EVEN IN CEMETERIES.....

Former club president John F. has this ability to get assignments for the club. He was responsible for the tie-up that the club has with Repertory Philippines. The guy has a "black book" of contacts that makes it possible for him to drop his name or the club in general to these people looking for photographs needed for whatever purpose they have in mind, even if these people have not realized this need yet! A real marketer's dream!

So it was not news to us when he announced that our services as a group was needed by his client. The reason behind was the enormous job requirement that needs to be accomplished, to take pictures of not one, nor two but four locations that his client owns. Yep! We were tasked to photograph cemeteries! Now how do we do that? What kind of photos does his client require? What do they like us to show? Show the beauty of the place? Show how expansive it looks? Show the clientele that they have
by focusing on the various family mausoleums and tombs?

I have never attempted to shoot in a cemetery out of a whim during one of my street photography pursuits. But I do have experiences in shooting an actual burial of a dead person, mostly my close relatives. And that is the only time when I get to shoot in a cemetery, on the day of their burial. And thinking about my plan of action is rather screwing up my mind and confusing me even more as I try to figure out what to do for the shoot.

We came, we saw, we shot! We organized ourselves and decided to go visit two locations in a day and do it in separate dates. We were armed with a memorandum coming from the CEO of the company, giving us the freedom to go to these locations and have the authority to shoot under the security guards' noses!

Pardon me as I digress! I have a bone to pick against security guards who are drunk with power. Even if you ask them nicely, most of them treat photographers like a pesky fly! "Mamang guard, pwede po bang kumuha ng picture dito?" He asks you what the pictures are for, "Para saan yang litrato?" You reply that its just for your folio, "Pang personal lang po." He then asks the photographer for a permit to shoot, "May permit ka?" The photog answers in the negative, "Wala eh." Answers back in a raised tone of voice, "Hindi pwede! Bawal eh." You then ask back to clarify the reason, "Ano po ang rason at bawal?" He finally loses his patience and answers back, "Sinabi ng bawal eh! Hindi ka ba marunong umintindi?" Such a remark could make you lose your composure and get into an argument with the freaking guard! How I would love to show the permit to a guard who asks me for it and sees that the order to allow people to shoot came from the company head honcho! "Ay ma'am/sir, bisita pala kayo ni bossing! Sana mag-enjoy kayo sa pagkuha ng litrato dito!" And the guard starts to be friendly and smiles back at you, his way of covering his slip!

In the end, I am happy with the photos I took. I can only post my pics that were turned down. But I do have a set of photos that the client bought as stock photos. And those are the ones I can't show. Which reminds me, I better ask John if he has seen all the club's photographs that were bought by his client and perhaps tell us how the lot was used. Wouldn't you want to find out too?

BATANGAS RACING CIRCUIT.....

A Very Wet Track.....





A Japanese Sounding Name But is a Brazilian....





"Awesome Car Dude!"....





The Top Three on The First Corner.....





Full Speed Ahead!.....





"Drats! Spoiled Again!".....





Winner's Circle





To my surprise, people at the club buzzed and asked President Gigi to organize a trip going to Batangas when we met at Greenbelt Onstage One to shoot the dress rehearsal for "Tuesdays With Morrie".

"Do you want to go to Batangas next Saturday?" someone asked me. "Where in Batangas are we going?" I asked back. "To the Batangas Racing Circuit. Let's watch the races of the ongoing Asian Formula 3 Racing Series."

It didn't take me that long to give a favorable answer. The AF3 is like watching a Formula 1 race, it being similar to F1 but on a lower level tier and scale. I wanted to hear the sound of engines running around the race track like a swarm of bees and feel the excitement of watching such a race. And having Lian, Bless and Buboy for company in a trip is something I look forward to every time. With all the logistics in place and those involved amenable to it, all was set.

It was amazing! The trip went okay. Our journey to Batangas was pleasurable but the falling rain almost dampened our vigor to shoot. All of us didn't want our cameras to get soaked. It's a good thing I had a towel with me to protect my camera from being exposed to the raindrops although a plastic bag can give better protection. We were at the top part of the grandstand to give us a better view of the action. It was still rainy and foggy. There were talks that the final race might be postponed. The race was delayed because the organizers were closely inspecting the tracks, whether or not it was fit to have the race cars run on a slick track.

Eventually, the final race was given the go signal to start. And even in the slippery track, the guys went all out to upstage one another, trying to get the advantage to be in the lead. And because of the wet track, it provided a more entertaining race as a slide which made the front runner lose his brakes and into a tailspin made the underdog who was in fifth place at the starting position win the match. Another car got stalled, perhaps had engine trouble, as the dejected driver climbed out of his car and left it at the side of the track.

Unlike at Subic when we had a chance to meet Gaby dela Merced, this time, we didn't meet any race car driver. They were mostly foreigners and not one was a Filipino. Gone were the days when AF3 was ruled by Filipino drivers with Tyson Sy, Bong Pastrana, Gaby and I think even Michelle Bumgarner who at one time was the Female Karter of the year in the Philippines raced against each other under different teams.

We had so much fun. Entertaining ourselves with talks about our experiences, gossip about people we all knew and eating in a restaurant with sumptuous local cuisine of Bulalo Soup and Beef Karekare made our journey back to Manila a stress free one, even if we seem to be in a depressing traffic jam!

