320 - 31st - The tattoo

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 31st Oct'08

It was a hot afternoon and my friends were enjoying a dip in the cool blue waters at Tulum while I was sitting hish on a rock on the beach-side waiting for them to come back. It would have been around 10 minutes for me sitting there, when this man came and sat on the rock in front of me. He was at a lower height than me and so wasn't able to see what's happening on this back. I really like the tattoo on his back and since (as always) I had my camera in my hand I decided to click some photos of his.

The moment I clicked the first one, I knew it was going to be a nice shot.

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319 - 30th - On the beachside

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 30th Oct'08

Cancun is famous for its "Caribbean" beaches, with crystal clear sea water and beautiful beach resorts. The sea in this part of Mexico has a completely different look and feel and is one of the most popular tourist resorts for people visiting Mexico.

I went for a walk on the beach early in the morning and took this photo on the way back to my hotel. Since it was early, I was luck to get an empty beach and a nice landscape.

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318 - 29th - The perfect couple

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 29th Oct'08

Maybe it's just a freckle of my imagination but this pair of birds in the photo represent a typical "couple". If you see the bird on the left as male and on the right as female (again my assumption), you can see that female is strongly making her point with one claw in the air pointed towards the male & eyes wide open while the guy is sitting with a hanging neck & his eyes lowered, quietly listening to the words of wisdom.

It is just a random moment caught in the camera, but as they say - a picture is worth a thousand words.

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317 - 28th - Footprints

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 28th Oct'08

Almost all of us would have read somewhere, the lines written below. These were exactly the lines which crossed my mind while I was clicking the picture. Read on ...

One night I dreamed I was walking along the beach with the Lord. Many scenes from my life flashed across the sky. In each scene I noticed footprints in the sand. Sometimes there were two sets of footprints, other times there was one only. This bothered me because I noticed that during the low periods of my life, when I was suffering from anguish, sorrow or defeat, I could see only one set of footprints, so I said to the Lord, "You promised me Lord, that if I followed you, you would walk with me always. But I have noticed that during the most trying periods of my life there has only been one set of footprints in the sand. Why, when I needed you most, have you not been there for me?" The Lord replied, "The years when you have seen only one set of footprints, my child, is when I carried you.

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Click here to see the sepia version of the same image

316 - 27th - Pink petals

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 27th Oct'08

“Pink soft petals of rose with small droplets of salty sea water sprinkled on them, scattered on the beach & giving a beautiful contrast to the rough, grainy, brown sand” – It’s amazing how small things can lend a sense of beauty to places where you least expect it to exist. The beach was full of people running to and fro and maybe these petals would have got crushed under a careless foot but as long they lay there, they glittered under the slant rays of the rising sun.

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315 - 26th - Nevado de Toluca

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 26th Oct'08

Nevado de Toluca is a large volcano in central Mexico, located about 80 kilometres west of Mexico City near the city of Toluca. It is generally cited as the fourth highest of Mexico's peaks. There are two crater lakes on the floor of the basin at about 4,200 m, the larger Lago del Sol (Sun Lake) and the smaller, but deeper, Lago de la Luna (Moon Lake). A road runs into the caldera to the lakes, making this perhaps the most accessible major Mexican peak.

The one you can see in the photo is the small lake - Lage de la Luna. I trekked all the way up to the volcano and then down to the crater in around 4+ hours. The place was cold, silent and perhaps one of the most beautiful natural settings I have ever seen.

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314 - 25th - The curve ahead

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 25th Oct'08

This photo was taken just near to where I clicked the "Train in the fields". After clicking the train I was returning to the car when I thought that it would be a nice photo if I could go to the center of the highway and see how it looks from there. I sat on the divider and started shooting the road on the either side. Then I turned back and saw this pattern of the road signs mounted on the curvy road. I took some shots and this is the one I liked the best.

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313 - 24th - Its Halloween

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 24th Oct'08

Halloween is a week away but it's creepy signs are all over the city. You go to shops, malls, houses and even offices and you can see these pumpkin shaped ghost heads (Jack-o'-lanterns) in all different sizes scattered all over the place. Some are carved out of real pumpkins while some like in the picture above are made of plastic, porcelain or even clay. I found these two huge pumpkin heads at my friends house and I knew that they would make a nice picture.

