Blogadda contest (travel photos)

So, blogadda has this contest of posting 5 of your travel photos : http://blog.blogadda.com/2010/05/26/travel-photos-contest-indian-bloggers-photographers which I thought was quite interesting. As they have said, a photo is surely worth many words. Now, im not sure if the photos I have taken are worth any words or not (;) ) but nevertheless, im participating.
I have to pick 5 photos (only) which i took while travelling on vacations and put a description for each one.
So following are my picks:
1)

Title: Reflections

The above snap was taken at a very nondescript lake 10 minutes from my place in Boston. This remains one of my favourite snaps till now for may reasons. I have spent some good memories by this lake, and it always reminds me that I am closer to home! It is also a place I go to when I need to spend some lone time with myself..to organise (or maybe to dis-organise) my thoughts!! Its by no means a tourist spot, infact the lake is surrounded by dead tree trunks as seen in the pic, but it surely adds to the place's charm.

2)

Title: Welcome to Florida!!


This snap was taken (as the title says) in Florida (more specifically, at Key Largo) during my 5 days vacation last year. The snap, in my opinion looks like a (perfect?) Florida postcard, with Florida (or for that matter any beach side place) trademarks of palm trees, thatched huts, clear blue skies and oh yes, the water!! Florida, apart from giving ample opportunities to try some awesome water sports and adventures, proved to be a photographer's paradise!

3)

Title: chow time!


This snap is from 2008 summer when my parents were visiting me in Boston, and I had taken them to visit the Nantucket island which is 1 hour ferry ride from Cape Cod. As much fun as I had shooting (erm, with my camera, of course ;)) the birds, it was more fun to actually watch the ferry passengers feed the birds with cake and other edibles. Looked like party time for the birds! This one bird was brave enough and kind enough to oblige me by coming close to the lady's hand, so that I could take this shot! Thanks for posing for me, birdie!! :)

4)
Title: a sunny paradise!



This was taken at Lake Tahoe during my trip to Tahoe and Yosemite last year. Though we were at Tahoe for only a day, it was enough time for me to appreciate Tahoe's beauty. A perfect vacation spot for both summer and winter. I really did struggle a lot for this snap in order to get the sand, the lake, the mountains and the sky all in one shot. All I had to do was lie flat on the sand (which was super hot due to the bright sun), keeping my camera at ground level and take the shot. Though on the downside, some sand particles somehow entered into the crevices of the camera and I had a lot of trouble getting them out! But, it was worth all that ! :)

5)

Title: Love birds


This one was taken sometime back in Miami. Well I literally had to sacrifice my sleep for this one!! We wanted to catch the sunrise on the Miami beach, and so ended waking up at 5 in the morning (which is like midnight for me!!). My grumpy mood due to the lack of sleep was soon replaced with pure awe when I saw the sunrise. It was SO beautiful! Maybe because I was seeing the sunrise after ages!! ;) . There were many birds on the beach, and I wanted to take their silhouettes against the fire-lit morning skies with their vibrant colours. So again, I was flat on the beach, with the camera pointed a little upwards to get the dark ground, providing a good contrast to the orange skies. And the birds were kind enough to share their private moments with me :)

Well, thats my small contribution to the contest. So go ahead and take it up yourself!! It is a lot of fun choosing and describing the snaps.
The contest is organised by:
and

As good as it gets.

There have been numerous posts I wrote about this guy, but they all sit as drafts in my blogger account. I never published them. Jack Nicholson remains one of my favorite hollywood actors, my most loved one! I have seen a LOT of his movies. And over the weekend, I am glad I caught up on another of his movies: As Good as it gets. I have seen this movie before. Many times. But yesterday's re-run was the most enjoyable. Maybe because I found myself agreeing more than ever to some of the things Melvin Udall says in the movie. Some of the quotes I liked the most, in no particular order:
- You're a disgrace to depression.
heehee

- Some of us have great stories: pretty stories that take place at lakes, with boats, and friends, and noodle salad. Just no one in this car. To a lot of people, that's their story: good times, noodle salad. What makes it so hard is not that you had it bad, but that you're that pissed that so many others had it good.
sad, but true. We cant help but compare our lives with other people

- Police! Donut-munching morons! Help me!
rotfl!!

