The Lightning show

15 may 2019

Today after persistent moaning, the rains finally descended in our region with high intensity, and velocity. The show started at 1pm in afternoon which allowed us to gaze and capture the beauty and roar of the pre monsoon rains. With loud concussion, the storm drummed the region for nearly an hour with thick drops. I too enjoyed the rain for couple of minutes before resuming office work. Here are the picture of fleeting deluge. It would not be exaggeration if I term this as tiny cloudburst.

The real show began post 7pm when the storms reappeared with thick clouds at southeastern horizon. By the volume of clouds, i thought it would rain in our region once again. That did not materialize. The newspaper reported that the city was drenched in night thunderstorm. Despite not having drop of rain, i captured scene of lightning and elated with result.

Implied that the arc did not touch the ground :D. It is just that earth is spherical and distant guy feels like it stroke ground. This was probably the best shot of all!

I remember a method to capture lightning with timelapse support. If storm persists for 15 mins or more there is good chance of capturing 2 to 3 beautiful scenes. I was also lucky to get those shots. I started intervalometer with 10s gap in Av mode. But Av mode should not be used since exposure bound to change. Nevertheless, I grabbed good shots mounting camera on terrace wall. Later I switched to manual mode but the exposure was not enough. Hence you see only arc but not surrounding. Hope to capture more till pre monsoon rains last. I suggest to keep camera in manual mode with f/11 aperture and 15s shutter. In any case, make sure not to decrease exposure below -1. You can also try to increase ISO if you cannot capture picture with adequate exposure. This is provided your camera has better ISO noise threshold. Increasing the shutter is also a solution but that would increase the time interval. There are chances of losing good amount of heavenly shots!

Update 17 May

Probably rain gods want me to permanently terminate moaning. Today the rains were accompanied by hails. It was as if, the heavens were pelting stones at my inconsequential aggression. The torrential rains coupled with ice poured for nearly an hour and thus ensuring the balance over all regions. I have video too. Watch the beautiful hail storm striking the grills of our balcony and settling over the road. The children were too elated with the hail storm, enthusiastically picking fallen ice, ignoring the soaking in rain. Even my sons did not leave balcony till the rain subsided. Incidentally, the rains arrived unusually at busy time which is 1pm. Watch the hail storm and glimpse of rain from my office break out area. Enjoy the rhythm of nature.

Distant Dream

May 11 2019,

On numerous occasions when we walk along the path of rachenahalli lake, we get to see only dramas over the skies. The sky grumbles, the troposphere flashes, the heavens flame during evening hours. But what we get to feel is only after effects of distant rain activity which is just cool winds. Even though the winds plunges the mercury levels, the overall drama does not add to the water table of nearby areas. Contrast to the pessimism narrated till now, these distant drama even though elusive, is pleasant for landscape shooters and sky watchers. The huge cumulonimbus clouds with flaming sky provide much needed platform for landscape kindreds. Here are pictures taken on the day without rains

Election day Sunset

April 18, 2019

Ever since g+ ramped down, my motivation in photography has drastically declined. Somehow, I don't feel the enthu as before. I am slowly regaining the traction back! Moreover, I am eagerly waiting for Monsoon season to arrive to shoot those symphony of verdant landscape and artistic skies. Just a month and half to ago to greet the monsoon season. While we are preparing for Monsoon, some of the weather bureaus are warning of possible el-nino which may dampen the intensity of Monsoon rains. The warming of pacific waters will dissipate the clouds over the ocean than making a landfall. Hope to see a healthy monsoon season as predicted by Indian MET office.

After casting our vote, our entire family steered to Kapu beach to rejoice in the evening Sun. My kids as usual are still afraid of those waves. This time though a tad improvement by stepping over the water but not for long :). I am sure they will pick up as they grow up. We had splendid sunset as usual but without clouds. I captured few of those moments and sea tides for a while before concluding our visit. As always, we had glorious skies to finish the day. The short picnic concluded with a bite of churmuri and ice-cream. The ice-cream complements well on a humid day.

It's not birds flying home. Someone in the group created a chaos (may be for the fish), or sudden surge of waves threatened them. But for sure some extraneous noise influenced them to fly abruptly in random directions.

