Roopkund-Summer-2013 Photo Contest

The contest results are out ! The top five winning photos are below. Our Judge Srinivasa Prasath shares with you why the pictures turned up winners. Post your comments below.

First Prize: Aritra Sil

First prize goes to Aritra for his mesmerising capture “Beauty of Trishul from Bedni”. His frame of silhouetted shepherd grazing his flock against the majestic Trishul is just perfect! The last light on the mountain and the homebound flock work in sync to bring out the classic feel of ‘end of day’ on the mountains. Exposure is good to keep the details on the mountain. Layers of the mountains work well visually. Deserves to be first for pulling out an effective frame of everyday life through a simple frame.

Second Prize: Pragalbh

Journey to the mystery lake

Second prize goes to Pragalbh for his wonderful documentary capture of Roopkund – “Journey to the mystery lake”. Yes, I call it a documentary capture because these are the kind of frames that will help you recollect the trip and the nature of the place you headed once. The choice of composition is good and the colors complement very well. Pragalbh did the right thing going down to the level of skeleton to highlight the subject. The frame is well balanced by the skeleton on the lower half and the mountain on the top. Exposure is good except for the blown-out highlights on the skeleton. Also the frame is slightly tight. Foreground blur in this case could’ve been avoided and a little bit more sky above the mountain would’ve been perfect.

Third Prize: Vipul Anand

More often in the trail we’ll find ourselves left alone with Nature. The picture of Vipul Anand brings out one such perfect moment of 1-1 interaction of a trekker with mountains surrounded in all directions. Also it brings out the very purpose of why we all trek and crave to go far away from mundane life. The composition works very well and the position of human element is well chosen. Exposure is good but the white balance seems to be skewed. Depth is just appropriate to convey the message. Vipul Anand gets third for his wonderful capture of a solitude moment on the trek.

Fourth Prize: Bratin Mallick

Bratin Mallick has managed to capture a wonderful scene that brings out the essence of place and environment very well. The warm colors of fire works in beautiful contrast against the cold blue background. The fire, the dark figures around it and the foggy atmosphere bringout mixed emotions. Also the picture is well framed between the two vertical trees to restrict the attention. Rightly placed fourth.

Fifth Prize: Neha Chingle

Size does matter

Fifth place goes to Neha Chingle for her capture “Size does matter” (23). With a simple frame she has managed to bring out how Nature stands so majestic infront of human beings and how humans try their best to tame the giants. By placing the tiny silhouette of humans at the bottom, the power and majesty of the mountains are brought out very well. The clouds raising from below the humans portray their continous efforts to reach to that height. The choice of vertical frame is quite appropriate here to depict the power and strength.

Here are the shortlisted 23 best photos of the Roopkund trek. Trekkers were asked to submit their best photos from the trek for the contest.

Our Judges will now run through these photos and choose one among them as the winner. Before the judge chooses, tell us which of these photos deserve the best photo award (use the comments box below).

The photographs selected here are in random order. The numbers attributed to the photos are to identify the photographer and does not denote any ranking by Indiahikes. Use the number and the name of the person to make your comments. Please click on the photo to view the enlarged image.

A note from Indiahikes:

The winners get the following awards from Indiahikes.

The winner of the photo contest gets a Rs 5,000 Trek Voucher from Indiahikes.
The second winner gets Rs 2,500 Trek Voucher from Indiahikes.
The third, Fourth and Fifth Prize winner gets Rs 1,000 Trek Voucher from Indiahikes.

About our Judge:

1- Photographer: Aaditya Loya

Place : Bedni Bugyal, 2nd June, 7.49 p.m

Camera Settings : model: nikkon d5100, F stop : f./8, Exposure : 1/250 sec, Iso speed : iso 180, Focal length : 20 mm

2-Photographer: Aashish Chawla

Place : Ali Bugyal, June, between 11.00 a.m to 12.00 p.m

“Walking on the long meadows or Bugyals was an amazing experience. This setting offered me a chance to portray the calm and trance like journey which we were making across the Bugyals. I sat down on the floor and took this picture so that I can capture the cloud and the see the twain meet “. says Aashish on why and how he took this photograph..

3-Photographer: Anirudh Singh

Place : Between Roopkund and Bhagwabhasa, 10.06 a.m

“This stretch didn’t feel as tricky while climbing, but getting down was really tough. I was in front & while I was waiting for the other guys I took this picture. It could be a case of being in the right place at the right time”. says Anirudh on why and how he took this photograph..

Camera Settings : – f/9, Exposure time – 1/250 sec, ISO-100, Focal length – 35 mm

4-Photographer: Aritra Sil

Place : Bedni Bugyal campsite, 6 – 6.30 p.m

Aritra says “After a long day of bad weather we reached Bedni bugyl, in the late evening Trishul started emerging through the cloud with the color of setting sun all over it”. on why and how he took this photograph..

Camera Settings : F = 5 , Shutter = 1/100, Focal length = 65mm, ISO = 200, No flash

5-Photographer: Bandish Soparkar

Place : Patar Nachauni, 6 – 6.30 pm

“When I reached back to Patar Nachauni from Roopkund and was having a sip of warm chai, I overlooked the hill above only to find few locals and their mules on the backdrop of setting sun. I immediately took out camera and clicked few images due to unique hill angle and the sun set backdrop and the interesting element of locals and mules”. says Bandish on why and how he took this photograph….

