THE COLOR OF MONEY.....

The Succeeding Frames.....





























The First Frame.....







My flash isn't working properly. It accidentally fell off the light stand just as I was about to raise the height of the stand during one of my strobist experiments. Strobist is a photography term coined by David Hobby to describe the use of off camera flash as a main source of light while shooting. The flash is used like a basic studio light or strobe. Light modifiers in the form of soft boxes and umbrellas are used to shape the light just like its big brother. Other accessories like barn doors, snoot and honeycombs can also be used.

Since my flash won't fire when I attached my Flashwaves wireless trigger to it, I had to device a plan to introduce light to my subject which I can also control. So I resorted to the painting with light technique. In this case, my mini led changer became my source of light for this experiment. My problem was how to control the amount of light that shall hit the subject since the torch did not have a dimmer function. What I did was place a white plastic in front of the torch and somehow occlude the light it emits by partially blocking it with the palm of my hand.

Seldom do I have this inspiration of doing some experimenting and I was on a roll. The theme for the club competition was complementary colors. In simple terms, it was just taking a picture of subjects whose colors complement one another. These combinations are red and green, blue and orange and yellow and violet.

It crossed my mind that for this theme, I shall be "using" our local paper money! And why not? If there are man made items that are colorful enough to be photographed, it is our local currency. Though my friend did mention that doing so is prohibited. I asked why and he could not give me an answer. Perhaps this has something to do with counterfeiting activities. But I am not into that. I guess this is one of those personal projects then.

The concept was to literally interpret the phrase "pocket money". I used the 20 peso bills and my jeans pocket to represent the colors orange and blue. The photos show the degree of trial and error that I had to do before I came up with decent images.

My apologies for placing the wrong year in some of the photos. I can't correct it anymore because of the way I placed the watermark. I really have to get some adequate sleep!

A SESSION WITH THE JOY LUCK CLUB.....

The Mothers Of The Joy Luck Club.....
















And Their Daughters.....















The Moon Lady And Houyi, Her Archer Husband.....






Stealing The Pill Of Immortality.....






Heading Towards The Moon.....







It came as a surprise to me that Repertory Philippines' initial offering for 2011 will be scheduled this February. The stage group normally opens its calendar year with a performance in January and not this month. Checking out their website for the line up and schedule of their performances, it seems like they have another play to stage on March (Alfred Hitchcock's The 39 Steps), a different one on April (Shakespeare in Hollywood) and a musical for August until December (Seussical). All of these are going to be performed at Greenbelt One in Makati. They also are going to perform at the Meralco Theater from September to October as they present Peter Pan.

Back to the present though. For the start of this year, they are presenting The Joy Luck Club. Written by Susan Kim and based on Amy Tan's novel of the same title, The Joy Luck Club is the tale of 4 women who all come from China then moved to the US as immigrants and their 4 American born daughters. In 1949, the elder women meet one time at the First Chinese Baptist Church in a mah jong session and became friends, calling their mah jong group The Joy Luck Club. Each mother recounts her past and the kind of relationship that they have with their daughters and reveals the events that shaped up what they are now.

The play is directed by acclaimed Filipino professor in the theater arts Anton Juan and the cast includes Pinky Marquez, Rebecca Chuaunsu, Jay Glorioso and Frances Makil Ignacio as the mothers with Lily Chu, Ana Abad Santos, Jenny Jamora and Cris Villonco as their daughters. The play runs from February 4 to 20, Fridays and Saturdays, 8 pm, Saturdays and Sundays at 3:30 pm at Onstage Greenbelt One in Makati.

One thing I noticed about the cast is I am not familiar with the 3 elder female leads. Pinky, Ana, Jenny and Cris belong to a stable of Repertory talents who I am quite familiar with. Part of Ms. Menchu Lauchengco-Yulo's thrust is to make the cast more "open". Perhaps being open means employing theater actors outside of Repertory Philippines' pool of actors.

Repertory Philippines is ongoing a sort of transition at present. Ms.Lauchengco-Yulo is the new associate artistic director and has replaced Ms. Joy Virata. Her vision for the theater company is to make it more up to date by presenting newer plays that has never been shown to Philippine audiences and increase the number of stage play performances, reasoning out that Repertory did start as a stage play ensemble.

