vpalepu

Do we ever stop building cities? “The Crane amidst a blue tree line.” ©Vijay Krishna Palepu The view from the balcony canvases a line of trees — some near, and some afar. But as the camera pans, the construction crane comes to view … inevitably. That crane has become a prominent, inescapable feature of my landscape. I cannot imagine a…

“A Golden Lining” ©Vijay Krishna Palepu The dark clouds did not portend rains or inclement weather. In fact, yesterday was a clear day with the sun shining bright. Although, the wind was blowing strong, creating a chilly temperature that made it uncomfortable to leave the warmth of your homes. Weather and climate continue to perplex. “Dark…

Egg Breakfast Hacks Specifically, slices of boiled egg on slices of sourdough baguette. This morning, Shruti (my wife) asked me how many eggs I wanted for breakfast (I wanted two). As a speciality, she sprinkles a concoction of spices — salt, pepper, red chili or cayenne powder, and chaat masala — on slices of hardboiled eggs. It leaves me…

Cooking with Pressure 💨 “Navdhanya Daal” more or less translates to “A Nine Lentil Curry” Tryst at the grocery store. A couple of weeks ago I saw a packet of Navdhanya Mix — a mix of 9 varieties of lentils — on the shelf at my local Indian grocery store. I was not sure what I could make with it, but I…

A recent breakfast of (left) espresso and (right) little millets porridge with jaggery powder. Celebrating Millets! We at CFH During WFH love millets! And we recently learned that the General Assembly of the United Nations quietly adopted and passed a resolution last year on March 5th, 2021, declaring 2023 as the International Year of Millets. Guess…

“Cotton Candy” ©Vijay Krishna Palepu (shutter speed: ¼, ISO: 100) Telephoto Zoom Experiments Finding pink when zooming into the horizon I recently bought my wife a 500mm f/8 manual telephoto lens, for her birthday. She is big on photographing the moon with her Pixel phone — but computational photography can only get you so far. She has been enjoying…

I have been dreading this post 😅 The other day I got told off by Mom for steam-cooking okra. I got assigned a repeat cook — I did not realize that I was attending a remote culinary university. 👨‍🍳🎓 I am certainly learning new things 🙂 Specifically, this time I was to cook the okra on open…

“Traffic Waves” ©Vijay Krishna Palepu (Shutter Speed: 8secs; ISO: 400) Shutter Speed Experiments “Traffic Waves” — Somehow, the camera was able to focus on the streaks of red, white, blue and pink — from the taillights and headlights of moving traffic. And as it brought those streaks into focus, it somehow blurred everything else in the background. I think the…

Camera Exposure Experiment On a lazy Sunday afternoon I got a few nonsense emails this Sunday morning, and so, I went looking for my camera to keep me distracted. (I am picking up photography to keep me distracted from nonsense at … well, from my email.) Good thing I did because I learned a thing or…

“The Quadrilateral” ©Vijay Krishna Palepu Tracing light and shadows with low exposure photography At 4 pm on a Friday afternoon, I was getting tired at my desk and needed to stretch my legs. As I started to walk around my home I saw the sunlight peek through the blinds in my bedroom. The light through the…