An Unforgettable Journey - A Photography Excursion to Ramnagar, Uttarakhand
Embarking on an exciting photography expedition from our school in Gurugram to Jim Corbett National Park, a lively group of students, led by the cheerful guidance of our mentor Vipul Sir, added an extra layer of fun to our journey. Ishaan, Aadit, Siddharth, Adaa, Aadita, Siyona, Anaya, and Ayaansh, armed with cameras and enthusiasm, made the mini-bus come alive with laughter and games Vipul Sir’s spirit led to spontaneous games like Atlas and Antakshari. Divided into four teams, each game brought out the competitive yet playful side of the students. Much to everyone’s amusement, Vipul Sir’s team appeared victorious every time, creating a friendly rivalry and a lot of good-natured banter.
It was a cold day and there was slight fog on the road. Our driver uncle was driving very carefully. He stopped at one place for tea, where the view of the river Yamuna, with a big tree and fog in the backdrop was amazing.
The stop at Bikanerwala in Gajraula not only satisfied our cravings but also served as a backdrop for sharing tales of photography by each student. The games not only added a touch of fun but also strengthened the friendship among the students, turning the journey into a memorable adventure filled with both learning and laughter.
Energized by the lively games and delicious sandwiches, the group continued its journey towards Jim Corbett National Park, our spirits were high and the company stronger than ever. Now I hand over the documentary to Aadita. – That was Ishaan (Advanced Batch, Grade 9)
We reached our resort at around 1 PM. We were greeted with the nice sharbat made of flowers of bottle brush plant. The resort was big, nice and clean. We were assigned our rooms, where we settled, and proceeded for lunch.
It was afternoon after lunch, when everyone was exhausted because of the tiring but fun-filled journey in the bus from Gurugram to Ramnagar. After taking rest in the resort we got our cameras ready for photography.
PANNING : The first pictures we clicked were of panning. We realized the connected balcony of all of our rooms had a colourful floor. The colourful floor was perfect for panning. Therefore, sir got his drone and we clicked many panning pictures.
MACRO PHOTOGRAPHY : Some of the students had a macro lens. With the macro lens we captured leaves and flowers with dew drops on them. For the students who didn’t have a macro lens, they used sir’s macro lens.
CAPTURING SHADOWS: When an opaque object or material is placed in the path of rays of light then a shadow is formed. When there was a setting Sun, using sunlight coming from an angle, sir used his hands to make shadows of animals on the wall and we tried to capture them. It was such a fun activity. We also clicked the motion blur of a wet rotating tennis ball.- That was Aadita (Basic Batch, Grade 6)
Ever wondered who the most beautiful creatures in the world are? There might be many strong contenders for this position but, personally I’d say birds are one of the most awe striking and interesting creatures in the world. And I was dying to be a part of this trip to cover them.
We woke up at 5am with high hopes to see birds and those hopes were perfectly met because we didn’t see anything less than we expected. We saw a total of 20 different species including the Indian Roller and the mighty Common Rosefinch. The morning chill was nerve wrecking but couldn’t deter as we took out our cameras from the bags and started clicking photos of the birds. We managed to spot Spotted Doves, a Greater Coucal, Steppe Eagle, Indian Roller, Black-rumped Flameback, 5 Plum- headed Parakeets, including two species of drongos and three species of bulbuls, Himalayan, Red- whiskered and Red-vented. There were many Scaly-breasted Munias as well. Our group was full of skilled photographers capturing unimaginably good photos. Two members including me were carrying 200mm lenses and our instructor Mr Vipul sir was also carrying his 500mm lens with his Nikon camera.
This wasn’t just a birding session, it was a whole trek full with all kinds of adventures. Sir had also brought along his canon 7d with a macro lens and we were able to capture stunning close ups of insects, spiders and flowers. After we were done with watching birds we carried on trying to see more birds and different insects and people in a different part of the trek. We managed to see different people busy with their own separate lives.
It was the best opportunity to do street photography. We made a friend on the journey, a village dog. We named him Chunky, I know, a bit weird for a dog, but he was super nice. We walked us through the entire trek, later during the trek we came across a farming field with many scarecrows. But it looked like the scarecrows were really bad at doing their jobs because we were lucky enough to see many birds sitting on top of them. We were guided through the entire journey by our naturalist mentor Mr Prashant sir. He helped us identify the Common Rosefinch and many insects. We also saw his favourite Vijay Mallya bird (Common Kingfisher), a funny name he gave to the kingfisher after the ex company owner’s name.
Overall the trek and this whole half day experience was a very refreshing start to the day and this was way better than all I had expected. – That was Aadit (Advanced Batch, Grade 9)
After our birding session, we came back to the resort and had our breakfast. We took half an hour rest after which we proceeded to the next leg of our amazing journey, a Village walk.
For me the village walk was a really fun experience as I understood how people in the village of Ramnagar lived and got to click moments that will make me remember this trip forever.
We did a lot of things during our walk in Ramnagar, amongst which was clicking portraits of the villagers. Some of them showed no interest in getting themselves clicked, but once we showed them the result, they thoroughly enjoyed the attention of us photographers. We made sure to ask for their permission before taking their pictures.
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- Taking permission to shoot
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- Showing clicked pictures
There were lots of flora and fauna there and we saw many different plants and birds and insects.
