I had seen street signs pointing to this church before; there are so many beautiful churches in Paris that I never thought about going there. Last year, as I sat chatting with a friend over dinner, he casually mentioned Sainte-Chapelle and its beautiful stained glass windows. I have been able to visit it a couple of times since then.

A little history here: Sainte-Chapelle was built between 1242 and 1248 to house the relics of Passion of Christ by the king, Louis IX (later beatified as Saint Louis). Sainte-Chapelle and the Conciergerie, are the only visible remains of the oldest palace of kings of France.

The building houses two sanctuaries – the lower chapel, for the palace staff and the upper chapel, for the king and his close friends and family. The upper chapel is airy, monumental and exquisitely decorated with sculptures and thin lattice framework supporting the stained glass till the ceiling. In every home, there is usually a personal place of worship and/or meditation; Sainte-Chapelle was the royal palatine chapel for Louis IX.

I have tried to record the architecture details, the XIIIth century stained glass, and the beauty that I see in Sainte-Chapelle. Photos are slowly being added to be viewed as a slide show in my Sainte-Chapelle gallery. But, photographs do not always do justice.

Hopefully, when you visit Paris, you will able to experience Sainte-Chapelle for yourself. Happy travels!

I found this lamp post in the center of Paris on a misty night. A young romantic had painted the heartfelt emotions to be lit up every night. J’adore Paris!

Last night, I photographed these as I walked home. The photograph of the commuter in a hat and overcoat looked like a painting to me – not perfect but has a mood to it.

Where do I go?

A couple hundred meters further down the street, I photographed another cyclist :

Paris commuter at night

To see these in bigger size as a slide show, please check this link: Paris commuters at night

Now, my questions to you: Which one appeals to you more? Why?
Do you care to share your views or any thoughts on the perceived third dimension in a photograph?

I met Tony Riga on the banks of the Seine in Paris, France.

"My identity"

It was a beautiful evening in Paris and I was out walking along Seine with my camera when I saw a man with a fantastic painted mask posing for pictures with two friends. Introducing myself, I offered to take their picture. I spoke little french and they spoke little English.  After taking a couple of pictures, the friends of Tony left.

Language aside, we were able to communicate.  Here are a couple of portraits from the photo session with Tony who it later turned out is a multi-talented person with many interests.  Tony self-painted this beautiful Guyanese face mask as well.

"Holding my thoughts"

"Within reach"

I have many wonderful pictures from the session with Tony that I hope to share at a later time.

Thank you Tony for being there for my camera!

The ride on the motorcycle, a converted Yamaha RX100, was a great feeling, as usual, a slow ride with no helmet.  With the warm dusty breeze on my face as I rode along, I reached the rocky terrain at the slopes of Gwalior Fort.

The local Jain community has worked wonders around the monument, having cleaned and landscaped the whole area.  Gardens have sprung up around the base of the Fort, with walls built to harvest rainwater, to irrigate the trees that have been planted.  The area is very clean, quite a contrast to what I had seen before.   I also had to take off my shoes as the community deems it to be a religious holy place.  So, I walked up the small but arduous climb barefoot on the path, landscaped with rough cut stones and cement.  My feet were burning as I stepped on the stones but happily, I climbed to the monument, in anticipation of photographing the beautiful sculptures.

As I reached the monument, I was impressed.  The statues have been cleaned and well-maintained.  There are twenty six statues of Jain Tirthankars in various upright and seated positions.  There is a mention of the monuments being built around 1424 a.d. under the reign of Tomar King Dungar Singh in an inscription in one of the caves.  Built between 1398-1536 by kings of Tomar dynasty, these are quite a spectacle to behold.

Ek Patthar ki baori is in the first cave, a water reservoir carved out of a single stone.  Honey bees swarmed around as I peeked into the locked baori.  As I photographed the details of the statues, a group of pilgrims came up to pray.  I quickly took a couple of photos to show the scale of the statues.

The largest idol of Bhagwan Parshwanath seated on a Lotus is the largest single stone carved statue in the world.  It is 47 feet high and 30 feet wide and extremely difficult to photograph in its entirety.  More on this later…

Here is a photograph of the row of statues as seen from an opening in the rock…

]]> http://www.naharas.com/blog/2009/03/gopachal-parvat-gwalior-fort-ek-patthar-ki-baori/feed/ 2 http://www.naharas.com/blog/2008/01/happy-new-year-2008/ http://www.naharas.com/blog/2008/01/happy-new-year-2008/#comments Wed, 02 Jan 2008 07:04:19 +0000 Nitish http://www.naharas.com/blog/2008/01/happy-new-year-2008/

On the threshold of a new year
Reflections of a year past come by
to find a place on my memory shelf
My heart eagerly embraces the hope
the new dawns yet to come
Time paddles on
unmindful of many a
dawns and inevitable dusks
creating ripples that will jostle
for a place on my memory shelf
Another stroke of paddle
tells me to look around
enjoy the ride
‘cos it will be a memorable one.

Wishing you a happy, memorable New Year!

These photos are from a dance performance called “Tale of a Tree” performed by the talented dancers from Shiri Dance Company.  I love the theatrical lighting on the dancers. All these photos are shot handheld without flash.

(“Dilemma” featuring Kriti Achia of Shiri Dance Company)

(“Love Dance” featuring Preeti Sunderajan of Shiri Dance company)

Maybe one day, I will get a grant to pursue my photography projects too.

Driving on the road, my brother and I saw this group of horses on the hill.
My brother says -”wow brother! this is cool. You should take a picture of this. ”
And I want to stop too. So I ask – “Well, may I?”
W are on our way somewhere and I feel bad stopping in the middle.

So, I stop, take a few pictures and start back on the road. I am stopped at the traffic light when I see the horses running. The camera and the lens is still handy and I quickly shot three frames before the light turned green. I really wished I was not in the middle lane stopping the traffic.

I remember a poster I saw way back when in college which said – “To get the most out of life, paddle slowly.” Most of the times, it is not the destination but the journey that matters, don’t you think?