My Way Is The Highway

Seattle Fall Colors @ Kubota

Three years ago while wandering through the farmers market, I was drawn to a stall exhibiting a photo of a massive tree resplendent in fall colors bending over a water body. After praising the image lavishly I innocently asked the lady where it was taken. Hesitatingly she confessed that it was taken at the Kubota Garden in Seattle.

“But don’t fool yourselves in believing that you can go there and come back with a photo like this.” 

I was taken aback by the attitude. I silently paid $3.99 to buy a postcard of her photo and have been keeping it on my desk ever since.

Finally I got to shoot it.

What I thought was a massive tree is no more than 3 feet tall! No wonder she did not mind challenging me. Now I can’t wait for the farmers market to open next year so that I can go show it to her.

Hampi Photography Trip – Sun on the Rocks

Vitthala Temple Courtyard, Hampi

I have been to Hampi twice - in 2000 and 2008, before I was bitten, respectively, by the travel and the photography bug. The two trips could not have been more different. Not knowing what to expect, on my first visit I was introduced to the evocative ruins of the erstwhile Vijayanagara kingdom, perpetually lighting a spark in me that led to the second, for which I came prepared with a long list of things I had to see. It led to a mad dash through rocks and ruins under a blazing April sun.

Since then, I have been to other places in the world. At first, at a hurried, frantic, fast pace. But eventually, I learned to travel slow. Few flights, fewer hotels, two or three cities in a trip, experiencing more of a place than more places… 

That is when I am not on a photography trip. The sole purpose of a photography trip is to come home with beautiful photos. Relaxation and fun is not on the agenda. In fact, my chances of returning with “keepers” is extremely bleak if by the end of the trip, I am not sleep deprived, fatigued and cranky.

This third trip to Hampi was decidedly a photography trip right from the beginning.

A Photography Itinerary for Arches and Canyonlands National Park, Utah

“Keep shooting. Bad weather may break. Still be at you locations. Best things come to those who wait it out.” wrote back Keith Kapple, an excellent Southwest photographer and an email pal,  when I reached out to him, worried about the weather. I took his words seriously and it paid me rich dividends. The weather in the Moab region was muggy the two days I was there. But like clockwork, I got up at 4:00am, grabbed a quick breakfast at the 24 hour open Dennys and was in situ at 5:00am. On both days, the clouds parted just for some precious few minutes, on both sides of the days for me to take hope a memorable photo. Keith, a big thank you!