Friday, October 1, 2010

Trip to Nandi Hills

26th Sept, 2010

Nandi hills was always on my list of places to visit during weekends, however the plans never materialized as one or the other friend would drop out of the trip. This time however, the plan was finalized and we decided to go to Nandi hills on 25th (Saturday) morning. There were 3 of us who were supposed to go. Unfortunately, it rained heavily previous night and we had to drop the plan as it would be too risky to drive two wheelers on wet highway roads. The rains however turned out to be a boon as 4 more friends were ready to join the trip which we had postponed by a day i.e. 26th (Sunday).

We planned to meet up at 4.45AM and leave for hills at 5 AM. I was pretty sure that we will not leave at the decided time, as there were 7 of us and getting all to meet at one time and that too so early in the morning would always be difficult. To my surprise everyone was there at the decided time and we did leave sharp at 5 AM. The idea was to reach on top of the hill just before sunrise (at around 6 AM) so that we can witness the beauty of the morning from the hills. I had some shots in mind and was hoping to get them today. I was carrying my tripod as I knew that early morning shots will require slower shutter speed and keeping the camera still will be difficult without a tripod.

It was around 6.15AM and we still had around 20 minutes before we reached on top of the hills and this was the magic period when the light was really very good for taking photographs. I knew we will not make it in time on top, so asked my friend to stop the bike on the road side and we took few shots of magnificent morning sky. We had to hurry a bit as we had to catch up with others. Though the shots were good but because they were taken in hurry couple of them got blurred because of camera shake.

Bike we were travelling on (6.15 AM)

Taken on the way to nandi hills (6.15 AM)
The sun was rising quickly and in around next 10 minutes that beautiful morning light was diminishing. We had reached at the foot of Nandi hills and now we were travelling over the typical curvy roads on hills. We stopped in between to take couple of more shots.

On the way to hills (6.25 AM)


On the way to hills (6.25 AM)
We reached on the top of hills in next 10 minutes and seeing the scene there all my excitement drained out, as I saw that huge crowd had assembled there and there was a long queue to buy the tickets for entry to the view points. Couple of friends who had reached before us were already in the queue to get the tickets. I utilized this time in shoot couple of long shots of the distant mountains.

View of distant mountains (6.42 AM)

Taken at 6.42 AM
I really missed my long lens 55-200mm which I recently sold. I could imagine a shot of the mountains taken at 200mm where the layers of the mountain ranges could be isolated.

By this time the tickets were bought and we walked to top of the hill. I took few shots, though the early morning over layer of clouds shot that I had thought of was no were to be seen. Here are some of the shots taken here and there.

Temple on top of the hill

Another view of the hills around
Another view of the hills around
At around 8.15 AM we decided to head back to the parking area.

Taken when going back to parking area (8.17 AM)
 The walk back was also a good experience. There are plenty of trees around and the slanting rays of sun pierced through the trees and created a nice scene.

Sun rays passing thru trees   (8.30 AM)
Sun burst!!! (8.30 AM)
My friend Shilesh. I liked the aged effect of this shot so posted this

Once we got down the hill we parked our bikes to take one group photo.

I am missing here as I  took this shot.
On the way back, we saw couple of flower fields and clicked few shots there, but it did not come out well so not posting here. I also took couple of shots of another friend when he was riding his bike.

On the way back (9.59 AM)
Over all the trip was pretty enjoyable. Though I did not get the shots that I had thought of, I still got few shots that I can keep. Now I also know what to expect there, so hopefully the next trip should be more productive.

Finally ending with another group photo and this time I am in the frame too :)

Group photo

8 comments:

  1. Nice travelog, looks like u had a gala time. Really like the way View of distant mountains (6.42 AM) had turned out ...

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  2. ya was real fun trip. Surely will be visiting one more time.
    Keep visiting!!!

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  3. i like aged effect snap, that was very nice snap

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  4. Hi there, Nice pics and blog. Me and my hubbie are planning to visit Nandi Hills on our kinetic. was wondering if the hill roads were safe to ride. Did you guys switch off the engine downhill? Need some tips, Thanks, Kusum

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    1. Hi Kusum, not sure if this would help now. However we also went on bike and the ride is pretty safe. Generally weekends are pretty crowded there, so its a good idea to start early in morning.

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  5. Thanks for your reply. We will be leaving next month. Did you guys switch off the engine downhill? Thanks.

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    1. Yes. We did switch of our bikes when going downhill.

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