I saw a figurine of an owl in the house and thought that the statuette reminded me of Harry Potter's owl, Hedwig. So even if I was about to go to bed tonight, I delayed it for a few minutes and took pictures of the owl in the dark. My intention was to simulate night time (well its actually night time) hence the low key photo and dark background. The light I used was my small led lenser.
Goodnight.....And don't let the bedbugs bite! c",)
St. Monica Church of Botolan, Zambales.....
The Belfry.....
The Guardians Of The Narthex.....
The Nave Of The Church.....
Baptistery.....
As soon as we were finished shooting the activities for the morning program, the group decided to explore the neighboring towns to find places worthy of being captured in digital file. So we went to Botolan, Zambales to visit its church, The Parish Of St. Monica. The church was built in 1700 out of coral blocks that the townsfolk painstakingly carried from the sea. It is also believed that this church is considered the oldest church in the country.
My only wish for our nation's old places of worship is that locals should try and preserve the original structure and not alter the appearance in case the churches need repairs. These edifices are part of our history after all.
Before.....
After.....
Before.....
After.....
Before.....
After.....
If there was a time in the life of Jesus that can be so dramatic and epic in its depiction, it is His life story leading to the events of His death. Even Hollywood has delved in the life of Christ with Mel Gibson's "The Passion of Christ" being the last one.
I look forward to the Lenten Season every year. The usual sounds of the hustle and bustle of the streets of Manila turn into a quiet rumble of church goers who flock to the churches and prepare themselves for the observance of the holiday. And it also happens to be a season worth taking photographs of. But one also has to search for it though.
Places like Angeles and Cutud in Pampanga are sure places where photographers can really expect to have great pictures of Lent. But it does take a special mental frame for one to do so. Squeamish people are advised to back away as the blood and gore may be too much for them to handle. And if you also happen to be someone who abhors extremely hot weather while shooting, then better stay at home too. Lent is associated with summer and summers in the Philippines nowadays are getting hotter and hotter, perhaps a result of global warming. Too bad though that these places, Cutud in particular have turned into a tourist fiesta, what with the sheer number of people, both local and foreign trooping to the site to watch a few men get crucified to the cross.
An alternative to shooting live penitential scenes are to shoot statues and tableau that depict the Sorrowful Mysteries of Christ. I remember watching in awe the Good Friday procession that featured life sized statues that told the story when I was young. What impressed me was the attention to detail and the realism that the sculptors of these statues showed. How does one sculpt teardrops and blood drops? A statue of a suffering Christ that showed distended veins in His hands and neck used to scare me a lot. And who can forget those menacing looks of the Roman soldiers? But my all time favorite is a statue that shows a human expression, whether it be about anger, sorrow or any other emotion. A statue may be made out of wood or marble and are therefore cold, but the expression it exhibits in my eye, makes it human.
The group Hermandad de la Sagrada Pasion de Jesus asked the club to take pictures of their Lenten statues and some of the photos shall be used for a coffee table book that the group is pursuing to publish in the future. The group is composed of families who own and take care of these life sized statues and are usually being taken out of their respective houses to be paraded around their community during the Good Friday procession. We accepted their proposal and took the job seriously. The cramped space proved to be a big challenge though so a lot of post processing work had to be done for each. Some turned out to be hits, some were misses. Pfffffttttt!
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.
© Free Blogger Templates 'Photoblog II' by Ourblogtemplates.com 2008
Back to TOP
