28th September 2008

The Wheels are in Motion

Got back to University last Monday after a fairly uneventful trip. I was the last person to get on the plane since I was happily sitting at Hard Rock Cafe and sipping my drink when I noticed that everyone had left the waiting area. I slept for a majority of the trip which made it seem short.However, the London Underground did stop randomly a couple of times which made the trip from Heathrow to Colchester seems longer than the plane from Hyderabad to London.

Nevertheless, all is good now, I’ve settled into the new house with my friends and finished customizing my room to my preferences. A few small things remains to be done but they should be easily finished soon. We still have to get Internet at our house and the Virgin people seem to be taking forever to get it done. Hence I have to walk to University to use the labs whenever I need to check my email or just check my calender. This does have some good points though, it has made me adapt to a non internet life and use Post-Its extensively along with some other old-school methods to keep myself organized now that I cannot visit iGoogle every few minutes. But it also obviously has its bad points, such as not being able to use Skype, no random YouTube videos, and I cant just Wikipedia something when I want to. But it should be here in a week, hopefully.

I’ve been mostly meeting up with friends and doing things for the societies since classes only start next week. All the freshers arrive today and I’m somewhat looking forward to meeting them. I’m sure there will be atleast one like minded person when there are 2500 new students arriving.

I’ve been catching up with important news only, the state of the United States Financial Market has been very interesting to say the least, and also the first movie shot with the Canon 5D MkII made by Vincent LaForet are very very impressive. I suggest that you take a look at it here.

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22nd September 2008

Home and Away

By the time you read this, I’m probably on the plane to England or have already reached there. Its been a joyful three months of vacation at home but all good things come to an end and now, its time to get back to University. To eat, drink, sleep, take photos, play GTA IV and occasionally study when I’ve got the time. And to make a general comparison of England and India , I’ve decided to make a couple of lists.

The first one is a list of things at home that I will miss once I’ve gone to University, so here we go, in order of preference -

  1. Family
  2. Friends
  3. Paradise Biryani and Indian food in general
  4. The view from my terrace, and sitting there taking photos with friends
  5. Lazing around all day watching TV
  6. The casual Hyderabadi attitude
  7. Travelling across half the country for the same amount of money as a decent meal in England
  8. Haggling the price with auto drivers/discussing the latest movies with my driver
  9. Relative Purchasing Power of money

And just to even things out, the list of things in England that I missed while I was at home, also in order of preference -

  1. Friends
  2. Abundance of Photography Goods, all easily available
  3. High Speed Internet
  4. Walking around aimlessly in town
  5. Gliding

I think these lists, more or less, sum up everything. I’m definitely going to miss home and I’m sure Hyderabad is going to miss me as well, as I found out from the sudden burst of rain today which I acknowledged as a salute of goodbye from the city. Jokes apart, I’m also looking forward to Essex since I’ll have productive things to do rather than laze around all day, even though that was a lot of fun. Later!

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19th September 2008

6 Landscape Photographs I like and why I like them

Continuing my monthly series of photographs, here is the second post showcasing my favourite landscape photographs. You can see the first post of the series here.

Glorious Illumination, Copyright of Timothy Wolcott.

Glorious Illumination, Copyright of Timothy Wolcott.

Rightfully titled ‘Glorious Illumination’ by landscape photographer Timothy Wolcott, this spectacular photograph taken in Antarctica has inspired me to visit Antarctica atleast once in my lifetime. The exotic and unique location of this photograph, the amazing use of negative space, the graceful fusion of water and ice and the abundance of my favourite color, blue, makes this one my most favourite landscape shots of all time.

Morning Tree, Copyright of Richard Smith.

Morning Tree, Copyright of Richard Smith.

Taken in Keswick, England, this beautiful photo of dawn is what I imagine Paradise to be. A stretch of lush green grass with a river flowing next to it, and topped off with a view of mountains and peaks. This photo just feels so serene and peaceful,and along with the tree in the foreground, nothing seems wrong.

