[deepfreak15]

I was still pretty miffed with Dr AD for leaving me out of the monsoon drive http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...ve-2018-a.html. Well I do understand its a logistical nightmare since there is a ferry with limited room involved, but honestly I wouldn't tell him that I understood (that's what friends do I guess - rub it in). So I was pleasantly surprised when he asked me to take pictures of his car and he wanted to take it with rocks.


The rocks I had in mind did not make the cut nor warrant his approval



A plan was hatched(or rather it was his plan all along), drive down to Hampi and take a few pictures of his car. We decided to head out on the 3rd of November and return to Bengaluru on the 4th.


The day before leaving rsudarsanan jumped on board, Now we had two Beemers, this was going to be fun!


8am start from Ravi's place .Saw a couple of rainbows in the trip, this one did not involve water


The plan was Bengaluru - Take the exit off Hiriyur and before Bellary town take a left and reach Hyatt Place Vijayanagara via some really scenic back roads

The first pitstop was a bit after Nelemangala at CCD. All thoughts of taking pictures of one car and changing the color in photoshop vanished, though only separated by a couple of years and one variant apart too many subtle differences, it would be a pain to photoshop it (Of course I'm joking!)




For most part of the trip (I started in Ravi's car and after the first stop switched to Dr AD's car) I did not click any pics as I was on the receiving end of a tutorial on cruise control (in the blue car) and everything else in the red car. Dr AD is a geek for technology, so lets leave it at that.

After all the information overload (just kidding) on the Beemers we finally reached the spot we had in mind. Trust me, pictures do no justice to what God has provided and the strides man has made with technology.


Wait somethings missing


Oh there you are.


These cars look gorgeous together and this wouldn't be the only time I felt that



Chief as we fondly call him, bleeds BMW, almost everything he owns is BMW(not kidding) check out the glasses, watch and then there are the bags, umbrella, wallet and what not!



Perfectly balanced, same can be said of the rock



The sky was too cloudy with no light coming through but still the paintjob shone through on both cars. The red car is covered with a PPF layer so I was a bit sceptical of the colors coming through but looks like it didn't make too much of a negative impact






Is this what a German standoff looks like?



Im pretty sure no Beemer has gotten so close to this section , we literally had to go off road.


Standing tall



Beaming owners, why wouldn't they -the car is amazing (sorry Audi)



Dr AD couldn't have been happier, he finally got his rocks. I'm sure he wasn't this happy even when he got his car!



And the gang (Mrs AD was kind enough to join us). I hope she had fun because when 3 guys talk only about cars it can get pretty boring for others








I could tell something was definitely cooking, I had to make sure they didn't leave without me.


More rocks. The road from Hiriyur to Bellary is a true drivers road, smooth broad, twisty tarmac however, not too many spots to stop and take pictures. So you have to be willing to go off the beaten path..




Just before Bellary there is a left turn and this road leads to Vijayanagara passing through a lot of villages. The last time we took this route the road was good but this time in most sections there were no roads. If anyone says RFTs are impractical I would beg to differ, they took the abuse and the ride was in no way bone jarring.


Decided to experiment with panning shots when we got inside Vijaynagara township but the light suddenly vanished leaving us with this picture that looks like it came out of some bygone era..


Though that didn't stop us from trying the next day . These are no where close to perfect but we (at least I)had fun making Dr AD drive around. The township has good roads with almost 0 traffic.













They say there is treasure at the end of every rainbow, in this case it was Dr AD's treasure

[deepfreak15]

Later that night

They look like brothers, one is a brawler and the other an executive



Technically we did not go to Hampi, we stayed in Vijayanagara. There is a museum next to the Hyatt Place where we stayed. If you are staying there during your visit to Hampi, do visit the museum it will give you an idea where to go among the ruins and a background on what you will see.



Eyes that see in the dark


Im a huge fan of this brand of LEDs


One car decided to get into a party mode



Even the puddle lamps look classy



Next day we decided to check out a temple in the township

Chief sporting the Msport colors











A sweet sight seeing the Mrs giving the Dr prasadam


Fiery red hot catching some heat



And it was time to head back home. No matter which angle you look at the car it looks gorgeous


Note: From Bellari till Hiriyur there is no place to stop in between (maybe a few roadside joints but not sure if they have clean amenities) Once you re-join the highway there is a CCD on the left. Though service is dismal with nothing on the menu available the loos are clean.


And with a glint in its eye it was time to part ways



This is my version of this trip, keenly awaiting Dr AD and Rsudarsanan version of the trip.


In case you are looking for pictures of the ruins of Hampi and the route we took some of them are documented in this travelogue

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/team-b...er-2016-a.html

[GTO]

Thread moved from the Assembly Line to the Travelogues Section. Thanks for sharing!

[Dr.AD]

Thank you very much Deepfreak15 for so many things: 1. For agreeing to photograph our cars and being on this trip as a photographer, 2. For such amazing pictures and along the way telling me about the photography techniques, and 3. For this amazing travelogue! Very well written, with great pictures. You have captured the story so well.

The original plan in my mind was that this would be an Audi and BMW together photoshoot. Imagine Deepfreak15's Blue A3 and my Red 320d together. That would have been a beautiful photoshoot. That was the real plan. However, Deepfreak15 chose to be a "designated photographer" (and justifiably so, as the effort and dedication he put in the photoshoot proves) instead of worrying about driving, and we missed out on the company of the A3 in this drive.

