Photo Stories on Lovell D'souza Photography

Unreal and bewitching, the forlorn ruins of Hampi lie scattered over a landscape that leaves you spellbound the moment you cast your eyes on it. Heaps of giant boulders perch precariously over miles of undulated terrain, their rusty hues offset by jade-green pals groves, banana plantations and paddy fields, while the aure sky painted with fluffy white cirrus only adds to the magical atmosphere.

Thats what the Lonely Planet book had to say. Screw all that, we just wanted to get out of Hyderabad, and Hampi it was.

This time Alpha Male had his Mrs along. Introducing Tulsi Gandhi, who was on a trip with us for the first time

We had a late night bus to catch, so we hung around the work place to kill time.

We had a word with the man himself, Vivaik Bharadwaj. We spoke about some lenses, tripods and how folks in the office are scared of him. SJ (John Paul) got some last minute work done, while Dev (Nikhil Dev) displayed some addiction to the latest Nexus craze, Robo Defense.

We waited for SJ to finish his work and just clicked some random shots around the office.

And then we were done! Machines locked, tickets in the bag, laces tied, and we were off.

And over night bus ride, a couple of auto rickshaws from Hospet and finally we were there.

We cross the river and were greeted by this.

I hope no one was offended by me wearing shorts all the time. Not that I had great legs to flaunt.
We did not pre book any place, hence no rooms were available at the good places at Hampi, aka Mowgli and Shanti Guest Houses. So we had to settle for a couple of rooms at this place called Laxmi Golden Beach Resort. Seriously? Beach Resort? I did not notice any beach!

The place was very nice, but the service was pathetic. The folks at the counter did not bother to entertain anyone who was not ‘white skinned’. They seemed to have hired a bunch of guys who suffered from amnesia. They could not remember anything we asked or told them. Anyway, we had to settle for this place.

We just hung around and had a nice lazy breakfast.

SJ got down to doing his usual nonsense.

We then settled down at our base camp and indulged in some refreshment.

Lunch time was around the corner, so we decided to hit the “Goan Corner” and indulge in some Goan food. So the Goan corner it was!

We made our ways through the fields. The village boys, SJ and I, explained to the city kids that difference in the mud textures ment difference in the strength of the soil. Basically you could fall into the fields if you did not see where you placed you foot.

Growing up in the village ment I could run around without falling into the fields. And then managed to go click!

Click!

And, Click!

Finally, we were there! The Goan Corner.

Lunch was crazy. We ate some Chicken Cafreal and Chicken Xacuti while SJ cracked some legendary Johnny Jokes. Everyone was in splits and we had a real good time over looking the lush green fields.

After a ton of burps and navigating back to our base camp, we decided to head off to the river and watch the sun set. Sadly, lazy folks that we are, we missed the sunset but there was enough of light to find our way to the river.

And then we were there. By the river bank.

It got dark. And all we could think of was dinner. We decided to head to the Shanti Guest House and spend the lazy evening there. Food was ordered, mosquitoes were killed and a lot of photos of inanimate objects were clicked. I got a nice shot of my 50mm lens that evening. More photo from that evening will feature on my Photo Blog or Facebook Page soon.

Nightfall, and it was to be a night of drinks and discussion. We hit base camp again.

The handful of us went on talking till around 4 in the morning. Lots of topics discussed. Lots of noises heard from the neighboring cottage. And then it was time to indulge in some slumber.

Next morning. Oh wait, there was no next morning. It directly started as next afternoon. Us hungry souls had to indulge in some gastric satisfactions. The destination was set, Mogli Restaurant it was.

We drank, ate, sat, wasted time, ate, drank, wasted more time. We made lazy people look active.

There was an impromptu photoshoot of Tulsi & Johnny that happened. Those photos will be up somewhere sometime soon.

Lunch time turned into tea time.

Oh, and as a Goan, you are required to sleep post lunch. Its tradition. You don’t want to displease your dead forefathers by not doing so.

It was evening in no time. We had a bus to catch at Hospet. We headed back to our base camp and packed up.

The laziest trip ever came to an end. Bye bye Hampi.

So that was it. No nonsense. No sightseeing. Just eat, drink, sleep and repeat.

The complete album of us Clowns at Hampi can be found on Flickr. More albums and stories to come soon.

And here is a video of us all winding up the trip with a few words of wisdom.
PS: It’s totally for fun.

Thank you for reading.

It all started on the 14th of December 2010. Our good friend Daniel Peddity aka Saniel aka Sanny Beta aka Peddity aka Peddity Bhai (the list goes on) was to marry his beautiful bride Rebyl Pinto. So it was! Off we were to the hide out. This is a short recollection of a little bit of what went on behind the scenes and got captured.

First we needed a practice shot of what was to become Rebyl and Daniel. Thats our man sipping on some coke while he attacked his Mac D burger at the same time. Which reminds me, I did not get one.

And whats a groom if he isn’t well groomed. So off he was to clean up the mane. We did try to get him to take off the crazy side burn, but he was like, “No, Rebyl likes it”.

Luckily on site was our very own Mukesh Mukhi. Taking calls, running around, and doing what he does best. That is, keeping himself busy.

