461 - 31st - La Malinche

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 31st Mar'09

This one is from one of my treks to the Volcanic mountain in Tlaxcala - La Malinche. This place is actually the base of the main peak which you reach almost after three hours of climbing. The peak which you see at the top of the image is still three hours away from this point. This place onwards, the surface becomes more difficult to manage as it contains loose soil and small stones. When I first saw an image of this place, I thought it would be a child's play to reach the top; but believe me it is an exhausting thing to do.

It took me five hours to climb and another three to come back to the base of the mountain. But the effort was really worth putting in.

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460 - 30th - All in a row

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 30th Mar'09

Often you could see flocks of birds flying away up and above the sea surface in neat little formations. Usually there is one leader while the others just follow him. It is really amazing how they predict the movement of the whole flock and move in absolutely symmetry. It is a known fact that flocks of birds fly for thousands of miles and migrate to far away continents solely on the basis of pure intuition.

It was really amazing to spend time watching their behavior; flying around in groups and occasionally diving into the water to catch some fish.

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459 - 29th - In her own world

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 29th Mar'09

Away from all the worries, all the tensions and all the sadness, children have their own little sweet world where everything is made of chocolate and where every small thing they do bring a cheer to their faces and smiles to everyone around them. They devote themselves completely to what they do and always seem to be lost in a dream of their own.

This small girl was lost in making her sand lumps in one such similar way. She was sitting knee deep in sand and was shaping heaps of sand with her small tiny hands. Oblivious of what is going around her, she continued with her "construction" with a cute little smile on her face.

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458 - 28th - New arrival

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 28th Mar'09

Another new flower bloomed in my garden this morning. I went out to open the water hose when I noticed this little fellow opening up slowly along with the first rays of the morning sun. I was expecting the bud to bloom for many days now, since this was the only plant left in the garden which didn't bear a flower yet. Finally, after a long wait of around ten days, the bud gave way to a beautiful little flower and tons of joy in my heart :)

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457 - 27th - At the far side

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 27th Mar'09

Not many people choose to go too far. Most of us limit ourselves to our boundaries of comfort and fail to explore the unknown. It was almost a similar scene at this beach. The shore curved at the far end and ended in an arc. But most of the people didn't come this far. They chose to be with the flock and limit themselves to the more "populated" part of the beach. There was some "beach-bikes" whose track marks could be seen, but even they didn't dare the high sea waves hitting the shore.

It was a long walk, but was worth being at a place where very few could reach.

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456 - 26th - Covered up

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 26th Mar'09

Even the brightest things in this universe can disappear behind dark clouds of darkness. It takes a moment for the darkness to overshadow everything and spread a sense of gloom around. But what we forget is that no matter how dense the dark clouds are, no matter how quickly they take away all the light, once the sun comes back, they are scattered like pieces of paper in the wind as if they never existed.

As for the image, it is of a cloudy morning sky in Veracruz.

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455 - 25th - In bright sunshine

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 25th Mar'09

I was searching for some nice subjects out in my garden when I saw this small flower blossoming on a small twig. I went under the tree and took some shots from different angles. The ones from the other side came with the flower having a lot of dark shades because of the sun being in the background. The moment I switched sides and had the sun on my back, the tones in the image changed drastically.

Looks great to me, dont know about you!!

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454 - 24th - Teeny tiny

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 24th Mar'09

With the naked eye I couldn't even see anything inside the flower except the yellow pollen at the center. But when I pointed my camera and looked through the lens, I could see this tiny green insect hidden inside. If you click on the image and see the full size, you can actually see it's black eyes and it's tiny legs.

Just started experimenting with my new macro lens - Sigma Macro 180 mm

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453 - 23rd - Royal treatment

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 23rd Mar'09

Childhood is a time when you get some serious royal treatment. You cry once and you have a queue of people waiting to attend you. You don’t need to eat yourself, bathe yourself and even walk yourself ;) Everything is taken care by the “elders” around you. You just need to cry/scream or make weird noises and it is done.

This child was enjoying one such treatment. Just lying down and relaxing in his basket, not concerned with what is happening around him, he was enjoying his royal ride.

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452 - 22nd - Sea shells

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 22nd Mar'09

All of us have collected “sea shells on the sea shore” one time or the other in our lives. I did it again last week after a long gap of around 10 years. If you want to have your share of fresh untouched lot of sea shells, you should head towards the beach early in the morning. When most of the others are in deep slumbers you can actually make an amazing catch. I got some really strange colored shells which I have never seen before – green, black and shades of brown. Along with shells, I got some really beautiful stones which I gave to my friends in office to be used in necklaces.

Sea shell hunting; a fun thing to do.

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451 - 21st - Among the waves

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 21st Apr'09

Everyone likes the feeling of the sea waves hitting their bare feet. But not all of us are fortunate enough to do it on our own.

I saw this couple with an old woman (supposedly the mother of one of them) standing among the waves and helping the old lady enjoy an activity which she herself was unable to do. Enjoying ourselves is something all of us do all the time, but helping someone else share that feeling of happiness is something we seldom do. Happiness and joy, as do most of the good things in life, increase the more you share them.

