View allAll Photos Tagged Tripathi
Hope you all are having fun in new year and enjoying the life.. San Francisco is a lovely place and love visiting here.. Tonight was no exception and I was blown away with beauty of glowing lights and its reflections of bay bridge in low tide when I came near Pier 14 on embarcadero.
I stole a moment from this amazing evening... Sneaked out of work at evening during my business trip to New York City. Went to top of Empire State Building to capture this...
I had to keep my camera on the wall at 86th floor observatory (You can not carry your tripod with you there). I took 10+ shots of this scene, only one shot was clear without any blur as gusty winds were shaking everything. You have to be lucky to get the long exposure without any shake, overexposure or underexposure, within 15 min of dusk time when ambient light is same as city lights..
Took this shot during late afternoon. Probably I was there at right time to capture this dramatic scene.
Took this shot from San Francisco Fort Point Area, under the golden gate bridge. It was dusk, with slight fog on Marin headlands, windy weather and some moving clouds.
Enjoy the view...
Tech: Canon 5D mark III, EF24-70mm f/2.8L II USM, @28mm, @F14, 2 shots, raw import in lightroom, digital blending in CS6, final touches in NIK software
Canyonlands National Park was our fourth stop in a week long trip to National parks in the southwest area parks. I missed out the sunrise as I woke up late,, damn alarm did not work .... I reached here around late morning. It was a short hike to reach this beautiful Arch..
Gandhi braving the frigid air outside the Canadian Museum For Human Rights.
27 August 2004, the sculpture of Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948) was gifted to the Friends of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights by Her Excellency Mrs. Shashi U. Tripathi, High Commissioner for India to Canada, on behalf of the Government of India (Indian Council for Cultural Relations).
The gift was made possible through the efforts of Dr. Naranjan S. Dhalla, founder of the India Canada Culture and Heritage Association.
Varanasi, India is a holy city and gives you spiritual awakening once you visit here. I went to river Ganga (Ganges) in early morning, was captivated by mesmerizing sunrise, gave me sense of peace and calm..
Happy, prosperous and spritual New year to all.
Sometimes things fall in place all by itself. Our 15th marriage anniversary was coming and my wife said why don't we spend time in San Francisco.... I choose this beautiful hotel where best possible views of city exist to spend some memorable time.
We were sipping champagne and enjoying the stunning SF views when I saw this beautiful beacon lit up on Transamerica building and Embarcadero center buildings glowing with holiday lights ... I set up my camera, spent few min taking all possible shots... Later at home I created this panorama capturing the holiday mood..
Made #2 on explore, Thanks for your support.
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I remembered this location behind Java Cafe parking lot in Embarcadero street in San Francisco where lot of water stays after the rain storm. Check this picture out...
Recently launched my new website,, have a look and read more on my blog about how this picture was taken.
Made this trip couple of weeks ago to June lake loop. Reached around late morning when sun was harsh and had to leave before evening... Made best use of available resources to get few fall shots. This one is taken at Silver lake.
Wanted to do this shot for a long time. Last month had the opportunity to visit LA, stooped by at Santa Monica Pier at dusk to capture this beautiful moment.
I am sure gate view on the valley floor of Yosemite National Park in California is a favorite spot for everyone. The view is stunning, and if you have ever been here you know what I mean. It is stunning, jaw dropping and bound to overwhelm you.
Very low level of water due to draught in California, almost no wind and feel of autumn in the atmosphere, it was so moving that I took so many shots and filled my 16GB card completely. I had to delete few of them and make sure I have room for keepers.
For Technical Details, read my blog:
It was looking like a Golden Guardian is trying to decent on earth and then found a place to float. This beautiful scene lasted for 2-3 minuts only and I almost forgot everytning around me....
Tech: Canon 5D mark III, EF24-70mm f/2.8L II USM, 30.0 sec, f/5.6, ISO 100, single shot, raw import in LR5, final touches in CS6, Nik software
I had shot the gay parade over 1000 pictures , I have posted some of them at Flickr , but I have yet to post over 750 more to my Gay Prade set 2009...
