15th February 2016

15th February 2016

It's been a mild winter. Mild winter in Michigan is like very cold winter with fewer snow storms. So, there is no relief from the cold but still the cold is bearable. Is this just a temporary thing or is the climate changing for good , I wonder sometimes. It's good to have a mild winter but that brings in lesser snow and hence lesser water to the Great Lakes which in worst case can turn to drought in the summers.

The image is of a bridge over a creek in the winter in a park. It was quite a day after the storm. Loved the freshly fallen snow on the branches of the trees.
Lens is wide angle at 10mm.
Aperture is F11

ISO 100

Just in the park is a river which looked really beautiful after the fresh snow and the blue sky.
You can see the reflections of the trees in the water which is very still. It was just  heavenly.

Lens is wide angle at 24 mm
Aperture is  F11
ISO is 200

Rest of the days when we do not have snow, we have rains. This picture is of the windscreen f my car on a rainy day.

Aperture F11
ISO 100

6th July 2015 - Visit to the desert.

The best time to visit the desert is spring time. Arizona feels so pleasant and Utah's arid region so cooling.

This is on the way from Arizona to Utah on the road. For this shot I stepped out of the car and took a picture on the main highway. If that is not thrilling what is. The view was magnificent.

The settings for the image are below the image.

The adjacent image is from Zion, Utah. It is a postcard site. The cool breeze, the cool waters and the greenery of Spring is awesome. I had a feeling i would be coming back to this place again. Last time I was there I felt like spending some more time there. There are so many beautiful places to unwind and view the place made just for you.


Here are a few Spring flowers that were growing in my backyard.

9th February 2015 - Waiting for Spring

I have been away for a very long time. I was busy with life. Some highs and some lows. I realized that if you do not get the lows of life, you would never know what the highs are. In the midst of the chaos that life brings us I was not away from my passion and that is photography. I have been clicking every day, almost. Here in this post I have some shots that I clicked recently. As winter has been my companion all through out this time here are a few shots.

This one is of Grand Haven, some forty five minutes away from my place.

A lot of times we get sub zero temps. We've had a few winter storms and few are still on their way. Winter is just not the cold that hinders us from moving but also the load of clothes we have to wear to keep us warm. Just a few more days, I tell myself and then we will step into Spring.

This one shows how the beach has transformed into an icy shore. It was windy and cold.  My hand were numbed by the cold. Being a photographer, I had to use my fingers, though I was wearing gloves that have your fingertips out.

There is one more thing to share. I was given the opportunity to judge a worldwide photography contest sponsored by Pixoto.

Submission Deadline: 2/15/2015
Winners Announced: 2/20/2015

PRIZES:

Judge's Award: One Year of Pixoto Pro (a $95.40 value)
plus 1 Pixoto credit for each image entered (currently 119)
2nd Place Award: 10,000 Pixoto Credits (a $75.00 value)
plus 0.6 Pixoto credits for each image entered (currently 71)
3rd Place Award: 5,000 Pixoto Credits (a $40.00 value)
plus 0.4 Pixoto credits for each image entered (currently 48)

If interested you can visit the link below.

http://www.pixoto.com/challenges/pwc-140-flowers-arrangements

Hope you all will have a great week and a great February.

9th November 2014 - Winter is here.

Winters are here as we have a forecast of snowfall this week. Now you will hear me complaining about the weather for a few months, well, to be precise for six months. At least we have great weather for the rest of the six months. One should always see the half full glass and not the half empty glass.

Click the image to enlarge.

As the weather will not always permit photography outdoors one has to find other avenues for indoor photography. One subject never gets boring or out of date and that is Food . Any weather is good for this kind of photography. This post is dedicated to Food photography.

Who does not love to eat. Well, I do and therefore I cook a lot. Most of the times , I get tired while cooking and therefore there is no time left to take a shot of it and also it is consumed so quickly by my family. So, you will see very few prepared food shots. I will try to take pictures from my proper camera. I use Cellphone for my instant recording of a view of food to share with family and friends on Instagram. So, if you are on Instagram you can follow me there for my food adventures and more.

Click the image to enlarge.