Beacon Rock, Copyright of Luke Olsen

Beacon Rock, Copyright of Luke Olsen

As a long time fan of dusk and night shots, this photography instantly appealed to me by being a combination of sunset and lights.  The near perfect composition leading the eye to the red light on the left is beautiful. The low angle on the shot and the seemingly universal depth-of-field was the result of the Canon 24mm TS-E f/3.5 L which is a tilt shift lens. They require a decent amount of knowledge to master and once you know how to use it well, you can create masterpieces like this one.

On Top of the Divie , Copyright of David Gong.

On Top of the Divide, Copyright of David Gong.

The blending of motion and stillness in this shot of the moon and some rocks is simply breathtaking. It was shot on a film camera (Nikon F100) with a 15mm fisheye lens to give the bulging wide angle effect to the photo. The movement of the clouds has been captured with a long exposure of 180 seconds and an aperture of f/5.6. Its photos like these that made me fall in love with night photography.

Heading Home, Copyright of Aditya Mopur.

Heading Home, Copyright of Aditya Mopur.

Simplicity is the name of the game and this photograph does wonders to portray it. The use of the rule of thirds, and the muted colours convey a sense of peace and serenity. And the title of ‘Heading Home’ depicting an Indian boatman gives one a sense of nostalgia and sentiment for the motherland.

Night Sky in the Outback, Copyright of Jeff Nyveen.

Night Sky in the Outback, Copyright of Jeff Nyveen.

Having attempted to shoot Star Trails twice, I know how tough its too get a good shot. This particular photo has a ridiculously long exposure time of 4 hours. Normal digital cameras would probably die if they were set up for a 4 hour long exposure and hence, this was taken with a film camera. The inclusion of the dark trees definitely adds to the photograph which would’ve otherwise been a bit bland. The random colors of the stars also adds to the already colorful pinkish-orange sky.

If you have any landscape photographs that you wish to share, please do post them in the comments.

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17th September 2008

Oh Canon! I officially love you!

Some of you may remember my previous post requesting Canon to come with something revolutionary in thei next dSLR. And they’ve done exactly that, killing the competition with the newly announced Canon 5D Mark II. With a resolution of 21.1 Megapixels, maximum ISO of 25,600 and full HD movie recording, Canon has just proved to everyone why they are the leader of the camera market with the 5D Mark II.

And the features mentioned above are just the start of the story. It sports the newly introduced Digic IV processor which can process the full 1080p HD video at 30fps and also allows one to shoot still images while the video is being taken without any interruption. It also has audio at a decent quality of 16-bit PCM at 44KHz along with a provision for an external stereo mic. The burst speed is probably a bit slow at 3.9 fps but it still can shoot 310 frames non stop.

It has the much touted 3.0″ Clear View LCD screen with a viewing angle of 170° which can automatically adjust brightness to suit viewing conditions and Live View with 3 different modes of autofocus, similar to the 50D.

In the area of ISO, Nikon was winning with its first full frame camera which had an ISO of 25,600, until today. Canon has trumped the D3 which only had 12 Megapixels with the 5D Mark II, which along with having 21.1 Megapixels of resolution, also has an ISO range of 50 - 25,600 which is the largest range of any dSLR to date.

The 5D Mark - II in all its glory.

The 5D Mark - II in all its glory.

It has a 9 point autofocus sensor which doesnt sound too fabulous when compared to the D3’s 51-point autofocus but it is also assisted by 6 additional invisible autofocus points present inside the spot-metering circle which, now, only covers 3.5% of the frame.

No surprises about the introduction of sensor cleaning, it has the standard EOS Integrated Sensor Cleaning System, but with an addition of a new Fluorine coating on the low-pass filter.

Additional improvements include a minor increase in viewfinder coverage from 96% to 98%, three levels of noise reduction which will kick in when shooting at ISOs higher than 800 and larger battery capacity.

Along with the camera, Canon has also announced a 24mm f/1.4 L II lens for wide angle shots in low light, featuring several new technologies.

The only reason one would buy a Canon 1Ds Mark - III is for the slightly faster burst rate, build quality, more autofocus points and its higher shutter durability.

Now that Sony has entered the 20 Megapixel camera race with the A900, we can only wait and see what Nikon has to offer.

The Canon 5D Mark - II will ship in November with a price tag of US: $2,699, EU: €2,499, UK: £2,299 for the body only. I cannot wait to see some sample videos and photos from this masterpiece.

