Sony DSLT Photography Training Program

It was a cold winter morning on 26th January 2014, a Republic Day of India. This year it happened to be a Sunday as well. So it was the only weekly off that most of us had. But instead of relaxing at home, about a thirty photography enthusiasts in Nagpur preferred to gather at wee hours of the morning, near Sitabuldi. 

The occasion was Wildlife Photo Shoot and Training Program organised by Sony Alpha Flagship Store M/s Altaf H Vali, in association with Sony India.

I had purchased Sony SLT A58 camera from M/s Altaf H Vali in October 2013 and in the month of December, I got the message from them that they have organised a Photography Training Program on 26th January at Pench Tiger Reserve, Karmazari. Without any hesitation, I got myself registered for the same. Ever since then, I got the regular updates from the Store about tour itinerary etc.

Finally the day came and I reached the Store at 6 am, along with my wife and son. The day, which proved to be a full of surprises later on, began. To start with, the participants were given neatly laminated ID cards.

As per the itinerary, we were scheduled to have breakfast after reaching the resort in Karmazari. Still the food packets containing Snacks and Fruit Juice were distributed to all of us, as a light refreshment in the Bus. We boarded the bus for two and a half hour journey to Karmazari. The staff from M/s Altaf H Vali periodically enquired whether we are comfortable and do we need something. 

Because of the poor road condition, it took two and half hours to travel a distance of 90 Kms and at around 9 am, we reached the Resort in Karmazari.  The program was arranged at Baaz Jungle Resort (http://www.baazjungleresort.com). It's a beautiful Resort. Breakfast was ready and separate room was allotted for ladies to freshen up. 

Immediately after breakfast, the training program began. 

Mr. Adnan from Altaf H Vali welcomed all of us and introduced the trainers as well. It was made clear that this training program would not, in itself, make any one of us a professional photographer. However, it would certainly be a step for all of us in that direction to be one.

First part of the training was conducted by Mr. Sameer Ashraf from Sony, who is a DSLT Pro Specialist. We were delighted to know that he has worked for the National Geographic and has even covered the war of Afghanistan. He explained the evolution of DSLT technology. We came to know the advantages of having a Camera with Translucent Mirror. He demonstrated how the mirror moves in DSLR, while it remains stationary in DSLT, enabling us to get more FPS (frames per second). SLT technology also allows the Auto Focus function to work while capturing videos, which is not possible in conventional SLR cameras. Stationary mirror also reduces the time for the Camera to get ready for the next click. View finder, being a Tru-Finder also gives the perfect impression of how the clicked picture would look like, thereby minimising the errors due to trial and error. We got to compare the results of DSLR cameras of other makes, with the same settings and since the cameras were connected to a LCD panel, it was all there for us to see, live. Getting the knowledge of all this was fabulous. 

Second trainer for the day was Mr. Chandrakanth Kamath (http://www.idis.in/chan.html), who is a renowned wildlife photographer himself. He started with "What is Photography?" and explained it beautifully that "photo" means light and "graphy" means writing (just like calligraphy). So photography literally means "Writing with the Light". He took us through the Basics of Photography and explained the Exposure Triangle comprising Aperture, Shutter Speed and ISO. He enlightened us with some methods adopted by professional photographers in tricky situations like Wildlife Photography. He emphasised that to be a professional photographer, one needs to have the Right Attitude, Visual Eye, Proper Equipment and Knowledge Sharing Habit as well. Each of these was discussed in detail. He also said that to be a good wildlife photographer, once needs to love the animals and nature as a whole. He explained how "Passion" and "Patience" are a must. He also showed the pictures depicting how, the Patience pays. He shared some thumb rules of photography like The Rule of Thirds and ideal shutter speed at a given focal length (when tripod is not used). He also suggested some recommended settings for us to click the photographs while going for a Jungle Safari. 

The formal training concluded with a participation Certificate distribution at the hands of Mr. Masaaki Hori, who is Sony India Head for Digital Imaging Division.