BTW, I am planning to carve one out of a real pumpkin, that would be something new & fun and most of all, something I have never done before.

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312 - 23rd - Across the sky

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 23rd Oct'08

I saw a big flock of white birds perched on top of corn plants in a field while driving back to Puebla. I stopped to take some photos but due to the distance of the field from the main road, I wasn't able to get a nice view. So, I decided to enter the fields and take a shot from a bit closer to the birds. But I wouldnt have even stepped ten steps forward when somehow the birds sensed me and started flying in panic.

Though I couldn't shoot them sitting in the fields I got some shots with them spread all across the sky :)

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311 - 22nd - Eggs of a basket

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 22nd Oct'08

This basket full of colorful eggs immediately caught my attention in a local market. I have seen white eggs, I have seen brown eggs, even some spotted eggs, but never have I seen blue and yellow and red eggs. I stopped at the shop ans asked the owner that how come these eggs are so differently colored. Guess what she would have answered ...

"These eggs are of colored hens, hence they are colored". I nodded my head, clicked some photos and walked away giggling inside.

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310 - 21st - Green Cabbages

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 21st Oct'08

I had spotted this particular field of cabbages some time back, so this time when I knew that I was going to pass by the same fields I decided to stop and click some pictures. I love seeing fruits and vegetables in fields and gardens. Nothing can match the taste & joy of plucking fresh vegetables and then feasting on them.

I wanted to pluck one cabbage from among the hundreds which were growing there but somehow resisted the temptation because there was no one around to ask for the permission to do it. So I kept myself content with capturing them in my camera and went ahead with my journey.

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309 - 20th - Cilantro men

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 20th Oct'08

Cilantro or more commonly known as "Coriander" is one of my favorite garnishing options for tasty Indian curries. I usually buy it at the local Walmart every week. But from this week onwards I think I will be a bit extra careful while eating it. That is because what I saw when I clicked this image.

This group of men had plucked these bundles of coriander leaves fresh from the field and were probably getting it ready to be sent to the market. They had the leaves tied together to make big bundles and were washing them in the stream of water before putting them on the heap. If you look at the heap, the leaves look quite attractive and clean but the water in which they were dipping and washing it was almost black with dirt. Next time I'm gonna eat it, I'll make sure I wash it at least for ten minutes under a stream of "fresh & clean" water.

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308 - 19th - Train in the fields

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 19th Oct'08

I was passing over a bridge on the way to Tlaxcala when I noticed a railway line piercing through the lush green fields. My friend was kind enough to stop the car at a distance so that I could go back and take some photos. By the time I walked back to the bridge, I could see a train crawling on the tracks. I ran towards the center of the bridge to get a nice angle. Among all the shots I took, this one is my personal best.

I really liked the scenery as a whole - perfect green fields, a railway track with a train on it and a curved road merging with the track at a distance. If you observe carefully, there are many things to notice in the picture.

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307 - 18th - Corn storage

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 18th July'08

These white cone-shaped buildings can be seen at many places across rural Mexico. They can often be seen in rows of three to four and are scattered near the farming areas. These buildings are actually used to store corn. It is an ancient Mexican practice but is still followed in many places across the country.

I searched for it's name in local language on Google, but couldn't find it. I will surely edit this post and include the name as soon as I get it.

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306 - 17th - The yellow ducklings

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 17th Oct'08

These cute little birds have such an expression of innocence on their face that it just melts your heart the moment you see them. Mother nature has given them a strong sense of inherent beauty which just grabs your attention and makes your sight get glued on them.

But the greed and selfishness of humans spares none. To quench his taste-buds he can go to any level of cruelty without showing any signs of empathy. I clicked these birds cramp-packed in a movable trolley when a man was selling them in a local market. Most probably waiting to be killed, sliced and grilled, these little birds seemed so oblivious of the obvious truth - the truth of our heartlessness.

