CINDERELLA STORY.....

The Cast Of Repertory Philippines' "Cinderella".....





Cinderella.....










Evil Mom With Wicked Daughters.....







It was such an honor to proceed to Repertory Philippines' office in Makati and meet the staff, crew, actors and actresses who comprise the organization. Me and my clubmates took the portraits of everyone and have their mugshots updated. Such shots are going to be used for their souvenir program in future Rep plays. It also included a photo shoot for the publicity campaign of their upcoming production of "Cinderella".

It was a division of labor, hence I didn't have photos of Prince Charming! Niccolo Manahan plays Prince Charming while Michael Manotoc is his alternate.

I invite everyone to watch the show, geared towards the younger generation.

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!!!

ISANG DAAN NA PO KAMI!.....

REGISTRATION AREA.....





CHIEF ORGANIZER DR. MENG C......





IM RESIDENTS BATCH 2002 (REUNION ORGANIZERS).....





DR. AND DR. R. JARA (THE SUNSET MONTAGE AS BACKDROP).....





IM RESIDENTS BATCH 1998 (HEADED BY FORMER CHIEF RESIDENT DR. NEMIE N.).....





IM RESIDENTS BATCH 1999 (HEADED BY FORMER CHIEF RESIDENT DR. IRIS THIELE T.).....






FORMER CHIEF RESIDENT DR. CECILLE "JESSICA ALFARO" J. ENJOYING THE PROGRAM.....





FORMER CHIEF RESIDENT DR. ETERNITY L. PERFORMING A DANCE NUMBER.....





DR. AND DR. A. DANS SWINGING TO THE MUSIC.....





EVERYBODY DANCE.....






"Never ever give your services for free." "Sir, paano kung matalik na kaibigan mo ang humiling sa iyo?" "Nasasayo na kung pagbigbigyan mo pero isipin mo, sino kaya sa inyong dalawa ang nakinabang ng husto?"

This is the first lesson that I learned from one of my photography instructors, if one wants to turn professional. It assures the novice professional that at the end of the day, he has money to put food on the table. I have always wanted to turn pro, but I'm not sure if I have the guts to ignore people who are close to me.

I was asked by Dr. Meng Chungongco to shoot the 100 anniversary of the Department of Internal Medicine of PGH, the area where I was formerly associated with. The sad part was that I was asked to do it Probono! Despite the grandiose atmosphere of the event, no budget was set aside for the documentation of the event through video and photography. I really had major reservations in accepting the offer. But the reason why I agreed to do it was out of friendship. It would have been nice to see old friends again. That made me relent.

Unfortunately, my file of pictures taken for this event were included in my laptop "mishap". It's a good thing that I have already given the cd to Dr. Meng before the incident happened. I know I took lots of pictures, but these were the ones I was able to recover.

ALIWAN FESTIVAL.....

I went to Manila, at Roxas Boulevard specifically, to shoot the perfect sunset that is needed for a tarpaulin montage to be used in a reunion of IM doctors of PGH. I was surprised though when a stretch of the boulevard was closed to traffic. I didn't have a clue what was going on so I asked for some information from a cigarette vendor. He told me that the Aliwan Parade was starting, with the participants just exiting the grandstand area and proceeding to the CCP complex, passing by Roxas Boulevard.

This festival is the mother of all festivals, so to speak. Top street dancers from different parts of the country and representing the festivals from which each province is observing, come to Manila on the last Saturday of April to give Manilans a glimpse of the action. Not everyone can afford to visit each province during a town fiesta. Hence, Aliwan was created.

I am sad though, since my laptop crashed by some mysterious means and almost all my photos of this event have been wiped out. These were the only decent set that survived. Lesson learned!

SKY IS THE LIMIT.....

A SIMPLE SUNSET.....





SUNSET AFFECTED BY LENS FLARE.....





AFTER THE SUNSET.....





SOLITUDE.....





STILLNESS.....






I have always valued my friends in the medical field. When I was in PGH, I could get along more with the doctors in our department than my fellow nurses, except, of course, the nurses that came in the ward after me. I really became close with the junior nurses and they ended up being my lifetime pals. But, I don't know, why it seemed that I can relate to doctors more. And the last three IM residents batches that I have closely worked with proved this, as I still keep in contact with members from each batch until now.

Imagine my surprise when Tyrone, who happens to be in the very last batch of doctors I worked with, asked me to help him take pictures of a particular view, a sunset; and PGH! Duh! Sunset?!? PGH?!? Why?!? He later explained that he needs the photo as it is going to be used in a tarpaulin backdrop during the celebration of the IM Department's 100 years (since PGH is celebrating its 100th year, it therefore follows that most departments are 100 years old too). It so happened that he and his batch mates are the ones in charge of the affair. Sunset, is that it? So off we went on certain days when he is free (he has clinics from Quezon City to Alabang), to places like Esplanade and Manila Bay to capture it. Unfortunately for him, whenever we would go out to do the task at hand, the weather doesn't cooperate and it always rains! And because he so wanted to do the job that his friends ask him, he just didn't have the free time to go out and shoot. In the end, Meng couldn't wait for Tyrone's availability and with her deadline fast approaching, she ended up asking me to shoot it! How can I refuse?

The next few days, I had to go and scout the bay for location, trying to figure out what kind of a "sunset" shot do they need. The pictures above show what I got.