Sunrise of the Ancients

The morning star hung low in the sky against a twilight backdrop, its orange and yellow hues slowly blending to an etheral blue. The sandstone pillars rose against this background like dark pillars, its silhouettes forming otherworldly shapes against this beautiful dawn.

I was transfixed by this scene, the sunrise of the ancients, that was playing out in front of me during the cold dawn of Monument Valley. With every passing minute, the light kept changing: the deep blacks transforming to a pale blue, the dark sandstone buttes becoming vibrant red, the muddy foreground taking on the desert yellows. I waited until the sun crested the horizon and the pillars, spreading light and warmth to the cold dark landscape all around me.

This is one such composition from that unique region of the desert southwest, a sunrise that is forever etched in my mind.

Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park
AZ USA

Sunrise from Above

I stood by the edge of the trail, peering down onto the valley below and the seemingly endless mountain ranges beyond. I stared at the deep canyons and mountain peaks mired in a lightening fog, while clouds of all shapes and sizes were colored in pastel hues hinting of a glorious sunrise ahead. Despite the freezing winds, a sleepy tenor and a fatigued body, I was feeling elated.

I was atop a mountain peak near Rifugio Lagazuoi, in the heart of the Italian Dolomites at sunrise. I had been trekking up and down, and through and around these jagged peaks for the last few days, and today was my last one here. I still have vivid memories of the dramatic topography that I had witnessed over the last 72hrs, coupled with very delicious local cuisine. Whether it was the beautiful scenery I had witnessed, or just the joy of traveling there, looking back at those images brings the wanderlust back.

Here's to hoping I get to see more of such beautiful places, and witness sunrises like the one from the heart of the mountains.

Rifugio Lagazuoi
Cortina, Italy

Sands of Time

It was a crowded jaded experience. I hardly imagined I would be able to capture the otherworldliness of the beautiful slot canyon. And yet, as the guide cleared the area, chanted some hymns and poured sand down the smooth sandstone ledge, it felt as though the sands of time had transported me back millenia. Back when the only masters of this desolate place were the wind and water which carved every curve and striation on the smooth walls.

My brain tried to juxtapose the ancient origins with the modern tourist clamor of the Upper Antelope slot canyons without much success. The mass of humanity on a hot summer day, replete with the smells wafting throughout and with the sounds bouncing and echoing all around, was overwhelming. And yet I knew that with the next thunderstorm, the natural forces of erosion would be masters again, carving this and many other beautiful canyons scattered through the desert southwest of the US

Antelope Canyon
AZ USA

Hills of Colors

Words cannot describe the diversity of hues that were spread around in front of me. Across the valley, vibrant green hillslopes with fresh spring grass gave way to blue skies, while in the valley in front of me, erosion had stripped away the topsoil, revealing beautiful bands of reds, yellows, pinks and whites the likes of which I had only observed in Badlands.

This was Painted Hills, a unit of John Day Fossil Beds National Monument that is spread across the dry eastern half of Oregon. Photos don't do this very unique corner of the state justice. It deserves the drive out there.

This is one image taken from an overlook of the principal attraction at Painted Hills

Painted Hills
OR USA

Last light on the Wild West

The John Wayne country: a vast expanse of red sandstone monuments erupting from the undulating desert wasteland. It may seem like a forlorn place seemingly in the middle of nowhere, yet the iconic buttes shaped over millennia by wind and water erosion are some of the most photogenic structures of the multitudes in the desert southwest.

My sojourn into this desert plateau took me around the varied valleys with each turn bringing up a new view. As the sun started to sink towards the horizon, these buttes took on even more color, the iconic red that personifies this country. This was my attempt at capturing these massive monoliths catching the last light of the sun.

Monument Valley Tribal Monument
AZ USA

Through the Green Jungle

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I got off the bus and stared at the trail-head - a wooded damp trail threading into the forests; a low layer of fog and rain mired my visibility further. A convenient multilingual sign gave a helpful description of the significance of the pilgrimage, but nothing about the 16km to cover today, nor the terrain I had to go through, or what I would experience. But perhaps that was best left unsaid, as it allowed me to fully be surprised by every single turn of the trail, but every foggy vista, by every pass I submitted, by every creek and cascade I passed by, and by every temple I stood in awe of.