6-Photographer: Bratin Mallick

7-Photographer: Faisal

Place : Bedni Bugyal, It was taken in early morning when sun rays just touched the hut, and lit it beautifully.

“This photograph is set in contrast where a small hut is in front of a huge mountain to emphasise the existance difference.”. says Faisal on why and how he took this photograph….

8-Photographer: Faisal

Place : Ali Bugyal.

“This photograph captures the serpentine beauty of the path against lush green grass of Ali bugyal”. says Faisal on why and how he took this photograph….

9-Photographer: Gaurav Kapoor

Place : While descending from Junargali (approximately 100 mts from the lake), 7:30 am approximately

“The amazing geographical setting and the perfect shape of Roopkund, hidden in a crater waiting to be revealed to only those who work really hard to reach it was something which I wanted to capture and keep as a memento, that i risked taking out my DSLR on steep icy slopes while descending from Junargali !!”. says Gaurav on why and how he took this photograph..

10-Photographer: Gourang Grover

Place : Bedni Bugyal, 7:30 am approximately

“Insouciant demeanor of the surroundings marked by striking contrast presenting itself as a traveller’s meed.”. says Gourang on why and how he took this photograph….

11-Photographer: Gourang Grover

Place : On the way to Ghora Lautani from Bedni Bugyal, aprroximately around 8.00 am

“I wanted to capture colorful foreground with respect to contrastive background along with Mt. Trishul as well as Nanda Ghunti..”. says Gourang on why and how he took this photograph….

Ali Bugyal

12-Photographer: Harshad Khanhere

This photo was taken on the second day of the trek, after we left Ali Bugyal and headed off towards Bedni Bugyal. In contrast to the climb to reach Ali Bugyal earlier that day, the trail was very gentle and the view of the meadow, the treeline and the distant mountains was great. I zoomed out my camera and clicked a few pics. This is one of them. says Harshad on why and how he took this photograph….

13-Photographer: Krishna Prasad

It was amazing moment when we reached roopkund lake. I wanted to get down and go near the lake.i took permission from sarpanchji and went down the slope only. That was amazing. I turned back and saw my buddy there who did not come with me down the slope, then clicked. says Krishna on why and how he took this photograph….

15-Photographer: Navneet

Place : Shot near Kalu Vinayak. I remember trek leader Saranbeer sitting on a cliff amidst breathtaking view with a mausombi to feed him. His location prompted us to capture his position & get our shots. Date was 11th June, 3 p.m.

“We were all drenched in the rains when we left Patar Nachuani towards Kalu Vinayak. Then, suddenly from nowhere, sunshine struk & Saranbeer, our trek guide shouted “Welcome to Roopkund, guys”. All the dejected trekkers (our previous batch had to quit the trek due to bad weather, and we too feared the same) sprung back into action & were energised. The view, was equally splendid as was the joy, when we looked back at the trail !!! 50-60 pics were shot here, each of us got our FB profile pictures here !!!”. says Navneet on why and how he took this photograph….

16-Photographer: Krupanand

Place : Didina, 26th May 2013, 5:40 pm

“I was capturing the beauty of Didina. Beautiful houses reminding me of some hollywood village setup…. wonderful people working in fields and of course great husky dogs which can beat wolves… This girl was on her way to jungle to collect something, she passed in front of me. I panned my camera to her and asked her permission to click, at the same time two of her friends standing in a distance called her and said ‘that man is taking your picture’, all these scenarios made her feel very shy and gave a beautiful smile and said ‘YES’…”. says Krupanand on why and how he took this photograph….

17-Photographer: Pragalbh

Place : Bedni Bugyal campsite, 3.00 pm

“I took this photo at bedni bugyal, just behind the campsite where I spotted this skull. It seemed appropriate to have mount trishul in the background as thats where we were headed for a visit to the mysterious roopkund lake. Skeletons are quite synonymous with Roopkund!…”. says Pragalbh on why and how he took this photograph….

18-Photographer: Rituparna Das

Place : Bedni Bugyal, between 6.00 – 7.00 pm

“Seeing the snow capped moutain peak from such a close range for the first time was mesmerizing and special. The height gave me a high I can still feel!…”. says Rituparna on why and how he took this photograph….

19-Photographer: R R Raju

20-Photographer: Satya Prakash

Place : Few meters before Roopkund, 6.30 – 7.00 am

“We began the climb for Roopkund as early as 4.00 am in the morning. The moment we saw the first rays of sun hitting the snow it was a sight to behold. And this shot was taken exactly at that moment.!…”. says Satya on why and how he took this photograph….

21-Photographer: Soham Banerjee

Place : Bedni Bugyal, around 6.30 pm

“While Sun was casting its Golden Hue on the snow clad Mountains, I thought of Why Not Click it..”. says Soham on why and how he took this photograph….

22-Photographer: Vipul Anand

Size does matter

23-Photographer: Neha Chingle

Place : Bhagwabhasa Camp, around 5.00 pm

“The pic symbolises power of nature and determination of human beings.It shows how small we are compared to mighty nature. Survival of humans will depend on nature; however great our achievements are, we should respect mother nature…”. says Neha on why and how she took this photograph….