If you are a frequent visitor to this site, you can always peruse the
What's New at varp.net, to find out
about the latest trips that we have taken.
Travelogues & Guides
|
|
Welcome to the photography website of Vijoy and Rachna, a photographer couple working out
of South San Jose, in the greater San Francisco Bay Area region. They have been photographing
landscapes, cityscapes and contemporary man-nature interactions for the past 10+ years,
and have exhaustively covered a large number of US and Canadian National Parks, US cities
and Regions, Central Europe and some cities of India.
Our website has been categorized into two main (and related) sections - Photography and Travel.
The photography section contains an exhibition of
some of our favorite photographs from over 20,000 images in our stock portfolio.
You can purchase fine art photography prints from the
galleries, or ask permission for non-profit use in web pages, by
sending us an email. Additionally, that section has
articles on learning how to photograph and primers and cookbooks on managing large photography collections.
|
Travelogues & Guides
|
|
Writing travelogues of your trips is an excellent idea if you can bring
yourself to do it. Not only does it give other potential visitors a chance
to read about the place and plan accordingly, it also serves
as a diary of your own trips which you might find very intriguing to read
after a couple of years.
The travelogues on this website also range from the comprehensive
(Germany) to the minimalistic (
Lake Tahoe region).
Photos on this website have been arranged by the region visited, a
categorization that also appears on the left hand side menu. Broadly, the
images and travelogues are arranged as Europe (Germany, Switzerland
and Austria), Canada (Banff and Jasper National Parks, Vancouver, Ottawa
and the Niagara Falls), US National Parks (mostly in California and Utah),
US Regions (States and Cities), and India (my hometown of Calcutta and
Rachna's home town of Bhopal). A short blurb appears in the list below
describing what is available on each page - whether just pictures or photographs
plus travel information.
|
|
The thumbnail index below, as well as the images themselves, may appear
fuzzy or low-res. This is intentional, and also a by-product of not
reducing the image in high-quality. The originals from these galleries
are immaculate and razor sharp. Please
email me if you have any specific questions about any image.
|
Central Europe
|
|
Germany (Bavaria), Switzerland (Appenzell) & Austria
September 2-13, 2003
Castles, churches, chocolates and cheese -
A trip through Germany,
Switzerland and Austria. For our first trip into this continent,
we rented a car and drove through Bavaria
into eastern Switzerland
and then cut across the heart of Austria
from Innsbruck through Salzburg, to Vienna. Lindau, Lucerne and
Innsbruck were the favorites.
|
Photographs & Info
|
|
Banff and Jasper National Parks, Alberta, Canada
August 19-24, 2004
The Canadian Rockies -
By far the most fascinating natural splendour I have ever experienced in my lifetime. In the middle of August, Banff National Park was teaming with tourists and tourist buses, but at the same time managed to provide places of extreme solitude. Jasper National Park was more rustic, peaceful and rugged. It rained uncontrollably for a day and drizzled naggingly for 3 of our 5 day stay. Nonetheless, these parks provided an exceptional experience.
|
Photographs & Info
|
|
Oh Canada!
March 16-18, 2001
November 11-18, 2002
In recent times, we have either been to Vancouver for visa related issues, or
to Ottawa, for Nortel related work. Combined with these trips have been detours
to Whistler, Toronto and Niagara Falls (the Canadian side).
|
Photos & Travelogue
|
|
Death Valley National Park
July 7-8, 2001
March 11-13, 2004
Death Valley National Park
The first trip we made to Death Valley was in the middle of summer,
when the place was deserted and temperatures soared to 118 F. Thunderstorms
struck the valley late afternoon, giving us the spookiest experience of our
lifetime. The second trip was in mid-March. Temperatures were a pleasant
85 F, and the sky was crystal blue. Tourists and photographers were flocking
to every nook and corner of the park.
|
Photographs & Info
|
|
Bryce Canyon and Zion Canyon National Park
December 16-19, 2002
December 24-29, 2001
We have visited Zion Canyon and Bryce Canyon twice,
making it a ritual for every time that
we visit Las Vegas, or is it the other way around? Being a warm-blooded
Desi and being unprepared for any kind of snow, it was an arduous
task pointing the camera at anything. The last time around, we followed the
biggest Pacific winter storm of 2002-2003 which drenched us at Kings Canyon,
and dropped snow at Zion and Bryce for 2 days.
|
Photos & Travelogue
|
|
Redwood National Park
July 3-6, 2002
Redwood National and State Parks, California
Coupled with Lassen Volcanic National National Park, Redwood has been the
most serene experience I have had. Lush Velvia countryside, the mighty
Pacific, the imposing redwood trees, and the sparse (tourist) population
made it a trip to remember.
|
Photos & Travelogue
|
|
Point Reyes National Seashore
April 20-21, 2002
Point Reyes National Seashore, California
The good - fabulous wildflowers in April, excellent opportunities to go
tidepooling and discover the marine world naturally. The bad - loud Bay Area
tourists who consider it to be their backyard picnic ground. If it is the
rugged Pacific coastline you are looking for, I would suggest either the
Pacific Northwest (Northern California or Oregon) or the Big Sur coastline.
|
Photographs only
|
|
The Windy City - Chicago, Illinois
June 7-11, 2005
Chicago, Illinois
Sparkling, beautiful, hot and humid.
|
Photos & Travelogue
|
|
Sin City - Las Vegas, Nevada
December 24-29, 2001
December 15-21, 2002
Las Vegas, Nevada
Disneyland for adults. Everything is fake, but you like it anyway. The first
trip is always impressive, especially if you drive in at night from Arizona
along I-15. There is a point when you descend from the rolling hills around
15 minutes east of Vegas, and the sprawling city just emerges from the darkness
in front of you.
|
Photographs only
|
|
East Coast - New York, New York, and Washington DC
December 8-16, 2003
A Quick One through Washington DC,
New York and an hour in Boston.
Nortel shipped me across to the East Coast to attend a DARPA sponsored
IPv6 Summit in Washington DC. After spending 5 days at the conference,
we slipped in 2 days for New York City, covering the touristy spots, and
then drove on to Providence and Boston, to meet a friend.
|
Photographs only
|
|
North-East California
September 1-3, 2001
May 24-26, 2003
These are by far the most peaceful National Parks in my experience.
In addition to the intriguing geology of Lava Beds and the tranquil
lakes of Lassen Volcanic, there is also the picturesue Klamath Wildlife
Refuge which spans a large chunk of the north-eastern border between
California and Oregon.
|
Photos & Info
|
|
Sierra Nevada, California
Any chance we get
A region that Ansel Adams, John Muir and countless others made famous is
now just 4 hours from my neck of the woods. The drawback is that you shoot
one cliché after another, even though the vistas never fail to impress.
Proximity has also bred indifference, which is why slides go unscanned and
travelogues go unwritten year after year.
|
Photographs only
|
|
Calcutta (Kolkata), India
|
Photos & Info
|
|
Los Angeles and Southern California
Most of the time
Los Angeles has always been associated with everything glamorous.
For its completely non-glamorous and socially dead sister, the San
Francisco Bay Area, LA has served as a weekend getaway for quite some time.
Proof? If you look at traffic flowing in and out of CA-152, there is always
a traffic snarl towards Los Anegeles on Friday nights; never towards the
Bay Area.
|
Photos & Info
|
|
San Francisco and Bay Area
Anytime, All the time
|
Photos & Info
|
|
Central Pacific Coast
Anytime, All the time
|
|
