Now that July is upon us, everyone is back to their routines. Children are back in School, college and others are busy with mid year targets, or tax filing chaos. But, there is always the urge to travel and explore the unknown. That is exactly what Nithya hopes to do like she had done with her family a few months ago. She had escaped to the hills in North India- Shimla and around.  Here shares a few images from their vacation…

The beautiful palace in Shimla

The Bhimkali Temple, up in the hills

Heaven on Earth- Kufri

Thank you all for taking time out and participating in our Summer Sizzler contest on our Facebook page..The list of 2nd Prize winners continues……….. keep the drum rolls going…

Congratulations to all the winners!!

Shafik Shamsudheen

In heaven

Soumitra Chatterjee

First encounter with sea in peak summer! — at Chera rocks

Karan Khubchandani

 

Enjoying summer with friends

Nayan Patel

Love

Abhishek Paul

Splashing about

Anil Raut

Cooling off

Mathew Selvaraj

Sipping and lazing

Arun Moras

A true photograph need not be explained, nor can it be contained in words -Ansel Adams

Kuldeep Puri Goswami

Summer bliss

Rajesh Shah

Up in the air

Shilpa Khanna

Delicious

and the last entry that wins the 2nd prize is by Sanchari Bose

Chilling out with friends

Look out for the winner announcements….

Taking off from the 1st post on Contest- Summer Sizzlers- I we bring to you a collection of photographs that were contributed to the contest..  Let us look at how some adults said they beat the heat this Summer..

Anil Raut

Cooling off

Jyoti Kanakia

Soaring High

Prakhar Garg

Chilling in Kempty Falls

Virendra Singh

Diving In

Rajesh Shah

Chilling in Leh

Also, do share this post with your friends and others in your circle. Follow  Snapfish India Facebook page to get a chance to win some goodies and keep updated on interesting offers we roll out..

Watch this space to know who the shortlisted entries & the ultimate winners are….

Keep clicking! Keep Sharing! Look out for more such posts and pictures…

Innovation has always been our mantra, and every month we strive to bring out new products for our customers. Sometimes, it would be a photo book with new themes, and other times, like now we bring out a cool new surprise. We have rolled out Picture postcards. Yes, you can now use one of your own photographs to create a postcard.

A true photograph need not be explained, nor can it be contained in words.
Ansel Adams

When you login to the Snapfish page, you will see the different kinds of postcards, simply choose the one that catches your eye, have the photograph from your album ready, and type out the words to go with the card. Ta da, within minutes your postcard is ready. Complete the order and have it shipped to yourself, or to that special friend or person.

Gone are the days when you send postcards created by greeting card companies, you can now make your own, customize it, add a personal touch and surprise the receiver … What an amazing way to stay in touch and share your experiences with others close to you… Go for it… have fun!

‘Tis is the season of love, the month of Valentine plus we have an extra day to celebrate this month of February as it is a leap year. Here are some pictures from my travels around showing that love and romance abounds if one strives for it. The journey does not mean love for a fellow human being, there is love in the innocence of the child and it is also found in the maturity of the old. One can romance nature or find love in things we want to do. So live it up and enjoy this small photojourney by Chintan.

The child loves everything he does – here he is romancing the water hose and living life. (Friend’s Kid : Lonavala, India)

Things we love to do exhilerates our mind, body and spirit – a truly meditative experience (Jackson Hole, Wyoming, US)

The young heart flutters when it meets that special someone. (Campos De Jordao, Brazil)

Mutual affection and love shared (London, UK)

“A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.”
~Lao Tzu~

With the dawn of the new year comes the opportunity for many to make a fresh start, try their hand at something new and challenges… There are many who take life changing decisions while others look for new venues to make their current position interesting. It could be travelling to a new destination, Changing gears and moving to a different career path, or simply taking a hobby to the next level. Sathish Kumar who has a full job has taken to Photography and is now experimenting, learning as he goes. Here he shares some of the shots taken during the past few days, which not only caught his eye , but are breath taking moments as well.

The morning sun reflecting in the waters is a sight worth getting up early for. We were on a holiday when i decided to rise early and see if i could capture the sunrise.  Walking along the waters, listening to the silence while the birds came awake slowly was magical.

The bright coloured leaves scattered across the floor, felt like a reflection of our lives. We are all working on so many different things, trying our hand at a multitude of activities, sometimes we lose control and get overwhelmed.

