Blogadda Contest: Travel Photos

For once, there is a contest in the cyber space that I can participate in. Blogadda announced a contest for travel photos. Travel Photos! I am like a kid on Diwali or Holi or Id or Christmas or whatever festival you celebrate. Which one should I put, which one should I discard? I have at least 20 photos that I want to put here and yet, I can only put 5 of them. Decisions, decisions! Anyway, here goes my list:

The spring of 2008 I went for a Euro trip with friends. This is one of the shot from my first view of Eiffel tower in Paris during a Seine river cruise. We all (tourists) were clicking profusely, after all it’s Eiffel tower. Stepping back from my vantage point, I realized that there is no human factor in numerous picture of Eiffel tower I had just clicked. So this presented as a perfect opportunity: a friend clicking the picture of Eiffel tower. This remains my best shot of Eiffel tower that I took on that trip, even though the Eiffel tower is blurred and is in the background.  The fascination of man with the monuments.

  The summer of 2008 I did an internship in Southern California. In two months I was there, I went to Disneyland 5 times (it was 2 hours drive from my place), although every time with a different set of friends. This statue of Mickey and Walt Disney caught my eyes the first time I was there but I simply couldn’t get the right angle or right way to click the picture. And then there were so many other exciting things to take picture of, so I let it go. In all the subsequent visits, I stole moments from my friends and tried again. However I didn’t click a single picture of this statue till my last visit, when finally I found exactly right angle to click this picture: Disney palace behind the statue of Walt Disney holding hand of Mickey Mouse and showing/dreaming a world. It summarizes the world of Disney, doesn’t it?

By the time I clicked this picture, I knew Disneyland like back of my hand now: all the rides, the different princesses, Disney characters and where they will appear, their “houses”, the parades….oh well, let me summarize by saying: it was a fun summer.   Yet another shot from my fun summer in Southern California. This is Lake Isabella in Sierra mountains, again 2 hours drive from the place I was staying, though in completely different direction than Disneyland. I published this picture on my photoblog titled: “Welcome to Paradise: Speed limit is 15 mph”. Honestly, doesn’t this look like paradise? This is a shot from Lake Tahoe in  Northern California. The water is so clear that you can literally see the bottom of the lake. Can you see the shadow of the duck and the shadow of the ripples it created at the bottom of the lake? Yep, it’s that clear!

Even though you can’t tell this by the photograph, it was freezing cold when I was there (I  was on a ski trip organized by the department: No, I can’t ski and yes, I hate skiing- two things I realized on that trip). And as I sat there on the ramp that went in the lake, I wondered how do the ducks survive in that cold water. I knew if I accidentally fell in that lake, I will have hypothermia, and there that duck was, happily swimming in the lake. Have you ever felt insignificant while admiring the nature? Then you know how I felt, sitting there, observing that duck swimming in that ice cold lake.

Okay, the last one is from the time I was in India and was working. I had to travel to Rajasthan for the field work quite often. This photo is from one of those field trips. It is a shot of the Keradu temples in Rajasthan. Unlike, Khajuraho temples, these are not very well known. When I visited them for the first time in 2004, we were the only tourist in the place. The watchman was out on the lunch break, so we had to open the bolt of gates ourselves and let ourselves in. It didn’t feel like any toursity place I have been in India, where its hard to escape the crowd and take any picture.

Although these temples form an archaeological site and are supposed to be well conserved, I just wish that Indian government/Rajasthan government took a better care of these artifacts than they were doing in 2004 (am not sure about the present condition of the temples). They were build in 1000 AD and later, approximately the same time as Khajuraho temples. They are beautiful.  If you ever visit West Rajasthan (may be while visiting Jaislmer or Jodhpur), do drop in at this place. It’s in Barmer district.

That’s all from my corner. Hope you like them. For more photographs visit my photoblog, Aperture.

The contest is sponsored by Pringoo.com and Blogadda.