This was the nature of the Kumano Kodo trek, one of the most sacred pilgrimages in the Kii Peninsula in the Honshu island of Japan. I had decided to come here to escape the crowds of the Golden Week, where every resident of Japan seemed to be traveling everywhere. And I was glad I did, for I found peace and solace in quite misty forests of the trek.

This shot was taken at one such place halfway through the first day, where the mist became part of the wonderful verdant greenery that made this trek ever so special.

Nakahechicho
Wakayama Japan

Hobbiton in Black

One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,
One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them

The Lord of the Rings still manages to transport me to an ancient mythical land, replete with magical creatures, primeval woodlands, medieval villages, rustic landscapes and people with character. As much as I wanted such a place to be real, Middle Earth was far away, nothing but a figment of fiction that we create in our minds.

And that was why when I journeyed to Hobbiton, the movie-set-turned-tourist-attraction in Matamata in the North Island of New Zealand, I felt that figment of fiction had been partially realized. The village of Shire was just as one imagine, with circular hobbit holes adorned with beautiful flowering plants set up on the slopes of the rolling hillscape. I almost felt I could enter into Bag End and find Bilbo Baggins going on about his daily routine.

Here is one rendition of Shire on a rather cloudy day. The (fake) oak tree above Bag End formed an imposing backdrop to this impressive testament to set of Hobbiton and Lord of the Rings.

Hobbiton
Waikato, New Zealand

Portal to Sunset

Summer sunsets in the Bay Area tend to be unremarkable: azure skies slowly fading away to a rusty sunset. Clouds rarely make an appearance in the summer, let alone stay until dusk. And when those moments occur, it can be pure magic. One such moment occurred in the middle of the Bay Area's summer, where vestiges of a cloudy day remained till the last light. A sputtering of different layers of high altitude clouds faded from bright yellow to a vibrant orange and onto a saturated pink before the colors eventually melted away.

I bee-lined my way to one of my favorite spots in the southern Bay Area to capture this colorful sunset - the Alviso marina. It's location right by the waters of the bay, combined with the wide open skies all around make it a great place to photograph. Moreover, the walkways and the wooden door-frames formed a great foreground to the last remnants of this memorable sunset.

Alviso Marina County Park
CA USA

Isolated in the Fjords

Deep inside the remote Westfjords, lies a windswept land still being sculpted by glaciers. Graceful U-shaped canyons cut through the  beautiful highlands. The barren landscape is just lined by just a carpet of fragile grass, populated by the occasional white sheep hopping through the heather.

Life is hard in this desolate region, with a few centers of human population separated by miles of nothingness. Tourists rarely visit the sleepy villages that dot the area, but yet, it is a region of a different kind of dreary beauty. It is a place to find peace, and to be one with nature in a way no other place can.

This was taken on a short trail climbing up from the village of Flateyri in the Westfjords. The cloudy skies gave way to some amazing Northern lights that night, and it was truly a remarkable place to spend the day at.

Flateyri
Westfjords Iceland

Through the Seasons

Winter sees an freezing creek draining out onto a icy landscape; the green moss is white, the rocks slippery, the bridge frozen, and the water-flow, a trickle
Spring sees a reawakening waterfall, with green velvety moss thriving in the moisture, with yellow lichen and lush vegetation bringing this place back to life.
Summer sees a thunderous roar of water-flow as the snow from above melts and drains, thwarting fires and dousing the entire canyon with its misty breath.
Fall sees the rush slow down, the moss turn yellow and the water trickle, as though it were getting ready to hibernate for the winter.

The season's cycle through this region like clockwork, but the waterfall remains, its eternal beauty a constant in its ephemeral surroundings. I managed to capture but one instance of this cycle, while it adorned its beautiful green coat in spring.

Elowah Falls
OR USA