Another element of surprise was that along with the Certificates, we were given Sony pouch and 8 GB Dual Connector Pen Drive having USB and Micro USB connectivity. We were given T-shirts with Sony Branding.

Now it was the time to enjoy delicious lunch and it was a privilege for me to share the lunch table with Mr. Hori, and discuss the future of technology with him.

After lunch, we boarded open Maruti Gypsy for Jungle Safari. We were given the option to carry extra demo lenses to try in the Jungle. However I preferred not to carry any of these costly items not belonging to me, and experimented with my 70-300 mm lens only. 

The calmness in the Jungle was fabulous. We were able to enjoy the "Flora" but not much fortunate to enjoy the "Fauna". It seemed as if all the animals were enjoying the National Holiday. We were able to see only the Spotted Deer, Wild Boar, Monkeys and Nilgai.

After returning to the Resort, we enjoyed the High Tea. Before going into the Jungle, spontaneously Mr. Adnan had announced a competition with prizes for top four photographs clicked in the Jungle. So each one of us was asked to submit only one best photograph. This process was a bit time consuming since it took us a while to select the photograph and get it downloaded in Mr. Sameer's laptop. Then the trainers selected the best four photographs and prizes were distributed. The bumper prize for the Best photograph was sponsored by the Resort as one night all expenses paid stay with family and one Jungle Safari. After that, we boarded the bus again for return journey and reached Nagpur at 10 pm. 

It was an exiting day for all of us. I came to know how illiterate I was in photography before attending this training program. We gathered some knowledge and made new like minded friends as well.

Now I would like to share my some of my thoughts on "Buying a Camera".

E-Commerce v/s Assisted Buying: Personally speaking, I am the one who prefers to buy most of the things online. With e-commerce on the rise, you get many lucrative deals while buying online. However, I would still resist to suggest the readers to buy a camera online. When I visited M/s Altaf H Vali in October before buying a Camera, I was a novice and was completely unaware of the DSLR/DSLT technology and certainly was not in a position to make informed decision on my own, which is a must in buying online. The staff in the Store (especially Mr. Rajeshwar) properly guided me and gave all the necessary buying assistance. It took me two or three visits to M/s Altaf H Vali before arriving at the decision to buy. I was stunned to know that there might be some Warranty Issues in products bought online. When a multi-national company like Nikon has put the following notice on their website (click here to check this URL on Nikon India website), it must be carrying some weight:     

PLEASE NOTE THAT FLIPKART (FLIPKART INTERNET PRIVATE LIMITED) AND SNAPDEAL (JASPER INFOTECH PRIVATE LIMITED ) ARE NOT OUR AUTHORIZED PARTNER/DEALER IN INDIA FOR NIKON PRODUCTS.

So I would recommend the readers to buy such high value items from authorised dealers or flagship stores wherein you get buying assistance, after sales services and chance to attend programs like this one. Especially, Photography is the field wherein you need to literally establish the relationship with the dealer to plan your post camera purchases like lenses, tripods, flashguns, various filters, other accessories etc. And this relationship has to be mutually beneficial. And I see this training program as an effort from M/s Altaf H Vali to fulfil their side of the obligation in this relationship.

Brand "Sony" in Camera Technology: As far as my understanding goes, Sony is certainly giving a tough fight to the likes of Nikon and Canon. Especially after the acquisition of Konica Minolta in the year 2006, Sony has increased it's market share exponentially. The world certainly seem to have moved ahead from DSLR to DSLT or mirrorless technology. Both Translucent (SLT) and Mirrorless have their own pros and cons. Mirrorless ones are compact and easy to carry. But that comes with a limited space for lens manufacturers to give the required precision. DSLT/DSLR Cameras are somewhat bulky, but they give the professional look to the camera. This is needless to say that Nikon and Canon are equally good and it's a matter of choice. Making informed decision is more important. 

