My World Photography Day

A world photography day?
Who knew!
Well … I know today.
Apparently, we owe this celebration to the French.

My interest in photography started via an interest for gadgets. Family happened .. and the interest turned into a hobby. And with my first DSLR, started a slightly more serious affair. Clicking pictures, learning about cameras, composition techniques & post processing – much good times!

  • interest in the unlikeliest of subjects
  • searching for newer perspectives
  • capturing memories
  • befriending subjects

Tulip from above

You don’t take a photograph, you make it.

Ansel Adams

Your truly with a landmark in a frame

Photography takes an instant out of time, altering life by holding it still.

Dorothea Lange

Noticing the tiniest of things

It is the photographer, not the camera, that is the instrument.

Anonymous

Our own space odyssey

Let your words be few,
And your exposures many.

Anonymous

Sikkimese mother we met on the way to Lachung

My Best Is Still Ahead

Friends & colleagues often talk about retiring early .. maybe at 45. A retired life filled with “not for money” activities – is what many of us aspire for. With this in context, it was a surprise when I stumbled upon a story & a fact involving a couple of luminaries – Mahatma Gandhi & Peter Drucker.


Brushing up on my history a couple of weeks ago during a visit to Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad, I discovered that Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi returned from South Africa when he was 45 years old. This was reinforced when helping my son through his 8th grade history lessons today again. MK Gandhi started tormenting the Britishers in India only after that.


IMG_1184.jpg

In his interview with Tim Ferris, Jim Collins narrates the story of his first meeting with  Peter Drucker – his mentor. Jim asks the management guru, who at the time was 86 years old, which amongst his 26 published books was he most fond of. Drucker simply says “the next one”. He went on to publish 10 more books after this incident.


It’s never too late! The mindset required to keep looking ahead & maximising the impact you can have is admirable. Reminds me of my grand mom – an avid reader through her life, she found herself struggling to hold heavy books in her late 80s. She restricted herself to light & small books. Imagine her thrill when she discovered Kindle! No fear of gadgets, new things to learn .. just the joy of reading into her 90s.

Reading Discoveries Of The Year

One of the things I intend to do more of in 2014 is reading books, especially of the non-IT & non-business variety. This quest has already led me on to a few discoveries. 

1. Having finished reading a book mid-week, I found myself without a book to read at bed time. Remembering an Amazon feature, I Googled (this word is still highlighted as a grammatical error) to learn that I can indeed borrow a digital book from another amazon user. A few whatsapp messages later, I was gleefully experiencing the lend or borrow Kindle books feature of Amazon. Coincidentally, the first book that my sister lent me was Start Something.

2. It was mid-way through yet another week that I finished Start Something & found myself with the prospects of not having anything for bed time reading again. This time I chanced upon the free eBooks collection of Amazon. Autobiographies, thrillers, classics, etc., this is surprisingly very well stocked & I wanted to get started on many titles all at once. Do note that one doesn’t even need to own a Kindle to indulge in this collection.

3. I resorted to an online recommendation to decide which book to start with. The Thirty-Nine Steps was 1915 novel, described as racy & just 100 pages (minimizing risk exposure). The clincher for me was that this book was a prelude to the now common man-on-the-run genre of Hollywood movies. I couldn’t stop smiling the first few pages – I had completely forgotten such writing existed. This book was read soon & thoroughly enjoyed!

Wishing for many more such serendipitous discoveries during the course of 2014 .. thanks to the years goals & resolutions. 

Travel For Life

Shub_TravelQuote
Searching for some inspirational themes for 2014, I came across this wonderful travel related quote. It stuck a chord & I wanted to share it with you. An old picture captured at dusk at the Taj came in handy in sharing this message.