March 2004, Bruges.

Bruges is a town in the Flanders region of Belgium. It is perhaps my favorite place among all the places I’ve seen in Europe so far. It is one of the best preserved medieval towns in Western Europe. It has become very touristy of late but if you leave the crowded city center and wander off into the quiet and narrow cobbled side streets you will be surrounded by centuries old houses. You will feel as if you have been magically transported into the Middle Ages! I’ve pleasant memories of walking through deserted streets with only my camera to keep me company, of taking part in a silent Easter eve procession in the night surrounded by locals holding huge candles and taking a ride on one of these boats through the lovely canals.

Summer 2002, Hyderabad.

Hyderabad 2002.

Another one from the University of Hyderabad. This is actually a Neolithic burial site of a tribal chief. Apparently, the surrounding area has been settled since the Stone Age by various tribes. The top of the standing stone is roughly sculpted in the shape of a snake’s head as befitting a tribal chief’s burial site in that age. The site is a protected architectural dig although, as far as I know, very few people in the university even knew about its existence.

That is one reason I love the campus so much. There are all these little surprises tucked away in various corners. All you need to do is wander around through the vast campus. There are plenty of wonderful things to discover. Sadly though, most of the campus is being turned over for ‘development’ and the pristine greenery and interesting rock formations are being destroyed slowly.

Hyderabad 2002.

This is a really old photo, circa summer of 2002 if I remember correctly. If I’m not wrong it is from perhaps the first roll of film I used on my then recently acquired, Zenit XP, my first ever film SLR. The Zenit is an old Soviet era workhorse apparently based on the Zorki rangefinder camera series, which itself was a copy of Leica. I got it from the grey market in Cochin through friends for what was a sizable amount of money for me as a student back then. It came with a nice bag and a Mir-1B 37mm/2.8 M42 screw mount lens attached (apparently this lens is something of a marvel). Of course, all this information I didn’t know then. Lacking a manual I really didn’t know what I was doing. It was only today that I realized (after doing some research online) that this camera has TTL metering but since I didn’t know this then I used this camera without batteries and therefore with no metering whatsoever! Except for the loading of the film, setting aperture and shutter speed and focussing, everything else was pure guesswork! Even then, somehow, I managed to get a few photos that I still like. So you will see a few more photos from this camera over the next few days. Now that I know a little more about this camera I think I’ll put some b/w film in it and start shooting with it once more.

Today’s photo was shot in my old alma mater, University of Hyderabad, which has a huge and very beautiful campus. Most of the campus is wilderness and has some amazing rock formations. Once I return to India I intend to go back there, camp there for a few days and shoot these unique rock formations to my heart’s content!

Vienna 2006.

For a long time I thought I had lost the negatives containing this photo but to my joy found them on a roll I had given for developing. The man on the right is from the Philippines and has lived in Vienna for the past 11 years. We got talking when I went to take a walk along the Danube while visiting Vienna while he had come there to while away the evening by listening to some music on his boom box. As our small talk began to end I surprised myself by asking him if he would let me take his photo. And I won’t foget his reaction. His face lit up with a big smile and he actually called his son (the guy on the left) to join him in the photo! I was somehow touched by his gesture. I wish there was some way of sending a print of this photo to him. I’m sure his face would brighten up in a similar fashion as before.

Cologne, 2005.

Cologne, 2005.

Neither the exposure nor the focus is spot on in this photo but I still like it for it brings back some good memories.

(Please press F11 on your keyboard to see this photo properly. Press F11 again to exit full screen mode.)

Berlin 2005.