Weekly Photo Challenge – Angular

The topic for this week’s weekly photo challenge is Angular – what it means to you and to shoot an image from your perspective i.e. from any angle above, below etc. To the author it meant “Repeating patterns that once seemed boring aligned to form another shape with more depth”.

My inspiration for this topic was the Shanghai Tower in the Pudong area of Shanghai. This is an under construction tower and the tallest amongst its famous neighbors – the Jin Mao and the Shanghai World Financial Centre. Upon completion this is expected to be the tallest building in China and second tallest building in the world (second only to the Burj Khalifa in Dubai). The tower takes the form of nine cylindrical buildings stacked atop each other, all enclosed by the inner layer of the glass façade. These layers seem to twist as they rise. In the day this building looks like this –

The Shanghai Tower – pic courtesy wikipedia

Weekly Photo Challenge: Reflections

This week’s Weekly Photo Challenge is Reflections, a topic that can be captured in a multitude of ways i.e. via landscapes, in people’s expressions, in the mirror etc etc. But for my post I close this picture that I had taken in Venice, Italy.

One of the canals in Venice, Italy

Weekly Photo Challenge – One

Every good photograph has a main subject, that draws the attention of the audience and communicates a story. And this week, the challenge for the weekly photo challenge is “One” i.e. to share a pic that focusses on one thing. And I decided that what better pic for this topic than a colorful and dramatic kathakali dancer in all his finery.

A Kathakali dancer, Kochi, Kerala

Weekly Photo Challenge – Community

This week’s photo challenge is to post a pic on “Community” which means a social unit of any size that shares a common belief or values. Per wikipedia, the word “community” is derived from an Old French word – communité which is derived from the Latin communitas that means – com, “with/together” + munus, “gift”, a broad term for fellowship or organized society. And for this challenge the Mumbaiker in me had to post a pic of the Ganesh Festival that binds entire Mumbai into one large community.

Bringing Lord Ganesh to the pandal for the festival

Weekly Photo Challenge – Grand

This week’s weekly photo challenge is to share an image of something “Grand”. But the idea is to not just share an image of a large object / scene, but have a special element or a “wow factor” that makes the picture truly stunning. And for this topic, I decided to share pictures of the majestic “Matterhorn” that we visited from Zermatt in Switzerland. The Matterhorn is one of highest and the most photographed peaks in Europe and a spectacular sight. We saw it from many points and I am sharing some of these sights with you –

• From Gornergrat – This picture is my favorite from the trip and was clicked around sunset from Gornergrat. This image was special as the Matterhorn had been hidden by clouds and mist the whole day, and just when we thought that we will not get a good image, the clouds cleared and we got this gorgeous view and image. I also love this fence that adds another beautiful element and geometry to this pic.

From Gornergrat

Weekly Photo Challenge – Let there be Light

The week’s weekly photo challenge is “Let there be Light” where we had to share a photo of a light source. Light is an essential element of photography and is even apart of the word  i.e. photos- for “light” and -graphos for “drawing”. Playing with various light sources, its placement, its intensity, etc gives a new / different look to the pictures and helps the artist in the photographer create a new masterpiece. I love playing with light in my pictures too and taking pictures of various light sources, especially the sun, candles and lamps. But for this challenge I decided to share 2 simple pictures using just 2 different sources of light i.e. Sun for the natural source (outdoors) and Bulb for the artificial source (indoors).

This pic was taken around sunset over Lake Thun on our way back from Niederhorn. I love the natural colors of the Sun, the dramatic effects of the clouds all around and the shadow in the Lake Thun below.

A gorgeous sunset over Lake Thun, Interlaken

Weekly Photo Challenge – Layers

This week’s weekly photo challenge is “Layers” and my image for the same is this flower, whose name I earlier didn’t know. But after this post went live last night, I received numerous responses from my blogging world friends who identified this flower for me, and it’s the Passiflora – the Blue Passion Fruit flower. I would like to thank everyone who commented on this post and helped me identify this flower. 🙂 Super thanks everyone.

I saw this flower on one of the 5 islands of Cinque Terre in Italy and instantly loved its colors and numerous layers. This was growing like a creeper all around these islands, but surprisingly I dint see them anywhere else in Italy (i.e. wherever I traveled).

Passiflora or the passion fruit flower 🙂

Weekly Photo Challenge – Eerie

I found the topic for this week’s weekly photo challenge – Eerie to be slightly tough. The challenge was to post black and white pics that have a mysterious, otherworldly vibe where the viewer wonders what lurks in the shadows. Something eerie that has a story to tell — one you aren’t quite sure you want to know.

So I kept hunting through my photograph gallery and just couldn’t find anything that was apt for this topic. And then I stumbled upon two pictures that I had clicked of Jellyfish at The Lost Chambers Aquarium in The Atlantis, Dubai. I somehow found their hollow fluorescent look and the movement of the umbrella-shaped bell and the long tentacles quite eerie and mysterious. Somehow I wouldn’t want to know as what is this jellyfish thinking.

Dramatic Jellyfish

Weekly Photo Challenge : Horizon

This week’s weekly photo challenge  is one of my favorite topics for photographic composition i.e. Horizon. Per its definition a horizon is the line or the boundary that separates the earth and sky. However I have always liked to  interpret it as my “Ultimate Destination” for my travel journey. It is my “Hope” and “Inspiration” as it’s that point that keeps me wanting to undertake newer travel paths in the hope of reaching that end or that point someday and with each mile or trip I expand my horizon, both in terms of perspective and places.

So today I am sharing a few pics from my latest trip to Kerala with my own new found “Horizons” –

A gorgeous sunset over Fort Kochi, Kochi

Weekly Photo Challenge: Good Morning – with Parrots

This week’s weekly photo challenge requires us to post a photo that could be anything that says “Good Morning”. I am sharing a small part of my morning that starts with the beautiful rays of the run streaming through my windows and the sound of parrots and crows all around.

Rays of the sun