Photo Blog by Rajan Parrikar » Composition

Canacona

Rajan P. Parrikar — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 20:14:40 +0000

Until around 2000, few outside Goa had heard of Canacona. This southernmost region of the state had it all: lush fields, forests, mountains, rivers, and secluded beaches. For long it had remained outside the ambit of the mass tourism circuit due to its relative remoteness and lack of facilities. But it all changed in 2004 when the movie The Bourne Supremacy came along, with its opening sequence of Matt Damon gamboling on Palolem beach. The last remaining citadel of Goa’s pristine wilderness had crumbled. Today it has turned into a playground for the coarse proclivities of the tourist hordes.

A couple of weeks ago, I went on a lark through Canacona. It was a glorious monsoon morning when I got to the tiny hamlet of Loliem. The noted Hindustani vocalist Anjanibai Lolienkar of Agra gharana was born here. Later, I stopped by the village of Painguinim (Poinguinim), home to the old temple of Parashurama, avatar of Lord Vishnu, whom legend associates with the origin of Goa. I will have more material on these villages and their socio-religious traditions in future postings.

Damodar temple in Loliem, Canacona
5D Mark II, 24-105L

Goddess Aryadurga in Loliem, Canacona
5D Mark II, 24-105L

Monsoon lushness in Painguinim, Canacona
5D Mark II, 24-105L

Temple of Parashurama in Painguinim, Canacona
5D Mark II, 24-105L

Puno Fato Velip in Barcem, Quepem
5D Mark II, 70-200L f/2.8 IS II

Farming in Barcem, Quepem
5D Mark II, 70-200L f/2.8 IS II

Monsoon in Goa, 2010 Edition

Rajan P. Parrikar — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 09:39:37 +0000

Those of us who grew up in and around Panjim took the pleasures wrought by the monsoon for granted. All I had to do was look out of the window and luxuriate in the luscious sight of waterlogged fields and foliage. That Panjim no longer exists, swiftly wrecked by indiscriminate construction. With developers aggressively on the prowl throughout Goa, open spaces are shrinking. And with every passing year, the renewal of the Goan monsoonscape looks more and more tenuous.

Mounted below are the varied moods of the season experienced this past week. Earlier editions of the Goan monsoon may be seen here.

In the village of Talaulim
5D Mark II, 24-105L

Dhargal in north Goa
5D Mark II, 24-105L

Lush Pilerne
5D Mark II, 70-200L f/2.8 IS II

Dark morning at the Candolim church
5D Mark II, 70-200L f/2.8 IS II

Fishing in Nerul during a rainstorm
5D Mark II, 24-105L

Farmer in Talaulim
5D Mark II, 24-105L

Lakagígar

Rajan P. Parrikar — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 15:38:04 +0000

The recent eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland and the resultant disruption of air traffic made international headlines. But few outside Iceland know that Eyjafjallajökull is a minor blip compared to the cataclysmic event that took place not long ago. In 1783, over 130 craters opened up near Laki in a violent emetic fury that had geological, climatic, and human consequences extending well beyond Iceland, into regions as distant as Japan and India. Over a quarter of Iceland’s population was wiped out, and an estimated 6 million worldwide were killed. Read the details here.

Laki was the largest eruption since the settlement of Iceland. Even the casual visitor cannot fail to notice the grim sight of Eldhraun (“fire lava”), a vast swath of moss-covered lava bisected by the Ring Road west of the village of Kirkjubæjarklaustur. As the lava came cascading down towards the village, Reverend Jón Steingrímsson and his congregation gathered in the local church where he delivered what has come to be known as the “Fire Sermon.” His eye-witness account, Fires of the Earth, is now available in English translation.

From: http://www.glenreva.com/gen/e001/runolf1772.htm
One Sunday, as the eruption reached its peak, Father Jón Steingrímsson held a service in his church in the small town of Kirkjubæjarklaustur. A month and a half had passed since the eruption had begun. Father Jón considered the eruption to be a punishment from God for debauchery, laziness, and sinful living. The lava flow was bearing down on the town at speed with thunderous rumblings and crashes. The terrified residents believed their only hope lay in the church. A service began and Father Jón called to God, promising that his congregation would repent their wicked and sinful ways. As the service continued, the lava-flow reached the course of the Skaftá river near an outcrop called Systrastapi, just outside the town. And there it stopped. This remarkable event was attributed to Father Jón’s compelling prayers and his address to the congregation is now known as the “Sermon of Fire”.

