Smiles

Fiesta is a celebration, and the Philippines being a land with all kinds of fiestas (we tend to celebrate all things imaginable hehe) just makes us the land of celebrations. And whenever there's a celebration, smile (and laughter, lots of them) follows.

I was able to catch some of those smiles in the recent Aliwan Fiesta, and even if was so hot on that day, it was raining with ready smiles. Here are some:

The Aliwan fiesta gave such festive atmosphere that not only the ladies above cooled the hot day with their accommodating smile, these lions, too!

and who got the most unique smile that can be seen only by those with sharp eyes? the honor belongs to a Panagbenga participant:

weeee! smile! :)

Aliwan Fiesta 2010

Dubbed as the Philippines' Grandest Fiesta, this festival gathered the country's most celebrated festivals in one place, imagine the combined colors and energy of Sinulog, Dinagyang, Panagbenga and a lot more, there's so much color, so much energy and so hoooot (figuratively and literally speaking) to shoot.

I was there last weekend, and despite the raging El Niño, participants, lots of photographers and onlookers filled the back of the Mall of Asia in Pasay. I think the huge prizes (think 1 million!!!) in different contests (Streetdance, float and photo) pumped up the level of excitement in the area. I was there just to shoot and in about five hours of sweat, I downed 2 gatorades, 3 bottled water and a large mango shake.

Though my skin was burnt, I am excited for next year, and I know now what to do next time to maximize the time and where to exert more effort in shooting.

I'll post some more later. :)

sunset mode

eto ay para sa mga araw na

habang ang iba'y gumagala
ako nama'y monitor ang kaharap
keyboard ang kausap
at mouse ang hawak.

medyo grounded lang, hindi maka-travel. hindi makapag-shoot. pero hindi ako nagre-reklamo, nami-miss ko lang ang tawag ng dagat, ang kinang ng sunset, ang hampas ng hangin sa bundok, ang bigat ng backpack, ang putik at alikabok sa sapatos...

kaya nung makasilip ako ng pagkakataon na makapag-shoot ng sunset, para na rin akong nakapag-travel, parang narinig ko na rin ang tawag ng dagat. maaaring hindi ko naramdaman ang hampas ng hangin sa bundok, wala akong mabigat na backpack at di nalagyan ng putik ang sapatos ko, napuno naman ang saya ang mababaw kong kaligayahan.

sana makatisod ulit ako ng mga sandaling ganito, sabi nga sa isang lumang commercial: ito ang gusto ko!

(Breakwater, Mall of Asia)

Savior

have a meaningful Holy week everyone. Be safe and God Bless. :)

On aperture and shutter speed (and a pre-nup shoot)

I was asked by a friend to do a pre-nuptial shoot for her college friend. I excitedly said yes right away. Moments later when it sunk in, I panicked! hehehe.

Last year, when I did my brother's pre-nup shoot, I wasn't that high on the outcome (some pictures came out dark!!!), and I need to do a lot of post processing (in Picasa, I am yet to try my hand on photoshop) to brighten up my day, uhm, the pictures. Although they came out fine, I would have preferred less post processing (read: i am lazy).

As the day draws nearer, that feeling of not being able to deliver pressured me to no end, and that pressure is slowly overtaking the excitement i initially had.

Until I realized my mistakes (or stupidity if you'll allow me hehe)

The problem with "dark" pictures is in the setting!!! I've been on manual focus since day 1 with Zeus but instead of figuring out my problem, I always let frustrations reigned over me when faced with low light scenario, I just patched it by going into Aperture mode or by using the pop-up flash, which in both cases, add more frustrations whenever i see blurs and/or a washed out picture. Maybe I am just too excited to take pictures that I let some important technicalities of photography to the side. Or maybe I am just plain lazy.

Punish me for not putting into heart that a combination of large aperture and a slow shutter speed lets more light in, and if the scene is too bright, doing the opposite (or with the help of a filter) will do the trick. There. Not rocket science, just a simple turn on the dial saved my bleeding brain! Poor me for being one s*@#$%@#@$!

