The Big VIVA GOA cover shoot

As part of the November issue that's on the stands now, Viva Goa's coverstory features the high life with leisure boating and yachts in Goa. We got a yacht and four charming models who have interesting day jobs as well. This shoot is by Edric George and his photo graces the cover page. I was just along for the ride on the lovely 'Ciao Belle' of The O Hotel with my now trusty 1000d for the ride, or is that cruise? These are a few snapshots from the cruise...

Mirror, Mirror...

Photo from our trip to Mayem Lake. Read about it here.

The Rainbow Bridge

Photo from our trip to Mayem Lake. Read about it here.

The Green Fields and Lakes of Goa

Some more photos from our ride to Mayem Lake. Read about it here.

The trees we passed...

The woods are dark and deep

The Banyan Grove

The grand old banyan tree

A path runs through it...

We encountered quite a few interesting trees along the way, here are some of them. Read about the Mayem lake trip here.

St Thomas Church, Aldona

Photos from our visit to Aldona Church on our way to Mayem lake. Read about it here.

Corjuem Fort

Encountered this fort as a part of our ride to Mayem lake in Goa. Read about it here.

Sunset at Candolim Beach

Pegasus

Sunset at Candolim Beach, Goa

Kala Ghoda Festival 2011

Another year, another Kala Ghoda Festival. This time, we decided to check out the dance shows that were put up (we still have to do the whole walk around the festival thing). We had aimed to get this show Lindy Hop (Tim Collins and Malou Meyenhofer) and Veve Belly Dance (Smita Mohan Kadam and Yagna Chheda), which was held at the Horniman circle gardens (on 7th Feb).

The venue was packed even though it was a weekday but Faye and me managed to get some space to stand without too many heads in the way. The previous performance had been delayed, so she snapped some photos of that. We hadn't carried the H2 (Faye weilds this one like a pro), so we had just one camera between us, which we ended up switching between the two of us. Without further ado, here are the photos...

More photos from the event are up at flickr.

A visit to the Canon Service Centre

As I mentioned in a previous post, there were images turning up with a strange squiggly line everything I shot something. Tried the sensor cleaning that the 1000D comes equipped with but the squiggly line remained. So it was time to take the camera in for a sensor cleaning.

A quick google later, this was the address I got... (sorry about all the caps lock! Copied straight fron the Canon website: http://www.canon.co.in/section/contactus/servicenetwork.jsp)

CANON MASTER SERVICE CENTRE
6TH FLOOR,CENTER POINT BLDG,
ABOVE STANDARD CHARTED BANK
S.V. RD, NEAR TRIBHUVANDAS BHIMJI ZAVERI,
(JUHU TARA ROAD-JUNCTION)
SANTACRUZ (W),
MUMBAI
MAHARASHTRA
Pin : 400054
Tel : 022 67605000-01
Email : sheetal.more@canon.co.in
Contact Person : Sheetal More
Timing: 9:30AM to 5:30PM

The place is not too far from the Santacruz railway station. Its about 10-15 mins walking distance. Take the road from the station to get to the main road (SV Road), move due north and you'll find the place. Ask the shops if you're not too sure.

After getting to service centre, I was quite surprised to notice so many people there, I mean people who have come to drop off or retrieve cameras. It took some time, but I finally dropped off the camera. The 1000d for sensor cleaning (they call it CMOS cleaning, which is the sensor actually) and the EF 50mm f/1.8 II to check for focus issues.

Now if you register your camera when you buy it with Canon, you get a free sensor cleaning thrown in. If you don't register, you don't get the coupon and so you'll have to pay Rs 1000 + taxes which works out to around Rs 1100. Inspecting of lens costs 1000 bucks + parts if you don't have a bill or it doesn't fall under warranty.

They told me it'll take 6 days to work on since there's a 'rush', however I requested them to hurry it up since I needed the camera for a shoot on the weekend. (Incidentally, when I had called them up on Saturday, the person there told me it'd take 2 days so I wasn't too stressed). I dropped the camera off on Tuesday (27th April)

Got a call from them on Wednesday. The person who was working on my camera found no problem with the lens and wanted to know if I had shots that showed 'out of focus' or something. (Keep some test shots ready next time!)

Anyways, I got a call the next day in the morning (30th April) that my camera was ready. So I did get my camera back in 2 days. The dust is gone, but I still need to take test shots with the 50mm. Maybe some time this week.