The weapon of choice for the day was the Canon Rebel T2i. Yeah, I know I gotta upgrade to a full frame sometime soon. I’m on that, though it may take a while. If anyone knows anyone else who wants to gift me a Canon 5D Mark II, then you know where to find me.

Checklist. Check!

Then the boys got ready.

While the dude recording the video did his thing.

Time flew by. And then arrived the bride’s bouquet. It was heavy indeed. Must have weighed more than a kilo surely. I handed it over to Rebyl and she went, “This is heavy!”

And off we were for the ceremony. There were other photographers too. Who made sure that they were in the thick of action. I lurked in the background not wanting to disrupt the proceedings. Which reminds me, this is the only wedding which I made it to without having a bath! I wouldn’t have had a suit either. But thanks to my good friend’s John Paul, Mukesh Mukhi and Vignesh Anand my shoes and shirt somehow landed up in a car at the venue. Now how I landed up not having a bath is a whole different story. Lets blame the groom for that!

Now, now! Please draw your attention back to wedding.

The bride’s brother stood at a side watching his sister get into good hands.

The Pastor on the other hand was fooling around a lot. Popping into the frame while I tried to get some shots. This one is for you Pastor.

And then they were married. We headed off to a studio since the other photographer wanted to get some studio shots of the couple.

So off I was to the studio. Answering a number of calls asking why are the newly weds absconding while I watched the two of them indulge in some funny poses. I got a whole bunch of photos of this action. But I’ll share those sometime in the future.

Finally all that jazz was done. And off we were to the reception.

We had a few minutes to take some shots. This one went all wrong.

This is the best fail moment from the wedding. We just got out of the lift. All the guests was present at the reception waiting for the bride and groom. The lighting at the lift was perfect. The mirrored wall played well with the light, bouncing it all over the place. I went, “we gotta get a shot”. But some unknown folks were getting out of the other lift. Rebyl goes, “get those people to wait”. I look into the viewfinder and had a split second to decide whether I should get a shot of some strangers with the bride or me with the bride. I won.

The reception commenced. Got this photo of me clicking the couple thanks to Paul. And then the reception ended.

A bunch of us stayed back since it was Daniel’s birthday. We decided to sing for the groom.

So it was done.

Mr. Krupakar Peddity had some thoughts to share. I did not get any close to him. (Photo by Emmanuel Peddity)

And yes, I managed to get the couple to take their rings off. Woohoo, thats a first! And, Saniel Beta if you are reading this, I’m still waiting for the rings. Need those close up shots.

And thats them. Mr and Mrs Peddity. And they lived happily ever after.

An yes here are some links that you would like to visit.
Rebyl and Daniel – The Engagement
Rebyl and Daniel – The Wedding Album
My ten favorite shots from the wedding

And if you liked this post don’t forget to click the like button.

And then I was at my cousin’s wedding. Running around like a moron clicking photos while no one was looking. Candid shots are the best! Luckily for me, the flower girl and the page boy were two real cute kids. The page boy, my cousin’s little boy. Yes, I have tons of cousins. And, I’m not really sure who the page girl was, but she was photogenic as ever!

The wedding mass was getting to us all. To me in particular. So off I went to the front of the church to find the two little kids having some fun time of their own.

Here is ‘Kids Play’.

Little Boy: Hey, you got such nice hands.

Little Girl: Your hands are nice too.

Little Girl: And they are soft.

Little Boy: But your hands are so pretty.

Little Boy: I like you other hand too.

Little Girl: Oh my God, you are so awesome.
Little Boy: Man, those hands!

Little Girl: Photographer, get some good shots!

Little Girl: Hey! Look!!!

Little Girl: Look! Look at that bird!
Little Boy: I’m just happy looking at you.

Little Girl: Oh, wait. Is he giving me that look?

And, muah!

The day started off pretty early. By early I mean, I had to wake up at 5.30 am. We had a team outing and Anantgiri hills, Vikarabad was the destination. We were supposed to take the bus along with the rest of the team, but then decided to hitch a ride with the man himself, Vivaik Baradwaaj in his new Volkswagen Polo.

And off we were! I had the pleasure of being the navigator, all because there is never enough place for fat guys on the back seat. But in my defense, I’m really good at navigating and reading Google Maps. Which of course, did come handy later that morning.

A foggy morning it was. The visibility was very bad and we could hardly see a few meters up front. Our fate lied in the the hands of the ex – Air force guy at the drivers wheel. The roads were a complete mess bearing much resemblance to that of the moon’s surface. A couple of times the base of the car took a complete beating. But somehow we reached out destination in one piece.

We stopped at a temple. The man stepped out to survey the surrounding. I guess it is something you learn to do at the armed forces. We four on the other hand stood with the car, cracked some jokes and acted suspicious.

Manasa got in touch with the rest of the folks and found out that they were quite far back. We had enough of time in our hands to move around and check the place out. It was decided to that we visit the Kotepalli reservoir nearby.

To be continued…

I have decided to start a blog that supports my photo blog. This space will feature some short photo stories that I hope will not bore anyone too much. Having said all that, here is a photo.



And very soon I shall have a nice story too!