Visiting Lakagígar (“Laki craters”) takes some effort as there are no paved roads in the interior and there are potentially treacherous glacial rivers to ford. Specially fitted 4WD vehicles known as superjeeps are usually deployed to negotiate the rough terrain, and the site is a good couple of hours of bone-rattling ride away from the Ring Road (the main road in Iceland).

At Lakagígar you are met with, to put it mildly, an astonishing sight (the Sanskrit word adbhuta comes to mind). One senses a faint echo of the elemental forces of Nature, and for a few disorienting moments one wonders if one has been beamed to an alien world. A full appreciation of the crater row pattern can only be had from the air.

We went to Lakagígar with our personal guide Guðmundur Eyjólfsson, among the finest adventure professionals in Iceland.

At the Laki craters
5D Mark II, TS-E 24L II

Tjarnargigur, the crater lake
5D Mark II, TS-E 24L II

Lava field at Lakagígar
5D Mark II, TS-E 24L II

Lambavatn at Laki
5D Mark II, 24-105L

Laki's aftermath: Eldhraun, the lava field near Kirkjubæjarklaustur
5D Mark II, TS-E 24L II

Our superjeep in the volcanic sand of Laki
5D Mark II, 24-105L

Negotiating the terrain near Laki
5D Mark II, 24-105L

Guðmundur Eyjólfsson with his superjeep
5D Mark II, 24-105L

Kleifarvatn

Rajan P. Parrikar — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 15:26:59 +0000

The Reykjanes Peninsula of Iceland is a place of haunting beauty. Descriptions of the region are usually dotted with clichés such as “stark,” “surreal,” “desolate.” That is because Reykjanes is, in fact, stark, surreal, and desolate.

Andrew Evans in Iceland, Bradt Travel Guide, 2008
p. 187

The southwest peninsula of Reykjanes or ‘smoky point’, is an utterly strange region of surreal landscapes and desolate volcanic fallout. There are only crumbled lava rocks carpeted in thick grey-green moss as far as the eye can see. There is no soil – only shifting, metallic-black sand. The low mountains on the horizon are sleeping volcanoes, the crusted spouts whence flowed all this lava. As an active geothermal hotspot, the broken ground exhales the wispy puffs of steam that gave the peninsula its name. The wind blows without cease and the frontal gusts of the Gulf Stream shoot out from across the ocean. The land is forever streaked with drizzle or sleet…Stark and almost uninhabitable, the Reykjanes Peninsula was overlooked as a fruitless wilderness until the American military thought it the perfect place for a top secret naval base….Reykjanes does not feel like planet earth. But then neither does much of Iceland.

…Reykjanes is a surface worth scratching beneath…There is great hiking to be done, a magnificent coastline to explore, and pure heat bubbling up from the depths.

Lake Kleifarvatn in Reykjanes is an atmospheric sight and not a little spooky, especially on days with low-hanging fog. We spent a good deal of time last month in the bowels of Reykjanes, and were unlucky to be spared the gale-force gusts and the punishing weather for which the area is renowned. I can well imagine what it must be like in those conditions, especially in Winter when howling winds are paired with painted heavens in the form of Northern Lights.

I was having some difficulty framing a composition of Kleifarvatn that would adequately convey a measure of the forbidding unease it evokes. On one of my last rounds, I finally ‘saw’ it and it registered in my mind’s eye right away as a monochrome image. Legends speak of a monster in the shape of a worm living in Kleifarvatn. I may well have captured the critter on camera here!

En passant – an earthquake in 2000 caused water levels in Kleifarvatn to drop which in turn inspired the macabre thriller, The Draining Lake.

Lake Kleifarvatn in Reykjanes, Iceland
5D Mark II, 24-105L

Lake Kleifarvatn - colour rendition
5D Mark II, 24-105L

Grænavatn

Rajan P. Parrikar — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 22:41:58 +0000

Located in the Reykjanes peninsula close to an active geothermal area, Grænavatn (“Green Lake”) is of volcanic origin, its green colour a consequence of algae and minerals present in its water. Different hues of green are observed, a function of lighting conditions, character of the sky above, as well as viewing location and angle. The entire Reykjanes area has an eerie ambience which makes it all the more enchanting.

