***part 2 continued***
Can you give us a few examples of some photographs that you found very challenging to shoot please? Water or water-splash photography always interested me and I love shooting these photos ?however I very seldom get to do them as my wife hates all the mess which a this genre creates




Can you share some photos that you?ve shot which are your personal favourites and if you?d like to share some details / some story behind the photos please?Love is patient, Love is kind.
Love does not insist on its own way.
Love believes all things, bear all things, endures all things.
LOVE NEVER FAILS.
I was very happy on this day coz I completed 100 photographs and also coz I finally successfully took this shot - some 6 months earlier I had tried shooting this photo and failed miserably - probably it was possible only with an extension tube shot and was shot as part of my 365 project.
This is the nearest the lens + extension combination can go .. it?s a very minute needle attached to a glucose bottle ... behind is the printout on which love is written ... it was very very difficult to shoot this and get the focus so very sharp ... but i think i managed it.
Stacked all of the extension tubes on a Nikon 50mm 1.8 lens and took this pic.

Shot with a Nikon D3x and a Tilt shift lens - Nikkor PC-E 24mm (miniature effect done by focusing just on the Mosque and blurring everything around it)
No lift .. 20 floors to walk up - but when u see such a grand visual .. There is happiness within you while clicking which cannot be explained

4 attempts were made by me in 2 years and was not so successful in taking this shot. But never stopped trying - wanted it in my 365 by hook or by crook .. was successful in shooting it on this day without any hassles or problems .. kisi ne sach hi kaha hai "ke agar kisi bhi cheez ko DIL SE chaho to puri ki puri qayanaat tumhe use milaane ki koshish mein lag jaati hai.?
This frame has the Moon, Lal Bahadur Shashtriji statue, has trails traveling and meeting at one point in the frame, has stars, a lovely blue sky and lastly one of the finest cinema houses of Mumbai

Although I have faced many difficulties in shooting and stitching panoramas earlier but this one beats all the earlier ones in being the most difficult panorama while shooting and while processing as well - if one zooms out and to see the nadir from the zenith one can know that there is just very little space to move around while composing these shots. Do click on the link to see the 360 degree panorama output.

You must view the 360 panorama to get an idea of what I'm referring to and its on the link below...the image above doesn't really do full justice to the visual.
http://www.360cities.net/image/motorhomeThis was not a very easy visual for me to shoot ... it took me 1 hour to get everything right ... after every shot had to brush off all the dirt and then throw it back again to get the splash of the pencil dirt and the focus of the pencil right ... and it continued for 1 hour till I got this one

As I shoot all alone .. it?s difficult being a model and as well click simultaneously. The PS work too was not easy

This was shot from the most filthiest spot ever (that too on Eid day) but once I?ve decide that I have to shoot something, I leave no stone unturned to get that shot. This was my 200th capture for the ongoing 365 project and just looking at this visual makes me sooooooooooooooooooooooo very happy and satisfied .. I skipped the Eid namaaz of 6.40 am and shot this :p

It?s really amazing how the heart wishes/ request / dictates / challenges the brain and the brain sets out to do everything and sees to it that the wishes get fulfilled and challenges are met ..
So I got my dream visual .. I wanted to shoot this for about 4 years, had no plans whatsoever as to how I will execute the visual .. things just kept happening and within minutes I decided the building from where I can shoot .. I met the secretary of the society .. explained how the visual is important to me .. he recognized me as a model and was not interested in my dream and my visual .. lol .. he was more into aap kaun kaun si advert mein aaye hai .. aapko Doordarshan ki kitni ad mein dekha hai ... hahaha .. to cut the story short .. I got permission to go to the terrace .. and in say less than 5 minutes I had most of my shots ... I thanked him profusely .. and here is that dream visual ...

This photo was a very risky shot in terms of taking the shot and so for me is part of my personal favorites

After the Motor home and Kolkata's Tram .. this was the most difficult one to shoot .. low light was the main issue .. still i feel i managed it . looks neat .. very happy to have shot this ?

As it was a Sunday, the tram services were not so regular and were coming specifically from this side after a gap of 15 minutes ... for one and half hour I kept shooting this combination of Mosque and Tram.. the climate was hot and dry and there was no sign of the rains .. Suddenly it all changed and it seems like it rained just for me ... so it rained and the tram came in tandem with the rain and I went khatak and khatak ....
Both the lens and the cam had a bath ?.

