Nature's Jewels

 

Every time Nature provides you with endless opportunities at the most tough days. This was clicked on a day laden with dense fog while conducting a Wildlife Photography Workshop on December 23rd' 2012. There were a lot of cobwebs with water beads in endless patterns but this especially attracted me due to the interesting pattern of droplets looking like some jewellery.   

Rufous back Shrike

All in a family

Sunday sky was full of Birds

After a long time something fresh..

Blue Bull at Bharatpur

Please see this particular picture in fullscreen mode.

Lotus Temple: Two views

Sometimes I shoot Man-made marvels too.

Light, Shadow and Colour

Bird singing for rains...

Water Abstract

"Kashmir Agama" at Gangoti National Park

Quite a beautiful creature with one of the most adaptive coloration with hues of bright blue, turquoise, emerald green, browns, yellows and orange. Just perfect camouflage for the rocky terrains. Shot taken on the way to Gomukh Glacier.

Turbulant waters of Bhagirathi

The aggressive waters of river Bhagirathi at Gangotri are quite turbulent and they actually flow with enormous force. This particular shot was taken at 11:45 PM with 45 seconds exposure at f-11. The lights were coming from a very faintly lit bulb on the other hand behind the North Ghats.

Shivling Peak as viewed from Gangotri

Star Trail at Gangotri

A very interesting image capture at Gangotri on June 6th' 2012. It was quite cool out there and the North pole was hiding behind the steep hills on North side, hence I had to estimate the location. An exposure of 30 minutes and additional 30 minutes of waiting for Image to be processed by camera seemed like eternal and I was not very happy seeing the result Image in camera, but after a little post processing the Image came out like this.

On a hot Sunday afternoon

Right now just enjoy the Picture of this handsome Black Buck, followed by the story later.

Repetition

Dangerous claws of Common Indian Monitor

There was this rare opportunity to witness and learn to rescue one of the Common Indian Monitor (Varanus Bengalensis), commonly known as 'Goh' and mistakenly by more popular name 'Vishkhapar' in rural india this Sunday. Immediately I was on the way to site from where this has to be rescued by the very expert hands of Mr. Omkar Singh, a very famous Snake-Friend of the area. He was there with no special arrangements, and asked us to block some holes in the crevice between two walls to restrain the escape, and grasped this first by it's tail and than by its neck. This is rumored that it is quite venomous and hence killed wherever ignorant people find it. Later he explained its characteristics and we took it away in a cloth bag with a moist cloth to maintain temperature. Later I got the opportunity to click some shots while this was kept for a while for stress relief. 

Later in the evening this alongwith another Common Rat Snake (Dhaman or Ghoda Pachhad) was released at a very suitable place in wild to lead the life their natural way.

Detail of an eye

Reflection in a Reptile's eye

Common Rat Snake

Purple Sunbird

Yellow Billed Blue Magpie

Verditer Flycatcher

Skyline at Mukteshwar

Whitecheeked Bulbul

Apricot flowers

Wild flowers @ Mukteshwar

My old companion for rough terrains

 

Here is my 1980 make Enfield Bullet which was purchased by my father in February 1980. Later on we took over it and now after 32 years this is still capable to take me wherever I want to go. This has been a true companion to me in exploring the rough terrains of Garhwal & Kumayun hills since 1995.

This is a recent photograph of my trip to Mukteshwar- Jageshwar- Sat tal on 22nd to 25th March 2012.

Flowers @ Mukteshwar, Uttarakhand, India

Another trial shot Macro

Yoga Time

Taste of Togetherness....

Bloom Time

It's a long way to go......

Macro

Beautiful Poppy: 2

Beautiful Poppy

The Weaver bird nest

The Black buck episode

Great Blue Heron

In flight against the green fields.

Bar Headed Goose

Finally found this small pack of 11-12 Bar Headed Goose. I was looking for them since start of this season but to no avail. Every time I reached the possible locations just to find out that they have left a few days back. But this time I was lucky enough to spot them and enjoyed their company at a very close distance. Information regarding this water-body reached me only on last Monday evening and I was due on that route Tuesday morning. So not taking any chances I visited this place first and no doubt it was Fabulous.

Black Buck

This Black buck was doing his duty to save his family by distracting the Invaders (us). And he seems quite capable of doing that, he usually track you to the show of its beauty and agility and sadly get closer to the hunters quite easily. On the course of spotting these I've learned that some people are still hunting this beautiful creature, but a sign of relief was that most people are in favor of saving them, and let them wander through their fields without disturbing them.

Quite happy after spending some 5 odd hours spotting and being in company of Black bucks, and no, it was not in any Wildlife Reserve, They are all free.

The winning moment at Canon Wild Clicks Season-3, Kanha National Park, MP