Preparing for a travel shoot

While there are several lists online on things to do to prepare for any trip and you bet have I got one of my own, but today I am going to discuss list of things to do for a travel shoot.

Travel as it is, is a very exciting experience for me. I simply get my highs thinking about what all things would I get to do/see/EAT (but of course). Equally exciting is to ponder on how am I going to ensure that all those beautiful memories are captured on the card in my Olympus E-330 camera for the one in my head ain’t that reliable. Apart from my diminutive experience on this, I have also received liberal tips from fellow travellers and read some in various photo magazines. I have compiled some of them below.

• Gadgets: If you are anything like me (read as an amateur yet wannabe photographer), you would probably have a DSLR with lens(es) and filter(s) and flash(es). It is important to stick to the age old adage of travelling light. Carry only as much equipment as you think is going to be necessary. If you are in a theatre and sitting twenty rows away from action, you may not need wide lens at all. Similarly a bulky 300mm tele lens might be unwarranted for when you decide to go to a nearby pub to catch in the festive Halloween atmosphere.
• When going gets tough, creative get going: Cost of changing lenses, weight of carrying units might be factors that you need to consider before you decide to carry that something extra. I have realised that I get more creative when faced with obstacles. To get a wide angle shot with tele, I use pano-stitching feature in WLPG, Autostitch. Some point and shoot have this feature inbuilt. I have not carried my camera charger for ages, I carry TWO spare batteries instead and shoot using optical viewfinder to cover 3-4 days of photography easily.
• Get prepared: Once you have decided on what all to carry, pack them in neat bags days in advance so that you do not forget them in a hurry. Forgetting your shades is nothing compared to forgetting your camera. Also make sure you have all your equipment ready. You might not have time or chance to charge your batteries or clean your lens while travelling. It is a good idea to keep a poly bag extra for your camera for rain/dust protection. If your trip involves a road/rail/air journey to reach the final destination, pack all your spare gadgets in and fit your camera with the lens (wide is a good option for this) that you are going to use during the journey.
• Be well informed: Now this sounds like a no-brainer but it is surprising how many times people start researching about their venue for travel only on the day of travel. Many famous spots require prior reservations or are open only on certain days and times of year. Beaches & mountains look good at sunrises and sunsets while a city centre has its own charm during night times. Still lot many venues require you to appear well ahead of schedule to be able to secure a vantage point. Kathakali dancers appear hours ahead of dance time to perform make-up which is equally interesting to watch/capture. Being a day early at McLeod Ganj cost us the opportunity to see Dalai Lama in person.
• Plan your time & stick to it: This kind of follows from above but is still important enough to be repeated. Remember your travel buddies would love you for waking them early or hurrying up things (no matter what they say initially) if you can ensure them good places to watch the ‘stuff’ from. A prime example is the flag exchange ceremony at Wagah border. Even though it happens daily and can seat thousands of people, still all the prime seats get occupied as much as TWO hours ahead of schedule. Similarly to see Kochi fishing nets working, you need to be up at 4am in the morning. No other time of the day would do !
• See through your trip: One last thing that I would leave you with is the ability to see through your trip. It sounds crazy but if you do it, you would not believe the immense yet unperceivable benefits that can be reaped. Booking your tickets on the same side of vehicle for a return journey allows you to enjoy scenes from both sides of the journey. If you are headed south on Konkan railways, take the seats on left to be able to watch Konkan coastline. If you are going to a famous place, check online for the cliché angles that photographers use to capture that place. You might wanna try capturing some new angles. You can yourself think of other such examples of seeing through.

Those were the tips from my side. Please share things that you do before you set off for any photo trip.

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Har Dil Jo Pyar Karega

In an earlier post, I talk about how love for one and all defines the essence of good character. You might think that what has got into this nerd who keeps on talking about love so persistently. But frankly, it is just a set of coincidences. So lets get going with it.

Har Dil Jo Pyar Karega is a phrase in Hindi which means Every Heart That Loves. Apart from sharing the title with a moderately popular Bollywood flick, this blog has got nothing else to do with it. The trigger incident for this happened a week back. It was a normal day full of mind boggling research, exciting classes, equally exciting job and lots of cycling around. In night time, my roommate Captain Haddock (name changed on request) comes upto me and says that "I have got something to discuss with you". Now when a roommate says this to you, the topic under question can vary widely from "What to cook for dinner tonight ?" to "Who is supposed to vacuum room this week ?" to "Which nubile woman to have for room wallpaper ?". I was naturally indifferent. What shook me out of this indifference was the revelation that our Mr. Roommate was no longer in control of his heart.