I am looking forward to these subtle changes that Ms. Lauchengco-Yulo has done for Repertory. And I do hope that more and more Filipinos will come out, will appreciate and will enjoy these performances.

VIGAN AT CHRISTMAS TIME.....

Vigan Cathedral At Christmas.....






With The Belfry.....






The Bellfry.....






A Closer View.....






Shopping For Souvenirs.....






Hoping For A Calesa Ride.....






Hagdanan Na Walang Tahanan.....






When I bade my relatives goodbye during my last trip, I went to Vigan to buy some Vigan longganisa to take home to eat. I also decided to buy a whole box of special bibingka as well. I do not have a photo of the longganisa since it was wrap frozen and the bibingka was polished off as soon as I arrived home. Obviously, this is where I boarded the bus heading for Manila.

I haven't seen Vigan at Christmas time. I know from past visits that Crisologo Street is a well lighted area. I became curious if the houses on this well known street have the usual Christmas decors just like any other house and shops during this time. And I wanted to see the contrast, old Spanish houses with Christmas lights blinking or even the presence of a lighted parol outside the premises.

I was disappointed that the shops were bare with the said decorations when I got there. In fact, the only sign that it was still Christmas was the presence of a decorated Christmas tree in front of Vigan Cathedral and a parol on the belfry. I guess I expected to much from this trip. Or perhaps the shopkeepers decided to remove their decors after the New Year.

I think the only way to find out is to return to Vigan next Christmas time (December) and scout the place once again.

A MOMENT IN THE LIFE OF A CHILD.....

My Grandchild, Showing Off Her Independence.....


















Sometime last January, I went to Sta. Lucia to pay my relatives a visit and perform certain tasks required of me like paying the yearly land tax of the rice farm and selling the palay harvested to rice traders. After doing these, I always go back to Manila immediately.

Life here in the province is not what it used to be when I was a child. My generation has grown up. A few have even passed away. The kids of yesterday are now the adults of the present while those who were there to guide us are slowly disappearing one by one.

Gone were the days when we used to play basketball at the cemented court at the town plaza across the municipal hall. Gone were the days when we would sit down and do our bit of classifying tobacco leaves in order to earn some money for the summer. Gone were the days when you have all your cousins around and engage in conversations that range from the trivial and mundane to the serious and life altering.

I watched my grandchild (oh yes, I still am young but I now have lots of apos) as she enjoyed her bath. Will I still be around as this child reaches her teens?

I NEVER THOUGHT I'D MISS THIS.....

The fun thing about New Year's Eve is watching the sky for the fireworks display that takes place before the clock strikes 12 midnight of January 1. But nowadays, firecrackers and fireworks are getting more expensive that one buyer of such things has to ponder deeply if money spent to buy these "pyrotechnic entertainers" is worthwhile. And with the DOH campaign to avoid firecrackers to prevent bodily harm and that gas leak in Makati that can certainly turn into a huge fireball of catastrophic proportions prompting the city government to issue a strict warning not to use firecrackers in their area, I am now hearing myself say, I miss watching a fireworks display.

There was a time in the past when me and my friends from NAYON Photographer's Club braved the throng of people and proceeded to Esplanade to watch the World Pyro Olympics and shoot fireworks to our hearts' delight! And the last time we went there, we actually placed ourselves on top of those huge boulders along the break waters of Manila Bay, since the thick concrete barriers have been occupied by people who arrived ahead of us. I also recall about a time when I had to walk quite far just to be able to get a bus as I head home to Las Pinas. This started my ritual of never again try to get a ride at MOA during a very busy night like this and just head towards Plaza Lawton.

A lot has happened with this event. For one thing, we were privy with what happened behind the supposed misunderstanding between the organizers of the Pyro Olympics and SM Management. Whatever the controversy was, it made the organizers transfer the pyro olympics venue to around the area in the Fort, in Taguig and also made SM organize a similar event which SM now is a sponsor of.

If ever another event similar to the World Pyro Olympics is held here in the future, who knows, I might blow the dust off my tripod and proceed towards wherever the location for this event will be and shoot fireworks once again!