Shreyas In Focus
Travel Photography
Alpine Reflection in Bavaria
A 2 hour train ride from Munich brought us to pristine Mittenwald. A further bus ride and hike thereafter led us to this beautiful reflection. The weather was perfect and the lake was still with almost no one around. Standing amidst tall grass on shifty soil at the lake edges was not easy!
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Nightlife in Munich
Capturing a slice of the the summer nightlife in Munich was high on my list, but I didn't have a perfectly formed vision in my mind of what it should look like. While walking back from Marienplatz, inspiration turned into reality just outside a Paulaner brewery restaurant!
Trabi and the Fraternal Kiss
In a different take on capturing the most famous graffiti painting on the Berlin wall showing Brezhnev and Honecker in a socialist fraternal kiss, I included a Trabant car in my composition. The Trabant was a basic, poorly built car that had a delivery waiting time of 10 years, and became symbolic of erstwhile East Germany in the years after reunification.
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Reflected Wall
Here again is a refreshing perspective of the Berlin Wall. The bright colours of the graffiti reflecting vividly on the window of a black car that was parked alongside. I was determined to capture the historic "monument" in a whole new way.
Yan'an Elevated Expressway in Shanghai
This arterial road with ever changing neon lights was featured in the James Bond movie Skyfall. After scouting for 2 days, we found the perfect spot in a dimly lit apartment complex. Right underneath this intersection is the legendary nine dragon pillar with a story of its own!
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Nanpu Bridge in Shanghai
Connecting the two parts of the city divided by Huangpu river, this engineering marvel is 8.3km long and its circular ramps innovatively reduced the climbing gradient with minimal land usage. President Deng Xiaoping personally inscribed the name of the bridge on the main girder.
Going to Work
The early morning rays were shining upon the remains of the Berlin wall, lighting up the colorful graffiti when I captured this moment of a man in black, walking briskly on his way to work.
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Berlin Skyline
Oh my goodness! The effort I had to put (with Chandana steadfastly encouraging me) to find this spot in a public apartment and capture the Berlin skyline during blue hour! The city lights are subdued compared to Asian metropolises (see Shanghai), but there's a unique charm indeed.
Lujiazui
By far the most recognized sight in Shanghai, Lujiazui is the new financial district sitting opposite the historic bank buildings on the Bund. The Oriental Pearl Tower and the Shanghai Tower are iconic landmarks that represent the tremendous economic growth of China.
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Shanghai Bund
From the 1860s till the 1930s, this was the epicenter of the foreign establishment in Shanghai. The clock tower is atop the Customs House, and to the extreme right is the North China Daily News Building that was home to the most influential English newspaper at the time.
Colored Aurora Bands in Helligskogen
A 2 hour drive from Tromsø, followed by a 2 hour wait in the bitter cold rewarded us with multi-colored aurora bands dancing over snow-capped hills! The colors are caused when charged particles from the sun excite different atoms: the blue-purple is by nitrogen atoms, green-yellow by oxygen in lower atmosphere and red by oxygen in higher atmosphere.
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Polar Night in Tromsø
Tromsø is located 350 kms north of the Arctic Circle. In winter, the sun doesn't rise, leading to 'polar nights'. This was the brightest moment of the day and yet had a bluish twilight. Moments later, a snow storm reduced visibility to near-zero!
Amsterdam at Night
Just past 11pm, and 30 minutes after sunset (!), I shot this picture of the Prinsengracht Canal in Amsterdam, along with the famous tower of the Westerkerk Church that seems to touch the magical sky! Next door is the house where Anne Frank wrote her diary. The light trails are from one of the last boats plying the canal that evening.
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Groningen Villas
These brightly colored villas are located along the marina in the quaint Reitdiephaven neighbhouhood of Groningen, which is a 2-hour train ride from Amsterdam.
Canals of Amsterdam
Amsterdam has over 100 kms of canals which when seen aerially, forms concentric belts. Pictured here is the junction where Amsterdam's widest canal named Keizersgracht meets a smaller canal known as Leidsegracht.
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Mont des Arts in Brussels
From this elevated vantage point you can see a geometric garden and the equestrian statue of King Albert I. In the background is the domineering Town Hall built in 1420, located 500m away in the Grand Place.
