AMADEO, AMADEO!! ROCK ME AMADEO!!!!!

Blue Skies, Green Fields.....






Walking On Stony Ground.....






More Mini Waterfalls.....






Enjoying A Cool Shower.....





An Alternative Shower System.....





The Mini Waterfalls.....





The Main Road Under Construction..... See How Steep It Is?





The Alternative Trail We Went To.....





Bless Hamming It Up Infront Of The Camera.....







A Wider Perspective of Where We Were (Thanks Mark Capistrano for these 2 pics).....





Bless, Buboy and Moi with Mon Ching and Mrs. Huang of FPPF.....





Sometimes, photo opportunities come unexpectedly. Club president Gigi sent text messages to all members telling us about a shoot to be held in Cavite, particularly in Amadeo. It was deemed as an OTS shoot so she was frantic to disseminate the information to insure that the club shall be represented in the shoot off. So even if it was my B-day, off I went with Bless and Buboy to Cavite.

We had a 7am call time so that meant we were on the road as early as 5:30 am. The odd thing was we didn't have any idea where we were going. There was a map posted at the club site but its difficult to look for a place, in this case, a resort, which didn't have a sign board that states the direction going to the place from the national highway. After numerous questions for directions, wrong turns and endless laughter, we finally found the right place.

The resort, called "Ang Batis ng Amadeo" is owned by the incumbent Amadeo mayor whose name I have forgotten. The main club hall, the resort itself and some of the roads were still under construction. But what caught my eye was the presence of armed bodyguards scattered around the area. As much as these men try to be invisible, my eyes just gravitate towards them. Who wouldn't when these men carry armalites and AK-47 rifles? Perhaps it was the lull in activity that drew me to the guards.

The host provided for breakfast of arrozcaldo, puto and soda to wash everything down. And while we ate, the mayor gave his talk of what he expected us to do. He first explained the presence of his armed bodyguards (a security measure since a mayor from a nearby town was gunned down with his political rivals as primary suspects), the history and motivation behind building up the place and what he wanted our photos to show. He wanted us photographers to explore the resort three kilometers up and three kilometers down from our main location and take pictures of any untapped water resources! This made my eyes huge! This guy wanted us to act as surveyors for his resort! We were located at the side of a mountain and he asked us to walk three kilometers up and down when all I saw was a dense forest surrounding our location. I guess his surveyor refused to do the job because of financial incompatibilities perhaps?

Bless, Buboy and I tried to walk beyond our location. But it really was impossible to do so. We tried walking up a trail that we saw but it lead us to nowhere. We just had to make do with where we were at and took pics of what we saw readily.

We didn't stay for long, unlike the others who stayed until they were fed with lunch which was promised to the participants. The location just didn't work for us. If somebody does win the prize, good for them. The three of us decided we had enough and went on our way home.

THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY.....

NAYON Members Join The Procession.....





An Image of St. Joseph With The Baby Jesus.....





Different Images Of Mother Mary.....


















As a Roman Catholic, I never fully understood the value of Mother Mary in my life before. My concept of her was she was just a statue being passed around. During my years as a child, a statue of Mother Mary was being passed from one house to another. The exact tradition was this statue was supposed to stay in a house for a week, the family members are encouraged to pray the rosary during its stay and when the end of the week has come, the image was then sent to another house. Who's statue was it? I don't know. Before it came to my neighborhood, where did it come from? I don't know.

I studied in a Catholic school, Nazareth School when I reached my high school years. The school was under the Daughters of Hijas de Jesus, the female equivalent of the Society of Jesus which is better known as the Jesuit Priests. It was in this school that I soon became aware of Mary's importance in our life. Lectures about her life were repeatedly expounded to us in class and the more I got to know her background, the more I appreciated her contributions to the faith. It made me aware of the significance of these dates: September 8 and December 8, the former as Mary's birthday and the latter as the day she conceived Jesus (Immaculate Conception). These days are designated days of obligation by the church, a time when Catholics are obligated to go to Mass which is celebrated in her honor.

