Bloomington Beauty - Winter 2012
Today I am going to write a blog post about something I did more than 3 years back. It was a winter season and everyone else left for an India. I didn't have any plan to go to India for a reason. So I spent entire season learning cooking and taking photographs around campus.
Having seen Julie and Julia I was deeply inspired and had a burning desire to learn cooking
However, it was getting boring sitting inside house for so long. We had heavy blizzard that year and it made whole campus white and full of snow. Fortunately that evening temperatures reach tolerable levels and I ventured outside (After a week) near the Indiana University to take photos of amazing places around campus.
If I remember correctly I took close to 200 photos around campus in 3 days. Due to blizzard, it was snow everywhere. Plus due to cold weather ice did not melt for next few weeks.
I had a camera which you can call as mediocre as possible in comparison to present advanced phones and DSLRs. Though it was 2MP, it was still less than an ordinary plus my storage was big issue which forced me to span the photo session across 3 successive days. But yes, as you can figure from images, their quality was much better than I had expected.
Photo from Sample Gates
An American and Indiana flags proudly waving. The building on the left of picture (Which is not visible) was an Office or Bursar (They moved it shortly afterwards) and the structure you see in the picture is an undergraduate building. (I don't exactly remember what that building was)
The Sample Gates
The symbol of IU and entrance to the downtown and party life. I remember catching countless rides from this place. It was damn good landmark to call a cab. If you get too cold, just wait inside the law building for a while
Indiana Memorial Union
The biggest memorial union in the United States. A great place to hang out, study and chit-chat. This place also had bunch of restaurants if you want to eat variety of food. (Photo taken from the back side)
Red Berries with fresh charm.
The building you see in front is IU School of Journalism. Which now I came to know that is a part of the media school.(The big building behind this school which is barely visible is again an Indiana Memorial Union)
Our Mecca. Lindley Hall
The Computer Science department. Unlike most of my peers I spent very less time in this building. Exception was to attend TAs office hours, lectures and discussions with project groups. No offense, but this building gave me an impression of spooky and haunted house. I frequently felt depressed studying here in the initial days of my Masters.
Random lamp post
You can see countless such lamp posts on campus. They look really great during twilight time. They glow with surreal bright yellow color. Useful in wintery nights when you are new on campus and desperately trying to find your way to the bus stop. Do you see that red ribbon? Yes, it's a classic symbol of ongoing holiday season. Looks awesome!
IMU North entrance
Here we go, let me know IMU one more time. This time we are looking at north entrance. Which is also an entrance to IMU Biddle hotel and Conference Center. I hear hotel is too expensive. If you are new to IU, please consider staying somewhere else unless someone else is paying your expense without any strings attached. Again, you can see those red holiday ribbons. They just look royal and majestic.
At Wells Library
This photo was taken from east entrance of Wells Library. The road you see goes directly to IU museum and theater. As you can see from sun elevation, it was about to get dark and we were in twilight zone. Not so special photo, just took a snap on the fly.
Patio at home
This is a back of our house. Technically this is not even a backyard. We had very small patio area which we hardly used. The area you see in the back was kind of barren and we hardly saw anyone entering there. There was a tiny creek you can see in the deeper region. It would flow effusively during heavy rain. Otherwise it would remain dry other time. The house that you see at distance were on ownership. We were forbidden to visit that area being a private property. They looked quite big, luxurious and expensive. These people look highly sophisticated and cultured. We never encountered any noise coming off from that direction.
Note : Cover photo was again taken near IMU. There is small water stream in front of IMU north entrance which frequently flows with water. Since an ice was melting in the season, it had enough water to get a reflection. The oval you see in the photo is formed by two halves. One is the original bridge arc and other one is its reflection on the water. (It really looked like an oil painting to me at first glance). Having taken this photo in twilight zone gives it a distinct dimension.
