Kiran Jonnalagadda’s Blog

I found myself in Mcleodganj last May, in the company of TB Dinesh and Guillaume Marceau. Dinesh wanted to pick up some luggage a friend had left behind in nearby Dharamkot, so off we went up the hill.

Man, was it hard! The incline could have killed me. I was out of breath and my feet ached. My camera bag felt like a huge burden. I had to stop for breath every turn and rest minutes. When we finally reached Dharamkot, I refused to leave the tea shop for the next couple hours. We hung around ordering several rounds of tea and snacks. Dinesh and Guillaume then wanted to walk further, so I reluctantly tagged along. The body ached but the mind couldn’t refuse the challenge. We walked all the way up hill, past prayer flags in the woods, past a shrine to the earlier Panchen Lama, the current Dalai Lama’s late teacher, up to the top, and down again through the Tibetan Children’s Village, along the water pipeline, back to Mcleodganj.

I had cramps the next day. When I returned to Bangalore and checked my weight, I was down two kilos. In a day’s walk.

And so, a year later and halfway through this year’s resolution to improve health, I had to check again. Was it really so bad, or was I just so out of shape? Has all the cycling in Bangalore and walking in Ladakh’s thin air helped at all?

It has: the walk this time felt like a casual stroll through the woods.

From atop the hill overlooking the Tibetan Children’s Village (off to the left).

I’m putting my Nikon D70 camera and entire kit on sale. It’s served me well over the years and I’m now ready to move on. Here’s the kit contents, what they cost me, and what they’ll cost you if you buy new or individually second hand from eBay (some prices are approximate guesses; all prices are in Indian Rupees).

Extras: The D70’s rechargeable battery and charger, a spare higher capacity battery, a lithium cell holder with three CR2 cells, 52mm rubber hood for the 50mm lens, 67mm petal hood and carrying case for the Sigma lens, spare 128 MB CF card and card holder, a compact CF card reader, USB cable, UV filters on both lenses, rubber blower and nylon brush for cleaning the CCD, and a lens filter holder with space for six that fits into the LowePro bag.

If you were to buy all this second hand one piece at a time, it will cost you ~Rs 35,000. My offer price: Rs 25,000.

I took the D70 to Nikon’s service centre late last year to fix accumulated wear and tear. They replaced its power switch, CF card slot and rear-side outer body at a cost of Rs 5220. The camera’s traveled only twice since. As a result of this, it is in much better shape than it would have been for its age.

I’ve used this camera for practically every picture I’ve made in the last five years (barring July’s Manali and Ladakh trip). If you’ve liked my pictures in the past, this is the equipment that made them possible. Here’s a sample gallery.

Buyer must collect in person. I’m currently in Mcleodganj, Dharamsala, carrying everything except the polariser filters and will be in New Delhi later this week before returning to Bangalore. Questions? Leave me a comment.

Update: Sold!

I’ve posted some pictures from last month’s discussion on using social media for mobilisation, with Dina Mehta and Peter Griffin at CIS. Here’s the report and earlier Twitter feed.

Nothing significant; just some faces. Helping with attaching names to faces appreciated.

The Bayon in Angkor, Cambodia, December 6, 2005.

This morning I figured I’d try my hand at HDR photography. I have a ton of unused pictures from my 2005 vacation in Southeast Asia. HDR seems like a decent means to rescue them. To make this image of the Bayon, I exported the same image at three exposure levels and combined them using Photomatix Pro.

Update: There was an error in the image URL. This has been fixed.

I’m delayed uploading the event pictures, largely because spare time at even weekends is running low. I also spent more time listening than taking pictures, so there are very few here. The next event is the Global Voices Summit in Delhi this coming weekend. That makes it five (un)conferences this year. Perhaps a summary is in order.

A month after Bylakuppe, I went to Cambodia and hung out in Buddhist shrines from a different era.

Also tourist infested.

After having his picture taken, this monk, who spoke some English, wrote down the photographer’s email address because he wanted to have a pen pal. Then I got a picture taken too.

(Thanks to Vineeth for help making this picture.)

During World-Information City, Shivajinagar, Bangalore, 10:30 PM, November 2005.

World-Information City, Bangalore was held in November 2005 as a direct counter to the parallelly held World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in Tunis. WIC hoped to bring attention to issues glossed over by WSIS such as with software patents and DRM. The Alternative Law Forum coordinated the event’s staging; they recruited me as official photographer and webcaster.

Due to poor response from the press — only the Indian Express showed interest — we resorted to putting up billboards and posters and running advertising vehicles around the city. We followed the poster people one evening to record the act of sticking up posters in Shivajinagar. Their act was unauthorised but not uncommon: their regular income comes from movie and election campaign posters.

Some of my pictures made their way into local newspapers. Despite our efforts however, only a trickle of people turned up at the exhibitions and conference, with a medium sized crowd gathering only for the closing session with star guest Arundhati Roy.