I would copy the Flickr link to Facebook, as most of the Facebook members committed and part of the gay community including my Hijra Guru Laxmi Narayan Tripathi dont access Flickr..I like Facebook, but because of overreaching the limit of links I was told in no easy terms by the Facebook team my account would be disabled for spamming..me a positive spam.
I will in a few minutes reach 89000 photo blogs at Flickr .and at least Flickr does not consider me a positive spam yet.
So as a poet this kick on my black ass hit me hard and I have emotionalized it in pedestrian verse..dedicating it to Mr Mark Zuckerburg..
I am not into porn, I am not into groups either at Flickr or Facebook..
But three places which are home away from home
is Flickr , Facebook and Twitter.
I had earlier thought of deleting my Facebook account ..but than it would be my loss , as my friends are all Facebook hard core fans ..
Rayo my childhood friend of 50 years known as Ray Framroze says he only browses Facebook and no other site..
So my poem with malice to none
Doe Not Like Flickr Links
Now the thought sinks
Think Facebook Think
Their threat to disable
my Facebook Account
shows their bias
among other things
a bias
that racially stinks
a blogger
with broken wings
a sore throat
some swine flu
he sings
its better to live
like a pauper for a day
than live 100 days like a king
FLICKR TWITTER FACEBOOK
a barefeet blogger of Mumbai
with feet and a soul going pink
from the crowds
a libidinous hijra
gives me a wink
calling me to Gaylords
for a drink
Jazz By the Bay
exotic tantric sex
she tells me
on the Bandra Worli
Sea Link
I refuse
my burkha clad
face hidden wife
the only Armour
in my androgynous
chink
Think Facebook Think
a castrated mouse
clicking away
the keyboard
without a ding
a David making love to Goliath
with 5 stones in a sling
I hope and pray Flickr too gets 250 million members.. one day
130,095 items / 967,829 views
These are pictures I shot before I left for Ajmer and am posting them now , I have always been fascinated with the spirituality of the hijab..its holistic harmony with its surroundings..
And I talk about the hijab indigenous to Muslim society, in India the hijab does not have any such opposition as one finds in Europe .
Hijab stories will never end but Hijab in India is a garment of grace modesty and harmonious dignity.. sartorial serendipity.
As I come from a modern liberal Shia family , the modern liberal applies to me , we have no issue with the hijab..its a option you take to wear it or dont wear it.
My wife my daughter in laws wear it so does my 2 and a half year old grand daughter Marziya.
While coming back from a tiring trip from Ajmer , a bus drive from Ajmer ro Surat followed by another bus trip from Surat to Vasai..I encountered a Hindu girl with the end of her Rajasthani saree used as a veil or Ghungat .
She sat by the window and light filtered in revealing the silhouette of her femininity..I shot several frames ..the boys traveling with her did not know I was shooting her ..
I also shot a Muslim girl at Taragadh a mountain top near Ajmer writing an Arzi a request for a healthy child .., and women of all faith come here as the fruit of the Gondi tree is famous for barren women as the history of this place signifies.
I shot 22 GB all in a few days, the Urus , the Rafaees the Malangs the Kaif which I participated and beggars and the inimitable Hijra queens from all over India.
Babita Naina and Khushi from Mumbai , Kareena , but the most exotic and a very new nubile hijra called Raveena .
I must have shot over 100 pictures of Raveena hijra of Aligarh..now part of Gopal Haji and Babitas hijda gharana.
Madhurima Ma the head of the HIjras of Park Site saw that I was fed and took great care , I call her Ma and she treats me like her own son.. she and her chela Baby..
Kamini was there with a novice nubile hijra called Muskan ..
And it is not a boast but I shoot hijras differently, the hijra beauties I shot are very rare species you will never see in your entire life time.
I shot my two favorite eunuch children Mona and Nandini.
I was given hospitality love kindness by my host Peersab Fakhru Miya Hijra No 6...his children Farid Miya and Qambar Miya.
