Orion

my first successful attempt at deep sky astrophotography. still light years to go. the Orion Nebula(M42) is the nearest star-forming region to the earth at a mere 1300 light years(approx.) located in the ‘sword’ of the Orion constellation(pic 2). astrophotographers are an obsessed lot spending nights of efforts for photographing something which eventually often looks like a hazy white patch in some noisy black photograph.
200mm f/5.6 lens, Nikon D90, Astrotrac, stack of 5 shots of various exposures, totalling around 7-8 minutes. Nuh, Haryana. Pic 2 - Crop from 18mm f/4.

Sounds and sights

shot in various places in India and Italy. the last one is on the way from Ajanta to Mumbai. Me and Gopi were driving back when we saw him walking along the highway. we asked him whether he wanted a lift. he was happy and sang bhajans till he got off after about a hundred kilometers.

Floors

Speak up

a campaign for the DNA newspaper in Mumbai promoting people’s participation in social causes. both outdoor and press. the last one was an outdoor at the mahim crossing in Mumbai, which is perpetually jammed. we had some hard hitting lines on some strong issues, but the client thought they would be ‘controversial’. we had to stick to the noncontroversial issues. still a pretty good campaign as it probably did some good.
2006. Rediffusion DYR, Mumbai. other credits: Hemant Anant Jain, Nikhil Ketkar.

Exhibition posters

posters with cutouts pasted on ‘abstract’ walls. campaign for an exhibition of abstract paintings.
2006, Rediffusion DYR, Mumbai. other credits: Mayuresh Wagle. one show merit.

a calligraphic typeface exercise

Outside the window

law and disorder

why take the cab when you can take the plane

shame

are we there yet?

he says we’re going on a picnic

say paneeer

some photographs taken on the move from cabs/autos.

Look at you

some things that were staring at me.

Nainital Observatory

some photographs taken during a recent trip to the Nainital Observatory(ARIES). established in 1954, its situated on Manora peak, which is a few kilometers away from Nainital city. the sky is almost perfect from the location, apart from the ever-increasing light pollution from the city towards north. a new bigger observatory is coming up at Devasthal. can’t wait to go there. an interesting thing about astronomy is you get over all those mandatory feelings of your insignificance, the impossible dimensions and numbers, various superlatives, etc, etc, in the first few days, and then you just enjoy the greatest show on earth.
From top: 1.Venus and Jupiter(spot them?) from earth.
2.startrails around the Polaris(Pole star).
3.Milky way and the Andromeda galaxy(like a diffused star top left of the frame). its the farthest object visible to the naked eye, a mere 2.5 million light years away.
4.Pleiades(top left) and around.
5.Orion and Sirius at the observatory’s dome.