I had bought mushrooms and peppers and thought that they would make a good stir fry. They are still sitting in my fridge waiting to be cooked after being clicked. :)

The mushrooms give a good color and tone to a picture. Vegetables have so much color and they are good for your health too. The more colorful the healthier they are. We all should eat a lot of vegetables to steer away from cancer, the deadliest killer of these times. I really feel we should be aware of the foods that prevent the cancer from forming in our cells. The free radical damage to our cells down to the DNA level results in some cells to mutate into cancer cells. The harmful chemicals and toxins causes the free radicals to form in the cells which is present in all the processed foods. The antioxidants take away the free radicals formed in the cells. Antioxidants are present in these colorful fruits and vegetables. Color is in so much abundance. Lets just indulge in it.

Okay, that was a lot of science for one day. If you are interested to read more on Cancer here is a link to "Why everyone seems to have cancer." Hope that these pictures would bring freshness and joy in your lives. Have a great week.

October 17th 2014 - Welcome Autumn!

It's been a while again since I've penned down my thoughts and displayed painting with light of some fleeting moments of life. At the end of each post I always say to myself that I would write more often but juggling all the balls of life and not letting them fall in the wrong places is what every human being that takes birth on this plane has to accomplish. This is the way life is. That was some serious stuff, but once in a while you have to ponder on such things. Let's take some time to admire the painting that is set before our eyes at the moment. It is that time of the year when it is colorful again like spring, only difference is that the trees and plants are not sprouting leaves but shedding them after they have colored the landscape in the most artistic way.


The above pictures have been taken last week when the Fall had started. The gorgeous fall colors of Michigan are here to stay for some while. The whole place is lighted up with yellow and orange red leaves. I tried slow shutter speed in the creek pictures.

Aperture varying from F8 to F27. Yes, and it was not hand held except for some shots. I did not forget to carry my tripod for once. It was a low light condition and cloudy and the park had tall trees. I am sure you can picture that.

I had fun taking slow shutter speed pictures. I stood in the middle of the creek for some shots. It was fun. My shoes caught some mud as the soil around this time of the year is slushy and mushy.

The train tracks pictures is a bracketed shot. I love my wide angle lens. Just makes you see the world in a different perspective.

  The above pictures were from last week  and in just seven days time you can see the changes that the landscape has made.

The next picture is of a path with leaves fallen on the path. Autumn is so colorful. It has been rightly said by Stanley Horowitz- "Winter is an etching, spring a watercolor, summer an oil painting and autumn a mosaic of all of them." 


Aperture - F 9.5
ISO - 200


Click on the picture to enlarge.

This picture is of a small reservoir of water separated from the main river. The beautiful Maple leaves make it so lively. I was lucky to see a few floating leaves in water near some rocks in the Thornapple River.


Click on the picture to enlarge.

The adjacent picture is of a fire pit in a park.The rocks act like benches people have bonfire in the center.

 I love the view we have here and to tell you the truth this is the most spectacular view I have seen in years here in Michigan.

Hope you all will have a nice weekend. Hope to see you all soon. If you have a beautiful view that you can capture, do it now. Happy shooting!

September 8th 2014 -I am back.

This post comes after a long break. I have been on my toes the past few months. A lot happened during these months. I was out of the country, visiting family and friends, which was fun, then  my kid's vacations started, which is by the way, my full time working period.  I have to keep them busy and a whole lot needs to be done during those times. When my kid's vacations ended in September, mine started. Phew... Even if you work like a dog during their school days, it's nothing compared to having school going kids at home. I think I have done enough of whining. Let's get back to business.

I have been clicking pictures, though they were more of family and friends. Just this week I clicked a few nature pictures. It's been such a nice summer. Even in September we have an extended summer month going on. Just loving the weather out here, but I am too afraid of the winter. In no case do I want an extended winter.

The dew drops have started appearing in the mornings. It's a little chilly, temperatures going down to 50 F, so what, the days a warm and cozy.

Hope these pictures would bring some freshness in your lives. Will be back with some more soon.

May 27th 2014 - Summer is here.