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- Is it a dog?
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- An insect in making
During the village walk, we also met the cutest most adorable dog in the world who we (Siddharth) named ‘Chunky Monkey’. He followed us around the whole village for over an hour. Some of us were scared of him, but I think he is one of the best dogs ever. He stayed with us till we left the village.
We also clicked different scenes. This one is my favourite. It has a few cows, standing in front of a hut with smoke arising from behind them. In this picture the cow is looking directly into the camera, that’s why its my favourite.
We spent a good three to four hours in the village and left with so many happy memories – That was Siyona (Basic batch, Grade 7)
This is my (Ayaansh’s) part of the documentary of our trip to the Corbett National Park, Uttarakhand. On Day 2 (18/12/23, Monday) we went to many places, my part was to document the trip of Corbett Falls and the Jim Corbbet Museum which was also his winter house. We set out to the bus after lunch at around 14:30 to 15:00 after a small 30-minute break. During our bus journey to the Falls, we went through a small jungle. When we reached Corbett Falls, we were greeted by a huge sign with Corbett Falls written on the top. After entering the bus again, we went near the falls and set out on a small hike. On our small journey we went on a bridge and saw fish in the small lake created by the waterfall which was up ahead. When we reached the main area from where we could see the falls clearly, we set up our tripods and began clicking the motion blurs and stopping the motion of the waterfall. While trying to take a photo from a height, as my tripod was quite small as I am a beginner and use a basic tripod, my camera ended up falling, but it was saved as nothing major broke. During the visit I felt very satisfied with my photos, I also revised what we learnt in our classes about motion blur and stopping the movement. On our way back we were not allowed to click pictures because we were in a hurry as we had to ensure that we reached the museum before closing time.
Our journey to the museum was around 15 to 20 minutes long. Our guide Prashant Sir who has been working with the national park for about 14 years, gave a briefing about how to behave inside the museum as it was Jim Corbett and his sister’s winter house. We had to take our shoes off outside to keep it clean. Inside the museum, we saw many things and photos. We read about Jim Corbett’s family and his jobs. Prashant Sir told us a story about how F.E.G William, India’s first photographer and his friends one day went to a lake and started killing ducks for fun, in the end the colour of the lake went from blueish- clear to red. They all decided that they will not kill animals anymore and they became conservationists. We also heard a story about, F.E.G Williams, who was hiding in a bush near a river and ended up clicking a photo with 6 tigers and 1 white tiger, it was a natural incident, and he did not lure the tigers. As Jim Corbett was a carpenter, he had made all the wood furniture for his house. He served in the military and had also written many books. In his part of the house, he had a gun rack which is now empty. As Jim Corbett was a dog lover, he had a dog, Robin, who was his best friend. Robin also helped him in catching animals. He had another dog, Rosina. Outside their house, were two graves that are Robin and Rosina’s graves.
Before leaving for the resort, we tried some panning shots by the road side. – That was Ayaansh (Basic Batch, Grade 6)
At around 6:45PM, we did an activity with Steel Wool and a big RGB light. We clicked motion blur, light trail and motion freeze. Me, Ishaan and Aadit set up our tripods for us and for other students. When we clicked the light trail of the steel wool, it looked like something out of Dr. Strange. We did many different experiments with both steel wool and the big light. And the results were mind blowing. The next 50 minutes we kept experimenting with both steel wool and the light. After we were done, we packed our stuff and went for dinner.
It was 7:35PM by the time we reached the dining hall. For dinner we had a whole lot of various items to choose from. There was Clear Veg Soup, Salad, Steamed Rice, Flat Bread, Naan, Paneer ki Sabzi, Noodles, and Butter Chicken. The meal was simple yet delicious. Me, and my friends all enjoyed our dinner thoroughly.
After dinner we were given our phones to talk to our parents, relatives and friends. Then at 8:00PM we all went to our rooms, some of us talked to each other about things, some of us did some photography and some even took a nap.
Then at 10:00PM we went to sleep towards the final day of our journey. Ahead of us lied the true meaning of this trip, this trip was not about how or where to click photographs, but it was about why you want to click them. Now that we all had our fun, it was time to go home the next day. – That was Siddharth (Advanced Batch, Grade 7)
I had to document a specific time which was Day 3 morning to departure time. So, in the morning we went to click dew drop pictures.
After that everyone clicked reflection pictures with Arunima ma’am. Now, it was time for breakfast. Everyone was there except Ayaansh, who was still sleeping!! After breakfast we went to rest in our rooms for a bit and then at around 9:30AM we had another shoot with the crystal ball. We also tried another angle with reflection for which Aadita and Siyona were modelling for the people clicking the pictures.
As soon as the photo shoot was over we went to another park and our picture was clicked using a drone. Lastly, we went in our rooms and packed up our suitcases and bags to leave. At last, I clicked a picture of everyone before we left the resort for return journey. – That was Adaa (Basic Batch, Grade 6)
After checkout, the bags were loaded in the bus, and we settled for the return journey. We were all looking forward to share details of our journey and what we learnt, with our parents. We started at around 11:30AM. When we settled in, some of us started to listen to music while others slept or just looked out of the window. We played the game ATLAS (continents, towns, cities, countries themed).
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