subc

Pure genius. What framing!!

A broken barbed wire fence cannot constrain the immense beauty of nature. View from near Nohkalikai at Sohra, Meghalaya, India. One can see the flood plains of Bangladesh in the far distance reflecting the colours of the glorious sky.

Laitlum - literally meaning End of Hills, is a hilltop near Smit, Shillong, Meghalaya, India where the hills abruptly fall into the gorge below. Not quite on the tourist trail, but worth a visit for the grand vista it offers. And if the light is right, magnificent images are there for the taking.

Thanks for your kind comments Hans-Peter and Michail. That cyan spot Michail is a result of lens flare. Will definitely clone that out.

By the the approach road to the Tso Moriri lies the greenish Kyagar Tso, which is relatively a small salt water lake. Each turn of the road reveals the lake bit by bit, and this is one such view. Not a soul except us, while we view this magnificent landscape, with a beautiful canopy of clouds above, the light filtering through and the lake shimmering at the base of the mountains beyond. A glimpse of heaven, a bit barren maybe but still heaven. In Ladakh, India.

The road winds down the hills beyond, while the evening sun sets the landscape afire. At Mawphlang, Meghalaya, India.

Thanks Larry for your input. I have a bracketed set of this frame, and I sure will try for a monochromatic hdr.

Monsoon clouds fly unhindered across the plains of Bangladesh and then hit the Khasi Hills (Meghalaya, India) which rise suddenly from the plains. And up the vertical slopes the clouds go, only to bring down a tremendous amount of rainfall, which in the monsoons fills up the streams and the waterfalls around with volumes of water. The 305 m Kynrem Falls, the 7th highest waterfalls in India, is one such, with the water falling down over three tiers and then flowing down into Bangladesh below. Rendered this in B&W to lay emphasis on the elements at work, the clouds and the water, while in composition gave equal emphasis to sky and the waterfall.

A beautiful 98 m falls near Shillong, Meghalaya, India. Called "Kshaid Weitden" in the local Khasi language, it's near Mawshbuit village. It has a straight pencil of water falling down, as if straight from a faucet. It is a very pretty falls, and in my schooldays we used to trek to the base of the falls, but now the local authorities have constructed a viewing platform and going down below is prohibited, though from what I remember from treks made long ago, the view from the base was spectacular. Made visit recently, but by the time made it there, the sun had gone down the horizon, but not without colouring the strip of clouds near the horizon. Processed the image to make it look the way it looks. C&C welcome.

Standing and admiring the Kyagar Tso enroute to Tso Moriri (in Ladakh, India) am startled by the sound of hooves, and then I turn back to see scores of Yaks rushing down from the hills behind me. My first instinct is to take cover, after all these are bulky beasts, but after some time I do manage to extract my camera to take some shots. It's difficult and risky to shoot photographs with these beasts rushing down around me, but as one yak gets in front of me, I manage to freeze it in mid run, with some yaks having made it to the lake and plunged in. And I realise that yaks do take baths. And as more yaks were rushing down, I keep aside the camera and make way for them. And then the onrush is over, and this is the only decent image I took of the yaks' mad rush to the lake. The high peak across the lake is probably Shashang (5200m) while the lake is at 4595 m. Truly a land of yaks..i.e yak-istan.

My Ladakh trip in September 2014 was bereft of the bright blue skies Ladakh is famous for. Due to freak weather conditions which had also wreaked torrential rainfall and floods in Kashmir, the skies of Ladakh were a monotonous gray, with a constant drizzle. While going to the Nubra valley, one can see the Shyok river flowing down the valley, and in normal weather conditions is a bright, vibrant blue, but was dull during my visit. The images I had composed earlier in my head were not to be, but when my friend Nabarun Bhattacharya stood on an overhang to get some shots, his bright red jacket contrasted well with the brown landscape, and that dot of colour in that cloud covered landscape prompted me to take this shot. One always doesn't get the perfect light and has to make available with whats available, and this is one such. Btw Shyok literally means the "River of Death".

The Thlumuwi Falls off the Jowai-Amlarem-Dawki Raod, in Meghalaya, India.

The palace of the Jodhpur royal family. Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India.

Thanks Kim. I'll try cropping it from the left. As for the cell phone guy, the shot is candid and to capture the moment.

The Buddha is said to have delivered his first sermon to only five men. The first Sangha, and from thereon Buddhism grew. Through the dedication of the first Buddhist monks, the dharma is alive for us today. So when I saw these five Buddhist monks sitting together at the Hemis Gompa in Ladakh, India, I thought of that beginning, from the first five to the spread of Buddhism across Asia.