Here are some recent pictures of our son Saurya:

Last Saturday I had the pleasure to photograph Jenelle for her senior pictures session. Jenelle is such a good sport and a really sweet girl with a genuinely beautiful smile. I wish we had more time to explore a couple of other locations, however we were all getting pretty hungry and tired after around a couple of hours of shooting. She brought her boyfriend Levi with her who proved to be a big help to me holding the reflector on a lot of photos. Thank you Levi! Thank you Jenelle for letting me portray your beautiful self.

Here are some of the pictures from the session, taken at Five Mile Lake Park in Federal Way:

This photograph below was my favorite one from the session:

Here are Kevin and Evan, senior class of 2009 from Hazen High School in Renton, WA. We went to Liberty Park in Renton for this session. These guys are natural and look good!

Here is Kevin:

And here is Evan:

Thanks guys for a fun photo shoot, and good luck with school and there after!

Kirtipur is a town on the outskirts of Kathmandu, roughly 5 km SW from downtown. Kirtipur has a very important place in the history of Kathmandu Valley. The town is believed to have been established between 11th and 12 century AD and later in the 15th century during the Malla period was settled widely and Kirtipur saw itself develop in areas of artistic and historic significance. When Prithivi Narayan Shah, in his quest to conquer and unify small kingdoms, reached Kathmandu Valley, Kirtipur was the first place he attacked. His army was repeatedly defeated until finally Kirtipur fell.

Now Kirtipur is a mix of the old and the new. There are old temples like the Uma Maheshwor and the Bag Bhairab Temples, that are hundred of years old, and then there are modern houses and even a few really beautiful looking Buddhist Monasteries. Walking through the old parts of Kirtipur is like taking a walk back in time. The variety of woodwork and the artistry manifested by them is like a lesson in history. The views of Kathmandu Valley from the Uma Maheshwor temple is simply amazing. On a clear day, the Himalayas can be seen above the city of Kathmandu glistening in the sunlight.

Kirtipur is not quite as popular of a destination as Kathmandu, Patan and Bhaktapur are, however, its place in the history of Nepal and of Kathmandu Valley is just as important. On my next visit home, I intend to spend more time in Kirtpur than what I allocated this last visit. I hope you enjoy looking through these pictures. Click on any picture to launch the lightbox then you can browse through by simply using the mouse or the left right arrow keys.

 

This next series of pictures also comes from my visit to Kathmandu last October. This set was taken while my brother and I were out enjoying some delicious MoMos at a roof top restaurant in Kathmandu. The last three pictures are from Rani Pokhari. I am particularly happy about these pictures as I had been wanting to shoot this exact shot from this vantage point for years. As a happy coincidence, it was during the Chath Festival and the center temple and the walkway were decorated with lights as were the surrounding areas of the Pokhari or Pond. Click on any picture to launch the lightbox, then you can browse by simply using the left or right arrow keys.