I admit that yours truly is not technically proficient, that whenever I read some photography stuffs, the mere mention of exposure value intimidates me. I should have faced the technical aspect early on. I should shoot more to know my camera more. And I should listen to photographers' experiences to learn more and be better on the craft.

The road is still long for me to be even called a mediocre shooter, more so as a mediocre photographer, but that road can be traversed, and while on that road, I need to absorb all lessons and take each mistake as an opportunity to learn. I expect them to be a lot, just like the buttons on the camera and the menu on the lcd screen. :)

Back on the pre nup shoot, for now, let me just share you this.


more to come, happy weekend... :)

Baby

and he's not mine, taga-shoot lang po. :)

Solo flight

Last Monday was a holiday, it was a long weekend (for all schools) and long weekends in the past were spent mostly on travels. Since i am the only one that has no office (i work in a school), no travel this time.

And I have nothing to do.

But I do not want an entire day to just go by and do absolutely nothing, so, since I have not used Zeus for quite a while, I thought of doing a photowalk with Me, Myself and I, without any clear plan of where to and/or how to.

I give Manila a try. I picture in my head a Quiapo-Sta. Cruz-Intramuros-Luneta-UP Diliman whole day affair. I rode the LRT, take a jeep and walk under the blazing sun. With no sunblock, no hat, and a small umbrella. Initially, my backpack only has Zeus in, but after the Quiapo trip (and a very dissapointing no shots taken!), it was also loaded with lanzones, oranges, pears, longans, grapes and a pair of slipper worth P35.00! (Nag-photowalk pa ako no? mamimili lang pala ng prutas at tsinelas hehe.)

I was tempted to do Sta. Cruz-Binondo via that street behind the BPI building but I already did that in the past and maybe there's a better time in the future to be back there.

I walk towards the Post Office, turn in a corner, saw an old, abandoned building, took some shots and then I am lost. hehehe. Not that I am lost, as in lost, I am just not familiar with the place. I walk some more and found myself in the Bureau of Immigration area. whew.

I took some long walk inside the Intramuros, and told myself to look for Fort Santiago. You're right, i cannot find it. I am not even sure where is Fort Santiago hehehe. Damned myself for not being prepared, sayang ang pawis ko! I rode a jeep going to Luneta, went to National Museum for a visit, but it's a Monday and it's closed. In Luneta, I want to go inside the Japanese Garden, the Chinese Garden, but since it's a Monday, they're all closed!! waaah.

It's almost noon, and I am sweating like hell. With disappointments left and right, with gates closed and the penetrating heat, I licked my wounded guts inside a fastfood and ordered a nice looking breaded shrimp only to be disappointed more with its breaded taste. HAY!!!

You may be wondering where are the pictures? (The above were from a different photowalk hehe) Well, I told you I wasn't that prepared, so halfway through my Luneta rendezvous, a red thingy appeared on the lcd which means that my battery is now low, and nearing empty. wehehehe. But i was able to take some, and i'll post them later.

And forget about the UP-Diliman, hanggang Luneta lang ako hehe.

Happy weekend!!!

Pay it forward

Remember the movie with the same title? You know, the movie about a child who conjures the notion of paying a favor not back, but forward--repaying good deeds not with payback, but with new good deeds done to three new people?

Well, not exactly done to three new people, but doing the same good deed to a couple or even a single person is still good, tama ba? Lyn and I did that recently.

When a couple is getting married, they need all the help in the world, not in the pakikialaman-manner, but at least on the psychological AND financial way. The wedding preparation can be very much overwhelming, and in our case for us to be sane, we have our budget to keep us grounded and our families and friends on our back. Our families take care of the invitations and give aways, and our closest friends take care of the reception venue, the bridal shoes, my barong and Lyn's wedding gown.