Summer is here finally. It's been a busy month and hence I could not post earlier this month. When you live in a place which has 6-7 months of winter, you welcome the summers even more. There are parts of the world where the summers are too hot . Here at my place the summers are mild. Even, an 80 degrees Fahrenheit (26 degrees Celsius) seems like scorching heat. Anyways, for good or for bad the summers are here and so are the flowers trees, bees and the baby birds. 
The first picture is of a Poppy flower with rain drops.
Aperture-F4
ISO- 100

The next picture is of the Tulip flowers. A few miles from my place is the city, Holland. Few Dutch settlers from the country Holland founded the city and a large percentage of people here follow Dutch traditions and culture even today. Such a cool way to preserve your culture. They even have a Tulip festival. The picture is from the Tulips gardens of Holland Michigan.

Aperture - F9.5
Shutter Speed - 1/60 secs
ISO- 100

This next picture is of the trees in my backyard which were snow capped in the winters and now every branch brimming with life. It's a refreshing site. The breeze has a melody - the melody of the summer and with every whiff of air you can smell the fragrant flowers. Lots of song birds have nests in these trees. It becomes the busiest place. The blue skies, the green rustling leaves, can bring life back into your life. With all the busy birds, I was also busy at home doing all the pending jobs which were back logged during the winters.

This summer I was in no case going to miss taking shots of the baby birds, so one day I went in search of goslings and chicks. I found a few and took lots of shots. Here is a shot of a gosling very close to me. 

Aperture - F11
Shutter speed - 1/500 sec
ISO - 2500

This is all for now from me, but I have taken lots of flower pictures which I will definitely share with you in my coming posts. Hope you all are keeping yourselves safe in the summers by keeping hydrated. Have a great week!

April 28th 20014 - My work published in an online magazine.

I have sold a few pictures but have never found out where they were being used until today. Today, I stumbled upon one of my shots on the web in an online magazine - "Stunning Places Magazine". They have given due credits and also bought from one of the websites I publish my work on. 

It's nice to know that the work which is also my passion is being used by people.

The shot is of the Grand Canyon, Arizona.

April 26th 2014 - The new look and feel of my website.

Check it out at www.dipalis.com.

Your feedback is welcome.

April 22nd 2014 - Utah's Treasure.

I went on a vacation to National Parks in the state Utah - the most wonderful wonderland. It was a long drive from my place but worth it. As an incentive I got to pass many different states along the way. I had been longing to do something like this for a while. Believe me, you learn a lot by traveling through different terrains and  when the summit is Utah, you don't even get tired.

I passed through the busy - Illinois, the windmill state - Iowa, the lush green - Nebraska and the colorful Colorado along the way. In all, I covered I,807 miles (2,908 km)  one way. This is a little more than Delhi, India to Kanyakumari, India one way. Do the math - a total of 3614 miles (5,816 km) on wheels but for the experience and the views it's worth it. The picture above is of the snow capped La Sal mountains in the Arches National Park.
Utah has snow and desert at one place. The air is so pure, and the silence of the place is divine, the best part is the view. How can Nature make all these sculptures by itself? Once again I am in awe of Nature.
The adjacent picture is of the Double Arch.The blue sky against the red sandstone looked very beautiful as it looks great in the picture. 

Aperture - F8
ISO - 100
Shutter Speed- 1/30 secs.

The most strenuous  hike was the hike to the Delicate arch. Man, how I wished I had not embarked on the trail. A very long and steep trail that too without water but if I had not undertaken that trail, I would have missed one of the most breathtaking views of Utah.
I was so out of breath and so out of water when I reached the top but by just looking at it, I did not hesitate to go further to take a closeup. Man seems so small in front of this magnificent structure. The calmness, stillness and colors were too much to imbibe in one day. I wished to stay a little longer but had to visit a few more sites, so had to leave that peaceful place.

Another visit was to the Zion National Park, a five hour drive from the Arches National Park. It was like an oasis in the desert. Red sandstone rocks with rivers and trees. It is called the "Hanging gardens" as the Juniper trees seem to hang from the mountain tops. If only I could have stayed there forever. Never seen anything like it before. I found a desert Lizard and a herd of Deer very close to me in the wild and of course squirrels -  who behaved like people, asking for food from the passers-by on the trail.

There are way too many pictures for one blog post, so I will be sharing them in my next one. Hope you all are having a nice week. 

The picture on the right is of the Virgin river flowing through the Zion National Park.

ISO - 100
Aperture - F11

Won Staff Favorite on April, 2014 on Viewbug.