- How can you diagnose someone as having Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and then act as if I had some kind of choice about barging in here?
talk about a movie being hilarious yet making your eyes wet!

- I guess what I'm trying to say is: you make me want to be a better man.
This one takes the prize!!
Being a total follower of mushy movies, this dialogue makes me dream, swoon and fall down with a thud!

this n that

Many things are happening that are changing the way i look at things, the way I live life.
We get affected by criticism, by rejections, by praises, by acceptance. For almost all of us, the way people think about us, matters to us. But then among those people, there are people, who define the way they think about themselves, based on what people think about them. That is something I have been conciously trying to change. I have till now always been the kind of person who did not care what people thought about me (well, for most of the times). I have never done something because I wanted to "fit in". But these days I am finding that I am letting people decide how I feel about myself. My belief that I am good enough for a particular task gets strenthened when someone says something positive. I feel completely crappy about myself, completely demotivated, completely worthless when I face rejection. I feel that only for a few days, and after that I do get up and get moving. But the point is for those few days, I let other people decide the way I feel about myself and my capabilities. I dont know when this change in me happened. But nowadays I find it extremely difficult to face rejection. I remember while applying for MS, I had faced a ton of rejection letters before I got accepted into a good school. I dont remember being heartbroken at those rejections. Not even a little bit. But something has changed after that. I dont know what. But I dont like that what has changed. There are always going to be some people that are going to be better at doing a particular thing than you, and there are always going to be some people that are going to be bad at doing it than you. So when someone praises me about something, I should not feel good about myself, coz there are always some people better at doing that than me. Similarly, when someone rejects me, I should not feel bad coz there are always some people worse than me at doing that particular thing. Main thing is to know that today, you are better at doing a particular thing than what you were yesterday. That is all that matters.

My "running" project is going well too. I ran yesterday for 10 mins out of 20 (dont laugh!! 10 mins for me its hugh! remember, I couldn't run continuously for more than a minute before). With intervals of walking and running, I plan on running longer intervals without walking breaks. But I do sense improvement. (pat on my back)!!

I finally ordered a wide angle lens for my camera. Something I have been planning for a year!However the Nikkor one I wanted was still very pricey so I got a Sigma one. Cant wait for it to be delivered to me!! I also registered for shutterchance. It is this photohosting website, where you can create your own photoblog. I am thinking of migrating from flickr to shutterchance. I like their simple blog structure and the fact that you can view the photos with an option of a black background, which is important for some photos. Keep checking out this space for recent photographs! Considering I have got a new lens and I will be vacationing soon, I promise to keep that space updated. Link on the right!

That colors up things a bit, doesn't it?

Run, Neha run!

Just to test my determination (which is pretty low, I must say), I have decided to impose a schedule for the next two months. I thought about the things I am not good at doing. And the things I have taken up in the past and given up for some particular reason. Well, I came up with a list longer than list of corruption charges against our politicians (put together!). But the thing on the top of this list was to run. I have never been a good runner and cannot run for more than 2 minutes at a stretch (Though I have good stamina, and can do any other activity for long hours, like hiking/biking/walking). Though I do have a good excuse for this: I develop the runners stitch faster than most people, and I also find that my legs are not always happy that they have to support my body weight at speeds faster than walking speed. So, I decided that I am going to practice running, the aim being able to run at least 3 miles at the end of 2 months. Every week I am going to post on the blog, the progress I did during that week. (another 'easy post' idea). Forget the 3 miles, but lets just say I at least keep trying by the end of these 2 months. Good luck me :)

~Neha