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14th September 2008

6 Photography Wallpapers - Hyderabad Edition

Following on the popularity of the London Photography Wallpapers which were featured in Smashing Magazine, I decided to release 6 more wallpapers, this time of my hometown, Hyderabad, India. I’ve also included 6 resolutions this time to accomodate everyone’s desktop sizes.

Charminar - The Symbol of Hyderabad

Wide Screen -1920×1200, 1680×1050, 1440×900

Full Screen - 1600×1200, 1280×960, 1024×768

______________________________________________________

Chowmahalla Palace

Wide Screen -1920×1200, 1680×1050, 1440×900

Full Screen - 1600×1200, 1280×960, 1024×768

______________________________________________________

The Real Hyderabad

Wide Screen -1920×1200, 1680×1050, 1440×900

Full Screen - 1600×1200, 1280×960, 1024×768

______________________________________________________

Moving Lights

Wide Screen -1920×1200, 1680×1050, 1440×900

Full Screen - 1600×1200, 1280×960, 1024×768

______________________________________________________

Mecca Masjid

Wide Screen -1920×1200, 1680×1050, 1440×900

Full Screen - 1600×1200, 1280×960, 1024×768

______________________________________________________

Red and White

Wide Screen -1920×1200, 1680×1050, 1440×900

Full Screen - 1600×1200, 1280×960, 1024×768

______________________________________________________

I hope everyone like this batch of Wallpapers as well, please feel free to leave your comments. And these wallpapers are also dedicated to a friend who will be leaving Hyderabad soon in search of greener pastures, you know who you are.

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10th September 2008

Things change as time passes…

I’m going to kick off this post with some very sad news, one of the best violin players in India, Kunnakudi Vaidyanathan, passed away yesterday night due to a cardiac arrest. He was 75 years old and had been awarded a Padma Shri title. His classic style of music will be sorely missed. You can watch his work here.

I also have some good news, my last photo of the 365 Day Project, ‘Day 366‘ had appeared on the frontpage of Flickr Explore. It feels really nice to have the final photo of the project become popular, it give me the satisfaction that I’ve achieved a lot with the project. I’ve taken a screenshot of this memorable event which you can see below. My thanks to everyone who viewed, commented and favorited the photo.

Day 366 on Flickr Explore

Day 366 on Flickr Explore

And as I mentioned earlier, Sony has announced their newest dSLR, the A900 with a full frame sensor and a whopping resolution of 24 Megapixels and thus winning the megapixel race among dSLRs. It also features a 2.5-4 stop internal image stabilization feature, a 100% viewfinder and dual BIONZ processors. It has a bust rate of 5fps which might seem a bit low but then again, you’ll probably used such a highres camera only in studio situations which wont require high burst rates. The ISO range is decent, ranging from 100-6400. And the fact that it only costs $3,000 makes it a clear winner.

Sony has also announced two new lenses to accompany the A900. The first is a 16-35mm f/2.8 Carl Zeiss priced at $1,800 and the second is a 70-400mm f/4-5.6 costing $1,500. Both of them will ship in Jan 2009 and seem very impressive indeed.

This is obviously a problem for Canon who seems to be slightly going down in the market due to lack of innovation. It has everyone eagerly awaiting for the new 5D for which they have released a teaser saying “Destined Evolution’ which has only increased expectations. But the real problem here is not the A900 but since Sony manufactures the sensors for Nikon, there is a good chance that a D3x will be announced sporting a 24MP sensor and 25600 ISO which would make any loyal Canonian cry. But only time will tell so lets wait and see.

Apple has also announced the new generation of iPod Nanos. They dont have any spectacular improvements function wise but look better with a curved slim body and lot of fancy colors. Take a look at it here.

If you are Bulgarian, you should probably hang your head in shame since Slovakia beat Bulgaria in women’s ice hockey with a final score of 82-0. Read all about it here.

And thats all for now folks, but keep your eyes peeled for some wallpapers soon!

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8th September 2008

The End of a Year in Photographs

Around this time last year, I decided to embark on a journey that, over the course of a year, took me to many places, it made me do things I would have otherwise never done, it led me to meet new people, it changed the way I saw things, it had more effect on my life than I thought it ever would.