I received 1 Awards, won 1 Trifectas, 16 Likes, 9 Peer Recognitions and 9 Favorites on viewbug.com

More of my work on View bug is at

http://www.viewbug.com/dipali

March 24th 2014 - Waiting for Spring.

We have had the official first day of Spring, but here in Michigan it seems that Spring is far from near. Though the piles of snow have melted  to some extent, even then we have occasional snow flurries here and there. Ugh... now  I am getting impatient. Cannot wait for the Spring break to take some time off from this daily humdrum. When you have school going kids, you feel their Spring break is like yours, though that is just an illusion, but this time I might just get a chance to go out for a long road trip. Fingers crossed. It is said that the darkest hour is just before dawn. I love to read quotes. They give you courage to fight the adverse conditions, in my case - the weather. I know.. I know.. this is nothing as compared to the misery in this world. Wish I could do something about that too. Sometimes I enjoy this roller coaster ride of weather that was this year. Still cannot wait for the daily dose of sunshine and the warmth that it brings with it. I love the mild summers of Michigan.

This is a still from the visit to Chicago in December. Loved the little puddle and the reflection. I have been looking for one to take a shot.

Shutter speed - 1/60
Aperture - F11
ISO -100

Since the weather is such, I got a bit bored of shooting the cold, grey and very rarely blue sky landscapes, city-scapes so mostly I went again to my indoor subjects.

Yet another quote comes to my mind - Necessity is the mother of invention. I discovered some new things not inventions, but new ideas. My sessions of long hours on different kinds of softwares to make Illustrations was also a part of my new discoveries. Played with them to make something interesting.  Also as I have been designing and developing websites for long, I designed a few templates.


Please click on the image to view full size. The image on the right is a collage of a few templates.


Now you know who to call when you need a website. :)  Sorry, if you think this was soliciting. ;)

Another skill I am honing is converting color images to black and white to get the right tones of greys, blacks and whites.

This is yet another cityscape of Chicago downtown.

Shutter speed - 1/45 secs
Aperture - F11
ISO - 100

Hope some of you on the other side of the globe are enjoying the onset of summers while I am still waiting for Spring. This was not sarcasm, just enjoy life whatever may come. Live in the moment. Have a nice week!

February 18th 2014 - Still under the spell of storms.

This has been a long winter and it's not over yet. There is not much to do in these winter storms apart from staying warm and healthy. Just an occasional outing for pictures is all that can be done. The scenes of winter are picturesque only when the sun is out and the surroundings are filled with sunlight - a rare  commodity this winter.
This is a scene at a Park near where I live.
Shutter Speed: 1/750
ISO : 100
Setting : Manual


In the same park I saw this Coniferous tree. It was huge. Really loved the blue sky which we rarely see here at this time of the year. It is always greyish and cloudy. You can imagine how huge it must have been. It is so surprising that some trees just stand in the adversities  to grow and flourish. Kind of like the quote - "When the going gets tough, the tough gets going". Also reminds me Kelly Clarkson's - "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger". I love this song. One can also say that they are made tough genetically. So standing strong in adversity is not their property but their genes are like that. Anyway, they are a delight to the eyes amongst the white snow.

Shutter Speed - 1/200
ISO- 100
Setting : Manual



Below is a shot from a road over a highway. This is what I am talking about -the cloudy, gloomy but this one has a little sun shining through the clouds at sunset like hope in despair.

Shutter speed : 1/30
ISO : 100
Setting : Manual
Click on the images to get a better view.

  When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. Well, this is exactly what I am doing. With this optimistic note I end this post. Hope you all will stay warm . Have a nice week!

January 14th 2014 - Happy New Year!

A very Happy new year to you all! Hope everyone started the New Year with making new resolutions! As for me I made a resolution that I will make resolutions all throughout the year and follow them as they are made. Ha Ha! No worries and no hassles. As for the artistic side of me, I have been bitten by the creative bug. I had always loved designing things on the web -websites, images and the likes. I gave it a break for sometime, but the creative bug has bitten me again.  I made a lot of illustrations in the past few days which I will be sharing with you in this post.

This is just plain and simple New year Image I designed in Photoshop.