I met Noubat Ali Baba the head of the rafaees, Damadar Rafaees and Malangs, but I spent a lot of time with the Hijra bawas and I was barefeet through out my stay at Ajmer and Taragadh.. I climbed Taragah barefeet 5 km..a path that is a virtual beggar paradise , open sores wounds and strange deformities of body and spirit.
I was caught in a stampede at the doors of the dargah , I fell down people walked all over me till I was eventually saved by the Khadim and the crowds.
I hurt my hands and legs but my camera was intact.
And reaching Ajmer is nothing short of a miracle..I will show all this like a story board from Dadar railway station to Ajmer .
I shot a lot of stuff from the upper tier of my bus .. sleeping coach from Ajmer to Surat and another bus from Surat to Mumbai for my return journey.
One person who would have liked the spiritual ambiance of this place is Dr Glenn Losack MD.
Marc De Clercq had walked from Delhi to Ajmer with Malangs and Damadar Rafaees.
We spent some time together along with another French photographer Yasser.
I missed my Hijra Guru Laxmi Narayan Tripathi she was caring for her sick father I was told..and everyone missed Laxmi such is the power of her androgynous persona.
189,488 items / 1,493,159 views
Marc De Clercq is a lover of Humanity , a very low profile human being a great photographer but hates being photographed , and he tolerates me to some extent as I blog his soul and bring it alive on the Internet.
I dont do it for money or to gain and ingratiate myself with him , he is million light years a much better photographer than me, I am basically a point and shoot artist.
Once Marc did get upset with me at Mahim and brushed me off for asking someone for taking my picture with him , though it hurt me immensely I forgave him the snub.. and we are both close to Laxmi Narayan Tripathi his very dear friend my Hijra Guru.
Marc shoots hijras transgender and recently began shooting living with the Dam Madar Malangs and Malang is not just a Sufi spirituality it is a state of mind too..
Like being called Mastan , Mastan is a spiritually satisfied soul... I am called a Mastan by the Rafaees body piercing ascetic of India.
I have for over ten years or perhaps much less documented the Chancawalli Rafaees , and lived with them , followed them from one Urus to the next , it was the Chancawalli Peer late Sikandarwali Bawa who introduced me to Haji Malang and later I saw Ajmer Sharif very late in life.
I am not a Sufi adherent but I have their peaceful mindset, I prefer them a million times than the neo Muslim .. adherent of Wahabbism or any similar school of thought.. I distance myself from any Islamic school that denigrates anyone who is a believer of Ahle Bayt... nothing more nothing less and I would rather eat dead flesh than eat or drink water from the hands of such man that kills another Muslim for being a lesser Muslim than him..
Well back to Marc..at my house there are two photographers that are as close to our family one is my mentor Dr Glenn Losack MD American full blooded .Jew born bred in Brooklyn and the other Marc De Clercq from Ghent Belgium.
Marc too likes my family and Marziya my photo shooting grand daughter 3 and a half year old gets along with Marc like peanut and butter.
They have an amazing tuning is all I can say..
Marziya has met some of the finest photographers at our house and is our in house photographer for the welcoming guests .
Marc has walked with the Dam Madar Malangs this year too from Delhi to Ajmer on foot rains heat storm, braving all the odds and is now considered a Malang himself..
He speaks fluent Urdu and Malang slang..
Shooting Marc shooting pictures is learning the art of Unlearning photography, when Marc shoots pictures even his left hand does not know that his right hand is holding the camera so I shoot him without him knowing that I am shooting him..
I honed my ability to shoot pictures shooting these guys .
Because we bloggers are point shoot photo artists heavy duty cameras or celebrity photographers dont intimidate us we are bloggers who are not into showing off or competitive photography or fucked awards the government of India gives you when you are an inch closer away from your grave.. and this is not to insult or humiliate Ms Vyarawala or Mr KG Maheshwariji ..but a fact of apathy of life and achievements of photographers unsung who died in penury and need of care.
So I trained my grand daughter the worlds youngest street photographer by shooting eminent photographers who come to my house , by shooting beggars hijras and urchins on the street...
And Marziya has yet to shoot Dr Glenn Losack MD her god uncle mentor and Guru too..
