January 2016 Photo Contest: Results Out!

The January 2016 Photo contest was overwhelming. We got a flood of pictures with unusual perspectives of familiar treks! Our judge Ravindra Joisa had a difficult time narrowing down winners among these amazing shots.

Here are the winning photographs. Congratulations!

Hope you all surprise us more with different perspectives and capture more wonderful pictures of the Himalayas!

 WINNER!

 Shyam Sundar – Nag Tibba

The winning photograph is  a perfect wallpaper shot. It’s not often you can capture Bandarpooch and Swargrohini in the same frame.  Love the sparse clouds, sharpness in the mountain range, and the foreground.

1st Runner Up

Bhaskara Pendyala – Sandakphu

I love the clarity in this image. Shooting directly into the sun may cause flare or ghosting. Higher aperture will make the sun appear like a star burst. Nice to see the human element, placed as the point of intersection of the rule of thirds. The amazing shot makes me want to plan my next Himalayan trek.

2nd Runner Up

Anurag – Sandakphu

The window to the left acts as a natural frame for the view from the village above the clouds. Keeping the window in frame makes it a perfect storytelling image! Beautifully captured.

NOMINATIONS

1.  Advait Kulkarni – Kedarkantha

The plumes above the Swargarohini peak are fascinating! It’s a tight shot of the peak as seen from the Kedarkantha summit, and the fact that it has been taken during sunrise makes it all the more special!

2. Shyam Sundar – Nag Tibba

Love the clarity and focus in this night shot. This image will work wonders in the advertising world! It’s not an easy capture!

3. Anurag – Sandakphu

Diagonal lines are always important while capturing images. The human element shows the scale. The line that leads the viewer to the fog covered mysterious background make this shot interesting. It’s a rare picture of the Sandakphu trail.

4. Sushil Chauhan- Kedarkantha

What a golden moment to capture! The picture aptly captures the scale of the Kedarkantha  summit from a trekker’s perspective. Sunlight bursting from the clouds makes the image more interesting.

5. Shyam Sundar- Nag Tibba

The sharpness of the mountains is being emphasised by the light hitting the peaks, bringing their features into relief. A beautiful picture!

6. Dr Mandar Bapaye – Sandakphu

I liked the cloud formation on top of and below the sun. It makes an interesting pattern. The colour of the sky makes it look like it’s on fire! The tree in the foreground is placed such that it follows the rule of thirds in photography.

7. Anuradha Ayyar – Sandakphu

This picture is surreal! The otherworldly quality of the picture is further emphasised by it’s minimalistic colours: the frost covered shrubs, trees, and the foggy grey sky.

A note about our judge:  Ravindra Joisa

He was gifted with his first camera – Canon Powershot 100/130 IS (Point and shoot) at the age of 23, using which he had experimented different types of photography for about 5 years. At 28, he bought his first DSLR Nikon D600 (full frame, currently using D610) along with a 50mm 1.4D prime lens.

Ravindra now specializes in photographic education and plans for leading photo tours on weekends. He uses a unique blend of illustrations, animations and photographs along with his experience in photography, all of which makes learning photography easy and fun.

You can take a look at his website. You can also follow his accounts on Facebook or Twitter. He’s always posting fantastic pictures!