HAVE YOU TRIED SHOOTING THE RAPIDS?

A Boy From Pagsanjan.....






Crossing The Pagsanjan Falls.....





"Bangkero Festival".....





After the hectic first two weeks of the month, I am now enjoying the lull. I have been busy shooting during the first few weeks, that I find it strange to suddenly revert back to the norm of staying at home. I have a lot of projects on my plate that I need to to finish. But these are mainly post production work on previous projects that I have. Tomorrow, I shall be shooting once again as it is my niece Marianne's wedding.

I came across old pictures that I took during my second time of going to Pagsanjan, Laguna to shoot the rapids. It instantly brought back the memories that I have of that day. Although I did enjoy the trip, I can't forget how tired I was, how thirsty I was and how swollen my arms were! Yup, I had a serious case of sunburn, the kind which makes one feel like a roasted pig! I couldn't really place my arms at my sides. It was painful to do so. I could only blame myself for it, since I got carried away shooting the day's festivities, the day being the town fiesta. I also had to go through watching and shooting the town's special guests that day, members of FPJ's actor lackeys and opposition mates who held a rally in support of FPJ's presidential bid in the year 2004. Dang! Never again shall I be caught shooting under the midday sun without wearing a sunblock on.

I like the place since there are a lot of photographic opportunities. However, after taking two trips, it will be better if I attempt to shoot the place armed with a better set of glass. But if there is something that will keep me away from returning, it is the exorbitant fees that the boatmen charge for a boat ride to shoot the rapids! What a ride!

A WEDDING MIXED UP.....

Exchanging Vows At The Altar.....




Feeling The Heat.....



Sealed With A Kiss.....



When Doves Fly.....





Another Kiss.....




Entrance To The Reception.....





I messed up my schedule! It slipped from my mind that the Christmas party of our photo club was on the 9th of December. What I thought was that the party shall be held on the 10th, a Sunday. So imagine my horror and dazed look when Bless reminded me that the party was actually a day earlier! Oh man! What a mess!

The coverage lasted almost the whole day. We started at 7 am and finished at 11:30 pm. The wedding was between a Chinese couple, Dex and Pin. And thus tradition states that the reception of the wedding has to be around 8 pm, even if the wedding rite was performed much earlier at 1 pm. In between, Ken actually took the couple to a photo schedule, that included Father Blanco's Garden and Roxas Boulevard. It was interesting to observe him, how he worked and executed each shot. It does amaze me that he has 4 cameras that he uses at his disposal, each with a different lens attached to it. How I wished I have even just half of what he has!

Seeing what the demands are on a wedding photographer, it further made me think about whether I should head towards the same path or not. But I love photography and shooting weddings makes no difference! Photographing events is challenging because of the numerous obstacles that the event presents to the photographer. These are just some of the pictures I took during the day. Let me say that I shall continue shooting more!

A WONDERFUL JOYRIDE WITH B AND B.....

Buboy, Moi and Bless at Paskuhan Village.....




Kaleidoscope World.....



Watching the Lantern.....




Superlolo/Total Entertainer/Multitasker and His Wards.....




The next day, a Sunday and right after the Canon Shootout, I decided to meet a couple of great friends from the club namely Bless and Buboy and joined them to go to Pampanga for the Giant Lantern Festival. I haven't really seen any of these lanterns before so when they invited me to go, I said "yes" immediately. We left around 3 pm and arrived at Paskuhan Village at around 5 pm. To our surprise, the place wasn't really filled with people, which was kind of sad. Paskuhan Village is a large place, I think the local tourism arm of the government must do something to save it.

Anyway, we were delighted to watch a cultural presentation performed by teenaged ladies and headed by a guy/gay that the three of us call superlolo/ total entertainer/ multitasker! He was awesome! He was the host, the singer, the male lead dancer, the percussion player, the kumintang player, the narrator and the leader! All of these, done with such aplomb and despite his age (he doesn't look that young)! In the end, it was quite entertaining to watch him and his wards perform.

We never thought that going to Pampanga to shoot the festival shall bring about a stress free experience! At some point, the three of us were enjoying ourselves, hamming it up as we posed in front of my camera and Bless' and using my remote control switch, fired shot after shot of ourselves, enjoying it as if we were kids who have not seen a camera before! But when the lantern show started, we got serious and began to take pictures of the lanterns lighted, unlighted and how it looked like from its back. We went back to Manila at around 9:30 pm. Hmm, even the ride on the NLEX was relaxing!

