Hamming it up for the camera: more fun in the philippines

On the Road 1

[PICTURES TAKEN WHILE DRIVING, AND THERE'S TERRIBLE TRAFFIC]

Youll get only one chance to take this picture per car (unless youre a fucking salesman who knows how to adjust odometers to fool used-car buyers)  

The arrogance of pinoys. Kung kayo ang boss ko, babagsak talaga ang kompanya/bansang ito.

I think this hotel relies now on tourists who dont know better. Some walls in this building are grimed in dirt.

Abandoned building?

Nice-looking Jollibee store. Even the mascot is correctly placed.

Blackberry Bold 9800 takes unremarkable but serviceable photos. 

UP Chapel

Havent been back here in a while. (About 10 years if we dont count the baptism of Raya and JP).

Used to work in a computer shop nearby. Back then it was the first computer shop in the campus to offer network gaming, and probably the fastest dial-up :-). That shop helped me in many ways during the rush of term papers and projects. And the Church, although i dont believe in an interventionist god, is a good place to find quiet, to sit down in one of the pews from time to time. Except for the sound of pipit birds, it's just very peaceful in the whole area.

Today, there is this interesting fan installation:

And cross seems to have accumulated a small amount of bird poop since its last cleaning. (What type of wood is this?

UP Chapel is a landmark. 

With faith or with. 

In favor of organized religion or against. 

Raya's Random Photography

Photos captured by a stubborn 2-year old, using an ipod touch. 

the photographer using the front camera of an ipod touch 

she hates it when bedsheets are crumpled

This one she clicked after Ive set the aperture and ISO in an SLR.

This one showing I need to go to Maypajo and look for another (smaller) bookshelf and then really implement a moratorium on buying books.

Ganito ang tamang pagkain ng masarap na Menudo...

There they go...

I have great respect for this Industry. 

I had my daily allowance in college from my father's illegal horseracing bukis station. I remember our TV is tuned all the time to the cable channel, which shows the races every racing day. On weekends, the races start 1PM until 7. Weekdays, the race will start 6 and not be over until after 10PM. Only Mondays doesn't have races, so the sound of the race caller "Raazziing, there they go, and on the outside, and by the rel, and finally" is a constant sound in our small sala. The bettors are see our what's for dinner.

My father was put on blotter and jailed in a local precinct twice (police of course just waiting for their needed payola pang-areglo), our door was destroyed once by a rading police, there are random callers who'll threaten that they'll have our house raided...the tension is always there, some fucker who didnt want to pay his gambling debts could have tipped us off several times, but my father had no choice but to go on. Risk is needed to get us to college.

When I finally went to the new San Lazaro in Carmona, I was impressed by the facility.

The usual manual post is still there...

(I think this is part of heritage and should not be changed)

The seats are better (than the original San Lazaro in Tayuman).

The track is faster (as proof, i was told that the horses clock faster):

People are still employed

There are still fanatics, regulars:

the players 

the excitement of the homestretch

By the way, today, free from the burden of thinking about our daily baon, papa doesnt do illegal horseracing bets any more. He deserves to be free of worries.

iPod and Headlights!

This is our original art, original concept.from an original shoot :-) 

Why suddenly I had an inkling to look for it and post it here? It's because I am suddenly having second thoughts on buying an iPod Touch, which I have budgeted for several months ago. My problem is still storage space. 

It's also saddening that Apple seem to be abandoning this iconic original iPod. In fact the first time they called it 'classic,' it already seemed to connote old and leftover model. Now there's zero refresh to this icon.   

And to add to this sadness the iPod on the left was stolen. We hope the new owner is enjoying its 160 GB, while the thief wakes up one day with malaria and lupus combined.  

The iPod on the right is still alive and delivering great podcasts. Invaluable while driving.

Photography Workshop with Daemon Becker

And so i finally attended a formal photography seminar. i chose the one sanctioned by UP, also after seeing the portfolio of the facilitator (daemonbecker.com) and finding out that he owns a full-fledged studio in Mandaluyong (pioneerstudios.ph)     


This is Daemon:

I liked best the third day where we held class at his studio itself. And when we tested a setup proposed by joemcnally in one of his own workshops. Here is what we're trying to emulate... 

and here's what we got,,, again, another one with daemon... 

Not bad, eh? 
With probably more tweaking towards individual critiques of pics, some more proactive dispensing of solid tips (instead of waiting leads from us students with our mouths open), and then requiring the students to KNOW their camera before attending class (to save on time on the first day), the course would be perfect. He has the tools and the experience (even formal education), so he must believe onwhat he brings to dispense as lessons. Also with more confidence, the teaching will improve.
But even as it was last week, I would surely recommend the workshop to anyone who wants to learn studio. 
My prime takeaway indeed is in learning the various lights of the studio setup. It would sort of bring me confidence in actually renting out a studio, with several members of my family, to take portraits of each... and then probably one group shot.
I will do it within this month, and then finally improve on pathetic home studio lighting like this:

(the subjects here are prettiest though! :-) )

Thanks, Daemon. You have a future in teaching! I hope you really can assist a bit (for free. hehehe) when i rent pioneerstudios. the cheapest lang muna at 1500 before moving to the bigger studio:

thanks very much, and more power!

The Best Swimming Cap

Speedo cannot beat this innovation...

His responsibility is to collect the entrance in one of the islands of Coron.  He gets to the various side-beaches of the island and also cleans the huts.

  

It was raining so he had to improvise a perfect head protection (anti cold and flu) while travelling between beaches.  

Can we just retire young with 10 million, buy an island, and then just do this?