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450 - 20th - The sand bike

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 20th Mar'09

Chachalacas is famous for it’s beaches filled with huge sand dunes. Once you are on the beach you can see numerous four wheeled motors zipping away in all directions. You can hire these bikes for 400 pesos an hour and enjoy some bumpy rides on the dunes.

Though I didn’t use one but I saw this man cleaning his bike while I was enjoying my lunch in a nearby restaurant. Its huge treaded tires help it from getting stuck in soft deep sand and cruise over it with amazing speeds.

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449 - 19th - Brave old trekkers

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 19th Mar'09

I had just started climbing down the peak of the volcano Malinche at around 15ooo feet when I met this old couple. Given the fact that I had seen many a young hearts loose their breath on their way up, it was really surprising to see this couple almost at the peak with a grin on their face. They were supporting each other through a common rope tied to their waists and were slowly but steadily heading towards the summit.

I stopped and talked to them. Both were in their late 70s and the guy was a doctor in Puebla. It was their love for nature and mountain climbing which brought them all the way up defying all the age related logic.

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448 - 18th - Baby face

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 18th Mar'09

There is nothing more adorable than the innocence on the face of a sleeping baby. We see such images in e-mails, on web sites, on greeting cards but we know we can never get enough of them. I have taken many photos of babies but each time a see one, I cannot stop myself from clicking more. Each one of them has their own share of beauty and attraction.

To be honest, this image is actually a result of an inspiration from a friend at work. He took a nearly identical photo of his child during one of his vacations and I was so touched by the photo that since that day I was searching for an opportunity to click a similar one. Maybe I will post a link to his image in this post once I get his permission :)

P.S - He had just finished playing on the beach and had sand granules all over his face. That actually explains the small black spots all over the frame.

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447 - 17th - Out in the open

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 17th Mar'09

A beach is one of the favorite hangouts to have a nice vacation. People usually pack up and head for big picnics to these places. A lazy day at the beach, having sun baths and eating out in open air.

These two families were probably enjoying their day out. I was sitting inside a restaurant on the beach side enjoying my post-lunch coffee when I spotted them. The view of the beach along with the hay thatch at the top gave the whole scene a distinct "clickable" look. Just as a random fact to go along, I saw at least five different cars stuck in the sand that day. I was wondering why the hell can't people just leave their cars behind and enjoy the nature in its complete originality.

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446 - 16th - A beautiful profile

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 16th Mar'09

There were many instances when I found a face photogenic but I couldn't click it because I didn't know the person and even if I was able to click, I couldn't post it here because without proper permission, that would have been a breach of privacy.

This time when I found a beautiful face, fortunately I knew the person. She was a friend of one of my friends and she readily agreed when I asked her if I could post her image on my blog if the photos come out good. She has an amazing profile; I must admit.

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445 - 15th - The sand castle

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 15th Mar'09

Building sand castles is an activity normally associated with children. Think of them and an image with children sitting knee deep in the sand with small spades and tumblers around them instantly pops up in your mind. In reality too, the only adults you can see around the sand castles are usually the parents making sure that their children are at a safe distance from the sea and in some cases, not "eating" sand.

As a child I never built sand castles. The only memory of a beach from childhood doesnt have any traces of me building one. So this time when I was at the sea, I decided to do it. The "not so bad" result, you can see in the image :)

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444 - 14th - Running in blacks

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 14th Mar'09

Come morning and you can see all sorts of people running on the beach. Young couples, old men & women, children and sometimes three people running together; all wearing black bottoms and all bare chested.

I was sitting and enjoying the morning breeze along the beach (was not in a mood to run) when this "trio negro" ran past me. They were not really running, but were just hopping along & that gave me enough time to take out my camera and shoot their backs.

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443 - 13th - Among the waves

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 13th Mar'09

I have taken numerous photos of the sea waves splashing on the shores and the sun drowning in the sea far behind the horizon. Incidentally, this time the sun was setting in the opposite direction. I had the sea in front of me and the sun at the back. I was thinking how could I get the two together in the same frame & pop came the idea.

I took off my slippers, folded my pants to my knees and walked towards the sea with the camera safely tucked around my neck. After walking a few feet I could see the sea waves in front of me and the sun setting down at the horizon; yet again.

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442 - 12th - The dry pine

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 12th Mar'09

The volcanic mountain of Malinche is covered with pine trees. As you start climbing towards the top you cannot see anything but pine all around. The homogeneity provides a really beautiful scene. At many places the ground is covered with dry pine fruits; big and small.

I remember my school days in Mussoorie, India (one more place abundant in pines) when our teacher used to ask us to look for big dry pine fruits and then paint them with different colors. It used be a really interesting assignment.

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441 - 11th - On the highway

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 11th Mar'09

As I had mentioned before in the post Magno the Bull, I stopped on the highway to Atlixco to take a shot of the Bull. We stopped the car on one side of the highway and I hopped to the middle to get some pictures. When I was returning, I saw the car standing against a beautiful background with the brown grass in front adding to the stripes of colors.

