The ride to the sinking church at shettihally

It was a ride never to be forgotten.....never


The plan at our motorbiking club was to jam up in a resort called the rappa situated on the banks of the river hemavathi.The group started at 6 am, but me i got up at 9 AM, and started off from my studio in sarjapur road. Well last night I was doing some late night light brushing shots with my dear photographer friends DJ Darshan Chandra and Rishi Syngai using some wireless trigger and mixed lights.
Bangalore traffic can be hell, and every one wanna squeeze in, cars wanna squeeze in a lane for autos and we motorbikers practice our offroading skills on the pavement. Pedestrians well they have no rights...aren't supposed to walk in bangalore.. Just kidding :P

As i reach kunigal,i see Mr Vijay Mallya's stud farm on the left, the walls all painted with McDowells Number 1, the hooch brand he owns :P (heights of surrogate advertising). This is the same farm where Honorable Minister Mr. lallu prasad yadav is planning to put a railway track thru. Its supposed to be once owned by Tippu Sultan, and i approach the gates just to see if i can get in and see some horses. I was denied entry - its a classified place of some big guy who put a wall around.it.

And i just head away to hassan, the land of the hoysala dynasty, i miss the exit to the resort in shettihalli. This must be the 100th time i miss the exit in so many years of motor biking in so many states of india. TheRappa is like 16 kilometers from the town of hassan. Enroute there is a church called Holy Rosary Church. It is situated right in the bank of river hemavathi. At this point of time, it resembles a building in the video game castlevania or the chapter "the cathedral" in ultimate doom.
This church is of gothic architecture and was built by the french missionaries in 1860. Looks awespiring and spooky from the bridge - this was the hint for me.... i need to make this look like a ruin some thing like what i saw in mortal kombat when the emperor shouts "Bow to me" at ankor wat or wat-ever.

TheRappa is like 6 kilometers from the bridge. As i reach the place, biju, horny uncle and the owner of the place - rappa vijay were there. Not to mention those cook dogs - shadow, brownie and shunti (in kannada it means ginger) I quickly have some vegetarian food and go swimming with other bikers.I wade thru the water - chest deep with my Canon 5D mark II and take a snap of the DAM gates.















The sun was setting, i jump into my boots, on the bike and rush to to do the shots of the church that i envisioned. Unknowingly, to me, some events were unfolding among the bikers. Some tragedy would unfold while i was shooting the church alone. I never knew of this even one bit until i came back to the resort with these prized pictures of double rainbows in the dark against a condemned church.












































All these pics are shot with a ND4 P - cokin filter. These are HDR's exposed for each and every detail of highlights, shadows, mid tones and exteme highlights and shadows. All of these are tripod shot, shutter triggered by a cable release.
The double rainbow wasnt clearly visible by the human eye, but its clearly indicated in my pics as its a HDR composite and so the camera sees everything.


Shettihalli is slowly showing on the tourist map, thanks to travel/photography blogs like mine, the media and resorts like the rappa. The church has crushed bottles, broken glasse, and food wrappers all around. Sad but true.


I meet prashi - a fellow biker frantically asking me if i saw Lil Jhonny. I did not see him. In the resort, all bikers are in deep discussion somethings happened. Apparently, Lil Jhonny went swimming for 50 meters and was dragged by the current into the dam gates. After swimming for 2.5 hours, he clung to the dam gates and climbed over... poooffff man now thats something hard digest... 8 kilometers of swimming. Rappa Vijay was furious, he is like - "if you wanted to know the distance, i would have told you its 8 kilometers - why check it"

I was so relieved, in fact i must tell i was not tormented as say vijay or prashi or sandeep or the organizers biju and horny uncle.. i was not knowing of this events at all. But i could see the happiness in others.

The night ended with a campfire till the wee hours of the morning. An eventful day and hats off to lil jhonny... I knew buddy you did not know this would happen but anyways all that goes well ends well - in the well.



Next day i wake up and i find brownie cuddling on Lil Jhonny :P BAD IRISH SETTER :P Now that would have been a picture


.... It was a ride never to be forgotton.....never


Note On The Pictures: All the pictures are (c) Ady/Framed! Visuals if you wish to use this on your work, please mail me on ady at framed dott in

slightly larger pics on http://www.flickr.com/photos/100kph/sets/72157619775792844/