Diwali - Festival of Lights

Diwali is one of the most important festival celebrated by everyone across India. Diwali is also known as Festival of Lights. The celebration includes preparing sweets, snacks, family & friends get-together, lighting up the house with Diyas or decorating with lights and bursting the crackers. 

When it comes to art, photography is one form of art, when it comes to photography, we think of festivals. So I wanted to celebrate Diwali by bursting crackers and capture the moment through my lens.

I always wanted to capture Skyline firework photography. Instead of firing crackers, I was more excited to click the dazzling Diwali skyline. This kind of photography is also known as Long Exposure Photography. One cannot capture long exposure photography by hand holding the camera, its always better and recommended to get a tripod for fruitful results. You need to set up exposure time up to 30 seconds with additional camera settings. And when it comes to capture a Diwali skyline, 30 seconds is mere negligible. If you want to have exposure time more than 30 secs, there is something called Bulb Mode.

Bulb mode allows the photographer to take a picture for as long as the shutter is depressed. One can use bulb mode by choosing manual mode or shutter priority, then start scrolling your selector wheel all the way to the end of the shutter speeds. After 30 seconds, it will show “bulb” or simply the letter “b” on some cameras and it is Bulb Mode. This means the camera will keep taking a picture until your finger comes off the shutter button.

Bulb mode is mostly used for long exposures at night.  The main advantage is that it allows the photographer to achieve shutter speeds longer than the 30 second

I tried using Bulb mode, some how i could not do it as my hands were shaking when I was holding the shutter  button for a long time.  One can pick up a cable release, a wired remote control that allows the photographer to lock the shutter button to take long exposures without actually standing there and holding the button down.

Camera Used: Nikon D5100 18-55m Lens

Specification:

Mode: Manual Mode

Aperture: 3.6

F-stop: f/4.6

Exposure Time: 30 seconds

ISO: 100

Then i tried light painting photography, by setting my exposure time to 10 seconds. 

I am still starving to learn more and more about Light photography. And I trust, there are lot of experts out there among you guys. Please do let me know your valuable suggestions and feedback which i can make use to improve my photography skills.

Have a great and safe Diwali. Thanks for stopping by and do subscribe for further updates.

Pattaya - Bangkok CHECKED

An international trip is always a special one.We booked our trip through tours & travel for Pattaya-Bangkok. The happiness is when you get on arrival Visa for any country as it is hassle free. We were very much excited for this trip. We reached Bangkok airport around 2am. It took almost 1hr to get through the Visa Processing. We were waiting for our guide to pick us up. We find it little hard to communicate with the native people as they were not aware of English.Also we had no change in local currency to contact our travel person. It was almost 2 hrs we waited , and then we got a mobile from a local guy and contacted tourist guide and told the exact location, later he came and picked us up.

The itinerary was fixed by our tours & travel and so as we had to travel 4 hrs from the airport to Pattaya by van. Our program was scheduled to start from 3pm, so we took some rest and then roamed nearby beach which was 1km away from our hotel.

Hilton Hotel -Pattaya 

Our tourist guide picked us at 3pm for Gems Gallery. Inside the gallery they will take you for a small and cute ride in a tram kind of vehicle with perfect ambience. They will mainly portray about the extraction procedure of a gem stone from a raw one. It was pretty impressive.

Gems Gallery 

Later we arrived to see the greatest show in Asia named "ALCAZAR Show". One can see marvelous combination of music, dance and drama. Its kind of a different performance which we generally wont see with blend of beauty, art and native cultural aspects. The whole show was awesome. After the show, one can take photos with ALCAZAR's aka performers. You need to be little careful about giving the tips.

Alcazar Show 

The next day, we had a whole day trip to Coral Island(Koh Lan) which is a small group of island located few miles off the coast of Pattaya.

Pattaya Coast 

We reached middle of the sea by speed boat. We could see people parasailing. We were so scared yet excited to do the same. This was the first time experience for most and we loved it too. Next was sea walking, but it was highly expensive however we opt for it. But finally we couldn't make it because of little sea sickness which one should be little careful of.

 Parasailing 

Later they took us to the other side of the land, where one can do boat and banana ride. We took some rest for 1 hr and again traveled to Pattaya. Our day at Pattaya come to an end and we traveled to Bangkok.

The next in our itinerary was city temple tour of Bangkok. First we visited Wat Traimit (Temple of the Golden Buddha) is an elegant multilevel white and gold temple.The main attraction on Wat Traimit is not only its beautiful architecture, but the immense Buddha made of solid gold seated inside, the largest of this kind in the world.