But thankfully, RSUDARSANAN joined at the last minute, and we still had a blue and a red car in the photoshoot. Thanks RSUDARSANAN for your company! It was an amazing fun having two 320d chasing each other.

With Deepfreak15's beautiful narration, I have nothing to add. But here are a few pictures from my very basic equipment anyways:


The drive started with a meeting at Cafe Coffee Day:



Boulders or "rocks", as we kept on calling them, was the theme for this drive, and we saw a plenty of those. Here, the cars photographed from a variety of angles against different shapes and sizes of rocks.

First, a few rocks on the side of the road:















Then we went a bit off the road for even more rocks:



























The "German Standoff", as Deepfreak15 so aptly called it:



This was almost the defining photo of the drive. The two BMWs against the background of the boulders. This was what we were looking for all along:







Chief proudly posing next to his beloved BMW:



Later in the evening, the Red one parked outside the museum:



And the Blue one joined soon:



My attempt at low light photography:



This is one of my favourite pictures from this drive:



And then, a parting shot before we started our drive back:

[RSUDARSANAN]

Originally Posted by deepfreak15

This is my version of this trip, keenly awaiting Dr AD and Rsudarsanan version of the trip.

Deepak has left no stone unturned in this photologue, comprehensively compiled and presented .

My version is encapsulated in this clip:

https://youtu.be/OfTTzK-MDS4

Signing off:

“If music be the food of love, play on
Give me excess of it; that surfeiting,
The appetite may sicken, and so die”
#Twelfth Night

“If 3ers be the food of love, drive on.
Give me excess of it; even that surfeiting,
The appetite neither sickens nor dies”

#Eight and a half years, still counting….

[Dr.AD]

And to conclude this, here are some "behind the scenes" photos:


The photographer (Deepfreak15) having a close look at the subject (the wheels, or the LED headlights maybe?), and pondering about which is the best angle to shoot from:



Finding the right spot to shoot from:



After having found the spot, the photographer in action:



Shooting the Blue car:



And now shooting the other car, while the Blue car watches from behind:



Shooting the Red car:



Photography is no easy work. It is very hard. Deepfreak15 even climbed the rocks to find a vantage point for shooting:



And he even had to do this to get the right angles. You can see his dedication behind the photoshoot:



And finally, a breakfast photo of Deepfreak15 and the Chief. A good breakfast was crucial in keeping the photographer happy:



With that, let me end this story, by thanking Deepfreak15 for all the hard work and amazing photos, and RSUDARSANAN for his company.

Hopefully, soon we will do this with the Deepfreak15's Audi A3 in the frame too.

Thank you for reading!

[deepfreak15]

Originally Posted by Dr.AD

And to conclude this, here are some "behind the scenes" photos:

I had no clue this was going on in the background.Funny! Thanks for the good times.

[dailydriver]

You mad, mad, mad men!!!

There has to be a first for everything and this shooting game after traversing half the state is perhaps the first of the many you three have planned - just to shoot your cars, frame them and hang them out on the forum for all of us to enjoy and envy. Need I say that all shots have hit the bull's eye!

Thanks for this tripartite travelogue.

[deepfreak15]

Originally Posted by dailydriver

You mad, mad, mad men!!!
after traversing half the state is perhaps the first of the many you three have planned

Hehe.. thanks. I have the same suspicion too!

[megazoid]

nice compilation. Cars look great against the boulders. breezy read!

[Dr.AD]

Originally Posted by dailydriver

There has to be a first for everything and this shooting game after traversing half the state is perhaps the first of the many you three have planned - just to shoot your cars, frame them and hang them out on the forum for all of us to enjoy and envy. Need I say that all shots have hit the bull's eye!

Thanks, and yes, this is certainly just the first. I am sure there will be a few more, with so many beautiful cars among our bhpian friends begging to be shot.


By the way, during this photoshoot, the first location we stopped at was exactly the same location where we did a quick photoshoot during our 2016 Hampi drive. (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/team-...ml#post4060012 ('Explore Hampi' Team-BHP Meet: 16th - 18th September, 2016))

And, the Chief's car, the E90 320d he had that time, was parked at almost the same spot as his E30 320d now.

Here is a picture of a few of our convoy cars at that spot in 2016:



2016: Chief with his E90 320d there:



2018: And his F30 320d at almost the same spot.

[landcruiser123]

Wow, I'll not be surprised if BMW asks you for some pictures. They are incredible.
Great TL- journeys like this emphasize that it's the journey that matters more than the destination.

[amitjha086]

Not BMWs, but humble Dzire and i20, coincidentally, in the same colour combination of blue and red, posing at Bagmati, Nepal after some mild off-roading by the river a few hours ago.

[Dr.AD]

Originally Posted by amitjha086

Not BMWs, but humble Dzire and i20, coincidentally, in the same colour combination of blue and red, posing at Bagmati, Nepal after some mild off-roading by the river a few hours ago.

That is a nice photo. Thanks for sharing it.

This thread is not about any particular brand at all. Any car, if photographed well by a skilled photographer will look beautiful. Automobile photography is an art, just like any other photography, and this experiment was about that art rather than the cars themselves. It just so happened that the two cars in this trip were BMWs, by pure coincidence, but the trip was about the art of photography rather than the car brand.

[deepfreak15]

Originally Posted by amitjha086

Not BMWs, but humble Dzire and i20,

It's all about the thrill of the drive and the feeling of accomplishment. Love that picture. If a true blue offroader stood there it wouldn't be very special(natural habitat) but the fact that you got two "city cars" there adds a completely different dimension!