Chadar Ice trekking - Frozen River, Timeless journey

Chadar means a white sheet in Hindi. This is synonymous to the landscape of this region especially for the Zanskar River when in winter the ambient temperature of the region fall below zero degree celsius. The river freezes making a white sheet of ice above it. One can walk over this sheet of Ice and is one of the routes used by the locals to reach Leh during winter from Zanskar. In the recent past this adventurous route has been much sought after by adventure loving people to make a trek of their life time experiencing some of the toughest terrains on earth. This is a presentation of the trek undertaken by two photographer friends which ended up in making some fine landscapes from the region and experiences that can be boasted along for a life time. Please see the Prezi presentation to enjoy the travel experiences in words and images.

Mountain Rain

It was a fun trek planned with my friends. Idea was to trek to the top of Nagala range in eastern ghats in India on a weekend after long working hours of the week. I had not taken my camera out for few weeks now. I was fully charged up for some landscape photos. But there is always a mystery associated with landscape photography about the light and the terrain and weather conditions. It always keeps me bothering about the result. May be that’s the fun part I love about landscape photography.

It was a long full day trek to the top of the mountains. We had almost trekked for 20 Kms with full steep slopes. Carrying the camera and tripod with the hope of photographing the sun set. 

We took rest in between and as the group had breaks I still kept moving around to find the right vantage point to capture the mountain ranges extending towards the horizon. But was in vain and I knew I had to climb more. We kept walking and by the time it was 5 PM we had reached at almost the top on the mountain.

The view was breath taking with cold wind refreshing from one side of the mountain. Immediately I sensed the possibility of rain. But the sky was clear. Before my thoughts about rain vanished from my mind, the dark clouds rolled in from no where and as I looked towards the other side, it was heavy down pour of rain. I was thrilled, sun was shining in one direction and other direction the heavy rains were fast approaching us. I quickly pulled out my camera, set the aperture put on the tripod and click, click , click before I could make the fourth shot the rain had fast approached us and showered on us. 

I knew I made the shot of the day. Happily packed up the camera and we all had a nice refreshing rain bath. Then we put up the tent had nice camp fire , had dinner and slept under the stars.

Although I had taken this photo 4 years back, I still keep thinking what if I had missed the setting on my camera on that day. What made me use the right setting in a split of a second. And I found my answer when I read about serendipity explained by Jim Brandenburg. I quote it here as told by Jim himself

"Serendipity is a wonderful word in the English language. It means happy coincidence, or a lucky, unexpected moment. This is essential to photography, but not without preparation. There are Japanese traditions involved in preparing: you study, then study, then study some more. You prepare mentally for years and years, so when the special moment comes, your instincts take over and it happens naturally. It's the same with cameras and other equipment: when the magic moment comes, you are ready to capture it instantly. You have visual language that you have studied for many, many years. You are familiar with the equipment, so it comes as second nature, like an extension of your fingers. I think that this is crucial. It's the same principal as practicing the violin. So many people think photography is easy: just pick up the camera and take a picture. But like the violin, you must practice photography for 30 years or more before you truly do it well."

After I read this, it became my guiding principle when ever I go out on a shoot. And I believe my photographs have started reflecting it.

BEST PHOTOGRAPHY BOOKS

In this article I will suggest some of the best photography books to learn digital photography. These are some of the best selling photography books out there in the market. I have tried to search out the direct links from the online merchants so that if you are interested you can go and buy it online. 

These books are the one which I personally feel are good enough to bring you up to speed in understanding the basics of photography. Some of them are good in theory while others in providing the practical experiences  or in other words tips to improve in the field. What to do what not to do. What to carry to the field for any special type of photography. These also include some of the best photography coffee table books  which you can consider to use as a show piece in your guest room in the house. 

Some of the best DSLR photography books are also included. These books go beyond the regular camera manuals to explain the fine tuning ability of your camera for quick turn around and to extract every ounce from your dslr. Beginner photography books will cover only the basics of photography which will help understand what is photography, what is a camera, what is a lens , what are the different types of lens in the market etc,I have limited to 2 books per category so that interested people can make the choice easily. These are the books which I have used personally and have been benefited in some way or the other in my photographic journey. I request you to keep watching this post as I will adding more and more books on the go when I feel its good one and definitely going to help you. 

The famous trilogy from Ansel Adams : The legendary American photographer.

The autobiography of Ansel Adams.

Very good books to learn composition in photography. 

Best book to learn Panoramic photography- This book explains A-Z of panoramic photography  Using this book was very helpful to me in deciding the right kind of equipment to use and other tips and trick to be followed. I have made many award winning 360 degree panoramas. I highly recommend this book.