Apparently there was this new girl in block (and if you know anything about statistics of likeable women in postgraduate studies, you would know that they stand right next to endangered species) which had set his heart fluttering. He had been meeting her now & then & apparently needed some guidance from me (poor soul) on 'how to take things further'. Now Mr. Roommate has not got a reputation in these matters and it was very much unexpected.

In India, it is still common for people to undertake what is referred to as "arranged marriages" where your parents choose a spouse for you. Depending upon family, you may get to have no or substantial say over these matters. These marriages are considered different from "love marriages" where you yourself set the ball rolling by choosing your spouse yourself. Marriages of latter type unfortunately still have a stigma attached to them and many people voluntarily stay away from it for reasons ranging from not wanting to hurt parents to not wanting to get into the mess.

Statistically (atleast in my times, I am sure statistics have changed now), many such romantic relations would bud in college time i.e. undergraduate studies (note the disclaimer earlier). Therefore if you find a person's status as single after graduation, it might either mean you did not find somebody good enough (btw, statistics for likeable women in undergraduate are far more encouraging than its graduate counterpart) or else you plan to make it an "arranged affair". And this was the reason why I found this piece of news a revelation.

Whenever i think of that incident now, I am reminded of this phrase which is a constant reminder that every heart is capable of love.

So my concept of normal day has been modified to include a 5 minute status update over this 'critical matter'. As for our Mr. Roommate, he gets to share my pearls of wisdom (he is very soon going to realise that they are virtually none) over wooing girls. Best of luck Haddock.. !!

Houston Rendezvous

After a long hiatus, a specific event coupled with some free time at my new job allowed me to blog. I recently visited Houston. It was strange in that I had been there so many times but never had enough time or opportunity to explore it like a tourist. Countless times I would just shift from my airline to ground shuttle (or other way round) with just about enough time to take a walk in the airport terminals. I used to while away time browsing its many terminal shops and take photographs. Once I had been to the roof to watch the Houston in its full glory and twice I have took free rides in its terminal shuttle.

My longest stride in Houston would have to be a couple of blocks long walk in Houston downtown while waiting for a bus. Having said this Houston will have a special position in my heart. I spent my first night in this Texan airport having been unable to catch the last shuttle. Houston is in some sense a lifeline for all Aggies to rest of the world being the nearest international airport with cheap rides available on weekends.

Naturally I was very much lookin forward to visiting Hosuton properly. It is a feeling that you get when you have that first talk with one of your acquaintances which leads you to know him/her better and thereafter you become friends. The trip travelogue would probably be reserved for another blog but to tell in short, I loved it.

Houston is a huge city with very extensive road system catering to it. Houston has a black majority and is #1 obese city in US. While downtown offers skyscrapers (Chase tower is 4th tallest in US) and exuberant nightlife, La Galleria provides shop-till-you-drop experience. Museum district is full of museums on themes that one can imagine and lots of well-maintained parks with well planned activity centers. Houston Gulf area has San Jacinto monument - symbol of Texas freedom, Kemah boardwalk along the bay and NASA Space Center. Alas but for the smart management of Houston transit, no weekend buses run for gulf area and hence a poor graduate student like me had to contend with keeping it on hold for another trip. Wait ..did somebody say another trip. Maybe the management guys were smart after all.

What does good character mean for you ?

Recently I found myself staring at above as an essay topic for a scholarship application. Being the scholarship starved guy I am, I set about to write an essay & in the process got to know a bit more about myself as well.

DISCLAIMER: The essay is an ORIGINAL piece of work and the sources mentioned in essay have been duly attributed. The essay had a limit of 8000 characters & was written in a hurry (so thought layout maybe a bit haphazard).

What constitutes good character ? Some one has so rightly said that as a question gets simpler, it becomes more difficult to answer. I am a technologist. Ask me to solve a double differential complex Laplacian equation any day and I would have the answer ready in under fifteen minutes. But when it comes to answering questions such as these, you need to take a step back and concentrate on all your life's experiences and learning to arrive at the answer. For all that we know, this may very well be a research topic of a smart guy in sociology.