It has always been a pleasure to go out with these group of people. Until the next road trip guys!

TUESDAYS WITH MORRIE.....

Morrie Schwartz, Played by Jose Mari Avellana.....






Mitch Albom, Played by Bart Guingona.....






Just The Two of Us.....














There are certain books that I consider thought provoking and inspirational. Usually, these kinds of books appeal to our human emotions. The kind that tugs at your heart's strings and makes you open up to feel the gist of the story. Such books leave a lasting mark on the reader. The kind that makes one adapt the teachings that the book offers. A modern day addition to the great book, The Bible.

Mitch Albom is a writer that I didn't know about. I collect hardbound books as a hobby. Among my collection of books are a leather bound and signed copies of books 1-4 of "Harry Potter" by J.K. Rowling that came as a boxed set; a hardbound boxed set of "Lord of The Rings" trilogy which contained illustrations by Allan Lee and written by J.R.R. Tolkien; some rather recent releases of spy fiction books by Robert Ludlum (I didn't know the guy has been dead for quite sometime now!); some mystery novels of James Patterson; the rest of the "Harry Potter" series that are for commercial release until Book 7; Dan Brown's "Angels and Demons" and "Da Vinci Code"; numerous photography books, a number of travel guides that focus on European countries and a lone John Maxwell book.

Successive deaths in my first cousin's family (they lost my uncle, two of his sons and a son in law in a span of five years) made me contemplate about my own life. And then one day, when I went to Powerbooks, I saw a title of a book which struck me, "The Five People You Meet in Heaven" and written by Albom. What a rather eye catching title to name a book! I soon found out that the book was even adapted and turned into a movie to be shown on television. Since the book topped the Bestsellers list, I bought it and read it. I did enjoy reading it but there were parts of the book that bored me, I don't know why but I felt bored! In my opinion, the book's pace dragged a little. I then came across a hardbound, second hand but mint copy of his first book entitled "Tuesdays with Morrie" at a thrift bookshop and immediately bought it. And this was a better read!

This book falls into the category of books that I wrote about at the start of this page. It tells about Mitch's encounter with his former sociology teacher at Brandeis Univeristy, Morrie Schwartz who suffered from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or Lou Gehrig's disease, a neurodegenerative disease which affects the cells of the brain and the spinal cord. It has two stories that mesh together. The first, the depiction of Morrie's suffering from ALS and his outlook about life while having the disease as he was being interviewed by Ted Koppel in Nightline. The second, Mitch's own relationship with Morrie, his mentor at Brandeis University and the way Mitch perceives how Morrie deals with his situation.

It was rather a subtle performance to watch. There were no other people on stage except the two. As Guingona plays the writer Albom, he also has to narrate portions of the act. There were no set changes. The play relied on the subtle positioning of the stage lights to indicate a change in time and place. It was fascinating to watch the interaction between the two great actors. They were so convincing in their portrayal of their roles that I was surprised to see Guingona shed real tears in the most dramatic scene! And the funny thing was that even we, the photographers who were shooting the rehearsal, were actually shedding tears that we have to pause for a moment as the water in our eyes started to blur our vision.

In the end, we were ribbing our colleagues who cried like a baby. I guess they can't help it as their current situation may be close to the plot, that of having someone close to them who are suffering from a terminal disease and have to be looked after.

I do recommend the book. It may be a heavy read for others and thus not to their liking but for those who seek some inspiration in the most trying time such as sickness and impending death, then this book might be it for you.

FIRE IN THE SKY.....

The fun thing about New Year's Eve is watching the sky for the fireworks display that the ordinary people put up from their houses. I remember the time when firecrackers didn't cost that much. And my adult relatives really splurged on buying these things as a source of entertainment for us kids way back then. I really wasn't into the loud sound producing variety. I have watched to much television showing injured limbs with blasted fingers when I was young, only to see it in reality when I became a nurse at PGH and had first hand encounters of treating such injuries. The loud sounding, noisy types are the major culprits for producing these injuries that I call the chicharon bulaklak. I prefer the colorful ones as it may seem more "user friendly" than the previous one that I described. The types which showcase a certain pattern or figure. It may produce a sound but it's not like the big bang noise of the bawang or superlolo. Rather, it produces a whistling sound, a sound which I can withstand without making me deaf. I may be wrong in terms of its safety but I'm basing my assumption on the fact that almost all the victims of the chicharon bulaklak injuries say that the noisy firecrackers were the main cause.

Anyway, 2008 is the year of the rat! And since I do not have a picture of a rat in my files (I have a pic of a rat that has been killed by my pet tomcat, I know it's gross so I deleted it!), I guess the most apt photos to signify New Year are images of fireworks, which I have!

And speaking of fireworks, one of the events that we photographers look forward to before is the World Pyro Olympics. It has been staged for the past two consecutive years now at the Esplanade and photographers asked each other about the news when it will return for this year. To our disappointment, it seems that it won't be held within the months of January and February. The organizers who brought the spectacle here (can't recall the company's name) said that people should wait for further developments and announcements. Hmmm, they sound like they are having problems huh! HAPPY NEW YEAR PEOPLE!!!!!