Every first Sunday of December a group whose name I can't recall, organizes a Marian procession with the route covering the streets of Intramuros. This procession is significant for it gives the Filipinos who have panatas to Virgin Mary, the chance to come and offer their prayers to her. A total of 50 to 70 statues of Mary from different parts of the country come to Manila to participate in the event. Even well known images like the Our Lady of Manaoag from Pangasinan and the Nuestra Senora de Penafrancia from Naga in Bicol can be seen in this procession. I do admit that I don't even know the names of most of the statues. Most of them are considered antiques, being hundreds of years old.

My first time to join the on the spot photography contest was the inaugural staging of this event. Cash prize was 50,000 pesos for the winning entry. Ahh, those were the days when sponsors were generous and an event like this landed on the society pages of broadsheets. And because film photography was still the norm and photoshop still didn't exist, photographers really had to use their imagination and creativity to come up with photographs which we thought were our winning entry. And with all the photo clubs that were under the FPPF, it was our photo club, NAYON which got the most number of top ten entries. This record, has not been challenged by any other photo club since then. Thus, even if there are no more generous sponsors, even if cash prizes are no longer being given away, even if the event seems to have lost its luster in these days of commercialism and fast paced lifestyle, we at NAYON still continue to shoot the event. As Buboy puts it, "Ito ang panata natin. Tatapusin natin ang taon sa pamamagitan ng pagkuha ng litrato ng mga imaheng ito at sisimulan ang darating na taon sa pagpapakita ng mga litratong ito."

Well said Buboy! Here is a glimpse of the different Virgin Mary that joined the procession last Sunday.

A DAY OFF THE SUBIC INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY.....

Gaby dela Merced Takes Time To Be With Us.....
(Thanks Bless for this pic.)





Gaby's Stock Racing Car.....





The Grand Daddy Of Car Racing, Pocholo Ramirez.....





The Backdrop Of The Race Track.....





A Panning Shot.....





After The Race.....






I haven't been to a racetrack to watch, or even to shoot pictures for that matter. I didn't follow car racing that much. I remember one of the agency nurses that I worked with in London, Josie, who claimed of having a boyfriend who works in the embassy (I forgot which foreign embassy) at that time. The guy was into car racing and whenever the Formula 1 season began, he would buy tickets for two people and would pick the races held in Germany or France for him and Josie to go to. One can say that because of the way Josie told me what one experiences when watching a car race LIVE, I decided to head to the pub and watch the race unfold one Sunday evening. It was the closest experience that I can get to seeing it LIVE! And I watched with an open mind. The battling for position at the start of the race; the planning of what kind of tactics during the race to employ; the maneuvering of the cars by the drivers against one another, the chaos at the pit lanes; the "eeeeooooooong" sound of the cars as it runs and the addicting smell of petrol; I must say that I was hooked from that time on.

Locally, the only person I knew who was a race car driver during my youth was Dante Silverio and Pocholo Ramirez. Mike Poetenciano (whose family owns BLTB) and Jody Coseteng were names I often read in the sports pages around the 80's. Now, the most prominent name is Tyson Sy. I was also surprised to find out that female drivers abound too. Pia Boren, Michelle Bumgarner and Gaby de la Merced are like the Danica Patrick (she races with the big boys at the Indy Car Races in the USA) of Pinoy car racing, the lone female driver in a male dominated sport in their respective events.

When FPPF posted a contest about car racing, sponsored by the Miata Racing Club, my club mates and I went to the Subic International Speedway to shoot one Saturday morning. It was my first taste of being in a racetrack. And we sort of decided to practice our panning skills too since the cars run at such faster speeds than the vehicles that run at Roxas Boulevard! At some point, I saw some recognizable faces and was more interested in meeting them, to get to know them. In the end, we were more concentrated in taking pictures of other subjects rather than the cars! When it was time to go home, I was happy. Although it wasn't really a Formula One car racing but a stock car racing, it was still great fun!!!