All in all, at the end of this, I would still rate myself as being on level One on the scale of Ten (before this program, I must admit that I was on Level Zero). So it's a beginning for me. I am thankful to M/s Altaf H Vali, especially Mr. Adnan, for arranging this fabulous training program. I am also thankful to the trainers Mr. Sameer Ashraf and Mr. Chandrakanth Kamath for sharing their knowledge with us. And a big Thanks to Mr. Masaaki Hori for spending a day with us in his busy schedule.

Happy Clicking!!!!!

Disclaimer: This post is neither about recommending to buy from a specific dealer nor about recommending brand "Sony". I have just shared my personal experiences.

A visit to Shegaon, Anand Sagar and Anand Vihar

Please Note: I am not associated with Shri Gajanan Maharaj Sansthan in any manner and this should have been clear after reading the first paragraph itself. Still I am getting daily 1-2 mails for enquiries about Anand Vihar rooms availability. I have tried to reply individually to all the enquiries and provided the contact details as well. But going forward, it won't be possible. Please note that there is no system of advance booking in Shegaon and you need to reach the respective booking office. At the most, you can contact on their telephone numbers for enquiries (not for booking) when you reach near Shegaon. Contact details are mentioned in the main article below and are also available on http://www.gajananmaharaj.org/sgmsenglish/newas.htm


It has been more than 12 years since I last visited Shegaon. And that is a fairly long period considering the fact that there are lakhs of devotees of Shri Gajanan Maharaj, who visit Shegaon every year.

This time my elder brother and my sister-in-law planned the tour and insisted that all the members of the family should accompany them to Shegaon.

We had heard that Shegaon has changed a lot during last decade or so, especially after Anand Sagar is developed.  Finally we planned our visit for the weekend on 10th and 11th  of December 2011. Normally it is advised that weekends  and Thursdays should be avoided to visit Shegaon since there is heavy rush, but we decided to take a chance and we did not have any other suitable dates as well. Also my birthday was on Sunday, as per Hindu Panchang (tithi). So it was a great occasion to be able to take the Darshan on that day and receive the blessings. 

Now we had the options to go by own car, by taxi, by bus or by train. Since the plan was finalised at the last moment, train option was ruled out for the want of reservations. Options of going by own car or by taxi were also ruled out since normally we avoid night journeys, unless there is an urgency to travel. So if we would have started at 7 AM on Saturday morning from Nagpur, we would have reached Shegaon by 2 PM. And then we would have to leave Shegaon by 3 PM on Sunday so as to reach Nagpur before Sunday night. So we would have wasted so much of time on Saturday and Sunday in travelling, leaving us lesser time to spend at Shegaon.

So we decided to go by bus. Baba Travels from Nagpur operates a sleeper coach which leaves Nagpur at 10:30 PM and reaches Shegaon early next morning. Similarly their bus leaves Shegaon at 09:30 PM and reaches Nagpur early morning. We left Nagpur Friday night, reached Shegaon at 05:30 AM on Saturday fresh after a good night's sleep, utilised the maximum time on Saturday and Sunday and then left Shegaon on Sunday night to reach Nagpur Monday morning, ready to get back to work. And we could enjoy total lunar eclipse as well. See more detailed post here 

About Shegaon:

Shegaon is located around 550 km east of the city of Mumbai and 300 km west from the city of Nagpur. Operative airport nearby is Nagpur Airport. It is located on Mumbai-Nagpur route of the Indian Railways and many major trains stop here. 

The photograph of the railway time table as displayed in Anand Vihar Bhakta Niwas is shown here, although it is in Marathi language. This is attached here just to make readers aware that the management of this Sansthan is one of the few ones in India, or perhaps the only one who takes very good care of large number of devotees. Much more on that would follow later.

About Shri Gajanan Maharaj:

The origins of Sant Shri Gajanan Maharaj are untraceable in history. He first miraculously appeared in Shegaon on 23rd February 1878. He was first seen eating cooked rice grains from thrown away food in front of a house where some function was going on. He also drank water with the cattle and went away. His second appearance was when  Maharaj Govindbuwa Takalikar was elaborating on a few lines from Bhagwat and just when he had explained the meaning of the first part of those lines, Shri Gajanan Maharaj sitting near a lemon tree chanted fluently the lines in second part. Govindbuwa immediately understood that this divine man has the command over the subject. He was constantly chanting the lines "Gan Gan Ganat Bote". So he was given the name "Gajanan Maharaj". 

