Yosemite National Park - Photoblog

We went to Yosemite with the cousins for Thanksgiving. Finally got to edit the "non- people" photos from the trip.

A long trail to "mirror lake" which turned out to be a dry bed with no water! The board said "mirror lake is a misnomer. it is not a lake"

It is a photographers job to make do with whatever water comes our way while on a trail that promised "lake".. so started shooting reflections of the mountains on any and every large puddle.  So here is a series of photos from the puddle shoot. They are all reflections from small puddles.

Then it was time to see the "lake".. 

the views from this dry bed were fantastic. We had a lone buck grazing there..

We walked by a creek on the way back and I got to photograph anything that caught my eye..

from moss to mushrooms..

For once, a reflection from a creek instead of a puddle..

There must be a lot more water there now after the heavy rains from last week.. but it was a good thing we went during Thanksgiving break. Parking was easy to find, less crowded and the trails were not slippery. That helped us with the climb all the way to Nevada falls on the second day. We spent 6 hours on the trail and my legs were wobbling after the fast descent. Should have paced myself. In trying to catch up with the group after taking pictures, did some bad moves and it took a toll on my knees.

We caught both Vernal and Nevada falls. Vernal falls had a lot more water on our last visit. Still it was a pretty sight. 

On the way to our cabins we stopped by the Swinging bridge. There was some water, lots of clouds and the sunset turned the coulds bright red. It was an unforgettable drive but there are no pictures of the sunset. The legs were trembling and it was time to go drink tea in the cabins!

On the third day we visited two trails while heading out of Yosemite. One was the trail for a Carson falls and the other was Rainbow Push. They were both within 15 miles of the west entrance. It started raining heavily and we had to rush through both these trails. It was a vibrant early morning..

Even HDR images do not match what the eyes saw that morning. 

We made it back through pouring rain. It was a great experience to stay in Yosemite for a couple of nights and spend more time in the park. Our earlier trips have all been day trips with one 2-3 hour hike at the most. 

The cabins at Yosemite lake are strongly recommended. Nice, cozy and a decent kitchen. 

The kids thoroughly enjoyed playing board games and the whole cozy cabin experience!

A big thanks to all those who support the National park system!

The Devi is in the details..

The Navarathri festvial is in full swing. As with most things in the US for Indian families, all festivals that run a long time peak during the weekend. Usually the 9 day festival that culminates in Vijayadasami, overlaps two weekends. This year, we got only one weekend.

That meant, the algorithm that is used to juggle the 20+ evites, the open times to go visit various doll displays aka "golus", the travel time between the various locations, average time spent in each house, and other factors like number of possible dress changes, simply quit on us after throwing a few singularity errors and saying "you have only 24 hours in a day"!

This also meant there was tremendous pressure on Sangeetha to "dress up the girls and get dressed herself" and even more pressure on me to take perfect portraits on the first try within 10 minutes after they all got ready and even even more pressure on me to drive like a maniac on local freeways to ferry them to their destinations. 

Needless to say, the kids did their best to co-operate, which is another way of saying "they fell way short of our expecations". 

This year also marked the first time Jr. wore a davani (Half-Sari)! Before we know it, she will be wearing a full Sari. There is nothing that makes you realize your daughter is all grown up, than seeing her in a half sari. 

Please also note my hairline which is slowly going to a point where it won't be captured in portraits, unless we start taking aerial shots! I am tempted to plot my hairline vs. Jr's height and see if it is a linear, parabolic or exponential curve.

The only thing odd in that picture (not my hairline) is that yours truly doesn't dress nice for Navarathri!

I go in a T-shirt and Jeans with my camera on my shoulder, looking like Jane Goodall about to join the Chimps for an observation routine.

This year I came out with a half sleeve shirt and took some photos with the kids while Sangeetha was still dressing up, and the little one tells me "Daddy, you look like a auto driver. This shirt doesn't go well with what we are all wearing!" 

San chimes in with "If you are going to dress like this, please don't bother coming with us!" 

Funny thing is, it was a new shirt from the recent India trip. My mom got me two shirts for "casual wear"!  