So let us try to explore this 'good character'. Following words have been traditionally used to define good character:
a) honesty
b) fidelity
c) commitment
d) trustworthiness.
But is this all that it takes to have a good character or is there is more than meets the eye. I am tempted to quote the example of six blind men each declaring an elephant to be a wall, knife, tree, rope, pipe and fan. Similarly all of above attributes may be found in a person of good character but these by themselves do not make a person "good character". In words of a mathematician, these are the necessary but not sufficient condition of having a good character.

In a recent survey done online, audience was asked to rate various attributes on how closely they relate to good character for them. Each participant could vote for multiple attributes thus allowing a subjective opinion to be taken. Interestingly enough, collective user's opinion rated three attributes ABOVE all other qualities in how closely they represented good character for them and none of those were from the list of conventional words above. They are presented below in order of ratings :
1) Respect and consideration for others
2) Courage to "do the right thing"
3) Admitting and correcting mistakes

A close inspection of above three attributes reveals that there is a common thread that binds these attributes together and that is of love. This love is not towards a specific person but for the whole world. A person who is wholeheartedly in love with this world - various creations of god that manifest in nature and variegated experiences that unite together to form what we call life - is one who has an innate respect and consideration for others. Such a person derives courage from this inexhaustible source of energy called love to do what is the right thing to do. Such a person understands the humble role that he has to play in this universe and does not allow ego or arrogance to come in way of amending his own mistakes. Thus it is the love for one and all that makes a person honest, committed, trustworthy and loyal.

Let us consider an example to see the power that love holds. A guy in love with a girl will be concerned about her. He will take care of her, vow to stay together for whole life, put her needs in front of him and remain loyal to her. But if the same person one day magically falls out of love with this girl, he will neither be caring nor respectful of her.Although this example does not pertain directly to good character but it shows the strength that love can hold even if directed towards a particular individual. Now imagine the same love but instead directed towards all world in general (& humanity in particular). A love that stems from thankfulness to god for creating this beautiful world and considering us worthy enough to be placed here. This love neither holds any boundaries nor any prejudices. It is an unconditional love that arises from an appreciation towards the pure harmony and balance existing between various forces that may be to provide such a splendid world.

It is this love that makes a person do 'the right things' no matter what. It is this love that makes one keep other's concerns ahead of his even if it means admitting and correcting one's mistakes. It is this love indeed that marks a person of truly good character. In my opinion therefore, good character means to harbour unconditional love for one and all.

I would like to conclude by quoting the lines from a popular ad campaign by Discovery channel "I love the whole world. It's such a beautiful thing". The next time you see somebody humming this song, smile for you are looking at a person of good character.

$
PS: So much work for just an essay !! I do hope I get the scholarship :-)

51 Indicators of a graduate student in USA

Lots of things happen in one's lives which despite the underlying seriousness are best taken in a humorous stride. In the same spirit, here goes a list of signs and indicators of being a graduate student in USA.

DISCLAIMER: Since this derives from experiences of people around me, you may find certain items to be specific to international students. Nevertheless, it should be an interesting read for all.

You know you are a graduate student in USA when :

