The 500px Global Photo Walk

500px Global Photo Walk

On 26th September 2015 the 500px Global Photo Walk was organized in Chandigarh for the first time by NOTYi Photographers. The location of the walk was Sukhna Lake, Chandigarh. The walk was to start at 5:00 AM so I readied myself and reached the venue at around 4:50 AM. There were around 20 participants who had already reached the venue by this time including the organizers.

We registered ourselves and waited for the event to start. The walk started at around 6:00 AM. By this time the number of participants had already reached 100+. The organizers had arranged for different themes for photography. As the number of participants were large so we were divided into smaller groups of 7-10 participants and sent for photographing different themes.

As part of the walk I clicked around 200 photographs. Following are some of the best photographs of the walk covering the different themes.

Sukhna Lake

Sunrise at Sukhna Lake - 500px Global Photo Walk
Sunrise @ Sukhna
Kayaking - 500px Global Photo Walk
Kayaking

Model Photography

Model #1 - 500px Global Photo Walk
Model #1
Model #2 - 500px Global Photo Walk
Model #2
Model #3 - 500px Global Photo Walk
Model #3
Model #4 - 500px Global Photo Walk
Model #4
Model #5 - 500px Global Photo Walk
Model #5

Kids at the Walk

Kids @ Photo Walk - 500px Global Photo Walk
Kids @ Photo Walk
Kids @ Photo Walk - 500px Global Photo Walk
Kids @ Photo Walk
Kids @ Photo Walk - 500px Global Photo Walk
Kids @ Photo Walk

General Photography

SuperBikes - 500px Global Photo Walk
SuperBikes
VIntage Car Rally - 500px Global Photo Walk
VIntage Car Rally
Cycling - 500px Global Photo Walk
Cycling

Finally the NOTYi team that made the event possible……

The NOTYi Team - 500px Global Photo Walk
The NOTYi Team

And to end it all the final “Group Selfie”

The Group Selfie - 500px Global Photo Walk
The Group Selfie

The NOTYi team was aiming for breaking the world record for most people participating in a photo walk in a single day and they did manage to break it with 448 participants, 42 more than the previous record.

Canvas with 448 Signatures - 500px Global Photo Walk
Canvas with 448 Signatures

Overall the event was a good experience as it was my first ever Photo Walk with a large group.

The 500px Global Photo Walk in Chandigarh was covered by all the major newspapers in town.

Newspaper Coverage - 500px Global Photo Walk
Newspaper Coverage

My Birding Diary – 1

Duck in the Lake - Birding Diary - 1

Initial Attempts

This is the first part of my Birding Blog. As part of this blog I am just trying to document all the different species of birds that I have managed to photograph in these years. The photography gear that I currently own is a Canon Digital Rebel XSI (450D) DLSR with 50mm, 18-55mm and 55-250mm lenses. Also I have a Sony DSC WX-200 digital camera.

In this part of the blog I am listing the common birds that are found in and around our houses. I belong to Solan, Himachal Pradesh (India) and currently residing in Chandigarh, Punjab (India)  so most of the birds listed here are of these regions. Some of the photographs may not be up to the mark as these were clicked when I was new to photography and was still getting used to the camera.

House Sparrow (Passer Domesticus)

Location : Solan, Himachal Pradesh (India)

This is the most common bird that is found in our houses and were a part of our childhood days. Our mothers and grand mothers used to regularly feed these birds and their nests resided in the corners of our verandah roofs. These days due to change in design of our housing patterns these birds are no longer found in large cities. If you move to city outskirts and smaller cities you can still find these birds.

Sparrow - Birding Diary - 1
Sparrow (25th April 2010)

Himalayan Bulbul (Pycnonotus Leucogenys)

Location : Solan, Himachal Pradesh (India)

Another common bird that is found near my house in Solan is the Bulbul. This bird makes a nest in the corner of the roof every year. A sweet bird with a prominent white patch near the eye and a prominent yellow patch at the bottom of the tail.

Bulbul - Birding Diary - 1
Bulbul (24th April 2010)

Red Vented Bulbul (Pycnonotus Cafer)

Location : Jalandhar, Punjab (India)

The Punjab counterpart of the White Eared Bulbul 🙂

Bulbul - Birding Diary - 1
Bulbul (9th August 2013)

Eurasian Collared Dove (Streptopelia Decaocto)

Location : Jalandhar, Punjab (India)

The “Bird of Peace” often found in groups. It has a prominent black patch on the neck which gives the bird its name.

