An evening at Sutro Baths

Ruins at Sutro Baths and the Cliff House restaurant.

A large privately owned swimming pool complex built in the late 1800's by a former mayor of SF Adolf Sutro. Shortly after closing due to high maintenance costs, a fire in 1966 destroyed the building. All that remains now are the ruins and broken pathways.

Foggy morning on the Embarcadero

At this time of the year, you can find fog most of the days, either at dusk or dawn, creating an eerie and dull atmosphere.

Bay Bridge and San Francisco night skyline

A photograph similar to this one is what I had seen a long time back, and it made me go "Wow! Now that's a place I want to be in". After moving to SF and starting the MFA program majoring in Photography, this is the first photograph I went hunting after and created my own version of it. It marks the the beginning of a journey for me. Love it!

Primer to MFA Photography at the Academy of Arts University

Breaking down the MFA Photography program at the Academy of Arts University into smaller digestible pieces, so that you know what it is mostly about. This of-course is no replacement to the abundance of information available at the university's website. It is more from the perspective of a new international grad student. Do add a pinch of salt, and know that as and when I gather more information or get into a 'aha' moment I will update the post.

Leap of Faith

Some major life changes happening here folks. A change of career path from engineering to arts, from software enginnering to photography, from a professional to a student.

The idea to change has been in my head for about two years now, but the impetus wasn't. Its hard to pinpoint which particular reason stood out and made it necessary that I change. If I were to take a guess, it was not just one but a number of them, each adding a little more to the vessel until there was a spill over.

Toronto and CouchSurfing

Toronto night skyline

An nine day trip in Toronto, running a half marathon, sightseeing, couchSurfing, travel photography and attending some of the top b-schools around there. What started as a simple interest of attending a half marathon event somewhere out of the of the country turned out to be a potpourri of endeavours half way across the globe, making the whole trip quite interesting and perhaps a bit too busy to enjoy the moment.

Toronto Half Marathon 2012

I had run a few half marathons so far and though none of them were noteworthy performances, I kind of itched to do a run in a different country just for the experience. Perhaps this idea was party influenced by the company I kept, one who keeps running around the world and another who runs within the country but keeps running longer and faster. Ever heard of the saying "Tell me thy company, and I'll tell thee what thou art.", there is a good amount of truth and worldly wisdom in that, whoever said it. 

Nikkor 18-200mm VRII Lens Review

The purpose of having a DSLR, apart from the fact that it can produce images with stunning quality, is providing its user the ability to change lenses at will. Maybe a wide angle lens for landscape and architectural shots, a portrait lens to capture the cute baby laughing, a telephoto lens for your wildlife and sports shutter bug needs; and not to forget a low light lens, plus a prime or two. But imagine carrying all of those lenses just so that you don't miss a shot any time. (and not to mention changing lenses all the time and risking environmental effects on you camera sensor) You'd probably end up carrying equipment which would totalling to about 20lb in just lens weight. Ouch! Though each lens is unique in its own way, lugging around all that weight can really bog down the whole experience. So what to do instead? Carry one lens which has all the focal range you'll ever need, gives you great optical performance and is reliable - and that my friend is the the AF-S DX Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR II. This versatile lens for the DX format Nikon DSLR's gives you no reason to switch lenses again. Lets have a look at some of the specs and what the lens has to offer.