It was the 365 Day Project, a resolution to take one good photograph everyday from the 9th of September 2007 to the 8th of September 2008. It isnt any special date, just a random on which I thought that it would be fun I started the project. I did not know if I would have the will power to complete it but I thought that it would be interesting if I gave it a try and I’ve never regretted that decision to start the project.

The project has definitely fulfilled its purpose - to improve my photography skills. Even though I still consider myself far from the professionals, I have definitely improved by a remarkable level over 366 days and I am pleased about it. It has also had several positive side effects such as making me learn new things about photography, and whenever I took a photograph of a new and unusual thing, I used to read up on that as well and this has increased my general knowledge too.

I am of mixed feelings today. I am happy since I am no longer obliged to produce a good photo everyday but I also feel sad since it’s almost like a part of me has left me. I’m sure I’ll feel better over time and I will probably do another 365 Day Project sometime later but not in the near future because I’ll be entering my second year at University and academics does have more importance than hobbies. I will continue photographs, no doubt about that, but the frequency might subside a little. The final photograph of the project can be viewed here.

You can see the set of all the photographs here and you can also view a slideshow of all the photographs here. I hope you enjoyed watching the photos everyday for the past year, you can keep yourself updated with the photos I take in the future by visiting my Flickr Photostream often or adding me as a contact on Flickr or subscribing to this RSS Feed.

Thanks to my family for supporting me with this project, my friends for always being there to participate or help with the project, and every single person who has been following this project. Thank you!

Update - I’ve found out that the final photo has made the frontpage of Flickr Explore!

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6th September 2008

If you were the richest person on the planet, what would you drive?

Quite surprisingly, the world’s richest person today, Warren Buffet with an estimated worth of $62 Billion,  drives a relatively simple car, the 2006 Cadillac DTS which is sold for something in the region of $50,000. Admittedly, it is expensive for the common man but for a person with enough money to buy more than million Cadillacs, it does seem a bit thrifty. Interestingly, his previous car, a 2001 Lincoln Town Car Signature Series, once again costing around $50,000 had a number plate which read ‘THRIFTY’.

Buffet's Lincoln with the signature number plate.

Buffet's Lincoln with the signature number plate.

Infact, a number of billionaires drive quite simple cars. I guess when you’ve become that rich, you cant really be bothered to drive the fanciest and most expensive cars but would be happy with something that is simple and comfortable.

There are several examples of such billionaires including, Ingvar Kamprad, the founder of Ikea, worth 31$ Billion, who drives a 15 year old 1993 Volvo 240GL. The vehicle apprently reflects his style rather than this wealth. Jim Walton, son of the Sam Walton, founder of the Fortune 500 topping company Wal-Mart, drives a 2002 Dodge Dakota. And the list goes on with Sergey Brin who drives Toyota Prius, Steve Ballmer who drives a 1998 Lincoln Continental, so on and so forth.

Bill Gates who remained the richest man on earth for 13 consecutive years  and is currently worth $58 BIllion, drives a 1988 Porsche 959 Coupe of which only 230 were ever manufactured. However, the emissions of 959 were doubtful and it a federal law passed by President Bill Clinton to allow to the car to be street legal.  But enough of these, lets move on to the cars with the power, pride and costing a hell a lot of money.

The most expensive car money can buy today is the Bugatti Veyron 16.4 with a list price of approximately 1.5 Million Dollars. The car is handcrafted in France and about 130 have been produced since its introduction in 2005. With a top speed of 407kmph (253mph), the car can accelerate from 0-100kmph (62mph) in 2.5 seconds making it the fastest acceleration speed of any production car in history. The mechanics of the Veyron are very interesting and those who wish to give it a read can do so here.

The Bugatti Veyron

The Bugatti Veyron

And for those people who are wondering if it is even possible to handle such amount of power, it probably isnt always possible as shown by Ajay Soni who smashed the car after losing control of it near his $6 Million home in Surrey, England. And to add to the pain, the car was not owned by the driver but by his brother, Businessman Kumar Soni who must have lost his mind at the sight of the wreck. You can see pictures and more details of the crash here.