Meanwhile, it rained heavily in Bangalore. I was downright disappointed to miss those moments. Nevertheless, it was pleasurable moment since people of North Bangalore were eagerly waiting for the rain.

Karavali junction overpass finally opens for traffic

A great relief to commuters along NH-66. The Karavali junction overpass cutting through udupi bypass is complete after a record time of 5 years :D. Just a month ago, the road was opened for traffic and sigh of relief for udupi citizens. It has been tough time over years for commuters with water-logging during monsoon, hectic traffic circumambulating the under-construction overpass, ruckus of buses under the bridge. The vehicles used to circle this overpass to get into the other lane. This was creating huge obstacle to the highway traffic causing accidents at times. The fury of express bus drivers is never ending and has no solution. They threaten other's life to meet their deadlines. With the opening of overpass, the pains have subsided and the traffic is smooth. Also authorities have sealed the midpoint of overpass to prevent crossing of the lanes at the outset of ascension. Here are the pictures from my short drive over the newly constructed overpass. The absence of lane marking clearly indicates that the path was open quite recently :D

Huge relief for overpass commuters but it is resulting in deadlock beneath the bridge. The narrow and short path is instantly resulting in deadlock near the junction. Moreover, the bus stop is located at the edge of junction which is worsening the jam. The traffic is completely jammed if the bus stops even for few seconds. Adding to the misery, the stubborn bus drivers halt in middle of road blocking smaller vehicles like cars and autos. The main traffic though quite a lot peaceful without any problems. During initial days, there was no lane markings on the newly constructed overpass. This coupled with absence of street lights was making it impossible to safely cross the overpass during night hours. This problem is now resolved which makes one to safely pass through the overpass!

Fani gone Clouds throng

It was few days of lull sky here in Bangalore. The clouds are drawn into space of fani cyclone and hence deserting rest of place. The fani dissipated with wind speed of 180 kmph and heavy rains in mainland of Orissa state for a day destroying huge volume of vegetation and human infrastructure. After the cyclone lost its might, the clouds are back on Bangalore's sky. Today evening we saw huge line of clouds gathered over rachenahalli lake pretending to culminate in heavy storm. But in fact only few drops of rains touched the ground. Probably it rained elsewhere since we experienced cool breeze for a while. Anyways it was inspiring to watch the carnival of clouds. There was beautiful scene of sun peeking through the cloud band at western horizon.

The eastern horizon was grappled by massive dark clouds. The western horizon on the other hand was plum with few clouds escaping to participate in colorful evening show.

The sunset was gorgeous but did not capture since I was engrossed in playing with kids. Overall heartfelt skywatch concluded for the day.

Bangalore Doddaballapur toll gate commissioned

In my historical posts, I had been mentioning the toll gate being constructed between Bangalore-Doddaballapur road. The recast SH-9 which is four lane till Doddaballapur is now officially toll road. The authorities have commissioned toll collection right after Rajanukunte. The toll prices are within the stipulated standards. The LMV toll costs Rs.25/- for two way journey. The toll fee scales up to the dimension of vehicles there on. Since the road is managed by state government, there is no Fastag facility. Not sure if the locals are also charged with toll fee.

The toll collection is frustrating though. The road work is not yet complete from Yelahanka to Rajanukunte and DB cross bypass. This half baked roads adds inconvenience to travelers which is tolled. Moreover the roads are not patrolled and consequently plethora of wrong siders hinder smooth journey (common problem everywhere in India). The good part is the completion of Railway over bridge near Doddaballapur Industrial area. I must say that its a biggest relief. I remember those days when the vehicles used to line up for miles waiting for that sluggish train to cross the gate. And thereafter plodding trucks aggravated by delaying journey two folds. Despite all conveniences, it is unconstitutional to collect toll fees without completion of work. It does not add value to the fee paid by the commuters if the wrong siders are in high numbers.

My opposition is for half baked work and wrong side driving. If the authorities construct it right throughout the stretch, then the toll is worth the pay. Otherwise money we pay is like donation, not for service.