To Ooty, with iPhone 8 Plus — A Photoessay
“Hi Sir, your bus to Ooty has been cancelled. Should we refund the amount or would you like to book the next available option?”… said the lady on the other side of the phone. Oops and yay, a bittersweet smile.
I pack my bag — a humble 25l backpack from Decathlon — and my newly acquired iPhone 8 Plus and head for the bus that would take me to The Nilgiris.
Why iPhone 8 Plus
Because, the best camera is the one that’s with you.
A short story: Couple of years ago, I bought my first DSLR — Nikon D3300. Excited and new to photography, I took hundreds of photos. The excitement and the sense of accomplishment was elevated when I brought 35mm lens to my arsenal. Oh! the quality of the shots in low light! And those bokeh! However, everything came at a cost and in this context it was the bulkiness of the camera and the accompanying lenses.
So I did what every novice photographer does. I made the switch. A switch! From DSLRs to mirrorless camera system. However, it didn’t make a significant impact on the reasons of switching itself i.e., portability. Sure the form factor of the Sony α6000 is less bulky than the usual DSLR but looking back at the usage after an year of purchase, the switch can’t be justified.
Then, iPhones came out and started delivering outstanding photographs. Right out of the box. All through computational photography. Download a software update and the camera focuses better. Bingo! After my first tryst with iPhone 6s last year, where I made a short movie, I only picked up my α6000 on countable occasions. Naturally, when iPhone 8s came out, I upgraded from iPhone 6s.
Back to the main story
Ooty is a hill station that sits comfortably in the lap of The Nilgiris. Ooty as a city, can come across as a bit hectic but the escape to a quieter and greener areas where tall and pines rise above, are not very far.
For my stay, I chose a small village called Lovedale — 4 km from the city. Once the bus drops me at the bus stand, you take another bus to the village. The efficiency of the public transport — even for the remote localities — took me by surprise.
Lovedale
A quaint little hamlet, situated only a few km from the hustling and bustling Ooty, feels like ages away, but still very connected. Lovedale train station, has two employees who take care of the 8 trains that pass everyday through it.
I spent couple of afternoons simply strolling around the village. On the heritage railway tracks. On the trails, edge of the hills. What sounds banal in writing now, was actually quite sublime.
Dodabetta Peak
On one of the afternoons, I walked up to the highest peak of Nilgiris Hills—Doddabetta(2,637 metres). I take this opportunity to exploit the iPhone 8 Plus camera to its paramount — portrait mode, wide angle lens, optical zoom… you name it. A word about the peak itself though — it was pretty (╭ರ_⊙) a.k.a. meh!.
To Connoor, in Nilgiri Mountain Railway
Duration — 40 minutes. Distance — 15 km. Price of ticket — ₹ 10(!). Welcome to the Nilgiri Mountain Railway where the youngest X class locomotive is more than 50 years old and the oldest more than 80. The route for NMR nostalgia-dipped toy train inches up between 1,069 and 7,228 ft height. The train passes through tunnels. On bridges. Through open land. And back to tunnels. If you happen to sit on the right side (no pun intended) of the train, this might turn out to be one of the most serene train journeys you might encounter in South India.
If you’re in Ooty or around, you should consider taking a ride in this surviving symbol (more than 100 years) of heritage. I did. And I don’t regret it.
About Coonoor – it’s worth a day’s visit.
In conclusion
Ooty was great but the iPhone 8 Plus delivers what it promised. It should come as no surprise that I am in love with this camera. Phone? Apparently not so much. Something about it has gotten me to take more photos in the last few weeks than I have in the last one year combined. In fact, this camera was one of the impetuses that led me to Ooty — I wanted a great subject on which to use it. However, it’s not perfect.
The portrait mode doesn’t work flawlessly all the time. Especially the “Stage Light” mode. I believe the feature is in beta and hopefully would improve with the subsequent software updates.
(And for those peeking way down here, here’re few bonus pictures of food and a cute dog named Leo.)
