Basking in Santa Cruz

I had a chance to drive down to the shores of Santa Cruz today. It was a bright, sunny day with a perfect temperature and great day to take some splendid photographs. Unfortunately, I forgot to take my Canon A710 IS with me. I was kicking myself for having forgotten to take my camera with me - it was a simply a marvelous day for photography and it would go down as an opportunity lost in my books.

But this is where my Sony Ericsson mobile came to my rescue. In all aspects, it was a David when compared to my camera. 'What the heck, something is better than nothing', I thought as we descended from the car and walked towards the shores.

And hence started my 'shooting' at Santa Clara with my mobile phone. I was pretty skeptical about the results as I took each photograph. Jayanth was really surprised to learn that I had forgotten my Canon and he was not very sure of the results either with the mobile phone.

As soon as we returned home, I transferred the photographs from my mobile into my laptop. The results were surprisingly pretty good, much better than what I had anticipated. I did a bit of editing with the GIMP. Here they are for your viewing :-)

Reflections

There are times when I see something, and before I can digest that in, I take my camera out and shoot it. This is one of those times. I saw a reflection of Jayanth and myself on a store window. Before I realized, I had taken my mobile out and taken a snap of it. I did not expect much out of it.

However, when I looked at it on my laptop screen, I knew that it was a winner. Our reflections are pretty clear on the window, and at the same time, you can also look through the window. I am putting this into the top ten personal favorites of my photography collection :-)

Kyle Field

The Kyle Field at Texas A&M University. I wonder how players feel when they are in the center playing for A&M with over 40,000 fans cheering them on during a football game. They should be feeling like gladiators in a circus at the Colosseum :-) I have been to a game between the Aggies and the Army. It was the first football game that I ever attended, and the atmosphere was electric. It will certainly go into my books as one of the most memorable moments at Aggieland :-)

Aggie Stuff

Within few days after my arrival at College Station, I managed to get a folder with the Texas A&M logo. It was a simple paper folder in the unmistakable maroon color of the Aggieland. At that time, I was hosted at my friend Rangavittal's house, and after another day of orientation and stuff, I returned home and placed all the brochures, pamphlets and other stuff that I had got that day. As I looked at the objects strewn across the floor, I suddenly felt that this would be good picture to take. This was the first ever photo that I took for the purpose of my photographic hobby at College Station, and it was a good start indeed to have the Texas A&M logo on it.



At the end of the Fall Semester, this folder had taken enough wear: it was almost torn into two and it was coming apart. I felt a little bad when I finally threw it off. I am glad that I did take this picture when it was brand new :-)

Twilight Gathering

I was biking back home in the evening after a pretty tough day in the University. As I was about to enter my apartment block, I noticed that some of my friends had gathered in the shelter in front of the apartment block. Without any hesitation, I joined them - the best way to relax is to hang out with friends.


As we were talking, I noticed how quickly it was getting dark. The scene in front of my eyes was particularly captivating. It is a good thing that I always carry my camera with me. I did capture the moment to my satisfaction. But later on, I realized that I had taken the picture on a very low resolution :-( All I could do was make best use of what I had captured, and I am presenting it for your viewing :-)

Selective Coloring

My first attempt with selective coloring in GIMP. Thanks to Amalava for providing me with the guidance :-)

The two cute fellas are of course, Mr. Black and Mr. Brown. This is an outdated picture now. From what I hear from my mom, they have now grown up real fast, but as mischievous as ever :-)