The zmas latest ride from the urban jungles of Mumbai to through the arid terrain of Gujarat till the Great Indian desert and back.. hop on board with ace lensman Mehul Gohil as he takes you through this very picturesque journey filled with a hot cultural blend of colours, kms and the open road called life!

Sunday, July 16, 2006

I still vividly remember the day when someone gifted Dad a kodak digital camera. Boy!! The word digital at that time sounded damn weird. Until the day, then dad taught us how these futuristic cams will be like! The foremost thing that came in mind or rather struck was that these cams are without the fuss of rolls, we can take n no of pix & most important of all, we can get to see what we shot instantly!! How cool eh!wow.. I mean those 6 yrs back our imagination was limited to our simple roll cams.

Outside the world was advancing....
And until, this li’l thing came home we were already getting excited. Besides becoming proud owners of a digicam, the only one to be in the entire colony was of course a great deal and something gossipy enough to talk of to friends n neighbours. Soon after, we were relishing the camera indoors, as the only problem associated with it then was batteries. Even with the help of the powerful duracells, the cam could manage a meager 5-6 pix worth a megapixel( n nowadays we boast how many mps u have!!)..even those 5-6 pix would be taken at snails pace, and making the camera hotter during the process. Nevertheless, it was a digital after all. The years kept going , the cam remained in its place, usage being ok-ok as the only place we could afford to shoot was just at home!!

By that time, my patience was also thinning out n Dad bought me a compact Nikon with zoom!! wow.. My first Nikon ie..which I used to excellent effect ranging from the heat of gujrat to the fogs in the Himalayas, until a day it was lost! I was aghast with anger as so many awesome photographs were lost.. But that’s where it began in me how to keep moving on in this photography world.. Finally came my cellphone whose 1.3 cam I used to awesome effect shootin pix n videos for a year n all this continued to fuel the craze to click pix & it had to manifest in something big one day. Dad ofcourse was getting cognizant of my urge to click around. So this big happened and had to happen in the form of Nikon only, and the manifestation was in form of the coolpix 8800, the daddy of the Nikon digital range! Mann.. I remember the patience with which I awaited to receive it in Gujarat as it was a hot selling model the day it hit stores atleast in Mumbai. And finally when I had it in my hands, I had already started to operate on digital with the Sony DSCT33 which also turned out to be a phenomenal cam. So there I was in the digital age, with memories of the film past completely behind me n roaring to go ahead with Digital. Woohoo.. That’s how Sony also became one of my fav photography brand. So by the time my Nikon came in my hands, Sony did an awesome job.

Finally, one very hot Gujrati afternoon my baby Nikon arrived n I was upbeat as I had every reason to be.. After some very careful research from websites n making careful notes, the CP8800 was in front of my eyes. But I never knew until that moment that it wasn’t a SLR! Coz I always believed that these new age digitals(ones looking alike the 8800) are all SLRS!! I wanted to have one that takes pix khachak khachak n not this autofocus thing & it wasn’t until I realized that both these genre of cams are a world apart, except for the convenience that both offer when shooting. That’s when everything in the mind cleared & after doing a photography course it was even more clear & I was finally onto something atleast.. This atleast meant even more when I first clicked more than 10000 pix in under a very few months. The thing with digitals is u can click around as much as you want & I must admit that these 10000 were more or less frivolous, but a few of em are my all time favorites!! I guess that’s how it goes. As of now, I think I have taken more than 30000 pix on the cam!! Now that’s called use, yet I have to put it to optimum use. I hope I keep doing it.


It was one defining moment during my last year at college that made me love these deegees. There was this college group who wanted to take a group shot & there wasn’t anyone around to take a shot. Luckily as shutterbugs find shutterbugs, I was there, took the pic & ended up loving the Fuji that was. And the rest is history. Actually it wasn’t about clicking & clicking, its all about how neatly you convey what you see through the eye & want to convey it to the world! Gone are those 6 years, a lot has changed & now for half the price of my camera DSLRS r available!! I still don’t believe one great n interesting thing..


But what I learnt through my Nikon is that photographers want action n that’s what digital cameras cant take many a times coz of the autofocus thing. At night its best forgotten with shutterlags becoming a habit with almost all digital users. Except in daylight when theres ample light n clickin isn’t a problem. Apart from this, I think slrs are the answer to budding n creative shutterbugs like us! Be it beauty or something grime or something so attractive that we wanna shoot, the trick is to make best use of whatever mega pixel cam u have n then move on to higher things. I am now used to seeing 8 mp stuff, I definitely want something bigger. D200 was on the mind, but I hope there comes a D80 by Nikon!! Ah..as we say nowadays, anyway…or the better, lets see!! What say???

One things for sure, the right thing on the right spot n here means a proper SLR.

n yes feel absolutely free to contact me at wassupnews@gmail.com.

DECIDE, EXECUTE AND ENJOY…”

...With every new venture, every step taken forward come loads of expectations, dreams start running amock wild in your brain, faster than the speed of light I suppose n in the end comes a backing to do the job properly! So that’s why I am here with this wassupnews blog. As the title goes n it will catch up on you after a couple of days, this space is definitely something unique as you all shall find out in the couple of months. So initially m putting up some of my very personal notes which I feel should be put up.

As a writer its foremost to keep in mind that one doesn’t bore others by writing all common stuff which goes on in our lives daily. So I will be trying my best to avoid it, but its you readers who will be grateful to critique me every now n then. Somewhere I feel my writings gonna definitely improve by every day that shall go & I hope that its like that. Putting up a blog is no big a deal & as nowadays am doing nothing & still unemployed n uneducated, I thot I will laze around here on the web with you all..discussing whatever I can, what say??


"Somewhere in me I have dreams,

Somewhere I have to begin,

So I thought why not start with this blog thing,

Which is in!!"

I would be more than glad to receive your bouquets n brickbats..:)


Friday, July 14, 2006

Hallo friends...Welcome to one of the most exciting blogs ever as i throw open my writers life to ya all..wait for a couple of days b4 this is finally online..

Cheeers:)
Mehul.