Landscapes of Sharavati/Sharavathi valley

18-19, December 2010

I have always been fascinated by the beauty of nature and after getting bitten by this bug called photography I have started to admire it more. So many times have I seen lovely landscape photographs and I always used to think when will I be capable of taking decent landscape shots.


When I heard about the Sharavati Valley landscape photography workshop held by Amogavarsha I did not hesitate to enroll for it. It is very difficult to visit such places on your own unless you have a close group of people who share similar interest and have enough knowledge of the terrain. My main intention of attending this workshop was to get opportunity to shoot landscapes and also expand my network of friends.

We were to assemble at Majestic bus stand on Friday at around 9PM. I reached there just in time and was looking for someone or a group of people who could possibly be related to photography. While I was looking around someone asked me if I had come for the workshop. He introduced himself as Manpreeth and at first instance itself I felt a good vibrance around this jolly guy. Later on Amog arrived and so did other participants of the workshop. We all introduced ourself to each other and spent some time chatting with each other. At around 9.45 PM we boarded the bus to Jog falls.

Day 1 (19th Dec)
The bus dropped us right in front of our camp at around 5.30 AM and soon we all divided our self in groups of two and got in our tents. The plan was to rest till 8.30 AM and then leave for Jog falls after breakfast. I hardly spent any time resting and was more excited about taking photographs. After breakfast Amog took a small session giving tips on landscape photography.

We headed to Jog falls only at around 10 AM. The sun was up by now and light was little harsh. I thought it was better if we had cut shot the resting time and had begun little early which would have given us better light to shoot. I took many shots but frankly I did not like any of them as all of them were pretty flat with no drama. I decided to keep only one and that too just for a record.

Jog falls

Later on we move to another view point at Jog falls and tried some photography there. There too I did not get any good shots. The waterfalls were also not very majestic. Of all the shots I had I liked only one shot taken @300mm where the drops of water were lit by strong sunlight.

By this time it as almost noon and we went back to camp for lunch. After lunch we headed to Sharavati valley. We spent almost whole evening there taking shots from different viewpoints. It was kinda little hazy so there was not much clarity in the shots. Nevertheless here are few shots that I got from this exercise.

After the sun was down we drove back to the camp and headed for a place just behind the camp for some night photography. It was pitch dark and even with long exposures I did not get any good shots there. Later on we went back, freshened up and had nice dinner. The dinner was followed by a long sessions of chit chat where I heard plenty of famous Ranjikant's jokes. Amog showed some of his photography work which was really amazing. At around 12.30 we all were in our tents.

Day 2 (20th Dec, 2010)

Today's plan was to visit  Yana situated in the lush evergreen forests of the Sahyadri Range of Mountains. We all were ready pretty early in the morning and we left for Yana at around 7.20 AM and reached there by 10.15 AM. This place had pretty interesting rock formation which can be fun to shoot. Again the light was bit harsh as the sun was up. I took few shots of the rock formation and this was the best that I got.

Yana

Apart form this there were plenty of butterflies and other insects which gave good chance for some macro work. I mounted my Sigma 150mm lens to capture anything that came my way.

Dragonfly

Giant wood spider

We were back to camp at around 2.30 PM and after lunch we had a small session with Amog for reviewing the photographs.

Soon after this we left for our last destination which was the backwaters of Linganmakki. We reached the backwaters at around 5.30 in the evening. This place was by far the most beautiful as compared to all other places that we had visited till now. Being late evening the sun was not too harsh and the light was really good to get some decent shots. I got some of the better shots of this from this place itself. Here are few

Overall it was a good experience and once again I realized that shooting landscapes is not an easy task. Its all about chasing light and designing compelling compositions and that is also what makes landscape photography more interesting and challenging. Even though you come across a lovely scene, shooting it in best possible manner is not an easy task and requires great practice, skill and creativity.