FIRST LIGHT IN SILENT VALLEY

Can you see the white stream within the gorge (left hand corner down). Thats river Kunthi which runs down 20 Kms untouched by mankind. That Gorge was where the dam was proposed in late seventies by KSEB (kerala state electricity board). Many years ago the people of this country fought for a campaign to save silent valley from being submerged under the waters of proposed hydel project. 

Silent Valley is no longer silent. It is the speaking symbol of a people's campaign for conservation. A paradigm for development without destruction. Thanks to all those unsung heroes who fought this movement and saved it for the future generations.

FIRST LIGHT IN SILENT VALLEY

The evolutionary age of Silent valley evergreen rain forest is believed to be 50 Million years. We in todays world can destroy it in less than 50 days. Such is the power of  man's destructive forces. We owe to protect it with full heart and soul.

Ipsea Malabarica (Malabar Daffodil Orchid)

The spirit of Silent Valley; the Spirit of Conservation.

It was a set mission to to photograph this endangered, undisputedly called the QUEEN of all Orchids IPSEA MALABARICA.

Though I knew it was not the season to photograph these as the rains were over and the last of the flowers were also disappeared this season. But a determined photographer always has his luck awaiting in disguise. The last flower in the area was awaiting me to be photographed.

Ipsea Malabarica ( The golden Orchid)

These golden flowers bloom in very restricted areas of Silent valley found no where else in the world. 

Ipsea Malabarica in its highly Fragile habitat

Destination Sillent Valley

It was a long time planned and cherished dream to explore the Silent Valley with a photographer’s eye. But it was executed only recently when Radhish, one of my photographer friends made the plan suddenly.

The information board at Silent Valley
Silent Valley is a National park which was inaugurated by then prime minister of India Rajeev Gandhi after the long protest to conserve it and save it from the SVHP (Silent Valley hydro electric project) in 1986.

Photographer Friends at Silent Valley

Since then it was well protected and guarded against the attempts of destruction. Silent Valley is the only tropical rain forest in the Indian sub continent well known for its highly sensitive habitat.

Species Information

Well I do not intend to write too much in detail in this blog.( Please wait for my next blog where I will write in detail about the bio diversity of this silent yet loud voice of nature)

Silent Valley is situated 80 Kilometers from Palakkad. This can be reached even via Coimbatore almost covering the same distance and will be favorable for people who approach this destination from Chennai and Bangalore side.

From Palakkad board a bus towards Mannarkad or Anakatty from Municipal bus stand or the KSRTC bus stand. If you are lucky to get an Anakatty bus, it will take you through to the destination in 2 hours time. Other wise you can board the Mannarkad or Kozhikode( Calicut) bus and change at Mannarkad to take a Bus that plies to Anakkaty.

But our destination is not Anakatty. The ticket needs to be taken for Mukkali stop. Once you get down at Mukkali the information centre is just half a kilo meter away.

The view of the Mukkali Junction where you have to get down to head towards the Sillent Valley.


At the information centre enquire about the bookings you have made in advance. This can be done through phone and then later a Fax to the Wild life warden at Mannarkad at least a week ahead of coming so that you are sure of your accomodation. Suite rooms and dormitories are available. This information can be found at the web site www.silentvalleynationalpark.com/ . The people are very friendly and responsive.
The guest house at Mukkali. My friend Radhish Kurup is seen in the photo chatting with the Forest Ranger Mr. B N Nagaraj.
The suite room at Forest guest house.
Once you are here and all set proceed further from the base camp. You have to take the entry pass and pay the fee at this information centre. The fees are very nominal. One will have to hire jeeps, the only transport facility that will take you through the muddy roads ll leading to the real Sairandhri Vanam as called. This is a 20 KM bumpy ride.

There is a good chance to spot the Lion Tailed Macaque (LTM), the flagship species of this forest, also an endangered one. The other spectacular sight is the Malabar gaint Squirrel.

Once you reach the point walk down the forest 2 kms to the river Kunthi. This is a spectacular view. This river flows down 20KMs untouched by mankind. There is a bridge built over this river. Till this point only the regular tourists and visitors are allowed. This marks the end of the buffer zone. Beyond this is the actual core area. Only with special permission from the Chief wild life warden (Trivandrum) any one can enter into the core zone.

Then its time to trek back to the point where the jeep is waiting to take you back to the base camp. At this place there is a watch tower from where breath taking views of the surrounding mountain ranges in Silent valley are available.

This trip can be covered in just a day. But for those who want a night’s sleep in natures lap 2 days would suffice. Cool and pleasant weather of the guest house will let you sleep a hundred sleeps in just one day.
This saying goes true "Nature serves only our needs not our greed".