Thank you very much Bless for the ride! Thank you very much Buboy for the laughs! And thank you very much to the both of you for the very wonderful company! If shooting events is always like this, life is soooooo sswwweeettt! c",)

THE AFTERMATH OF THE COMPETITION.....

Canon Shoot and Run Entry, Finalist.....





I had a blast in joining the first ever Canon Shoot and Run photo contest. It was fun, tiring but exciting event. Five members from the NAYON Photo Club participated. The objective was to take pictures according to the theme with the City of Manila as the backdrop. There were two themes, with a third one an optional theme. The first is the "Splendor of Manila", the second is the "Heart of Manila" and third being "Only in the Philippines".

The competition started with a briefing at exactly 10:30 am which we were required to attend. Failure to do so shall exclude the shooter from participating in the morning session of the contest. The actual shooting process started at 11 am. Bobet joined another set of photographers, so we, the remaining ones basically stuck with each other. With Lian's husband Von doing the driving for her (and us as well as we hitched a ride with her), we stopped by the grandstand in Luneta Park. Without seeing anything that I can capture that which, in my opinion, shall show the "splendor" of Manila, I walked towards the end of the grandstand and saw the Manila Hotel. I came to an area where the skating rink is now located (after being displaced by that humongous statue of Lapu-lapu) and suddenly found myself in an ideal location. Even I have not seen this area before, but since there were no other contestants around, the sudden realization that I have an original photograph made me feel good. Manila Hotel has been a symbol of luxury since the days of yore so what better subject to capture the "splendor" of Manila than the hotel that carries its name? And the view that I got is indeed unique. It is along the dock where the floating restaurant is located! That explains the boats and the walkway. I then told Lian not to meet me anymore since I already have my potential entry with me as the group decided to proceed to Intramuros for more photo opportunities. Later, during the night, the organizers told us that the pictures that were being shown on the wide screen were the images that made the top fifty for the "splendor" category. My entry was included and it made my participation worthwhile.

The afternoon session proved to be more difficult for me as it was all about people. I had problems with finding ideal subjects since I didn't want to photograph subjects which I perceived to be common, i.e. the cigarette vendor, the sampaguita vendor, the street children. I wanted to show the distinguished people, i.e. the doctor, the nurse, the policeman. But it seems everyone was inclined to shoot the street children, so of to Quiapo we went. As I expected, I didn't have a single decent entry for this theme. My photograph of a katipunero dressed security guard of Fort Santiago didn't make it, I assume, to the top fifty of this theme. Well, better luck and conceptualization next time.

Congratulations are in order to Robert Fontanilla, one of my club mates. His picture in the "Splendor of Manila" category won second place. He went home with a Canon Pixma printer valued at 25,000 pesos as his prize.

CANON SHOOT AND RUN 2006.....

Today, Canon camera users, mostly from Metro Manila, are going to pit skills against each other to see who shall win the Canon Shoot and Run Photo Contest. At stake are a 100,000 pesos as main cash prize while Canon camera gear worth up to 300,000 pesos shall be given away too. Its the first time in this country that a major camera manufacturer has staged a contest as big as this one. If Canon Philippines can be an active sponsor of events for photographers here, my bet is that people will be switching less and less to using the Nikon system, which is getting prevalent nowadays. Nikon users, eat your hearts out on this one! c",)

I really do not have the energy to join this photo contest. But since I have registered, I have to go with the flow of shooting for this contest. Some NAYON members have enlisted for this, among them are Lian, Bobet, Peter and Jerome. I have no information if there are other people who have decided to join this. I do wish that Bless could join this competition but she has other things on her plate at the moment that it would be best that she didn't go (read as: BUSY). Anyway, we NAYON members must get our acts together and plan our actions for the event. To those who shall participate: Good luck to each of us!

I'm still sleep deprived! It does suck that they have to schedule this event during the start of the Simbang Gabi. Its the first day and I have already missed it! I need some more sleep before I wake up and proceed to the venue of the event. I do expect to win something, hopefully a cash prize of 100,000 pesos. Ha! Ha! Ha! That will surely jump start my photography business!