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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".

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.

A local Jaintia man sits in personal contemplation in front of the Thlumuwi Falls, West

Jaintia Hills District, Meghalaya, India. Managed to take this as soon as I got to the

falls, he then heard my shutter and left the place,

The setting sun lights up the Mentok range in warm colours. View from Korzok Village

in Rupshu Valley, Ladakh, India.

Thanks Warren.

The alarm rang early, woke up, peeped out of the window in the homestay I was in

at Korzok, Ladakh, India near the magnificent Tsomoriri (Lake Moriri). Saw that the

sky was covered with grey clouds and there was just a hint of blue on the horizon.

The sight was not very inspiring, and was wondering if I should venture out to catch

the dawn. Asked my roomie, if I should go down to the lake, and he too took a look,

and said that the light does not look very inspiring. So I dilly-dallied for some time,

but then thought to myself that since I have woken up, I would better go. By then

had already wasted half an hour while I should have been out shooting. Put on my

shoes, picked up the camera bag and out I was walking down through the

alleyways of the village to go to the shore of the lake. When I came out from the

village, saw that there was a brabed wire fence separating the village from the lake,

so hand to trundle for some time, to find a gap on the fence and there was a gate

quite some distance away. From the gate to the shore was quite seome distance,

and there were fields and bogs through which I had to pass. The idea was to go

near the lake, look for a good composition and fire away. As I was walking, I turned

to the left and saw that the sky to my left was developing beautiful red/orange hues

even though there was dense cloud cover. The view I had from my room up in the

village was opposite this view. So I thought if I can hurry up to the lake, and the

colour persists, I could come up with some decent shots. As I picked up speed,

which is difficult at 4000 meters, to go closer to the shoreline, the sky right in front

of me turned intense orange punctuated by black triangular formations in between

and this lovely hue was reflected on the water. And there I was right in the middle

of a flat field, but no compositional aid anywhere and no good view of the lake. So

had to put down by backpack where I was since I didn't want to lose this

spectacular play of light, fished out a camera, set it in on the tripod, no time to look

for the cable release so set the self timer and got three shots. Picked up the other

camera from the bag (which had a wide lens on it), and then looked to the sky and

that light was gone. It was there for a minute only and I had been lucky to get my

three shots. Till this day I rue the fact that I had lazed around when I should have

been up and out as soon as I got up. Then maybe I could have come up with a

better composition topped by this play of light. However I console myself saying

had I done so, I could possibly have been shooting a totally different view, and

missed this awesome play of light. Had taken this frame with three different

exposures for the possibility of enhancing the dynamic range, but felt a single raw

file when processed gives off a better mood, the mood that I had perceived at that

moment. Later I did get to the shore, that took half an hour of walking through the

fields and bogs and by then morning had arrived and the magic of the dawn had

disappeared.

A monastery near Leh, Ladakh, India. On top of the hills with a nice cloud formation

above it.

The radiating clouds draw me eyes to where you want them to. Great composition. The feel sure is very arty. Kudos.

Dramatic, with the water at the base of the rocks superbly lit up.

At times one comes across the most beautiful light, where one least expects it, and

then for a photographer it becomes a big problem. How to capture that beautiful

light and also get a nice composition. It had happened to me. Driving back with

fellow photographers one evening from an outing, we find this awesome view on

the Shillong-Jowai Highway (Meghalaya, India), with clouds banking in the valley

below, while the clouds above us are beautifully lit. I get my photographer friend

who was driving to stop, and manage to set up my tripod. Trees obscure most of

my view, and I find it very difficult to get in a composition I would be satisfied with.

Right beside the highway, it was pretty difficult. As the light conditions rapidly

change with the setting sun, I decided against walking around to see if a better

view was possible and decided to do the best that I could, and at least capture that

light in my sensor. Hope I did a decent job.

Near the village of Hunder in Nubra Valley in Ladakh, Jammu & Kashmir, India lies a

cold desert, with sand dunes and all. Camel Trekking or Caravan with Bactrian camels

has been a vogue in Ladakh quest since the 17th century until partition in1947. The

camels were used for riding and transportation in the 'Silk Route' in the 17th, 18th and

19th centuries. Now they are just a tourist attraction, and used for touristy camel rides

at the sand dunes near Hunder.