Journal Image » Car

A few tips and suggestions for long cross country driving

Ranjay Mitra — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 01:07:44 +0000

NOTE: We have moved to Journalimage.com from Feb 2008. Please visit us on the new site & update your bookmarks.

After 2 cross country drives, it does not amaze me to hear from my readers on their interest to do similar long hauls. Many of you have followed my narrative on the cross country drive from California to New York and have asked for my tips and suggestions. I have updated the Travel section of photoduniya.com with as much detail as possible. I shall quickly mention a few of the main points here too:

Check and re check your vehicle. Check for tire gauge, tire pressure, lubricants, alignments and the electrical circuits.
If you are carrying heavy load in your car, distribute the weight more towards the center of the vehicle. We carried about 600 pounds with us, but we balanced the weight systematically so that driving in the snow, or steep gradients or turns was never a problem either on the wheels or on the driver.
If you are planning to drive in winter, be prepared for bad road conditions. The image below is from a normal day in Jackson Hole on the Teton Pass, where there is almost always snow and ice on a 10 degree steep narrow road.

Teton Pass on WY-22

Take time to enjoy the scenery outside and stop to take pictures and say Hello to someone local. These sort of drives are hardly done once and rarely done twice in a lifetime. So enjoy as much as you can.
Keep your body hydrated and fed correctly. A sick body and an empty stomach could be fatal when driving for long distances over a period of week. Keep water, juices and some dry food in your car.
Keep a friend or a relative posted of your drive. One of our family friend had constantly kept in contact with us during the entire drive, making sure that we are safe and forewarning us of any sudden changes to the weather ahead.
Keep your camera handy and take as many pictures as you can. They would be your memories long after you have finished your trip!

If this has encouraged you to take on a similar long distance drive, go ahead and enjoy. Share your route and trip so that we could possibly plan for something similar.

Second cross country driving – Day 2 California to New York

Ranjay Mitra — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 07:02:57 +0000

From: photoduniya.com

We are on the second day of our cross country winter drive, from California on the West US coast, to New York in the East US coast. It is a total distance of about 3,000 miles, with a minor diversion to Jackson, WY. Here is our planned route for the drive.

Driving Route from California to New York @ photoduniya.com

We have crossed California into Reno, NV on Day 1 and we’ve reached Salt Lake City, UT on Day 2. As I write, it is snowing here and more is to come tomorrow morning as we head out north to Jackson, WY.

Day 2 in Salt Lake City, UT @ photoduniya.com

Since our hotels have not been booked in advance, we are checking in at any location as fits the situation and the time. I shall elaborate the drive later, but wanted to keep my readers posted on my trip and the location.

Day 1 in Reno, NV in winter on New Year 2008 eve @ photoduniya.com

With all the snow and the glitter around, Reno was all set to bring in the new year 2008 with the great festivity and color. It started to snow in the evening and the winds brought the wind chill to single digits. While we move on our drive, we wish Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year to all my readers!

A touch of New York in San Francisco – street candid

Ranjay Mitra — Sat, 28 Jul 2007 06:21:17 +0000

Having seen both the cities of New York and San Francisco, it’s nice to flavor both of them together! Though, while shooting in the streets, I often get asked “so for a street photographer, which do you think is better?”. Now that is a difficult question with no simple answer. And I do not want to answer either!

For the advertisers though, the urban complex cosmo audience of both these cities are probably the same.

Barneys New York @ photoduniya.com

The one thing that I do enjoy better in San Francisco is less of the maniac taxi cabs of New York. In San Francisco, there is much less chance of being nudged or hit or even being grazed by a taxi cab than it is in the Apple!

San Francisco streets – candid photography

Ranjay Mitra — Thu, 07 Jun 2007 08:09:13 +0000

For a long time I have photographed streets of New York City, from the sky scrapers to the amazement of the tourists staring at them. New York City, as I have heard numerous people say, has a charm of it’s own, be it the pizza, the Central Park or the artists sitting alongside the roads. When the days are dominated by busy tourists and performers, the night time New York City had a flavor of it’s own. The dazzling neons of the Broadway is hard to forget. Numerous photographers wait for the rains to add a touch of sizzle to the images.

But this time its not the Big Apple, it is San Francisco City, the Golden City on the Pacific. A few days in the city streets have brought amazing candid moments to me. I have not spent as much time in the city as to be able to hold an opinion yet, but that is something I intend to. And I am sure I will get plenty of moments to catch.

From my first few visits, the tram cars of San Francisco City has been one of my favorite subjects. Bill boards, busy tourists, casual locals are all fascinating. This image captures a fleeing moment of all the three together. This one is from somewhere between Powell and Embarcadero.

San Francisco City Candid Moment

Picture in Picture

Ranjay Mitra — Tue, 29 May 2007 07:42:30 +0000

On our way from Tahoe this weekend, I found plenty of opportunities to shoot into the rear view mirror for the picture-in-picture effect. The timing was bad – it was 3′o clock in the afternoon, the sun was bold and merciless, right on top and the road was white as snow. But I could not pass on the opportunities to park on the shoulder and shoot a few shots of cars in my mirror.

Surprisingly, this wasn’t shot with a Nikon! I used a 5MP Samsung point and shoot and then desaturated in Microsoft Photo Editor.

I would be posting my travel notes on photoduniya shortly and by the time my 15 rolls of Velvia comes back from the lab, I should be ready.

Spring time rides

Ranjay Mitra — Sun, 18 Mar 2007 21:53:15 +0000

With the sun bright and spring once again back to California, the roads are now seeing an increasing number of convertible and sports cars. The fascinating ones are those that are custom made. This one, in bright yellow color, was spotted in Fremont, California today – a custom built Chevy!