Travel

At first I did not see the deer amidst the greenery of the forest. It was well camouflaged in the shadows, with the spots on its coat appearing like specks of sunlight. The deer was probably as startled as we were when we came face to face. It was looking straight at the camera and I was able to click some photos.

Location

The location was Wayanad in Kerala. We were travelling from Thirunelly to Mananthawadi.  There was thick forest on both sides of the  road. It was 9 in the morning. The sun was up and the light was good.  The car was moving slowly when we came up on the deer.

Camera Data

I used a Sony DSC-W35 camera. Shutter speed was 1/320 sec and it helped to get a sharp image. Aperture was set to f/3.2 at a focal length of 7.2 mm. No flash was used.

This is one of the most viewed photos in my Flickr photostream, with more than 11,000 views. You can view it here.

A ‘walking drag line’ is an excavator where the bucket is dragged by cables, rather than lifted by an arm. This permits the bucket to be much larger than those on shovels. Drag lines, because of their huge size, cannot move with wheels or bulldozer tracks. This one uses eccentric cams for walking. That’s why they are called ‘walking’ drag lines.

Location

Singrauli is a coal mining town in Madhya Pradesh. Nearest airport is 235 km away in Varanasi, UP. Singrauli is the energy capital of India and has four thermal power stations. Five more are under construction.

I happened to see the excavator when I was travelling from Singrauli to Ambikapur in Chattisgarh. Dark clouds hung low in the sky and rains were imminent. But I could take the shot before rains came down.

Camera Info

I shot this one with my Sony DSC-W35 camera. I used a wide angle focal length of 8.2 mm. Aperture was f/3.2 and shutter speed 1/500 sec. ISE speed was 100.

I came across a group of young workers laying a new power line. It was close to sunset. I was carrying my camera. They asked me to take their photo and I agreed. So they briefly stopped their work and posed for me. Some were carrying electrical insulators. After I took the shot, I showed it to them on the LCD screen of my Canon EOS 550D. They seemed happy and went back to work.

This photo will be published next month in the Winter 2014 issue of New Labor Forum, a magazine published in New York, USA.

Location

The image was captured near the salt pans of Vasai. The area was without electricity and running water. Many acres of land can be seen with hardly any human habitation.

Technical Data

The camera was in aperture priority mode with an aperture setting of f/8 so as to get a good depth of field. Shutter speed was 1/32 sec and focal length 18 mm.

Hotel Taj Mahal is a gracious landmark of Mumbai. It is the flagship hotel of  Taj hotels. It is near Gateway of India in South Bombay. Many of the rooms have a view of the Arabian Sea.

Background

Terrorists had attacked Hotel Taj Mahal on 27 November 2008. This led to loss of many lives and destruction of valuable property. I happened to take this shot just three days before, on 24 November. Everything was peaceful and there were no indicators to the dark events that followed.

 

Technical Info

It was 10:25 in the morning when I captured the image. There was bright sunshine and I was able to use a shutter speed of 1/500 sec.  In composing the shot, I made sure that two sides of the building were clearly visible. Focal length of 9.3 mm and an aperture of f/6.5 kept the entire building in focus.