In the meanwhile, enjoy this photo at the end of this text heavy post. This is a test shot taken post the cleaning of the sensor and trying out the lens. Came out better than I expected... this one is a 1280x800 wallpaper of the MG Astray Red Frame.

The jewel in the sea

The Bandra-Worli sea link really shines when it becomes night, and it has definitely added a strong visual element to what used to be a regular ol'bay around the Worli to Bandra area. Anyways, Enjoy the panorama!

Click on the pic for larger view.

In other news, the Canon has picked up some dust on its sensor(its visible when I stop down the lens) and the sensor cleaning doesn't seem to be doing anything to it, which means that I have to take it to the service centre. Lets see how that works out...

Lights off, Lights on

While I have been to Shivaji Park a few times, I've seldom been to the 'beach' that's right opposite it. These days at night, visitors are greeted with the great sight of the Bandra-Worli sea link. Missed the sunset but managed to catch the last rays of light, followed by the lights of the Bandra-Worli sea link being switched on.

The MSI X-Slim X340

Its been a while since the last post... as usual... the photos are all stuck in post-production. Before I go any further, this isn't my (new) laptop, its my brother's who has done a review for fnatic.com (click here for the review, my photos are on pg 2, pg 1 is the official MSI photo)

Check the rest of the photos on Flickr.

Greeting you at Orchid Garden

The Orchid Garden within the Botanical Garden is a treat for flower lovers as well as those who love to shoot macros of flowers, and of course, just lovers. The place provides many picture perfect 'take your photo here' points and its easy to lose track of time as you flit from one flower to the next.

This panorama is the sight that greets you right after you enter the Orchid Garden. I hadn't carried my tripod, so once again, I cursed my laziness as i settled down to take this hand-held panorama is all its misaligned glory :-(

Lesson learnt: Its better to carry and not use it and curse its weight than to not carry it and wish you had it, both while shooting and when seeing the photos back on your computer :-(

Click here for the larger version.

Looking back at the entrance

The Botanical Garden in Singapore has a great collection of plants, flowering and non-flowering and is a great spot to take the kids to in the evening (as was evident from the large number of families and kids in the area!) Its also a great place for photography and we actually spotted two brides (in complete bridal gear) getting their pictures clicked (with their pro of course). A must visit place.

This pan is of the entrance of the Botanical Garden in Singapore. To the right is the restaurant and some souvenir shops.The originally planned pan was supposed to be wider, but there were some serious alignment issues on the left-hand side, since I shot this hand-held and so that part had to be cropped out of the final version.


 

  Click here for a larger version.

Looking around Kanheri Caves - The desolate landscape

As with most places Maharashtra before the monsoons, there are looming clouds along with dry and dead dead vegetation all around, so much unlike the landscape of the monsoons. Kanheri caves in the Sanjay Gandhi National Park is no exception to this.

Click here for a larger sized version.

Inside the Esplanade

As interesting as the Esplanade looks from the outside, its even more interesting on the inside. This is a panorama of one of the main entrances. I'm not sure if it was part of 'installation art' or a regular feature of the place, but that entire hall was resonating with the sound of water drops. Part of an exercise in Zen meditation I guess?

 Back when I took this set, there were way too many lines in this place and I was pretty certain that getting them to stitch together seamlessly would be a pain so I never ended up processing it when I got back. There's also the shake in one of the photos of this set that I didn't notice on the LCD which makes this photo far from a perfect panorama :-(

Click here for a larger sized photo.

Singapore skyline by night panorama - redux

Here's a new look at an old pan. The first time I tried it, the images didn't stitch together all that well, however, this time around, it was much better. So this week of panoramas kicks off with the previously seen (on ephotography.in) but now improved Singapore skyline by night panorama.

Larger size available here.

The view by night

 V Resort & Resto Lounge at the 'small Vagator cliff', Goa (also know as Ozrean) commands quite a view by day, but I have yet to see it. By night, I'm guessing unless its a night with a full moon, the lights of V shines brighter and more interesting than the dark beach and the sea beyond. So that makes 2 situations I'd like to visit this place in, a full moon, and of course, for a sunset. Anyways, here's a pan of the restaurant and lounge area.

Giovi's more realistic panorama is here. Check the larger size image here.