Wat Traimit (Temple of the Golden Buddha) 

Our last stop is the truly spectacular Wat Benchamabophit (Marble Temple), named for the glistening white Carrara marble from Italy used in its construction. The most modern and one of the most elegant of Bangkok's royal temple.

 Wat Benchamabophit (Marble Temple) 

Other highlights include the large collection of bronze Buddha images that line the spacious inner courtyard, and the magnificent decoration of the interior with its crossbeams of lacquer and gold.

Lord Buddha 

Our last day was Safari World Tour. Safari World is one of the best places to visit in Bangkok. On the way to bird park, we saw lot of colorful parrots which is truly amazing.

 Colorful parrot 

We visited Bird park, where one can feed the birds. We fed the cute little parrots by giving them the food.

Parrot Feeding 

On the way we saw different animals. One good thing is that we were able to see all the animals at a close distant.

Majestic Tiger 

We saw many people paying money for a token to take photos with python,Koala bear and tiger cubs.

White Tiger 

Safari has a number of shows and is spread in a wide area. So, make sure you have enough time to visit and enjoy this place. We saw the Orangutan show. It was cute and funny. Then we saw the sea lion,dolphin and Cow boy shows. All the shows were best and wonderful.

Sea Lion Show 

Later we visited Giraffe Park where one can feed them by giving their favorite food Banana. At last they took us in a vehicle and showed the entire zoo. The zoo was very huge and told about the history of zoo and animals. Our day was well spent in Safari world Tour.

Giraffe Park 

The best time to visit Thailand is from November to March.

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Puri - Bhubaneshwar - The Temple City

Puri , the city of temples. Jagannath temple is an important pilgrimage destination for many Hindus. The temple is famous for Rath Yatra which happens once in a year. As usual, the temple was crowded with devotees from different corners but somehow we got darshan.

Our next destination was Konark Sun Temple which is in the shape of gigantic chariot,having elaborately carved stone wheels drawn by seven horses carrying the Sun God.

Konark Sun Temple - The Front View from Nata Mandapa

A major part of the structure is ruined. We can see the temple being under construction.The temple is a UNESCO Heritage Site.

 Nata Madapa 

The temple follows the traditional style of Kalinga Architecture and carefully oriented towards the east so that the first rays of sunrise strikes the principal entrance.The temple is built from Khondalite rocks.

The wheels of the temple are sundials which can be used to calculate time accurately to a minute including day and night

 Konark Sun Temple - Back View

   

Our last destination of the day ended with beautiful place named Dhauli Hill.The whole city of Bhubaneshwar can be seen from the top of the hill.The place is also known for bearing the grand Shanti Stupa or Peace Pagoda.

 

Dhauli

The next day we started our day by visiting Lingaraja temple which is the largest temple in Bhubaneshwar. It is maintained by the Temple Trust Board and the Archaeological survey of India(ASI). The architecture of the temple was speechless and marvelous.We couldn't even take a single photo as camera,cellphone inside the temple is prohibited.

Our next journey was to Mukteshvara Temple build in 950 A.D. The temple is dedicated to Lord Shiva and being considered one of significant temple of Bhubaneshwar.

Mukteshvara Temple

Raja Rani temple is one of the most beautiful temple in Bhubaneshwar. The temple is covered by a beautiful garden and well maintained by ASI.

RajaRani Temple

Our next destination was NandanKanan Zoological Park, the famous zoo in Odisha. One can visit the zoo by walk or by safari. The guides are available to guide through all the places All types of animals and birds can be seen. The best thing is that each and every animal has been given a name by small kids and school children. Also, they celebrate the birthday and naming ceremony of the animals.

Sambar deer : State animal of Odisha

Our last destination was UdhayaGiri-Khandagiri which are situated on two adjacent hills. They have number of finely carved caves. The view from top of the hill was awesome.
 

Udhayagiri Caves

We started our Puri-Bhubaneshwar journey by visiting Jagannath Temple, likewise we decided to end our trip by visiting ISKON temple. The place was well maintained and give a calmness to our mind

ISKON 

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Kerala Diaries - Munnar & Kochi

Munnar is a beautiful hillstation to enjoy the summer vacation.We booked a tour package to Munnar and Kochi. We started from Chennai to Munnar by bus. It took 11 -12 Hrs to reach our destination.

We stayed at a beautiful cottage named 'Glenmore Resort' which is covered with dense trees and plants.

