X-mas in the Park - San Jose - Photoblog

A street in downtown San Jose filled with rides and lights, two dozen mini Christmas trees decorated with everything from lights, ornaments to music CD's, twilight giving bright hues and saturated colors..

Here are a few photographs..



























Did get to practice motion blur shots and pulled off one with San and the little one on a swing ride. All the ideas not tried this year or ideas that came to my head only after reviewing the photos at home will be tried at the next opportunity.

When you see a Ferris wheel after dark, one should at least take one shot with long exposure times with a high f number and a curtain flash. Try it.

Here are some HD videos..













If you live in the bay area, X-mas in the park is definitely worth an evenings visit!

Walking around is free. The rides cost you tickets. An arm band for 13 bucks gives a kid unlimited rides. However, the kid has to be at least 42 inches to ride alone. If shorter an adult has to accompany the kid.

That costs you a lot of tickets or a screaming kid... your choice!

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Happy New Year 2011

We had another week that was a close approximation of the practically every week last year...

Some ups, some downs, but never a dull moment!

The internet connection got terminated yet again with no AT and T person capable of even figuring out why it was cut. We finally decided that enough was enough when an AT and T representative said "even I go through the same thing with AT & T because our systems are too big and they store information in multiple places and it is difficult to get answers". We then paid a hefty price and got a U-Verse connection.

It is fast and we do get 11.43 Mbps on a test, so all is well that ends well.

Watched the latest Kamalahasan movie "Man Mathan Ambu". Not sure if that space was a font mistake on the Tamil title or an intended gap. It makes sense if you think of it as Mannar, Mathanagopal, Ambu. The movie gave such high hopes of being classy by intermission time only to be a dud slapstick.

Considering this was not your run of the mill movie, but a premium price movie, it failed to make a special impact that even off beat movies are able to create these days. Kamal has his flashes of brilliance, but he continues to insult the intelligence of his audience.

Note to Kamal: If you want to make a slapstick comedy, keep it light throughout the movie. A scene or two where you show the audience you can do the crying bit like nobody's business is okay. Anything more and you are misleading us.

If Kamal ever makes porn, there is a good chance we will see the heroine use glycerine instead of massage oil... anyways, I digress. No point venting on Kamal. Hopefully he continues to make movies along the lines of PKS or Panchatantram if he intends to do slapstick!

The year did round off on a great note. We went to downtown San Jose for Christmas in the park with the cousins. It was a great evening with well lit streets, rides of all kinds for the kids, smiling faces all around..

One thing 2010 seems to have taught us is to take things in our stride and fighting over silly things is not worth it. We still start fighting and drop it before it escalates. Guess one has to be married for 10+ years to hit this stage!

The kids have grown a year older and have figured out new ways to taunt us. The good news is we are growing older as well and are figuring out counter strategies with equal gusto.

2011, here we come!




Older and as the little one would say "wiserer"!


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A quiet day - updated!

The week was so hectic that I decided to sleep for 11 hours last night. All those continuous sleeping contests in our college days came to mind. I was second runner up once at 18 hours! (This happened when a bunch of South Indians were left to spend a few weeks in Varanasi during the Ayodhya riots, but that story is for another day).

Decided to take the kids for a photoshoot and spend some time at the local park.

My best portrait shot of Jr. so far..



Waiting for them to come down!



Goosh, Goosh, Goosh.. (you know by now who said that!)



Plan to spend another quiet day tomorrow. In other news, grandpa is getting better! Thanks for all your wishes.


Here is a photo I took just after the first one..




This one is specially to answer the visitors questions. Notice how the single hair that streaks across her face and its shadow over her cheek? I rejected this photo for the blog although it was in better focus.

Sometimes cameras are smarter than we think. This one locks focus on a single point (somewhere near Jr.'s nose) and takes the shot. It also does a final focus adjust, prior to taking the shot, and herein lies the rub!


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Scenic Route 1

This is part of a series of photoblogs on our recent trip along the California Coast..

The first part was Sisters at Play.

Route 1, is by far the most scenic highway I have driven on. The only thing that comes close is the Great Ocean Road Drive on the south Australian Coast (which we visited in 2004).

Just after Crossing Carmel, we came to Rocky Creek and Bixby Bridges.. They are truly spectacular. Would have got better shots of the bridge if we could make it down the mountainside.. but the wife was worried about safety, so we let that one pass..


The two bridges ..


The coast from Rocky creek..



The coast farther along in Big Sur..


The coast from a vista point along the Big Sur section..


It is always a pleasure to keep driving when the road keeps opening up and you dont see any car in sight.. just a windy highway that seems to lead straight into the ocean.. This photo was taken by San through the windshield..


Baby discovered what it means to jump into puddles at the Pfiffer Burns State park..


Watching the kids among the backdrop of the giant trees was a new experience. Somehow they seemed to brighten the hues from the colors of the falling leaves..


Jr. walking on a fallen log. She doesnt get to spend time in wooded areas as much as I did when I was growing up. We need to do these outdoor trips more often!


The amazing beauty of McWay falls where the creek goes straight into the ocean. Breathtaking!!


The view from the trailhead of McWay falls. The park bench was inviting, but there was a Poison Oak warning that scared me...


The sea gulls on the way to Pismo beach..


The view from "shitrock" as I call it.. the favorite vista point for the gulls..


Pismo beach! Next time, I am staying at the Best Western with the ocean view. You should see their lobby! They have a huge glass window overlooking the ocean.


The sunset, rather after the sunset.. Went to feed baby in the lobby for a minute and came out, only to find that the sun had just set! Well, better luck next time.


Next up will be Solvang in Pictures......

Christmas travels

As is customary when we do not have a few month old baby at home during Christmas, we went on a long trip.

In our hurry, forgot to wish one and all a very merry Christmas, happy Hannukah.. So, would like to wish you all a belated Christmas and Hannukah. Would also like to wish you all a happy holiday season and a great 2007!!

Our original plan was to go to a quiet place where there is not much to see except a quiet rustic life, not too far from home, without stressing out the kids..

As our partners in crime Cousin family put it, "Solvang" fits the bill on all counts!!

Except, there were two things that were overlooked. First, Guys by definition, just do not believe in this "lets have a quiet time in a hotel" kind of vacation.. They need to be moving, taking photographs in the middle of highways because they have a moral obligation to JPEG some scenery!! Second, Solvang pretty much shuts down at sunset, Christmas eve or otherwise. So you have extremely well decorated streets with closed shops and restaurants which leaves you scrambling for something to do or a place to eat on Christmas eve. Two years ago we were in a similar situation in Zion National park (we didn't even know a Tsunami had hit till we came back to civilization a day later!).

We had a wonderful trip as we(the men) changed the focus of the trip from the "quiet hotel stay" to the "great coastal ride" ! We practically stopped at every major state park on the scenic coastal highway #1, did some hiking, not to mention the photography..

So much was covered in the last three days that it would take a few posts to describe it..

I am going to split it up into a few posts.

1. Sisters at play: Jr. loves spending time with her cousin. This is her first road trip with her cousin and it was a treat to watch them together. I was secretly taking pictures of them (secret photos/videos are becoming my speciality now) and have a small collection..

2. Coastal highway from here to Pismo Beach (in pictures)

3. Solvang by night (replace "night" with Christmas eve at 11:00 PM with no one else on the street except me and Balaji standing in the middle of first street with a tripod!)

4. Things to see around Solvang (Cute places to spend a "quiet day" and take pictures)

5. Limekiln State Park and sunset in Big Sur(a place that deserves a post all by itself).

Stay tuned for the series of posts..