Marziyas Hanukkah present from Glenn was the Nikon D 80 she has been using since the age of 2.. in humility and gratitude...
I was lucky to be at Marin headlands in San Francisco around sunset. It was looking like a clear weather when massive fog started rolling in and created this beautiful scene. It was for hardly 10-15 min before everything was completely covered with thick fog.
I was in San Francisco's financial district for a meeting. After I was done, came out of office and saw this beautiful reflections and fog moving above. Ran to car, took out my camera, got few shots and created this composition.
I have been contemplating to get Nikon D800E for a while, just to get those extra magapixels and brought this monster along with Nikkor 14-24 and this shot produced the details which I have never seen before. I would continue to use my Canon 5D mark III for everything else except landscapes...
Enjoy the view.
For Technical Details, read my blog:
Skyscrapers at Embarcadero Center: San Francisco, California. Took it around sunset time when bit of last sunrays were still left coming from the side with clouds on top.
Check it out on my Blog for technical details on how the image was created
I am wrapping up my trip to India. I decided to take a stopover in capital city of New Delhi before heading home to San Francisco Bay. New Delhi is pretty foggy in nights during winter months. Decided to step out of hotel, went to India Gate at night and it found glowing with fog in white light. There was a full moon behind it adding its charm as well.
Unusual snow in late April in Lake tahoe gave me the opportunity to capture this moment. It was my pre planned vacation for a weekend with family and few friends to spend weekend there. By the time we reached, it was pretty late on Friday and snow was everywhere. My plan was to catch early morning sun at Emerald Bay but morning turned out to be very gloomy and cloudy. Around late morning, sky cleared up and it brought bright sun.. I rushed to this beautiful spot and captured this in my camera... .
Read on my blog how this image was taken
After taking shots from Tunnel view, when I was returning back, I saw this light show at Valley view which lasted less than 2-3 min. Got out of car, took my tripod, put camera on it and barely clicked for 3 shots before the light was gone completely.... Here is a glimpse of it.
Tech: Canon 5D mark III, EF24-70mm f/2.8L II USM, f/8; ISO 50, 25mm, 3 shots, Raw import in LR5, Digital blending in Photoshop CC, final touches in NIK software.
When I reached there, I saw a demon with open mouth in those canyon rocks. As the shaft of light came down the thought popped into my head & it was at that moment I ran into the beam of light and saw an angle in it as though she was trying to tell just look at me, I am here now.
When I took the shot, I thought it comes out looking anything like what I saw, it'll be amazing!.
I always imagined if I had a real large format camera and I could capture the complete details of this beautiful city of San Francisco. Well to get this idea a reality in digital world, where large electronic sensors of Cameras are cost prohibitive, I decided to create a 200+ Megapixels of panorama by combining several smaller pictures where a panoramic picture has enough details for printing up to 4 ft by 14 ft without losing any details. Read on my blog on how this was created.
After our late night party on Saturday, woke up aroung 9.00 AM on Sunday, saw the GG webcam and rushed in to city. It was late morning sun, very bright and strong. Captured few shots and waited hoping this fog continues till evening but by 2 PM, everything was completely clear with no sign of fog...
San Francisco city is colored with Orange (as you can see the orange Beacon at Transamerica building), the color of San Francisco Baseball team. They are leading the world series and City is celebrating.
Made the second trip to this isolated and somewhat difficult to reach beach. It was beautiful for some time I took few snaps when enough light was there. During dusk, strong winds blew the clouds from sky and ocean swell, made it impossible to stay. This place is called Marshall Beach and bridge in background is famous Golden Gate.
Thank you for stopping by. Your comments and favs are most welcome.
Tech: Canon 5d mark III, EF 17-40, Singh Ray Vari-N-Duo, single shot @F16, raw imported in LR, lot of creative processing (specially for sky) in CS6 to get final image.
I took this couple of years ago in winter. It was shiny noon with beautiful reflection of majestic yosemite mountains in merced river.
During Winter months, This rock on Pfeiffer beach in Big Sur ofter gets ignored as people flock to the main rock and its hole where sun light falls thru the hole...