Glenmore Resort

We started at 12 noon to visit Mattupetty Dam. On the way we stopped our vehicle to see the beautiful view of Munnar

The view

One of the main attractions in Munnar is Mattupetty Dam. The lake and Dam are ideal spots for Picnic. 

Mattupetty Dam

The next day, the climate was too good and it was cloudy, we started to Eravaikulam National Park. This park is administered by Kerala Department of Forest & Wildlife. Private vehicles are prohibited, so everyone has to go by the government vehicles. We waited in the queue for 2 Hrs for our turn to come. Indeed the wait was fruitful and we started trekking around to have the wonderful view of the park.

Eravikulam National Park

Suddenly, it started drizzling and the place was fully covered with Mist and fog as usual.

Misty fog

Our day was well spent with the scenic beauty of Eravikulam. After that we visited the famous Kanan Devan tea museum. They played a small video of Munnar history and how tea plantations originated. After that they showed how tea powder is prepared from the leaves extracted.

The last day we traveled from Munnar to Kochi. It took 2 Hrs and we visited one the largest mall in India, LuLu Mall. The mall infrastructure and the interior decoration was speechless. The last hop of our trip was Kochi harbour

Kochi Harbour View

We skipped the boating as we were running out of time.

Kochi Harbour

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Terracotta Air Dry Clay: Paper Clay Vs Natural Clay

In ancient time, terracotta art were used for living. But now it became a fantasy and hobby.

I always wanted to make terracotta jewellery.Making terracotta jewellery is not that simple, it needs baking. I went through multiple sites and did research on how to bake the clay. I find it to be difficult. Then i came to know about air dry clay through one of my friend. 

There are different varieties of air dry clay and many brands too.

I just picked Natural clay and started doing a simple stud, i allowed it to dry for 24 hours, but the stud was too brittle and cracked here and there. So the next time i made a thick stud, but the end results were same as the previous one.

I wanted to try some some other clay and then i got "NARA Paper clay" and started my work. My first attempt of making the terracotta Jhumkha came good without any crack and it was kind of strong. But one disadvantage is that the outer surface is not smooth as i expected,though i was happy with the end results and painted my Jhumkha with acrylic.

Here are my collection of terracotta earrings.

So put your awesome imagination to start with terracotta jewellery making and do please let me know, the best air dry clay for making terracotta jewellery.

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Wonderful Wayanad

An outing is always better than a just team lunch. It not only involves much fun but create a lot of lovely memories. So our team opted for an outing. Everyone had their own list of places to visit like Ooty, Kodaikanal, Munnar and Wayanad. At last most of the people voted for Wayanad and we started our journey to explore the place. We arranged this trip through local tours & travels. We had train at  evening 5'o clock from Chennai and reached Kozhikode in the early morning. Again it was a 2 hours journey from Kozhikode station to our hotel. On the way we stopped our vehicle to see the mesmerised beauty of Wayanad. 

Way from Kozhikode to Wayanad

We reached the hotel by 10'o clock and started our trip to Meenmutty falls. We reached the falls after a long trekking. 

Meenmutty Falls

On the way to our hotel, we did elephant safari, it was an exciting one. Everyone became tired of long trekking ,even though we started playing games and dancing throughout our trip. We managed to reach our hotel around evening 6'o clock to save our energy for the next 2 days.

On the second day, we went to Edakkal caves. The caves situated at the top of the mountain. We enjoyed trekking towards the cave and  then hiking across the cave. As we climbed up, we saw a beautiful panoramic view of hill. 

Hill view from Edakkal Cave

The last day we visited Bansura Sagar Dam. We were so excited to do speed boating. It was a long queue and we waited nearly 40 mins for our turn. Indeed it was  an awesome one.

Bansura Sagar Dam

There was a park near by, everyone started playing except me. As usual I started exploring the places by clicking the snaps.

 Park near Bansura Sagar Dam

Miscellaneous

We left Soochipara falls,due to time constraint, we couldn't visit the place. Our train was at evening 7'o clock,it was awesome and a memorable trip for our team. And if u have idea of visiting Wayanad, please make sure you have enough time to cover all the places.

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Paper Quilled Earrings

This post is all about earrings made out of quilling paper. I made "jhumkas"(Indian traditional round shaped earring) on which i have painted some pattern with acrylic paint. I have used weaving basket and honey comb technique for the other earrings. 

To protect the earring from water, I used varnish as a top coat

I made simple roll out of quilling paper to make this stud. I painted the earring with blue color to match with my dress.

I made multiple earrings and painted some pattern on earring. One can make their own earring as per their dress combination.

I also made the earring made out of clay, still it takes time for drying, will post in the upcoming week.

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