I have seen many Christmas ornaments and the fact is that I just wanted some thing to hang by the side next to the new year text and this came out not to be a Christmas ornament but lights you could say. I really liked the way they came out.

As for the weather out here, it remained deadly. We experienced the Polar Vortex which is unusual for my place. Temperatures below -30F, so low that there was complete shutdown of the educational institutions, flights were halted and warnings of  frost bite were swarming my email. Just to make our heads spin,  yesterday we had temperatures of 45F which can be called as a heat wave for Michiganders. Something is seriously wrong with this weather. If things do not improve we might see winters in summers and summers in winters. No, it hasn't changed at present, it's still icy all around.
These are a few shots taken of the nasty weather. The berries are somehow surviving the cold temperatures. Three shots with three diffferent cameras. A cellphone, a Panasonic and a Canon. Please click on the pictures to get a better view.  

Enough of the weather report. This weather just makes you open other options for your creative self. As of now I have indulged into Illustrations. Photography is a part of me but since the weather outside is not feasible, there are limited outdoor options. I mostly designed products, logos, typography, backgrounds, and abstract art.

These are a few of those. I have been posting pictures on Pixoto. We will be getting the yearly awards. I am very excited and anxious. So this is all from my side. Hope you all will have a nice week ahead and hope you all are abiding by your resolutions. Smile!

December 29th 2013 - Good Bye 2013

We have come to the end of the year 2013. A lot happened to everyone this year, there were some good moments and some not so good. For me, photographically, it's been a kind year. I accomplished a lot in my own standards. I thank God for all the accomplishments.

This is a shot of some place near where I live. The snow had turned into ice and the branches were drooping down by their weight.
Shutter speed : 1/125 sec  
Aperture : F11 
ISO : 100


As the year comes to an end, I saw the most beautiful winter I had ever seen. Usually I sit in my cozy home but this winter I made an effort and clicked  a lot of pictures outdoors. All this was only possible with the help of my better half who drove me to places where I couldn't have embarked on my own.

The blue sky with the icy branches.

Shutter speed : 1/200 sec
Aperture : F9
ISO :  100

The Bean in the dark.

To top it all off, I went for a vacation to Chicago and for the first time captured The Bean in the dark. I am very fascinated by this piece of architecture so I click it whenever I get a chance. It was a cold evening but worth all the walk down to the Millennium park. Captured a lot of city images too which I promise to share in my future posts.  Here is a shot of  The Bean handheld, with the buildings in the background in Black and white.
Shutter Speed : 1/2 sec
Aperture : 3.5
ISO : 1600
A very Happy new beginning to the coming New Year 2014. Have a blessed year. See you all in the New Year!

December 18th 2013 - The winter fever.

The winter fever is here. We got our first spell of Lake Snow Effect. This phenomenon is very usual  near the Great lakes. We can get cozy in our homes till March ... or is it June? I keep my spirits up and therefore I say that this is the time of the year when I can practice a lot, I mean, REALLY A LOT  (since it is such a long period of time and not otherwise ;)) on my indoor photography skills.

Shutter Speed - 1/90 secs
Aperture - 8
ISO - 100

I was lucky one day when I was at my kid's bus stop to have my ordinary pocket camera with me from which I took this picture of snow flakes. Not a very good shot but good for an ordinary camera. At the time I took this picture, I had a high fever - when am I not feeling under the weather, ugh? Since I had to pick my kid, I wrapped my self up and went to the bus stop. No one would believe, that a person shaking with fever the previous day had rolled down windows and was taking shots of snow. You see, I also have a different kind of fever - the photography fever.  Anyway, one thing is for sure, as I am unable to catch up with the flu season,  from now on I am also going to get the seasonal flu shots. Bring it on!!! I am not scared.

What will a person do sitting in bed all day? Work - of course, this time on my computer. And I did a lot of illustrations. Just a few are here as I had mentioned in my previous post. Please give your feedback below in the comments. These are best viewed at full size.

Since the viral cum bacterial infections had invaded me, I did not get a chance to do much of photography.

Just one fine day I thought to myself - that's enough and took a few indoor shots. Here are the perfect ingredients for a tomato soup, my favorite.
Keep yourself upbeat, as winters are here to stay. With this healthy soup and a splash of colors I end this post to meet you soon. Hope you all will have a nice week.