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Come August, we will be heading to photograph the sandstone cliffs, village life, well-known rock cut temples and small temples in leafy places in and around the beautiful small town of Badami. Join us on the photography tour to Badami. Also visit Darter facebook page to stay updated on our tour schedules and new announcements.
Introduction
Badami is known for its rock cut temples and a history dating back more than thousand years. Travel photographers see much more than just that; this small town offers a wide variety of photography opportunities. There are red sandstones glistening in the morning sun, waterfalls that come alive and tumble down the cliffs adjacent to the caves in the monsoon months, colonies of friendly people with photogenic face who are more than happy to be subjects for your camera, a rural life where you see women washing clothes in a lake next to men scrubbing a bullock’s hide, temples in leafy environs with roots of ficus trees drooping over the gopuras, brilliant landscapes of cliffs overlooking a lake,.. The list is very long.
Darter Photography takes you to this Badami and nearby places that are a mix of well-known and unknown, bringing you great photography opportunities that can keep your clicking finger busy.
Our photography experts with in-depth experience of photographing Badami’s surroundings will work with you through some class-room sessions and all through the outdoor shoots to ensure that you get the best images.
Go to photography tour of Badami to see more details and to register.
Source: Admin
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India Travel Blog completes six delightful years today. What started as a means to record my travels has now become much more than that and has perhaps defined much of what I am today. Thank you for your wonderful support all these years, and for having been coming here to read my travel stories and see the images.
It has been a beautiful journey of travelling here with thousands of travellers. Some narcissistic statistics 
- More than 900 posts with a couple of thousand photographs.
- About 1.5 million visitors with about 3 million page loads since inception.
The ultimate aim of India Travel Blog remains what I wrote here a year ago: “to consistently produce good quality photographs and travel writing that informs and entertains the readers.”
Once again, thanks for coming here year after year to see photographs and read travel stories.
Source: …
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Every traveller becomes a photographer-at-ease on his/her journeys through Ladakh. As a friend who recently returned from Ladakh remarked, every photograph looks like it is post-card worthy. Sometimes, this incredible landscape comes with its challenges. It becomes difficult to make images that are distinct from the millions of frames that flood the internet and to capture something that stands out from the rest. But an effort goes on, nonetheless.
Ladakh is a high altitude desert with barren slopes, stark landscapes and treeless terrains. Yet, it has no shortage of water which flows abundantly from snow melting through the summer months and feeding its streams and rivers. In the rare occasions where you see some table lands fed by such streams, you also see an eruption of greenery that is a contrast from the brown landscapes surrounding it. Here is one such place near Tso Moriri Lake.
While Ladakh is easily accessible in the summers and rewards the visitors with its beautiful landscapes, jaw-dropping spectacles unfold in the winter months. Temperatures dipping twenty below zero changes the way the world appears, like in the case of this waterfall that stays frozen during the winter months next to a blue Zanskar River.
Snowfall is rare in the summer months. But when it happens, a day of snowy surprise can bring in magical changes in the landscapes. This mountain, near Tso Moriri Lake, was largely brown on the day I arrived here. It snowed one night and remained cloudy for the large part of next day. The slopes were transformed by the fresh, powdery snow.
One of the prized possessions of Ladakh are its vast, blue lakes that are trapped in the depressions of changthang plateau. Tso Moriri is one such lake whose blue colours stand out against the chocolate-brown slopes surrounding it. Next to the lake is a small pasture that feeds the animals. and fields that feed the people of Korzok Village overlooking the lake.
Tso Moriri takes different hues in different weathers, varying from deep blue on a sunny day to a dull grey when it is cloudy. Perhaps it simply reflects the colour of the sky, calling nothing its own. The lake is fed by streams like the one in the picture above. The lake’s waters have no outlet, because of which it is turning salty over ages. The waters of this brackish lake tastes mildly salty, if at all, and has only a fraction of saltiness that the seawater possesses.
Pangong Lake is another brackish water lake in Changthang Plateau. But one doesn’t have to take Ladakh destination by destination. Stop anywhere for a break and you will find something beautiful, like this unnamed lake on the way to Pangong Tso.
Pangong Lake itself, is the grandest of all water bodies in Ladakh, perhaps in the whole country. It stretches for more than a hundred kilometers across two countries. A man from Indian Army who helped me park my bike here said, ‘do you see the mountains far away? They are in China’.
Another large lake in Ladakh is Tso Kar, which is more of a marshland than lake. The huge plain of Tso Kar allows plenty of grass to grow in the plateau and in turn supports a variety of wildlife that feed on this grass.
Tso Kar Lake and rest of Changthang Plateua lie on one side of Manali-Leh highway, while on the other side is the still-remote and inaccessible Zanskar Valley. The lone road to Zanskar remains closed for nine months a year, buried in snow. In the winter months, the frozen Zanskar river then becomes the highway for people of Zanskar.
Snow filled Zanskar Valley in the winter months.
Zanskar River enters Indus Valley and merges with River Indus near a village called Nimmu. In the above photograph is the confluence, seen from the slopes nearby. The deep blue river emerging from the mountains is Zanskar, while the muddy flow from the left is Indus River.