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305 - 16th - Shiny flowers

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 16th Oct'08

I saw these most unusual kind of flowers while trekking up the mountain of Nevado de Toluca. Even though it was overcast and not enough sunlight was falling on the ground, these flowers were shining distinctively all over the place. They had leaves like cactus and a sizeable core with shades of purple.

The ones which bloomed were looking as in the picture, while others who had lived their lives were dry and their cores were split open right in the middle. Strange things nature has in store.

P.S There is one thing which I have decided to change from this post onwards. If you can tell what it is, please leave a comment :)

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304 - 15th - The small lake

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 15th Oct'08

There lay a small lake just at the base of a Grey rocky mountain, with patches of green around it & some random pieces of rocks scattered in the middle. As I was walking past it the sun was playing hide and seek with the clouds and the shadows of the clouds were sweeping past me and on all the other things around me.

It was so quiet and serene that you could actually hear the flapping of the wings of a bird flying over your head. You could hear yourself breathing and the wind blowing past you. You could hear the thoughts breezing past your mind. A kind of unusual, satisfying peace.

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303 - 14th - In the crowd

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 14th Oct'08

I was walking through a crowded side-walk in downtown Mexico City when it struck me that maybe a photo here would look good. So I took out my camera, leaned against a lamp post and started clicking arbitrarily. Of all the shots I got I somehow liked this one the most.

Only after transferring the photos and seeing them in full size, I realized that this man on the left of the image was giving me such a what-the-hell-are-you-doing stare :)

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302 - 13th - In the shade of the mountains

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 13th Oct'08

At the first look, this photo will give you an image of a huge mountain with some sundry small things filling up the rest of the frame. The sheer size of the Grey mountain on the right of the frame seems to overshadow the significance of almost everything else in the picture. But if you enlarge the picture by clicking on it and see the full view, you will observe that there are three main things which catch your attention. What are they, I leave it for you to decide.

I took this picture while trekking up the mountain of Nevado de Toluca.

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301 - 12th - Bird of paradise

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 12th Oct'08

I saw this unusual looking flower in a town called Valle de Bravo. We stopped at the place for some snacks and parked the car in a nearby parking when I noticed these flowers growing right in the center of the parking area. My friend told me that they are called "Birds of Paradise" and indeed they gave the appearance of small birds.

Their unusual shape and vivid color combination gave them a type of beauty which is something very different from what one expects from flowers in general.

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Click here to see the flower from another angle

300 - 11th - Xochimilco

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 11th Oct'08

Xochimilco is a small tourist attraction near Mexico City. It has a stretch of water in the form of small river-like stagnant lake. You can hire a boat with seating capacity varying from 10-25 people. People usually go there with proper "partying" arrangements like music, food and beer. It takes around 2 hours to take a full round of the lake and you can see numerous boats floating around with each one hosting a small party.

Apart from the boats carrying people, there are other smaller ones which offer a variety of other services like food, flowers and even music. carefully looking, its a small business model in its own.

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299 - 10th - Abandoned

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 10th Oct'08

It was a small break on the highway after a drive of almost 4 hours non-stop, when I just wandered away in the nearby fields while my friends were easing down. The sun was just preparing to call it a day & hitting the earth with its lateral rays creating long slant shadows. I saw this car standing in the ruins with no signs of any habitation nearby.

I didnt go close as I didn't have enough time, but it's strange how people can abandon things as big as a car. If you wanna get rid of it, at least sell it, instead of just throwing it away in some barren field.

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298 - 9th - A thousand windows

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 9th Oct'08

This photo is again from the monument of "Cristo Rey". As I was walking back to the parking, I had to climb down this circular path towards the base of the statue. This pattern of numerous windows was perhaps the outer side of the rooms inside the church. Some of the windows were open while others were closed.

I had to wait for a long time at the edge of the building so that I could get a clean shot without anything else intruding into the frame. But the volume of people visiting the place was so huge that even after minutes of patient waiting, I couldnt avoid a couple of them to creep in at the top left edge of the building :)

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297 - 8th - Glittering in the dark

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 8th Oct'08

Apart from the angle from which this photo was taken, there is something else to be mentioned about it. It was 9PM and even the artificial light was not that good at the place where I was thinking of clicking this one. So I just split open the aperture of my camera and gave the sensor maximum exposure.

