Dear All,
Hope the sun is shining on you despite the fog, despite the haze! Hope you've had a wonderful January. Winters are our favorite season. Though the season does pose several challenges for a photographer with the low light and haze making it difficult to see anything, leave alone capturing it in our camera. And yet the dull-grey surreal vistas promise a mystical, hidden surprise that the clear summer or rainy days don't. The brave flowers that rear their heads despite the frost make it all worth it.
Mist adds all the more mystery to the many historical monuments that dot the variegated landscape of Delhi. And that elusive winter sun, whenever it peers out through the misty curtains, brings joy that knows no bounds. And the icing on the cake are the migratory birds that make Delhi and the surrounding areas their home.
Being a photographer, what else can you ask for. The chilling cold is
now on the decline, and spring is around the corner. And Photo Journey
is also getting ready to announce its first photo walk. Watch out for
more news on this. We will soon be posting the details on our blog and
on our Facebook page.
This is also one of the best seasons to travel in an around Delhi. We have tried to compile a list of destinations around Delhi you can plan a quick travel to. Click here to read about them.
January has been a wonderful month and a perfect beginning to the new year for Photo Journey. We continued to do what we do best - sharing experiences through photographs, meeting people, covering events, and exploring new places. And apart from these, we are also introducing several new exciting features. Following are some details:
Tips and Tricks: As a part of this activity, we will be posting some helpful tips and tricks for photography and post processing, and also the remaining stages of the workflow. Under this activity, we will also be exploring various productivity tools that can be of great help to photographers. The posts under this umbrella will be published on the weekends. Click here to read our first post in this series "Perform Magic Through Latest Release of Adobe Photoshop Express".
Equipment Reviews: There is never a dearth of equipment in the market. The problem of having such a wide choice is that it is very difficult to arrive at a decision about what to buy and what not to buy. Through equipment reviews, we propose to create a place where photographers can share their experiences with the equipment they use, as users who experience a equipment first-hand are the most reliable source of information about a product. We have posted our first review here "Nikon Coolpix p330". We welcome our guest writers and readers to contribute their reviews as well. If you wish to contribute a review, please write to vj@travellingcamera.com.
Addressing Technical Queries: Even the most experienced photographers face situations they have never experienced before. Everyone at some point in time need to learn from other people's experience. And this is also the most efficient way of going about the business. Together, we aim to improve the photography IQ of the world. And we are taking a baby step towards this. In the past as well, we have received several technical queries from our readers and we have tried to address them, but now we are moving towards formalizing the process and making the solution available to all the readers of photo journey. Here is the first technical query we addressed "DSLR vs Mirrorless Camera". if you have any technical queries regarding using cameras, processing photos, or about anything else related to photography, do send in your queries to vj@travellingcamera.com, and we will try our best to answer it.
Apart from this, we have also been receiving queries from our readers about how they can submit their stories to be published on Photo Journey. We are in the middle of finalizing the process for this. However, in the meanwhile, you can send your post to us on vj@travellingcamera.com. Simply include 10-15 photographs and all the details and the story around them. We will compile and schedule the post for you.
So without any further delay, let us move on to the highlights of January 2014:
Starting with the inspiring people we met, let us once again introduce you to Mr Seetharaman Narayanan, one of the prominent names behind the legendary Adobe Photoshop Software. If you happen to look at the credits of
past several versions of Photoshop, there is one name that stands out -
'Seetharaman Narayanan', a Senior Principal Scientist who is a team in
himself. Recently he was in India for few days and we got a chance to
attend one of his talks. After spending a just a few minutes listening to him, you know that he is someone who can teach you several lessons not only about technology but also about life. If you missed our post about him, click here to read it again.
This month Literature Studio, Photo Journey's editorial partner, organized a Creative Writing Workshop in partnership with the American Center, New Delhi. The workshop was taught by the best-selling writer Cheryl Strayed, who shot to fame with her candid memoir wild. It was a pleasure covering this event for them, and Cheryl inspired writers and photographers alike. 
And we also met our favourite celeb Chef Vikas Khanna again at Nokia's Your Wish My App (#YWMA) event. It is always such a pleasure to meet him. A very warm person, he always makes you feel as if your are the celebrity. And in the same event, we also happened to meet the "India's King of Gaming" Vishal Gondal and the popular TV presenter Rajiv Makhni. In case you missed our post about this event, click here to read it now. 
January 2014 again saw some brilliant posts from our guests. Yakshesh Rao's heartbreaking photo-essay about the devastation of the magnificent Gorton Castle in Shimla leaves one speechless. Such an important historical structure being brought to its knees by fire in a matter of hours leaves one wondering about the constancy of the world we exist in today. If you haven't read this story still, we recommend that you do it right away. Click here to read it.
Arvinder Singh Rooparai's mesmerizing representation of Delhi through his lens is a visual delight. His brilliant compositions are unique. Delhi is a photographer's delight but Arvinder adds another layer to it and depicts the Delhi very few of us are familiar with. Each photograph is a peek into a new Delhi, a unique Delhi. Each photograph has a soul of its own. Now without further ado, click here to read this post. 
Most of our regular readers will be able to recognize this name - Monidipa Dey. She is one of our regular contributors. And once again, this month, she is back with a delightful little account of Mussourie presented in a colourful palette, with some of the rare views captured through her expert camera. The story celebrates the spiritual side of Mussourie and its heritage, and skillfully avoids the overhyped tourist spots. Another must-read! Click here to read it now. 
To sum the month up, following are some statistics:
Total number of stories in January 2014: 29
Total number of page views till date: More than 17,97,000
Total number of page views in January 2014: More than 57,000
And last but not the least, the valentine month has just begun. To begin the celebrations, we will leave you with a small nazrana, some tips to create your own Valentine cards. Do let us know if you found these helpful!
Till the next time...
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