Thereafter, he became well known as a Saint in Shegaon and nearby areas. He was believed to be the incarnation of Samartha Ramdas Swami from Sajjangadh. Devotees used to offer him rich food, clothes, ornaments etc. But he used throw away all these. He used to lie anywhere, eat anything, wear any piece of cloth or nothing at all. 

Shri Gajanan Maharaj was a Siddhayogi. He did so many unusual things which were miracles. He brought odd behaving animals on track. He ordered birds like crows to behave properly. He brought water to the dry well. He cured the sick, helped the helpless, showed right path to those who wanted. He gave advice to his devotees. He could read the mind of his devotee. Those who came to see him with some purpose in mind, always went home satisfied. It is said that there was always a sense of peace and satisfaction around him. His eyes could give proper direction to the erring. That's why he is worshipped nearly in every house in Vidarbha, Maharashtra and nearby states. Because of the immense good deeds, he has become a legendary phenomenon. There are hundreds & thousand of temples in all the parts of Maharashtra as well as outside Maharashtra in his name. He has become the Daivat of Vidarbha, and Shegaon has become the Pandharpur of Vidarbha.

After blessing so many devotees for years together, he himself decided to take a leave from this world and decided the date and place of his Samadhi as well. And that date was 8th September 1910. But his innumerable disciples and devotees believe that their Daivat Sadguru Shri Sant Gajanan Maharaj is still alive and guides and helps them. They tell their own experiences of his blessings. That's why thousands of devotees come to Shegaon.

About Gajanan Maharaj Sansthan:
As per the advice from Shri Gajanan Maharaj to his disciples, a trust was established in his presence named as "Gajanan Maharaj Sansthan" in the year 1908. Official website of this Sansthan is http://www.gajananmaharaj.org
A temple was erected at a place where Shri Gajanan Maharaj took the Samadhi at a place of his choice. He had said that "YA JAGI RAHIL (I will stay here)". So it is believed that this temple is still blessed with his presence.
Sansthan undertakes various religious, social and charitable activities, apart from managing the activities of Mandir. 

About Day to Day Management:
Despite of the fact that thousands of devotees come to Shegaon daily, Gajanan Maharaj Sansthan wonderfully manages the day to day affairs. And the facilities provided for devotees are excellent. Here everybody is treated at par. There is no such system here like VIP entrance for those who provided large donations. Everybody has to pass through same queue.

For queueing, huge halls are built with proper ventilation and air cooling. Queues are formed in such a way that there are benches on one side. So you can sit and still be in a queue. Washrooms are there in these halls itself and people may use those after getting a pass. Drinking water is provided then and there itself. Tea is served in those halls for the devotees, free of cost. Even where you have to exit from one hall and enter another hall, and need to pass through an open roofed space,  foot mats and runners are spread to that you shouldn't feel the heat walking barefoot. All in all, you don't feel tired to wait in queue, even if the time required for darshan is 2-3 hours, depending on rush. Picture beside shows how the queues are formed and people sitting on bench on one side of the queue. 

Name of the old man seen in this picture is Laxman Tayde and he lives in Shegaon only. Still this man visits mandir twice daily in the morning and evening for darshan, irrespective of how long the queue is and how long it takes for him to have the Darshan. Incredible...isn't it? And where ever one queue ends and we need to pass freely through a passage before next queue starts, he runs so fast. Reminded the videos of Shri Anna Hazare running at Raj Ghat.

Entire area is continuously kept clean. They use machines for cleaning. So you don't have to walk barefoot on sticky floor with spilled kunkum, flowers, rice grains and prashaad, as is the case in most other temples. They even hold the queue from moving forward till the time, floor is getting cleaned. They spray some perfumed liquids to get rid of houseflies as well. 

