Recently, I purchased a 75mm-300mm telephoto lens for my DSLR. Eager to click, I set out with my kit. I clicked a lot of pics, hundreds of pics on my first two outings with it. I got some good shots. Clicking pics like the ones above, is not called ‘stalking’. I knew about this as I had Googled earlier, but here are the rules if you do not know:
1. If you are in a public place that does not explicitly prohibit photography, you are free to shoot anything and anyone. However, you may not shoot people especially kids if they are engaged in sexual activities.

2. You do not violate human rights of anyone by taking their photographs without permission. This really means that you are violating their freedom of privacy, which honestly does not exist anywhere beyond their homes and private indoor spaces.

3. You do not violate their privacy if you click their photos in a public space. There is no right to privacy in a public place, with the exceptions of public toilets. Talk of CCTV cameras in public places!

4. You however need to ensure that you are allowed to take photographs on the land you or your subjects are standing.

5. You do not harass anyone by taking their photographs. However, repeatedly and deliberately chasing a person around clicking photos is considered harassment.

6. You do not need the subjects’ permissions to publish the photographs, unless it is for a commercial purpose.

7. Publishing photographs of people with captions could land you in trouble if you misidentify the subject or if the caption is unduly mocking or in false light.

Read some more rules here: http://www.krages.com/phoright.htm

This, for the United States, perhaps one of the more liberal countries. For other nations, it is best to look up the rules and social customs. Even in the US, laws differ slightly for each state: for example in Texas, you cannot take a picture if it is for someone’s sexual gratification, like a shot on a nude beach!

In general, it is not illegal to take pictures of people in public settings. If I go to the Mumbai Marathon as a photographer, I cannot possibly ask permission from each and every of the hundreds of runners! It is still the best and the safest to ask people if you can click their picture, in my tiny history, I have got a 100% positive response.

So it all began from Denver on a clear Saturday morning. A malfunctioning phone charging point in the rented car, meant we got a free upgrade to a Volvo S60. Till then, I had only traveled in Volvo buses. But this, was pleasure to the ass!

Colorado is beautiful. The landscape is heavenly, and empty roads add just another level of charm.

This place, was our first stop: Steamboat Springs. It is one of the most famous Ski Towns in the US. At an altitude of 6500 feet, it is a very very pretty little town.

It was getting quite difficult to take pictures with so much sunshine. We literally had to grab any opportunity with clouds covering the sun!

Steamboat Springs is named so because one of the black sulphur springs here sounded like a chugging steamboat to early settlers. Thanks to some landscaping and construction, that sound has almost disappeared.

Even a town with barely 8000 people, had perhaps the best Indian restaurant I have so far been to in the United States. It was also the largest, the spiciest and played the best music inside (AR Rahman!!!!).

This is me and Patrik Da, in perhaps the one standard pose I click of myself wherever I travel! This, is Vail. At 8000 odd feet above sea it is yet another ski resort, highly commercialised, and built in a pretty European style.

When the snow is not enough for skiing, some other activities are biking, or golf…

Anando and Patrik Da, with the bigger da… Einstein Da!

A brilliantly worked out 2 days trip, covering over 500 kms and traveling over highways at an altitude of 11,000 feet, this was a superb trip. I cannot thank Patrik Da enough for this :) Btw, he calls me Anando… ask me why? He also becomes the only other person after Roshnai to understand my camera and take my pictures :)

Patrik Da, I could not capture the hours we spent in the Strawberry Hot Water Springs bathing and jumping around the hot water pools and the cold water river, or the awesome photography sessions we had by the pseudo railway station and in Vail, or those tiny little towns like “Bond” and State Bridge… but I can surely leave this blog to aptly end with this song… (click here)

Seen at the Millennium Park

 
Polish Rally at Grant Park. 1 of every 12 Americans is of Polish descent.

 
The North side of downtown Chicago, from Grant Park

 
Seen at the Millennium Park

Seen at the Millennium Park

 
People try to do different things and come up with some very creative poses that involve themselves and the Bean in the background.

 
But the really amazing ones are the “right-after-marriage” photoshoots at the Bean!

Michigan Avenue, The Magnificent Mile

Finally I got a day of no rain to visit downtown, and I could not resist visiting the Signature Lounge on the 96th floor of John Hancock Tower.

 
This is the view to the South of John Hancock Tower. The Aon Center and Prudential Plaza are prominently visible.

From 1000 ft above ground, this view is to the South-West of John Hancock Tower. The rightmost skyscraper is Willis Tower, a little off the center is Trump Tower (the second tallest building in the world having residences), and to the left is the Aon Center. Chicago is a city of skyscrapers, and some amazing architecture! For more on Chicago’s architecture, click here.

Pretty, aren’t they?

This, on my third visit to Chicago.

This also happens to be my first post from the iPod touch.

My first impression of SFO was “Wow! What a beautiful city!” and I would say I am happy to stick with that. A city that has both hills and sea, is truly a gifted place to be. People say that the weather in California is amongst the best in the United States. The ample warm sunshine was a pleasant break from the cold Chicago. Lovely tree lined streets, nice breeze, lots of people on the street, awesome street side food, great entertainment, excellent public transport, lots of Mexican babes… are just few of the many things that come to my mind when I think back of San Francisco… :)

The flight from Chicago to San Francisco is more than 4 hours long, but flies over some of the most beautiful landscape like the Rocky Mountains…

San Francisco City, as seen from the Marin Headlands (other side of the Golden Gate Bridge)…

The Golden Gate Bridge, is by far the most recognisable landmark of San Francisco… I actually wanted to see this bridge engulfed in clouds, and thought I was unlucky, though Sudeep thought the other way and said that I was lucky to be able to see across the  bay!

San Francisco, like much of the Bay Area, is a hilly city with more than 50 hills within city limits. Though being a planned city with roads looking like lines of a well defined grid, they go up and down, and are quite painful to walk around!

The SFO cable car system is the world’s last permanently operational manually-operated cable car system and is an icon of San Francisco, says Wikipedia…

The Embarcadero is the eastern waterfront and a major road that runs along the San Francisco Port, and Bay. It is one of the most beautiful parts of the city, with the sea and the pier on one side and the downtown on the other. Trees and trams run along the street on one side, while cyclists and joggers fill up the sea side of the Embarcadero…

The Navy Pier is a great place for people to spend some time with themselves, calm and serene, with tons of fresh air and sunlight (when the clouds are not around)…

The Navy Pier contains a number of restaurants and coffee shops and attract a pool of people who like to relax in the open…

Don’t I like taking pics of my feet?!?

This is the Bay Bridge that connects SFO to Oakland, is a double-decker bridge that has one of the longest spans in the world.

This statue of Gandhi is mired in controversies… and may not look as pretty or picturesque from all angles.

It was a weekend trip, but the total time I was in SFO was not more than 18 hours… I did miss a lot of places but the fun really was in walking the streets in downtown and exploring some of the little known corners :). I would really like to thank Sudeep for driving me around the town, and letting me put up with him at his place… Only after coming back to Chicago did I realise that Google’s HQs were just a stone’s throw away from where he stays!

The above wallpaper is for widescreen monitors (1280 x 800p). Those who wish for a regular (1024 x 768p) click here.

You may find it sad, but that is how I am feeling right now~
Happy November.