Through the Lorgnette- Part 1 (INTRO)

There is something essentially gorgeous about the models on brands' hoardings, fascinating about the portraits of women and amazing about those beautiful wallpapers of sunsets, flowers, mountains or animals, is there not? We have all often wondered what makes these pictures so beautiful or how did I not see that in that location. Well, at least I have, wondered, that is!

It would be absolutely impolitic to imagine that owning a camera will let you take good pictures (trust me, I have one of the best ones there are). In fact, keeping any judgement at high on the probity spectrum, a camera may rather spoil your pictures if you're not smart about it. Clicking a good picture is more about the photographer than the camera and there is no way to evince otherwise. A person who has the talent will click as good a picture with an iPhone as with a DSLR of top quality.

I think I should just ditch the regular rigmarole of your wild guessing and allow me to introduce you to the reason I am torturing you here, right now (I will drag on some more though, I guess).

On the 2nd of April, 2014, you will get a post on this blog about 4 fascinating and impressive photographers who are mostly hobbyists. Life has been heuristic to these people in terms of photography and I am bringing you proof to the same. The said post shall bring you Miniature Interviews and Major Awesomness in form of photographs clicked by them, their personal bests. Who are these Lovely people, you ask?! Well, I am not wearing my Genie pants today but your love makes me give into your wishes. Here they are-


1. Amrit Pal Singh, A new acquaintance of mine, he has been praised widely for his social views as much as his pictures. He has been the subject of a newspaper article for taking pictures of some rare bees.

• Hometown- Indore
• Currently based in- Indore
• Professional Prowess- Environmentalist, Organic Farmer, Photographer
• Style/Subject- Nature, wildlife

2. Abhishek Katoch, An old friend, is a versatile Shimla-ite with a natural thing for all things beautiful and and eye for the extraordinaire in the ordinary!

• Hometown- Shimla
• Currently based in- Shimla
• Professional Prowess- Electronic engineer; Owner at Event Management and clothing design company- Exmuze; Owner at Web designing and model hunt venture- Andronex
• Style/Subject- Adventure, Architecture, Artistic, Black & White, Commercial, Documentary, Event, Macro, Nature, Fashion, portrait, panorama, sports, travel, wildlife, still life, Landscapes.

3. Udit Chaudhary, a Haryanavi young man, is exactly what they all are, simple, Casual and talented. He has a sense of style about his Photography, is a director and a writer too. Donning too many hats, is he? You have no idea!!

• Hometown- Dehradun
• Currently based in- Noida
• Professional Prowess- Photographer; has done a photographic campaign for Hue; Content writer; Shooting his first Short film as a Director and so much more
• Style/Subject- Portraits and Landscapes

4. Richa Nag, my (sur)Namesake, is perfect at what she does. She is also among the reasons my cousins pester me with questions and words of praise about her.

• Hometown- Baijnath, Himachal Pradesh
• Currently based in- Bengaluru (Bangalore)
• Professional Prowess- Master of Fashion Management, NIFT, Chennai (Currently)
• Style/Subject- Nature, people, landscape, portraits

Follow the blog for a beautiful post on these talented people when it comes at the end of this month.

xoxoxo

The Shilly Shallying Vegetarian

"Do not mention Chicken in front of me!"

This is what I told my brother when we went out for lunch last month. Nah! M not one of those I-don't-do-it-so-you-shouldn't people. I am a new vegetarian. And no, It was not a New Year's Resolution or something. I have eaten everything from eggs to prawns to crabs to chicken (never even thought about eating pork or beef and I hate fish and Oysters) for as long as I have eaten hard food. Last year, in the month of October, A bird got trapped and hurt somewhere in our house and I saved it. It was still just a baby and an eagle would've devoured its flesh (Too Dark??). While I put it somewhere safe, I realised that while I am saving one bird, I eat some animals. So I stopped. Anyway, jumping over the details, It is a very hard thing to do. I love Non-Vegetarian food. It has even been my staple diet at college. Now, as I stop, I crave for it, but with the satisfaction that every time I suppress this craving, I can pride myself some more on being an animal lover.

This post is not about how more people should change and become vegans, but about how I felt about it and how I feel now, Why I played with the idea of becoming a vegetarian for over 2 years. I have eaten so much of chicken wings and McChickens and Punjabi Chicken Delicacies that if PETA knew, they would have burnt my statues at Trafalgar Square. I wanted to jump to the land of Plant eaters but something stopped me. It was my Foodie existence and there was a clash. I felt like a hypocrite when telling people to not eat the Monal (the State bird of Himachal Pradesh till some time ago) while I ate Chicken like a Chameleon eats insects. As an Animal rights supporter and an animal lover, This was something I wanted to do. It is kind of hard like going from a packet-of-cigarettes-a-day smoker to a non-smoker in a day. But I feel it was worth it. Tell me your experiences as a new vegetarian or old. How does it feel? Comment on the post or Send me an email at my id below and I will include it in my next post on this topic on the 1st of March with you name (or without if you ask me to not share it).

Shopaholics1628@gmail.com