Dove - Birding Diary - 1
Dove (9th August 2013)

Blue Rock Pigeon (Columba Livia)

Location : Patiala, Punjab (India)

A very common bird in the urban cities. Often found in large groups on every building.

Pigeon - Birding Diary - 1
Pigeon (18th August 2013)

Common Myna (Acridotheres Tristis)

Location : Patiala, Punjab (India)

Every kid has often said “Two for Joy” on seeing a pair of this bird. The Common Myna is a very aggressive bird and is very common in India. This bird makes very loud sounds / whistles.

Myna - Birding Diary - 1
Myna (18th August 2013)

Alexandrine Parakeet (Psittacula Eupatria)

Location : Mohali, Punjab (India)

Another beautiful bird is the Parrot. This one I found enjoying the fruits of the tree in Nature Park, Mohali.

Parakeet - Birding Diary - 1
Parakeet (13th March 2014)

Jungle Babbler (Turdoides Striatus)

Location : Mohali, Punjab (India)

Babbler - Birding Diary - 1
Babbler (13th March 2014)

House Crow (Corvus Splendens)

Location : Zirakpur, Punjab (India)

This is the bird that indicates the “Arrival of guests at home”. According to an old myth in India if a crow continuously caws outside your home it signifies arrival of some guests at home.

Crow - Birding Diary - 1
Crow (8th December 2014)

Location : Mohali, Punjab (India)

Crow - Birding Diary - 1
Crow (22nd December 2015)

Indian Peafowl (Pavo Cristatus)

Location : Sariska, Rajasthan (India)

Peacocks are not found in Himachal Pradesh. These are one of the most beautiful birds found in the wild. My first close encounter with these were in 2009 when I visited the Sariska Wildlife Sanctuary as part of an Astro-Photography workshop. I did not have a DSLR at that time so the following two photos were taken with a normal digicam.

Peacock - Birding Diary - 1
Peacock (28th March 2009)
Peacock - Birding Diary - 1
Peacock (28th March 2009)

With this I come to end of the first part of my birding diary. Will be back soon with the second part.

NOTE ::

  1. All the common names and scientific names of birds have been referenced from the book “The Book of Indian Birds” by Salim Ali, Thirteenth Edition 2012.
  2. I am not an expert in Birds, just a beginner in bird watching so the above names / description may not be accurate. These have been written as per my best understanding and have not been verified by any expert in the field.

My Birding Diary – 2

My Fedora 23 Wallpapers

On August 12 2015 submissions for Supplemental Wallpapers for Fedora 23 were announced. Supplemental wallpapers are extra wallpapers that are packaged with every new operating system release. Being a regular user of Fedora I was excited to read the post and decided to submit my entries for the election. The election was tough as entries are invited from all over the world and then only 16 wallpapers are selected through open voting by the Fedora community.

I browsed through my entire photo collection and finally zeroed down to 10 photos that I decided to submit for the election. The voting was held from September 13 2015 till September 17 2015. When the result was declared I was surprised to see 3 of my submissions making to the final list.

The Moon - Supplemental Wallpaper Fedora 23
The Moon
The Waterfall - Supplemental Wallpaper Fedora 23
The Waterfall
Close Up of a Flower- Supplemental Wallpaper Fedora 23
Close Up of a Flower

This election broke all the previous Fedora submission records. There were a total of 199 submissions out of which 157 were approved. A total of 1447 votes were polled and finally the winners were selected.

And then Fedora 23 was released and the supplemental wallpapers were announced.

https://fedoramagazine.org/try-out-the-additional-wallpapers-for-fedora-23/

The wallpapers were released as part of the f23-backgrounds-extras package. I downloaded Fedora 23 and installed it on my laptop and finally had a look at my own submissions.

Supplemental Wallpapers Fedora 23

Supplemental Wallpapers Fedora 23

It was a very proud moment seeing my name in the Author list for wallpaper owners.

Author Details for Supplemental Wallpapers Fedora 23

Finally I received my first ever Fedora 23 badge for selected submission…..!!!

Fedora 23 Supplemental Wallpaper Acceptance Badge