The night before the event was restless as I was charging the battery of the camera and the excitement of beginning the journey with photography awakened me from the deep sleep. I slept for a while again, this time the alarm clock rang and in haste I got ready to reach the meeting point.

As the title says, it was indeed a misty morning when a team of 8 photographers met near LB Nagar cross Roads at 5:30 am to capture the scenic view. There were late comers but soon, we started moving towards Ibrahimpatnam. During the journey, the exhilarating panorama impelled us to stop at a point and the proficient photographers began capturing the pictures of Sunrise. 

Before the Sunrise, the sky was a beautifully tinted red. As the Sun was rising up the horizon, the sky had a mesmerizing formation of blue, red and white layers on it. While we were clicking pictures of this phenomenon, a scenic view of a fleet of birds flying in the sky towards the sun made us turn the camera towards the birds. The exquisite view of the sky compelled us to stay there for a longer time.

Breaking the ice, we had a round of introduction that brought home the fact that though people belong to different professions the passion for photography has always united them.

Soon, we reached Ibrahimpatnam. We had our breakfast and proceeded towards the Bodakonda Village. On the way to the village, a famous temple of Lord Anjaneya Swami had a great significance. It was a very old temple and the exceptional tree formations in front of the temple were eye popping.

The essence of India lies in the village life. Most of the visitors miss this experience of the rural life.Before long we reached Bodakonda Village. The place was surrounded by hills full of greenery. A herd of cows and goats, and a cluck of hens and chicken made it a typical village. The village is within 1 km diameter, predominantly occupied by Lambadi tribe.

At first, we saw the villagers staring us. This tempted us to interact and capture their images. Following this, the villagers were very receptive and made us comfortable us with their hospitality. The kids were following us everywhere and were very informative. Moti, the oldest lady of the village, looked elegant with the ornaments and her beautiful dress. The charm on her face and her attitude towards us enforced us to click her pictures. She was more than 100 years old. The elegance of the Lambadi tradition was expressed by her beautiful dress. 

The Zilla Parishad High School was the only school in the village. The Teenagers complete their Intermediate and Graduation from the colleges in Ibrahimpatnam yet the villagers were very optimistic about education.

Another interesting anecdote we heard from the village elders was about a fort known as Kilo Fort around 8 kilometers from the village. The villagers were unaware that only the ruins of the fort were left and were very superstitious about it. They believed that the fort has a well that has the weapons and wealth of the Rulers. However, they were wrong on both counts as we discovered during our exploration.

The famous Kallu (Natural Extraction of Alcohol) was sold in the village and is specially served to the Visitors. Unfortunately we couldn’t have it as it is only served after 3 PM.

The Teej Festival is the most auspicious in the village, as it is celebrated for 7 days that falls in the Month of August. People from different villages gather and perform the rituals on the festive occasion.

Moving out of the village, we started capturing the hills and fields circumventing the village. We drank the water that was flowing inside the fields which reminded us of a perfect bollywood movie. We took a few pigeon seeds from the field and started eating them- DDLJ Style.

Soon the photographic expedition came to an end and with a heavy heart we said goodbye to the team. These expeditions bring likeminded people together. Hope to meet more such wonderful people through regular meet ups.