Next year I have to go in a suit to match the girls!

We did Photoshop specials for Navarathri in recent years (2012, 2013). This year I get to be the model for the photomerges.

I am happy for the auto rickshaw drivers!

On a final note, the title was intentional.

Navarthri is a celebration of Shakthi in all her forms. We celebrate with displays of dolls, sweets and savories to get everyone, especially the kids engaged. In most houses there is just chanting of Lalitha Sahasranamam or Soundarya Lahari by the ladies and a prayer. 

I wanted Jr. and the little one (at least Jr.) to learn Soundarya Lahari. It has been a long time since I recited it. As with anything else, I work on reciting things without a book, so they know that it has to be done by heart. That meant some homework for me. Sitting alone in a hotel room in Asia was perfect for this.

They say that once you recite this hymn and close your eyes Shakthi appears in the middle of your eyebrows!

One night I called Sangeetha and said "Last night, I recited the Soundarya Lahari and closed my eyes, and I saw you. Maybe I just realized that YOU are my ambaal!"

Her response was "The kids are fighting non stop. I am going through hell here. If I am a godess and this is my fate, I cannot imagine what my fate would be otherwise!" 

Did give that a lot of thought sitting on planes and going through airports.

Our Devi's are right in front of us. There is no reason to try and visualize a supreme divinity when she is all around us!

It was an "eye opening" experience!

ps. The golus are morphing over time in the bay area. Will post pictures tomorrow. . . 

When it comes to creating a "build up". . .

After a long time, decided to update the Cooking section of this website. Given that the MIL is back in Seattle, it is time my hands took a ladle or two up. . . 

Wanted to have a nice banner picture for this page and roped in the little one for a trick photo shoot. Explained the concept to her.. "Daddy will look like Shakti except with cooking utensils instead of weapons?" 

She immediately got it. After deciding which things to hold in Daddy's ten hands, we paired up the things and placed 5 sets of utensils on the floor. The camera was set up on the tripod and ready to go. 

The little one had to click, come remove things from my hand, replace them with two other utensils and go back and click... then repeat this three more times! After downloading the photos and doing an initial merge she was disappointed. "I didn't do that good a job appa.. there are some places where you moved!"

Told her that it was not her problem and that she did an outstanding job. It just needed some quality time for Daddy with Photoshop.

1 hour later.. we present to you Daddy in his Vishwaroopam pose in the kitchen..

Never before has a buildup for cooking seen this in the history of cooking or "buildup".

Pretty sure I will be diagnosed as OCD becaue most of the time was spent in getting the shadow right. 

The most important thing in all of this?

The little one is going to be one hell of a photographer and eventual photoshopper. En kula kozhundhu has been identified!

Kids failed the quiz...

How was this photo done?

The answer may surprise you!

guesses ?

Death Valley trip Panoramas

Day 4 trip photos are here..

Day 5 of the trip was our return from Ridgecrest to San Jose with a stop at Lake Isabella for 15 minutes to enjoy the serene waters. There were two other vehicles there and the rest of the way we did not cross a single vehicle on either side for almost a good 20 miles!

It was a beautiful drive along the Kern river which at places was moving rapidly and having calm waters to catch reflections of mountains.

These stitch shots are actually really large. Each of them is ~ 100 Mb and the originals are 12000 to 16000 pixels wide by 3000 to 5500 pixels in length. Have resized them to a 1200 pixel max width for the website. 

They were all made by composite merging 8-21 photos all taken in portrait orientation while panning the landscape in full manual mode with the same setting for all the photographs. 

An example is below:

You get one gigantic image from which you crop the right section and play with it to get this...

Plan to print one of these as a 8 foot by 2 foot poster which should still be good at 96dpi ! 

Hope you enjoyed the pictures. We sure will go back and look at these pictures as our new screensaver.

Would definitely recommend an extra day or two for Death valley trips to enjoy the Kern river, the lake etc. on the way in and see other things like Titus canyon, Racetrack Playa etc. 

Knowing what we know now, next time we will probably stay inside death valley at the expensive furnace creek inn for at least two of the 5 days and will be renting a jeep in advance!