hours before we spotted Flamingos.

Following are few images from the trip:

Panorama of Marine Drive of Mumbai

Panorama of Marine Drive of Mumbai. Stitched 16 images to get this. This image is 5 times smaller than the original image.

Clicked with Canon 7D&Canon 70-200 L 2.8 IS ii USM@ 135mm
Used Photoshop to convert the raw files to Jpeg and for final exposure correction and cropping and filling in the blank space. Used PTgui to stitch the images.

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My very first wish - Owning of a Royal Enfield Bullet Classic 500

I was around 5 years old and first thing that I thought of when I sat on my uncle's (mama - Maternal uncle) Royal Enfield Bullet was, I too will also get this bike like Kishore mamaya.
The smell, the feel, the tank grip, the console, the thump of that bike is still fresh in my mind. On 1st Feb I finally got one for myself. This one is not anywhere near to the model that my uncle used to ride. But this is for belongs to same lineage.

I tried to get one back in 2007 when I was in Hyderabad but due to the need of the hour I had to spend the money saved to get my first car "Lady in Red" Fiat Palio Stile 1.6 Sport.

I never knew the exact model name of my mamas Bullet. But since I got the understanding of the specs and started following automobiles I wanted to get a 500 CC version.

Almost a month back I got to talk a dear and near friend of mine, we happened to discuss this unfulfilled wish of mine to own a RE Bullet. She felt that its time that I should get it and it kicked off the itch to get it. I wanted to get a 500CC from 70 or 80s line up. I was tight on budget and all of the 500s advertised were priced almost double.

I tried finding a used 500 through my friends in Mumbai, Hyderabad, Banglore and Ahmedabad and all of them said that no 500s are available for sale. So I kind of at reached dead end.

I decided to go for brand new bike. I approached a colleague who owns a Thunderbid 350 he told me that wait time for a new 500 Classic is around 6 to 8 months. He suggested me to check with a local mechanic for a used bike. He got me the contact from one of his co rider from "One Ride".

I casually called up the mechanic and to my surprise Mechanic confirmed that he has a 500 and asked me to come down to check the vehicle.

Next day I visited the owned of the bike and tested it. Bike was in great shape other than couple of small dents and scratches. First ride was amazing, the amount of power it delivers and the ease of handling it. with few seconds into the ride I made up my mind that I am going to buy this bike. With in 5 days I brought it. It was quick and smooth transaction. As of now the transfer of ownership is in progress.

The very next day I took it out for a 30km ride to a place call Por Timibi near Waghodia and did a little shoot of my beautiful possession.