Daily Mahaprasad is provided to thousands of devotees and excellent quality material is used to cook the food, while maintaining complete hygiene as well. We saw a huge machine to prepare rotis. Atta is mixed on one side of it to form a dough, round shaped rotis are cut by machine, remaining material after cutting the rounds is passed back and rotis are roasted on conveyor belts. 

About Sevaks:

Sevak is man you will find everywhere in Shegaon. In Mandir, in Bhakta Niwas and in Anand Sagar. They are the people from nearby villages who come to Shegaon for offering free services, one week at a time and in groups. Its amazing to see their dedication in work. Nobody seems to direct them on what is to be done. 

Still you will find a Sevak at every place where he is needed. They prevent the people from wearing shoes while walking on lawns, they clean the entire area, serve the food, maintain the discipline in Mandir and in queues. And they are always polite. 

And they don't accept any tips as well.  This board displayed in Anand Vihar says that you should let the service be served as a service only. And rather than making Sevaks fall in love for money, you should love them for their service. They are the first point of contact for you in case you need any assistance. 

It is said that there is always a waiting list for the next few months for those who want to work as Sevaks. 

About Bhakta Niwas:

Sansthan has done an incredible work to provide well maintained accommodation for the devotees. There are a number of Bhakta Niwas for this purpose. There is no system of prior booking. So you have to look for the accommodation, once you reach Shegaon. Sansthan urges that devotees should make telephonic enquiries when they come near to Shegaon on the numbers provided in this advertisement published on http://www.gajananmaharaj.org/sgmsenglish/newas.htm

There are different types of rooms available, depending on everyone's budget and requirement. But in general it is very reasonable. Accommodation is provided for a maximum period of 72 hours only. 

About Anand Vihar Bhakta Niwas:

We were fortunate enough to get the accommodation in Anand Vihar Bhakta Niwas, which is the newest and the best amongst all. It is located at a distance of 1 KM from Anand Sagar. 

Even though it is a Bhakta Niwas built, owned and operated by Sansthan, it is no lesser than a luxurious holiday resort but at a reasonable rate. We got a room with 6 beds in just Rs.900 per day. Rooms are neat and clean with attached washrooms, hot water for bathing and fortunately no television. There are beautiful sculptures everywhere with picturesque landscaping and gardening.  You won't see a piece of paper lying on ground.

There are tea, coffee vending machines installed at every building's ground floor and Sevaks are there to assist you and collect the charges as well.

Free bus service is provided to commute to Mandir from Anand Vihar. 

Posting some pictures and to view more full size pictures of Anand Vihar, click here

About Anand Sagar:

Shegaon is a small town and even though devotees wished to extend their stay in this holy environment, there were no places of interest nearby for them to spare their time peacefully and relax in a spiritual environment. Recognising this need, Sansthan started the development work for AnandSagar in the year 1999. But this place had the acute shortage of water. So it was believed that this project won't be a success. But Sansthan took this as a challenge and they brought water from Man River which is 9 kms away. Rain water harvesting is also done here. It required 4 lakh trucks full of soil for landscaping as per the design and over 60,000 trees were planted.

Total area of this project is 350 acres, out of which first phase of 120 acres was opened for public service in the year 2003. Out of this 120 acres, 60 acres is for the lake, 30 acres is for lush green lawns and 30 acres is for parking and other utility areas. 

Most incredible thing is that there is no Executive Engineer for this project, nor it has a site office kind of a thing. Over 500 labourers worked at full efficiency without any monitory compensation, once a week. Over 200 expert sculptors from Rajasthan worked here to create Main Entrance, Marble Temples and other sculptures. Apart from that, 3 JCB machines and 10 tipper trucks, all owned by Sansthan were deployed for this project. 

This information is provided here so that the readers would get an idea about the size of this project. 

Now Anand Sagar has a beautiful lake, Dhyan Mandir (Meditation Centre) at the centre of the lake, 3.5 kms long train ride, fish aquarium, kids play area, amusement park with many rides, musical fountain, temples and Sant Darshan area. There are many amenities for the devotees, including free wheel chairs, baby prams and umbrellas (for rainy season). Here also, very reasonable food is served with good taste. Free bus service from Temple is available for commuting.  There are beautiful artefacts and carvings all around. 