Further, downstream Indus is the village of Lamayuru, which is approached by switch back roads climbing swiftly along the steep slopes. Some turns along the way are so tight that buses have to go back and forth to get past a curve. This road is part of the Srinagar-Leh highway.
Lamayuru Village is located in a place that was once inundated with waters of a high-altitude lake. The presence of the lake is apparent even today, thanks to curious formations left behind from the drained lake. The yellow slopes, often called moon-land-view, clearly indicate the level of the lake’s water.
Play of sun and clouds on the mountains of Lamayuru.
Further downstream, at the edge of Ladakh before Indus flows out of territory accessible from India, the river flows swiftly through a very narrow gorge near the village of Dha. In here, the river descends below ten thousand feet after flowing for a long distance in the highlands of Tibet and Ladakh. The mountains here are steep and the valleys are narrow, but the weather is more hospitable and permits growing a variety of fruits and vegetables. This is perhaps the only place in Ladakh where it is possible to grow wheat.
In another corner of Ladakh, towards north, is Nubra Valley, another green oasis in the barren lands of Ladakh. In the wide valley of Shayok River, tiny grass and seabuckthorn shrubs grow in plenty, supporting a small herd of wild bactrian camel. The lush valley with plenty of water from the river allows the people of Nubra Valley to grow many cereals and vegetables, besides juicy apricots.
Sun setting over the mountains of Nubra.
But one doesn’t necessarily have to travel far and wide to every corner of Ladakh to see its amazing landscapes. As soon as you arrive in Leh, you will see tall mountains, puffy white clouds and blue skies welcoming you to Ladakh. A small walk outside Leh is perhaps sufficient to get the glimpses of Ladakh’s landscapes. The explorer, however, has no limits to to what he can see in Ladakh.
Source: Arun
India Travel Blog Newsletter is sent approximately once a month (sometimes less frequently), summarizing the previous month’s activity and giving a glimpse of the coming month on the website. Subscribe to the newsletter by keying in your email address in the box on the top of the sidebar. Here is a copy of this month’s newsletter, dispatched yesterday.
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Hello Travellers!
Here is the July edition of India Travel Blog newsletter, bringing you latest updates on images, travel stories and photography tours.
July 2011 Calendar. The desktop calendar of July has an image of beautiful landscapes from Ladakh. Go here to download it for your desktop.
Photo Essay – monasteries of Ladakh. The Buddhist monasteries in Ladakh have a charm of their own. The congenial monks, fluttering prayer flags, lines of stupas, young monks running around in the monastery, exuberant annual festivals and the dramatic landscapes in which they are located, are a treat to the eyes. See images of monasteries and monks of Ladakh.
Photo Essay – People of Ladakh. Innocence and cheerful shows up on every face you encounter in Ladakh. Here is an attempt to capture the beautiful faces of Ladakh.
Travelogue – Lahaul and Spiti. Read a travelogue and see photos of amazing landscapes of Lahaul and Spiti, earlier published in a Japanese magazine in English.
Travel photography article – Using Flash. Here is an article on using flash in an effective manner and about times when it could be counterproductive to use flash.
Videos. See photo slideshows on youtube – a collection of images of beautiful India and on the treasures of Ladakh.
Photography Tours
We are now doing photography Tours a wide variety of places, bringing you plenty of photography opportunities.
Photographing Landscapes. India is a land of diverse and fascinating landscapes, varying from high mountains, green hills, arid desert lands, sea-scapes, rocky terrains and much more. This workshop help you make great landscape images next time you travel or even in your neighbourhood park. More details.
Ladakh – July 24th to 31st. This is the second edition of our tour of Ladakh after the first the highly popular first tour was completely booked and we still have had many more inquiries. Be ready to be blown away by this grand tour and come back with images like you have never taken before, from the places like you have never seen before! See more details of the Mountains and Monasteries Tour of Ladakh
Lahaul and Spiti – August 13 to 21st. One of the still unexplored and insanely beautiful stretch of the Indian Himalayas, Lahaul and Spiti is a valley of stark landscapes and high snowy peaks stretching to the sky. Gurgling rivers and crystal clear lakes dot the highlands of Lahaul, while an ancient civilization has survived for nearly thousand years and has preserved its culture against the onslaught of modernity in Spiti. The faraway valley connected only through a narrow road that traverses through mountains over 10,000 feet high, this region offers vistas and heritage that can keep a travel photographer in a click-frenzy for months together. Full details of the tour here.
Badami – August 5,6 and 7. Badami is known for its rock cut temples and a history dating back more than thousand years. Travel photographers see much more than just that. There are red sandstones glistening in the morning sun, waterfalls that come alive and tumble down the cliffs adjacent to the caves in the monsoon months, colonies of friendly people with photogenic face who are more than happy to be subjects for your camera, a rural life where you see women washing clothes in a lake next to men scrubbing a bullock’s hide, temples in leafy environs with roots of ficus trees drooping over the gopuras, brilliant landscapes of cliffs overlooking a lake,.. The list is very long. More details on our tour of Badami.
Source: Arun
This month’s desktop calendar wallpaper has an image of amazing landscapes of Ladakh. Download it in 1280×800 or 1024×768.
Source: Arun