The First Snow of the Season

Yesterday, I awoke to a surprise of beautiful snowfall – a glorious announcement of winter’s arrival in Pittsburgh. Having grown up in Kolkata, a warm coastal city in the east of India, I have only experienced 4 prior snowy winters. The first snow of the season has never failed to spark a little excitement in my inner child. Waking up and looking through the glass door to my deck, I knew this one was different. With a sizable layer of snow already accumulated on rooftops and a steady flurry of snow blowing down from the skies, this was the heaviest first day of snow I have experienced.

I had a big exam for an important course later in the day so I took comfort in warmth of my home and I got to studying. However, a part of me wanted to take my camera out to the deck and photograph this beautiful day. I am so glad that I listened to my gut and took the time out of my day to do just that. I am so happy with the pictures that resulted.

On another note, something I am reminded of every year as I experience the onset of winter is that it is going to bring some truly challenging times to those in our communities who do not have roofs over there heads. I urge you, my readers, to keep the homeless in your communities in your thoughts and show them compassion if you are able. We are all human.

A Relaxed Weekend

On just another weekend morning (read afternoon), on our way to brunch, I captured one of my favorite pictures of Tala.

The title ‘A Relaxed Weekend’ is misleading… We have not had one of those in a while now. School has been occupying almost all of our spare time and this memory seems like it was a long time ago. However, this picture takes me back to that day and it is a lovely feeling.

Apple Picking at Soergels Orchard

A couple of weekends ago, I went to Soergels Orchards in Wexford, PA (a 30 minute drive from Pittsburgh), for the quintessential fall activity of Apple Picking. Apart from being my first time doing this, it was also my first time driving on the US highway after getting my license – an exciting trip! I enjoyed photographing my friends in the orchard but it was about 2 pm and the light was quite harsh. I played around in Lightroom to balance the colors and highlight the greens for the portraits in the orchard.

Photographing Lightning from my Porch

I live in the Pittsburgh neighborhood of Shadyside, in an architecturally intriguing house with a loft that opens out to a porch. The house is just tall enough that the porch has an expansive view of the neighborhood. While hanging out in the loft two nights ago, we noticed some lightning strikes off in the distance accompanied by a distance rumbling.

I was excited by the prospects of photographing the lightning from my porch. I had never tried taking photographs of lightning before and it took me a while to figure out the best settings. Without a lightning activated shutter release, I ended up taking a burst of images after composing the frame and waited for lightning strikes in the frame.

I’m quite sure I need to learn a lot more on the best practices in taking these types of photographs but I am quite happy with my results!

If any of you are thinking of trying this, make sure to read about the safety measures that you should take. If you can hear the thunder, you are in danger of being struck.

Weekend by a Lake

I spent Labor Day weekend in my friend’s cabin in upstate New York that sits by Sixberry Lake. Our group of six set off in two cars from Pittsburgh to the cabin – a little less than 200 miles Northeast of Rochester. We reached much later than we anticipated and it was pitch dark with the canopy of trees eclipsing the skies. Even though we were exhausted, we decided to walk down to the dock and see the stars.

We spent the rest of the weekend by the water trying water skiing, wake-boarding, and tubing, playing board games, and eating. I used this time to experiment with my new camera, taking pictures of people and the picturesque lake.