Visiting temple is a weekly activity, but that particular day i had carried my camera along. Watching the women across flower shops and fruit stalls sell their wares, i noticed this one stall selling yellow threads. The woman said “this is the sacred thread, meant for women who are looking to get married and those praying for the long life of their husbands”…  I was amazed and fascinated with this concept… but who am i to question belief!

What is it that you are doing new this year?

Walking along the streets in our home town or in a place we are vacationing in, the most interesting aspect are the people we come across. They could be people wandering around the streets, or from the tribes that come to set up stalls to sell their ware. Aarti Krishnakumar shares a few photographs of a few fascinating people she has encountered during her travails…

While in Goa, one day i decided to explore Anjuna beach and the cafe there-Curlies.. Walking around the rocks and the rugged shorelines, i saw this tribal woman standing near a makeshift stall. As i made a beeline towards her, she spotted me, stood up smiling and asked if i wanted to buy something… She had a wide collection of tribal pattern bracelets, neck pieces and other such trinkets.. I asked if i could take her photograph for which she retorted- you can take my photo, if you buy one item from here.. Seemed like a good deal and i went ahead capturing her. Her attire, jewellery and stature was fascinating!

This man has me in splits even today. Standing outside the car, staring at the Sadras fort, wondering if the ASI rep was still around or had gone for the day, i noticed this man come up to me asking if i wanted to look around.. He had glitter, an orange colour whistle, and a cheap shades on his eyes. He exclaimed that he was the guard, and that he came from his daughter’s birthday party and would show me around… Umm, understanding something was fishy, i managed to ward him off and make a quick getaway…

Heading off to the Blue hills- Nilgiris, I got the opportunity to cover the Dog Show in Ooty. Amidst pet owners and breeders, there was one breeder who had with him a litter of St. Bernard puppies.. Along with many others, i too went to take a look at the cuties.. One girl managed to convince her dad to buy her one and here she is all smiles..

Everytime i travel, i look forward to meeting people who make the experience that much more beautiful and interesting… Off i go in hope of meeting many more such people….

There are journeys that are well planned and then there are those done on a whim. Infact, most of the time , the latter are the most fun because there is a sense of adventure  and excitement in the air. And this is exactly what Meenal & Ram, busy professionals from Bombay did….

On a whim, decided to head out to Malshej, the popular monsoon destination 140 kms from Mumbai.  Knowing that the only place worth staying over is the Flamingoes Resort, run by MTDC that gets booked four months in advance, it had to be a day trip.

The lure of driving through clouds, soaking in a waterfall and watching flamingos take off in synchronized flight was too much to resist! So we grabbed a few essentials, had a hearty breakfast (and thank God for that) and hit the road by 10:45 am (too late a start for a 300 km round trip, but better now than never). What followed was a crazy and yet awesome day! We did drive through the clouds (and was it great or what!), didn’t soak in a waterfall (there was no place to change into dry clothes again), nor see the flamingos (horrendous roads ate into our time), but had a lovely time simply drinking in the beauty of this piece of heaven and walking hand in hand into the mist.

After what seemed an eternity, we finally hit the ghat road (and with that the bad road stretch ended too).  This has to count among the most scenic drives – lush greenery all around, innumerable waterfalls dotting the mountainside…

In fact there are waterfalls gushing by the roadside – so close that we could reach out and touch them!  The ghat road was full of waterfalls which were in turn full of picknickers frolicking in the water! There are even spots where you actually drive through water falls – there was this spot where the water descended in torrents onto the road from an overhanging ledge above, creating a curtain of water to drive through!  Ofcourse, we drove through it windows rolled down!

And finally, we had reached…The resort sits atop a small plateau, at the edge of a cliff looking into the valley.  The place is mesmerising.  Tall cliffs rise to touch the clouds all around and as we watched a thick cloud engulfed the whole place, including us, reducing visibility to barely a few metres!  We were literally ‘walking in the clouds!’  Not to waste the opportunity M and I let loose our cameras – there were several photo-worthy landscapes begging to be shot!

The hour that we had slotted to spend here quickly merged into the next and before long, it was time to turn back.  Promising to return soon, we headed back..

In India, festivals are given so much importance and there are a lot of activities and rituals associated with each of them. One such festival that just went by was the Durga Puja. Celebrated with a lot of life and buzz, the festival lights up the state of West Bengal, Specifically Kolkata [Calcutta as it was known earlier]. 

Sandip Kundu, an IT professional takes us through the experience with these photographs captured during the festive season…