Immediately after these couple of shots I shot the 360 degree panorama and it can be viewed here:
http://www.360cities.net/image/55-nakoda-mosque-on-a-rainy-evening-intersection-of-zakariya-street-and-rabindra-sarani-kolkata-west-bengal-india-humayunn-peerzaadaI wanted to shoot this one from a long time and always felt I won?t be able to do justice to it ... but once I made the custom heart bokeh .. I felt I can pull this off .. I think it?s a neat shot .. full credit goes to the model for being so patient and for giving this fabulous pose and expression .. there were hundreds of onlookers gazing at her but she was so professional ... she kept giving one pose after another

As they say when you are alone you are not always alone ... there is an Omniscient being.... When you are pensive, down and a little short of inspiration, that?s when the Light from him beckons you, showing you and proving that someone up there is the best Visual creator who just moves his hands and a Divine visual is made..
On this day I was not at my cheerful best .. Probably because my 365 was reaching its destined end and I had no more Skyscrapers to scale .. but as they say The Show Must Go On....
So went to flora fountain garden to shoot something .. was not getting the desired bokeh .. clicked many shots but nothing enticed my eyes or my lens .. dejected and angry I wrapped up and came at the main gate of the garden and looked up and all my anger vanished and I smiled, smiled and smiled looking at this gorgeous sunset , sky and clouds ...
The pic gives the visual that someone above is descending his divinity, light through the picturesque fiery sky... Maybe God wanted me capture this divine visual that evening
Also practically every mobile phone user at flora fountain was capturing this...
This visual beauty was last seen in 2007 -

The idea here was to have the speed light inside the umbrella and the result was just wonderful

Its a simple shot but was difficult to execute as I wanted all the elements which I have used in my photos throughout the year - Rumi Sahab, Bokeh, Heart, Love, 365 celebration and a Splash which I had not tried earlier .. I was lucky to get the splash in the form of a Heart ... also there is a tear as well... this was the parting visual in my ?365 Dil se? project where I shot one photograph every single day for 365 days of the year.

All decked up for the auspicious Republic Day celebrations which were the next day ... if there is will, there is a way ... agar dil se chaho to doooriyan bhi nazdikiyan ban jaati hai .. kuch bhi impossible nahi world mein ... would call this a roller coaster shot of mine .. I have never driven my car at such speed ever .... is manzar ko mein miss karne ki soch bhi nahi sakta tha ..

I took the risk of shooting these from the railway bridge opposite the Hospital and just managed to escape from the eyes of the police and if friends see the pic closely ... 3 Vans just entered the frame for ?NAKABANDI? ... just about managed to escape from their eyes.


I wanted to shoot this perspective of Minara Masjid for a very long time and was successful in barging into a house opposite the mosque .. I was complete stranger to the family but when I went into their house just couple of minutes after iftari - they were so gracious .. made me break my roza with khajur, tea and halwa .. shot a series of photos from their balcony .
I wish I could shoot this on a tripod which was just not possible.

I did my own marathon when in the evening when I climbed 32 floors of a tower to click this beautiful blue hour visual of Mohd Ali Road

Couldn't resist a blue hour of this beautiful bldg ... shot from a 7 floor terrace atop a water tank .

The 4th of Jan dawned and I made up my mind for shooting a blue hour visual of "Mahim ki Dargah" from the top of a water tank located on the opposite building ... Though I had some commercial shoots lined up all day, I postponed them and waited for 5 clock to shoot the Dargah ... I took the camera, tripod .. Set the camera for the blue hour and took off for Mahim in a cab ... I was late but still managed to reach the building in time .. when I went to the terrace, I was faced by unanticipated gush of perils. Was shocked to see the entire terrace flooded in knee-deep water.
Anyways, this couldn't dampen my passion to shoot the Dargah and I waded through the knee-deep water in drenched jeans, socks & shoes. Slowly, I reached the stairs and I saw a broken wooden bed attached to the stairs - probably the iron stairs had some issue so to climb that they had attached this bed to it ... I have absolutely no fears of climbing up, but I always have this phobia of getting down from high places ... Somehow my passion for photography and getting visuals which others don?t have makes me brave enough and do the extraordinary...
I got on the stairs and reached the terrace all set to shoot the blue hour .. Excitedly I did my first click, and I got the shock of my life - the Memory card in the camera missing.
*^@%^%***#@&& ?.Disheartened and cursing myself, I got down from there .. took a cab and went back home .. No prizes for guessing my mood.
The next day, I went there again - I don't take defeat easily.
And this day I was rewarded with a lot of fireworks. Firecrackers were bursting everywhere, when they reached for the skies & exploded there in a riot colours and then showered their bounties on us, the feeling was fantastic - absolutely magical
Probably it was Baba's will, that I should forget the memory card back home on the previous day ..coz if I had shot on Friday I would have never come back to shoot on Saturday and would have missed this Heavenly feeling and the visual that I managed to get.

I am very proud of this panorama ? it?s the Almighty?s will that I pulled it off .. an art which challenges the artist and makes him wonder as to how will he execute certain shots/visuals/panoramas .. wohi maza hai .. wohi thrill deta hai ...
When I boarded this Nauka with Photographer Paul Nilot .. I had no idea that I will be able to shoot the panorama from a nauka ... it was gloomy that day .. a very difficult panorama not only to shoot but to process as well .. the main issue being the wires of the Setu and to compose it in a manner so that it gets perfectly aligned when processed ....nevertheless i think i pulled it off ...
Woh shaam vakay mein ajeeb thi magar ye panorama mast hai ... lol hahahahhahaha
You must check the 360 panorama....and its on this link here -
http://www.360cities.net/image/52-vidyasagar-setu-kolkata-west-bengal-india-humayunn-peerzaada#-49.55,90.00,110.0***continued in part 3 ***