But if you want the fastest car in the world, the car for you is the SSC Ultimate Aero TT which has a top speed of 413 kmph (257 mph) and is recognised by the Guinness World Records as the fastest production car in the world. Very few have been sold to date even though it is less than half the price of the Veyron.

However, some Billionaires prefer comfort to speed like Mukesh Ambani who spent a million dollars (including 120% Indian import duty) on his Maybach 62. Mukesh Ambani is the 5th richest man in the world with a net worth of $43 Billion. The Maybach may not have the raw power of the Veyron but it is more luxurious than the average person’s house, with fully reclining rear seats, automatic closing doors, Bose Surround Sound Speaker System, Dual Control Air Suspension, an air conditioner capable of cooling it to 15 degrees below the outside temperature and a lot more. You can also include the option of a panoramic translucent electroluminescent sunroof for another $12,000. A more detailed description of the features can be found here.

The luxurious Maybach 62

The luxurious Maybach 62

And just in case, you like luxury and speed, you can opt for the Brabus tuned version of the Maybach which increases its top speed to 300kmph and can accelerate 0-100kmph in 4.9 seconds making it the the fastest super-luxury motorcar in the world.

But sometimes the most expensive isnt expensive enough. New Yorker James Glickenhaus had Ferrari custom build a car for him and tailor made to his body dimensions so that it would be a perfect fit for him. And the cost of this customisation? A mere $4 Million. The car was customized over the chassis of an Enzo Ferrari by Pininfarina.

The classic Rolls Royce is always a favourite as shown by Donald Trump who is only worth $3 Billion and owns a 2007 Model of the Rolls Royce Phantom. Gambling Billionaire, Sheldon Adelson, worth $28 Billion owns a 1991 Rolls-Royce Silver Spur which probably isnt the most flashy car but as we’ve seen above, they richest of the crowd prefer to keep a low profile.

Rolls Royce Phantom

Rolls Royce Phantom

Okay, so you’ve bought your fancy car but dont know where to push it to its limits? Fear not, for there is a 4 mile track at the Monticello Motor Club only 90 minutes away from Manhattan which is there to serve the purpose for you to drive as you please. The entry fee? $125,000 with a yearly membership fee of $7,500.  The exclusive private club includes members such as Jerry Seinfeld, and James Glickenhaus along with his $4 Million Ferrari.

And there you have it, the most expensive and fastest cars in the world all waiting to be bought by you and me. Personally, I’d be quite happy with a Pagani Zonda C12F.

What cars would you buy if you were a billionaire? Would you splurge your money on the best or save it up and buy a simple car? Please leave your valued comments.

Sources - Forbes Autos, The Super Cars and Wikipedia.

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2nd September 2008

Smashing, Clicking and Eating

The folks over at Smashing Magazine were kind enough to feature 3 of my wallpapers for their September Calender. Check them out here, and there are about 25 more really awesome wallpapers there. Thanks to Vitaly and Sven!

The Winning Shot.

The Winning Shot.

And this photo of mine won the 2nd place in the August Hyderabad Photography Club (HPC) Contest. The theme was ‘Hyderabad at Night’ and I got 13 stars narrowly beating the 3rd place one which got 12 stars. Thanks to everyone who voted for me.

And Google has announced their new Open Source browser ‘Chrome’ which is supposed to improve stability and security and make it easier for the simple user. Lets how things unravel tomorrow.

I watched ‘Daniel Defoe’ Robinson Crusoe‘ today which is admittedly, overall a pretty average movie. What I really liked about the movie though is the way the complex relationship between Robin and Friday is portrayed. Some scenes are very heart rendering, especially the final scene when Robin holds Friday’s dying body in his arms and screams at the top of his voice. Good performance by Pierce Brosnan.

Today is also the first day of fasting of the holy month of Ramzan for Muslims. And with Ramzan comes the Hyderabadi Delicacy, Haleem which I happily gorged on.

And come nightfall, I spotted some beautiful stars in the clear sky tonight and hI eaded to the terrace with my trusty tripod. I got some decent shots of the stars and then I attempted to take some Star Trails. Note the word attempted because I hardly got anything worthwhile. I knew it was possible since I got a few potential shots but my China made remote had to mess around at that time thus making me annoyed and also lost the opportunity to capture more the shots. Maybe next time…

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