You wont believe, it took around 35 secs for the photo to get captured after I pushed the button.

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296 - 7th - Cristo Rey

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 7th Oct'08

One of the most important religious monuments in all of Mexico, Cristo Rey (Christ the King) is an impressive 20-meter bronze statue of Jesus set atop the summit of the mountain Cerro de Cubilete. The colossal monument was constructed in 1950, replacing the smaller, original statue that was destroyed during the final stages of the Mexican Revolution.

The statue allegedly marks the exact geographical center of Mexico, and for religious Mexicans there is something to be said in having Jesus in the very heart of their country. As such, the statue is a popular day-trip destination for Mexicans visiting Guanajuato.

I took many different pictures of the statue from near and from far. Click the links below to see some more photos.

Click here to see the full sized image
Click here to see the church
Click here to see a distant view

295 - 6th - Waiting for someone

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 6th Oct'08

I dont know for whom she was waiting, but the expression of restlessness was quite evident on her face. I could see her repeatedly turning her attention to a particular direction as if expecting to see someone. I stood there for around 10 minutes waiting for a taxi but I couldnt see anyone coming.

There are times in life when such waits just end in deep disappointment which is felt only by the one who is waiting.

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294 - 5th - Downtown lunch

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 5th Oct'08

I was strolling through the downtown (& as is the case with almost all the downtowns in Mexico, the one in Guanajuato also had restaurants spread out in the open) when I saw this group of people enjoying their lunch on a sunny Sunday afternoon. The weather was nice, ambiance was perfect for a lazy Sunday & the stage was all set to enjoy a tasty lunch.

It would have looked odd to shoot someone having food so I pretended to move my camera here and there as if I was trying to find a good view. In the midst of all that fooling around, I clicked this one. But I think the lady wearing the shades knew what I was actually trying to do. Just look at the way she is staring at me .. ;)

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293 - 4th - One World

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 4th Oct'08

Its a nice sight to see so many different colored flags in one glance. They give you a feeling of unity in diversity. Also, how many times do we stop and observe the flags of different countries? I actually dont even remember when I carefully saw the flag of my own country.

So this time when I came across this guy who was selling these numerous little flags, I stopped at the place and observed them closely. Unfortunately, the flag of my own country was not there on the part of the board which I decided to shoot :)

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292 - 3rd - Come lets study

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 3rd Oct'08

I was paying visit to a local museum in Guanajuato and was on the first floor when I saw this group of students taking notes from what their teacher was speaking. I could see children roaming around at the place with notebooks in their hands and scribbling down what they observed. I was reminded of my school days when we were taken for such educational outings and asked to make detailed descriptions of what we saw.

Unfortunately it was 50 extra bucks to take the camera inside, so I left it at the reception. But my N95 didnt give as bad a result as expected :)

Click here to see the full sized image

291 - 2nd - Just married

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 2nd Oct'08

I was watching a road side music show near the cathedral in downtown Guanajuato when I heard a roar of movement behind me. I turned back and saw that a crowd of people and photographers is coming out of the church. I started walking in that direction to check out what was happening. As I reached the entrance of the church I saw this couple standing with broad smiles on their face. I made my way through the crowd to find a decent angle to shoot them.

Unlike other "official" photographers who were dressed in black and white tuxedos, I was looking the odd one out in my blue jeans and white t-shirt. I realized this once I finished clicking & saw that people around me are giving me what-the-hell-are-you-doing-here glances. I quietly moved out of the place with a joy of having a nice photo in my camera.

If I were you, I would click on the photo to see its real beauty :)

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290 - 1st - The city of Guanajuato

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 1st Oct'08

The city of Guanajuato - looks all the more colorful and magnificent in the cover of darkness, when all its architectural marvels glow in ten different shades and give a glittery, shiny look to the whole landscape.

I took this photo from the monument of Piplia. I first clicked a "day" shot & at the same moment I decided that I have to come back once it turns dark to see how the place looks at night. It was cold, windy and chilly, but still it was worth to climb up and get such a wonderful shot.

Click here to see the full sized image

Click here to see the one I clicked in sunlight.