I bent down and took some pictures of the car before I crossed the road and got in again. Most of the good pictures come really unexpectedly.

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440 - 10th - Start the business

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 10th Mar'09

The doors had just opened to the ruins at Palneque and among the very first people to get in were these shopkeepers who owned small make-shift "tiendas" inside the complex. They put up their shops right besides the palace of the king which was actually a passage between the two main areas inside the campus. They had all kinds of things ranging from table covers to calendars and small show pieces all having some kind of "Mayan" look.

I was climbing down the ruins of the palace when I saw them getting ready for the day's business. I took this photo from the first level of the building in order to go unnoticed and get a "natural" shot.

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439 - 9th - The sweet couple

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 9th Mar'09

I have seen couples sitting in gardens, I have seen them lazing away in restaurants, I have seen then roaming around on the streets, but this one was something really different and sweet. They were standing down the slope, staring at their kite high above in the sky. Though it was nothing special but somehow it made me feel the how much warmth and closeness can actually exist between two souls hit by the cupid.

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438 - 8th - Taking history lessons

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 8th Mar'09

As I always do when I visit important Maya sites, I hired a guide at Monte Alban too. While I was having a tour of the place taking pictures and listening to my guide, I could see many others wearing a red tag and exploring the place with their respective clients.

On the top of the plaza, I saw this woman standing at the edge of the pyramid probably absorbing some important facts spoken by her guide. Believe me - without a guide such places are nothing but a heap of stones.

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437 - 7th - Mineral deposits

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 7th Mar'09

Hierve El Agua is a place in Oaxaca where streams of water, rich in minerals originate from the ground and flow down the slopes to the valley below. At the edge of the plain surface the water starts depositing the minerals and forms a bright slippery plastic like surface, dull yellow in color. If you step inside the water, it is unexpectedly cold and the surface feels like a smoot sheet of cermaic under your feet.

The water starts having a greenish look as you move towards the edge. All in all it is a nice view sitting on the edge with you feet inside the pool.

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436 - 6th - The morning sale

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 6th Mar'09

It was around 8AM in the morning and I was enjoying my chialquiles in an open air restaurant at downtown Oaxaca. Being a Sunday morning, the atmosphere was lazy and not many people could be seen wandering around, except those who wanted to do some business with the early risers. Among many who were trying to make a sale, was this man loaded with a million different things and doing nothing but standing at a distance hoping to be noticed.

I spent around an hour in the restaurant but I didn't see him selling even a single bag. Maybe it was becuase it was too early for people to buy some things or maybe he needs to move from his place and approach them.

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435 - 5th - It's a bee's life

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 5th Mar'09

I recently bought some close up filters (since I didn't have enough money saved for a good macro lens) and was experimenting around in the garden. I was trying to get a close up of the tiny yellow flowers and their grainy pollen when suddenly this bee entered the frame. Since my focus was already set at the flower, it made it easy for me to get a shot of an otherwise really quick moving insect.

Though the filters are giving some exceptional results but not as good as I want them to be. I have to make the decision of piercing a hole in my pocket real soon.

P.S - Don't forget to click on the image and have a close look at the bee :)

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434 - 4th - Monte Alban

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 4th Mar'09

Monte alban is one of the most popular archeological sites in Mexico. Though most the ones which top the list were built by Mayas, this place belongs to the less known Zapotecas. The place is at a distance of around 30 minutes drive from the center of the Oaxaca city and from where it is located you can see a panaromic view of the entire capital.

The place was very strategically chosen by the ones who built it; right in the middle of series of mountains, spread out like small blocks of wood on a dining table. The scenic view which you get from the top (it is actually a socio-economic plaza which you can see in the image) is just breathtakingly beautiful.

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433 - 3rd - The broken thatch

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 3rd Mar'09

It looked like a small hut or a hideout which had been long abandoned. I could see a couple of signs nearby which told that it had actually been used for quite some time. There were some broken mud vessels, some shoes and some torn clothes littered nearby. Also, at one corner I could see a makeshift stove fueled with coal/wood.

Whoever lived here, chose a really picturesque place. Series of mountains at the back and open space all around; a perfect place to live - at least for me :)

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432 - 2nd - Behind the clouds

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 2nd Mar'09

It is really amazing how similar the scenes of sunrise and sunset are. Almost the same colors, same hues spread around & the same cool breeze hitting your face. As it is in almost every other case, the death and birth have a really striking resemblance.

I clicked this one on my way to Oaxaca a month back. We had just passed the toll and the sun had started rising behind the dark clouds right in front of us.

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431 - 1st - Cholula at night

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 1st Mar'09

I've been raring to visit Cholula at night since the time I bought my tripod. Many a times in the past I had tried taking some shots at night of the cathedral on top of the pyramid, but they always came too saturated and blurry. But now given the firm support of the my tripod I had the privilege of takign shots with long exposures without even a hint of camera shake. The result - you can see in the picture.

Images like this really make it worth spending money on a good tripod and cable release. Though at first glance it doesnt look something really impressive, but I would suggest you to click on the image and also have a look at this one to see how good the camera has performed for a glowing thing right in the middle of absolute darkness.

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