1. you wipe instead of washing (think morning).
2. you make a night suit out of an oversized T-shirt you got for free.
3. you submit assignments on one sided sheets taken from previously submitted assignments.
4. your conversation starters revolve around grocery rates.
5. your conversation ends in "Have you got any aid ?'.
6. phrase "Friday nights" elicits an image of a long line of students in front of a desk full of pizza.
7. phrase "Bollywood night" elicits an image of belly dancers.
8. in your nightmare you reach the end of "free drinks line" only to find cans and cans of Dr. Pepper left.
9. your mall trips are triggered by a bunch of coupons nearing expiry.
10. eating out is synonymous with free pizza at campus.
11. you train your nose to pick up smell of free food in campus.
12. you train your eyes to spot a trail of people in (10).
13. you have your meals at McD & Subway.
14. as a group you order only one cold drink & then share refills.
15. the only 'orkuttable' photo from last night's party at home was of you washing dishes.
16. you use carabines instead of key rings.
17. you have more bottle holders than bottles.
18. while going through grocery items, you divide rates by their weight to find the lowest unit price.
19. you pay frequent visits to nearby church but for TT/foosball.
20. you claim to be a racquetball champion even though you do not know half of the rules.
21. 50% of your mails in sent mail folder are requests for assistantships.
22. other 50% are seeking internships.
23. after-class talk goes like "So where is free pizza tonight ?".
24. you browse Youtube like you would surf channels on TV.
25. learn virtues of eating/sleeping on ground.
26. bedbugs (US cousins of khatmal) become a REAL issue.
27. you take an insurance based on cost instead of coverage.
28. path to Walmart goes through your senior's place.
29. your arguments with roommate are over which ice-cream flavour to buy.
30. you learn the 'grocery balancing act' on bicycles.
                       OR
    you start building biceps out of carrying grocery.
31. you count no. of scratches on walls for lease agreement.
32. you have to convince people for part-time jobs that despite being an engineer, you know MS Office well.
33. you have to spell out your name umpteenth time only to be misspelled again.
34. you attend a conference on "" for free pizza.
35. you open a bank a/c for the free USB drive that comes along with it.
36. you pay frequent visits to your bank for the free cookies.
37. you agree to be the subject of an experiment just because it pays.
38. you always appear either busy or idle on GTalk.
39. PhD Comics replaces your daily dose of Garfield.
40. you start breathing papers and juggling references.
41. have chicken patties instead of chicken tandoori for dinner.
42. you stare at other Indians like they are aliens just landed from Mars.
43. 99% of mails in your postbox are free coupons from nearby stores.
44. you count no. of days or even hours to your India visit.
45. you leave metric measurement system for US system.
46. you carry passport as ID to a pub.
47. cyclones, red light, petrol, lift, bicycle & Indian become hurricanes, set of lights, ride, bike & desi respectively.
48. the only time you wake up early in morning is on the day of course registration.
49. you brainstorm for days over which mobile connection plan to buy.
50. you claim to patronise a long hair style till the next hair salon coupon comes in your hand.
51. write such blogs.

$P
(enroute to Chicago)

Journey of Quarters

It is amazing how time flies, especially when you are enjoying it. Not so long ago, I remember walking across the kitchen only to be slapped. Yes, that constitutes the earliest memory of my life !! I don't even remember the reason for being slapped. I do remember being consoled though...

Not all memories of my life are that unhappy. But yes, I do realise that when you turn 25, you have lived a quarter of your life, to be speaking very optimistically. Considering the wild streak in me, make it very very optimistically. :-) So what comes next ? Well you can expect one of the following from a blog that starts off the way this one did :

1. Describing the journey so far.
2. Reliving some of the highs and lows.
3. Evaluating one's progress in whatever be the judging parameters.
4. Making some resolutions for the future from lessons of past.

Normally I try to do all of above (mentally) but this blog is for a different purpose. Let us take a small detour in understanding this. Suppose you meet a long lost friend. How will the normal discussion proceed ? I for one would normally find out what the chap is up to now-a-days & then try to interpolate from what I knew of him/her from the past. This is what many call 'joining the dots'. Unfortunately when you join the dots, you use lines.

To explain with an example, if my friend earned 12 quarters per hour three years back and 24 quarters now, you would assume that he/she earned 20 quarters an year back and 16 quarters two years back. Though it saves your brain for putatively better tasks (such as catching up on latest movie songs ??), this is all but a compromise. And this compromise called JLC (short for Joining Lines Compromise) will manifest in the conversation as :

• "It is a long story, listen.." (close friend).
• "You NEVER check on me.." (beloved)
• "I knew you since you were THIS small.." (relative)
• "Abe, chodh yaar.." (not-so-close friend)
• "Now is not the time.." (former colleague, who is more interested in making quarters rather than talking to you)
• "How/Where/What are you.." (Beware! Could mean that the friend has forgotten about you, and wants to figure you out without making it apparent)
• "Bhul gaya ??". This one happens often if you are quarter-amnesic like me !!

So what am I arriving at ? Well, I know a bunch of people in this world whom I consider to be in my sphere of influence. They can influence me just as I can influence them. I intend to drive the point that atleast for these people, I would like to draw not lines but exact curves (B-splines for the geek-minded) between points. This means that if you meet me next time (in real or online), bore me to death with what's happening in your lives. If you find me silent in between, know that I am not a verbose person. Don't stop till you finish or find me in a quarter-conscious state. Believe me, I would love it.

To explain using our earlier example of 12 and 24 quarters over three years, it would imply that my friend earned...ahem.. well I guess I will leave the B-spline calculation part to you folks. I am sure you got the gist of it.

PS: Wondering why the blog was titled so...did you miss anything ? Yes, that is our JLC at work again.

$P