And with those advance gifts that we got from our unofficial ninongs and ninangs, where a large chunk of expenses have been taken cared of, we were not just thankful but we also made a promise to do the same to others. Trust me, those kind of help are what a marrying couple needs (and not three sets of rice cooker, or three dozens of fork and spoon, or six more sets of tumblers!) as they of really huge help to the couple.

When my brother told me he's also getting married (actually, they just waited for us to go first hehe), Lyn and I immediately told them not to worry about the wedding gown and barong as those are for us to take care of, regalo na namin, they just need to decide on a design/style and off we go to our supplier.

And this is the little fruit of that labor:

That's one, two more to go maybe? :)

Patience

it's really a virtue, and it took me a lot of those to wait and take this shot.

Focal length: 142 mm
Exposure: 1/400
Aperture: f/8
ISO: 200
Manual Focus, Flash not used
Cropped, Contrast adjusted using Picasa 3

waiting

shy type

happy weekend everyone, Kanpai!!!

green (but not with envy)

Da Istudyo shoot

huli man daw at magaling, huli pa rin. (pasensya na po...)

eto yung first studio shoot ko, syempre namangha na naman ako tulad nung first time. syempre kinabahan na naman ako, syempre pinagpawisan na naman ang lolo nyo.

isa sa mga tip na nakuha namin para maghanda sa mga ganitong shoot ay magbasa/tumingin sa mga fashion magazine, at kung me nakitang gustong posing ng model, aba ay kopyahin at ilagay sa kodigo. namemorize ko yata yung mga posing na gusto ko pero nalimutan ko rin, memory gap! me ilan sa amin me dalang magazine, me dalang picture, at me kodigo talaga. ako? nakitingin-tingin, nakiusyoso, nataranta hehehe.

ewan ko kung ano ang nangyari pero nung ako na ang nakasalang, parang me sapi yata ako at nakapag-isip ng ilang posing, mga simple lang pero nagustuhan ko ang kinalabasan!!!

sya si Jem, ang model na natapat sa akin, sya talaga yung tinatarget kong pikturan dahil bukod sa kakatapos lang nyang lagyan ng make-up, napakaamo ng mukha nya, at ang ganda pa ng bone structures (me bone structures pa akong nalalaman hehe). for a face like that, parang gusto ko ng medyo edgy, so nosebleed na naman!

buti na lang, napaupo ako at naisip ko ito:

ay, putol ang bumbunan at siko! take two:

ayos?


eto, group shot ng apat na model (tapos na yung grupo namin dito pero nakisingit pa rin ako hehe):

Models: Jem, Kim, Hannah and Jon

Location: Imagesmith Studios

Make-up artist: Charlie Rivera

Stylist: Archie

gusto ko pang umulit! me magpapa-picture sa inyo? libre! :)

Sharing

or if one lurks on the dark side, it can also be titled as "grabbing"

how do you see it?

Bulaklak

Siyempre, dapat merong bulaklak kasi me dahon na sa ibaba. ahihihi.

seriously, ilan lang ang mga ito sa pinagpa-praktisan ko, kaliit-liit ng bakuran ng bahay pero andami namang pwedeng i-shoot or at least, enough na para maging kumportable ako sa focusing (half-press and full press).

ang ganda ng bokeh no? o yung blurred-blurred sa likuran/paligid ng subject.

hindi macro lens ang ginamit ko dyan (wala pa ako nun) kundi 40-150mm telephoto lens, pumuwesto lang ako sa pinakamalapit na distansya kung saan clear pa yung subject tapos cropping na lang para makuha ko yung gusto kong composition.

astig!!!

andami ko pang dapat malaman kay pareng zeus pero ang manual nya parang math book!!! kaya maraming-maraming good luck sa akin (uy, ayos naman sya to be fair).

Dahon

meron akong kwento tungkol sa dahon... ay wag na lang, masyado syang GREEN!

nye!

nagpa-practice lang ng pag-focus... di pa masyadong trigger happy pero i'm happy :)