I was looking on other side and saw this beautiful glow of light coming thu and captued it..
For Technical Details, read my blog:
Went to City on Christmas evening to this popular spot (Texas and 19th Street) and saw so many people trying to photograph this beautiful view from this high vantage point. If you have not been here, it worth visiting as this spot provides probably best vista of downtown cityscape.
Season's greetings to everyone…
Tech: Canon EOS 5D Mark III; EF70-200mm f/4L IS USM; B+W Circular polarizer; 180.0 mm; 114.0 sec; f/13; ISO 50; Raw imported in LR4, final adjustments in CS6.
This weekend took my family to South lake Tahoe to see and enjoy the fall colors. It was warm afternoon and we visitied several places including areas of San Harbour. I stoppedby on the freeway to capture this beautyful rock called Bonsai Rock. I have seen lot of pictures of this from the shore level but because of difficuly path (unsafe with kids) I decided not to venture there.
Enjoy this afternoon view...
I took this image year earlier this year. Went to Hawk Hill before sunrise (in San Francisco) for low fog but it was too high to see Golden gate Bridge... I was on the other side and found this piece of hill floating in fog....
Late summer afternoon during this pandemic times gave me opportunity to capture this building from middle of the road with wide angle lens - as there was no traffic.
Pacifica Pier at Dusk - It is a long exposure shot to smooth out the water and create a BW dreamy look.
After taking few shots on West side of the bridge, I was returning and saw this view and could not stop myself from taking few snaps. Moving clouds in sky, fully lit new span of Bay bridge with incoming cars and view of Oakland and Berkeley, it was beautiful vista.
Tech: Canon 5D mark III, EF24-70mm f/2.8L II USM, Few shots @F8, @53mm, Raw import in LR5, FInal processing in Photoshop CC and Nik software.
Taken near SalesForce compound in San Francisco.
Today I did some trekking at dusk and went over the cliff over tunnel overlooking the Golden gate bridge in San Francisco. It was windy with very nice view. I used my Canon 70-200 L F/4 IS lens to capture the beautiful dusk scene. All the car lights were feeling like a long tail coming out of the Golden gate Bridge.
Thanks for stopping by. I value your favs and comments. Please feel free to leave them.
Tech: canon 5D mark III, EF 70-200 F/4 L IS, B+W circular polarizer, @70mm, @F10, 30S,
single shot, Raw imported in LR, final adjustments in CS6.
Taken at Dusk from Fort Point in San Francisco, California. Read on my blog how this image was taken
I am working in east coast these days. I flew my family with me on this trip. We went to New York for shopping and dinner. After dinner, when we were returning to hotel, my wife said, look at Manhattan skyline, it was looking stunningly beautiful and clear in night. We drove to Weehawken Waterfront Park on Jersey side to see the Manhattan skyline.
We spent some time there and I took the opportunity to take few pictures. Later at hotel, I created this panorama with 5 images stitching together. Combined image is about 50 megapixels. You can print 24” X 72” image without pixilation. Contact me if you want to buy / use it.
Thanks for visiting. Hope you like it.
This is an image shot of Grey whale cove overlooking above highhway 1 in pacifica. I used long exposure technique to capture this image. Visit my blog for composition details
Pfeiffer Beach: The Rock
This image was taken during my visit to Pfeiffer beach in Big Sur last month. It was a wonderful scene where water was rushing back to rock crating a wave. Wet sand gave an amazing reflection of portal.
Thanks for stopping by. Your comments are truly appreciated.
Tech: Canon 5d Mark III, EF 24-105 F/4 L IS, @75mm, @f/4, 0.3Sec, single exposure, Raw imported in LR, final touches in CS6, no HDR.
This year Glacier point in Yosemite NP opened up earlier. I did not want to miss the opportunity to visit this place. Reached around late afternoon in this stunning place. It was covered with low clouds with small patches of light... Created this panorama out of several shots... Visit my blog for details
Made a quick trip to Monterery over the weekend with family to have some fun.. Stopped at this beautiful bridge called Bixby. It was foggy late afternoon, took few shots and got this composition...Visit my blog for technical info.