Posting some pictures and to view more full size pictures of Anand Sagar, click here:

Concluding Remarks:

Shegaon is the place which is visited by lakhs of devotees every year. Sansthan receives huge donations from them, but they have done well to return it back to them in the form of services and amenities. It is a completely non-commercial place and Sansthan has undertaken many religious and charitable projects like Educational Institutes, hospitals etc. At such a place where it is certain that donations are utilised well, it gives a sense of satisfaction on donating.

Even though Anand Vihar is like a luxurious resort and Anand Sagar is like a tourist place, people are requested to visit Shegaon and stay there, not like a tourist, but like a devotee and maintain the sanctity of this place. 

Feels good to complete this article and taking this post live on Thursday, the day on which Shri Gajanan Maharaj is worshipped.

Total Lunar Eclipse Images and superstitions associated with eclipses

On December 10, 2011 we were fortunate enough to be in Shegaon to be able to watch the total lunar eclipse from completely non-polluted area of Anand Sagar. Air pollution and lights in the cities often deteriorate the quality of viewing such events. 

I tried to capture that beauty into the camera, but that wasn't easy since I do not have DSLR camera. I had to do some experiments in different modes in my digital camera. I used full 40x zoom (10x optical and 4x digital) and finally selected Shutter Speed Priority mode rather than Auto mode. Also at 40x zoom,  if you do not have the tripod, with even a slightest of handshake, the distant object goes out of focus quickly. So I sat on the floor and kept my camera on a bench so as to provide the support to the camera from beneath.  Even I needed to hold the breath for a while so as to reduce the body shake. With all these efforts, I could finally capture that beauty. 

Lets have a look at the clicks now.

Just before the start

In the last picture, moon is hardly visible. 


I always get amazed to see the celestial bodies moving in tandem and in perfect synchronisation. Equally fascinating is the fact that Indians had that knowledge, thousands of years ago and were able to do the precise calculations of timings for these events. 


At the same time, its not a happy feeling that in modern times people are more superstitious and deny themselves the opportunity to view such a spectacular event. And that is the case even with a highly educated class with a science background as well. 


Actually all these eclipses are just the game of shadows. Still people have some beliefs and do some acts, some of which are cited below:


1) Some monsters like Rahu, Ketu swallow Moon and the Sun at the time of eclipses. 


2) It is harmful for health to eat or drink during eclipses, even before actual eclipse gets visible and just the First Contact starts.


3) Taking a bath after the eclipse is over. (bathing is good otherwise for hygiene, but there is no necessity to do that after the eclipse)

4) Covering drinking water and eatables at home (now this we do in normal practice as well for maintaining hygiene, but people are more keen to do this during eclipses) 


5) Keeping Tulsi leaves on drinking water and eatables at home. 


6) Making donations so that eclipse comes to an end (donations are even good otherwise, but eclipse is certain to come to an end at a pre-defined precise time, whether you donate or not)


7) Keeping themselves immersed in holy river till the time eclipse is there.  


8) Its bad for eyes to see with naked eyes. ( It is true for Solar Eclipse, since the Sun being the brightest source of light is behind the moon and its rays are harmful for naked eyes. But in lunar eclipse, its purely the shadow of Earth on the moon and the intensity of light is actually even dimmer than the normal full moon. So it is perfectly safe to see the Lunar Eclipse with naked eyes)


9) The strength of evil spirits increases during eclipse and there are bad omens everywhere. Does that even need a comment here? 


10) One should not travel during the eclipse. 


11) Air is polluted during the eclipse. 


12) Pregnant women should not come out of the house during eclipse. 


Personally speaking I don't believe in any of these superstitions. I enjoyed the view with my complete family and we did that while eating as well.


Detailed post on our Shegaon visit is here: www.parkhi.net/2012/01/shegaon-gajanan-maharaj-anand-sagar.html