Grænavatn in Reykjanes, Iceland
5D Mark II, 14L II

Grænavatn
5D Mark II, 24-105L

Candid shot of an Icelandic boy at Grænavatn
5D Mark II, 24-105L

Tonight in Reykjavík

Rajan P. Parrikar — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 02:40:57 +0000

A glorious day in Reykjavík concluded with the grand finale of the setting sun just before midnight. We got to the Sólfar sculpture in time for this shot.

Sunset around midnight in Reykjavík
5D Mark II, 24-105L, Singh-Ray Reverse GND filter

Hallgrímskirkja was draped in golden light.

Hallgrímskirkja basks in golden light
5D Mark II, TS-E 17L

Earlier tonight we stopped by Bessastaðir again. This time I made bold to ring the bell at President Ólafur Grímsson‘s door. Nobody seemed to be in and there was no response. The mellow evening light offered another perspective on Bessastaðir.

Bessastaðir, late evening
5D Mark II, 24-105L

Midnight Sun

Rajan P. Parrikar — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 01:19:23 +0000

We have been fortunate that our sojourn in the northern fjords of Iceland has coincided with clear skies. At these latitudes within a stone’s throw of the Arctic Circle, the golden light of the sun lingers for almost an hour. The midnight sun is a marvelous spectacle, but even more arresting are the warm tones it paints over the Icelandic landscape.

Last night the skies lit up over Skjálfandi Bay near Húsavík. Also seen to the left is Lundey (“Puffin Island”).

Midnight sun over Skjálfandi Bay near Húsavík
5D Mark II, 24-105L, Singh-Ray Reverse GND filter

A few days earlier, a drive along Skagafjörður was richly rewarded.

Farmhouse on Skagafjörður awash in the midnight sun
5D Mark II, 70-200L f/2.8 IS II

Midnight along Skagafjörður
5D Mark II, 24-105L

Bessastaðir, Iceland

Rajan P. Parrikar — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 08:33:01 +0000

A quick dispatch -

We got into Reykjavík yesterday morning and right away were taken for a short spin by my friend Guðmundur Eyjólfsson. This is Bessastaðir, the official residence of the President of Iceland on the Álftanes peninsula just outside Reykjavík.

In the foreground is the church “constructed from locally quarried lava stone and opened in 1796″ ( vide Andrew Evans in Iceland, Bradt Travel Guide 2008) and behind it is the president’s home.

Where else in the world can you drive up to the doorstep of the country’s president without being intercepted by armed security guards a mile ahead of the entrance?

Bessastaðir, Iceland
5D Mark II, 24-105L

Panjim Promenade – 4

Rajan P. Parrikar — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 04:47:22 +0000

This installment presents some of the surviving aesthetic treasures of Panjim.

The man responsible for parlaying what was once a swamp into one of the world’s most beautiful cities was the Portuguese Viceroy D. Manoel Francisco de Portugal e Castro. It was during his tenure, 1827-1835, that the marshland was reclaimed and the city’s layout conceived. A suite of important buildings arose around this time, such as the Old Customs House (Alfandega), and Casa da Moeda (Mint House), seen below.

The Ghanekar House typifies the traditional Hindu home with its raj angan (central courtyard).

Old Customs House (circa 1830), Panjim
5D Mark II, TS-E 17L

Casa da Moeda (circa 1830), Panjim
5D Mark II, TS-E 17L

Ghanekar House (19th C), Panjim
5D Mark II, TS-E 17L

Also see -

Panjim Promenade – 3

Panjim Promenade – 2

Panjim Promenade – 1

Storm over Death Valley

Rajan P. Parrikar — Sun, 23 May 2010 05:02:46 +0000

I was fortunate to catch the frisson of an incoming storm this March in Death Valley, California. With conditions changing by the minute, I kept shuttling back and forth between the Westside Road that cuts through the Badwater basin and Zabriskie Point.

Ominous clouds form over the northern end of the Badwater salt pan, as seen from Westside Road.

Storm brewing over Badwater basin in Death Valley
5D Mark II, 24-105L

It was a marvellous sight at Zabriskie Point. Notice the giant alluvial fan spreading out from the mouth of the canyon on the far side of the Badwater basin.

Storm clouds loom over Manly Beacon at Zabriskie Point
5D Mark II, 70-200L f/2.8 IS II

The colourful mineral-laden mudstone hills near Zabriskie Point contrast with the grey weather all around.

Storm in Death Valley
5D Mark II, 24-105L