Going North Part 2: Journey Home

The yellow things the lady is selling is called the pintos — corn grits cooked in milk and sugar wrapped in corn husks that happens to be the signature delicacy for the City of Bogo. (ISO100 35mm f/4.0 1/1000sec)

This is the continuation of my previous post, Going North Part 1: Off to San Remigio. Having decided that my Sony Zeiss 16-70 f4.0 lens was a bit slow for  to my Sony 35 f1.8 to try and actually get not so blurred images taken of people by the roadside as I snap away on board a speeding (literally and figuratively) Ceres Bus from San Remigio all the way to Cebu City.

The next day, Rachel and I did not have much time as we woke up a bit late and the check out time was 12nn. We just fixed ourselves up, then checked out.

Again, the sea at San Remigio is really nice — calm waters with a relatively flat seabed allowing for a large swimming area where one does not have to worry about strong currents which happen to be common in the areas around Cebu (a moderate swimming pace in places like Moalboal or Bantayan will leave you in a standstill). I was tempted to take a dip, but we were in a hurry to I had to say goodbye. 😦 (ISO100 35mm f/5.6 1/400sec)

After a short walk to the main road, I was not confident about our prospects of getting good seats in a bus if we just waited by the roadside so Rachel and I decided to go to Hagnaya Port to get the bus there. It was just as well as we did not yet have any breakfast.

Hanging rice with barbecue dipped in coconut vinegar for brunch! (ISO100 35mm f/1.8 1/40sec)

The typical dip for barbecue in Cebu is a mix of vinegar and soy sauce along with lots of spices. In my opinion, quality vinegar is center-point that determines the good from the bad. I really like the locally produced vinegar, it’s just a bit tricky to find good ones as they are sold before they go sour and some just don’t turn up that well. Maybe I should root around in Carbon market when I get the time.

It took a couple minutes for the barbecue to get cooked so we played around with having her pose for some impromptu portraits.

I have this annoying way of moving the camera a little bit away or a little close when taking portraits which at times results in the subject not fitting all that well inside the focused region. (ISO100 35mm f/1.8 1/100sec)

Hehehe… just posing around. 🙂 (ISO100 35mm f/1.8 1/100sec)

After eating, we did not have to wait long before getting a bus, but it had to take a minutes long stop at the Bogo bus station to pick up more passengers. If I were in a hurry, the extended stop over would have frustrated me, but since I’m on vacation mode, I just sat happy and took some photos.

It’s only a few minutes between Hagnaya and Bogo, so I was at first amused that the driver went out stretching like that. I then thought how long he as been going back and forth (ISO100 35mm f/4.0 1/1000sec)

It really looks like some intense looking guy is walking around with a knife. I at first though it was whatever tool they use to punch holes in the tickets, a friendly comment from my local photography club told me it’s actually the T used to open or lock the bus’s cargo compartments. (ISO100 35mm f/4.0 1/1000sec)

New arrivals. A visit or a homecoming? (ISO100 35mm f/4.0 1/1000sec)

Say what? (ISO100 35mm f/4.0 1/250sec)

A frame within a frame… (ISO100 35mm f/4.0 1/250sec)

The wait. A mother and her children sitting on a bench apparently waiting for someone. (ISO100 35mm f/4.0 1/250sec)

After a while, the bus inched forward and I got to photograph them head on. (ISO100 35mm f/4.0 1/250sec)

After a while, we finally made our way out of the bus station and had a generally uninterrupted journey all the way to Carmen where, like the day before, the bus takes a few minutes break. I did not get to take a lot of photos there unlike before as I was preoccupied with trying some of the food there. I ended up with some siopao that had lots of fat in it and I ended up staining my shirt with ketchup. Overall, it was a waste of time.

I just wanted to illustrate how anything will look on camera if you don’t set it to a high shutter speed. A fifth of a second is already a lot of movement. (ISO100 35mm f/22 1/5sec)

A grandmother ‘getting some air.’ Not really sure how helpful all the heat, dust and vehicle exhaust is for her, I just hope being outside really is a lot better for her than being inside. (ISO100 35mm f/1.8 1/1000sec)

The above photo is the only keeper I had from the first couple of minutes after the bus set off as a lot of my shots missed focus. The depth of field at f/1.8 is just too shallow in a shooting situation where a lot of guestimation takes place. I have yet to have a handle of other focusing modes so I just used AF-S. My failures in this trip should provide sufficient motivation for me to study the others.

His pose looks iconic for depicting a lazy Sunday morning. (ISO100 35mm f/2.8 1/1000sec)

From the bags, they look ready to set off somewhere. Not the beach given that get up. Likely to a neighboring town or even back to central Cebu. (ISO100 35mm f/2.8 1/2000sec)

My concession for a slightly deeper depth of field at f/2.8 still misses in a lot of cases and I also noticed that I still have to pan the camera when shooting even at 1/1000sec to eliminate blurring. I saw improvements in moving even faster to 1/2000sec. The first photo has no perfectly in focus part and the one beneath it is focused on the no parking sign, the girl hugging the plastic bag is already too close to the camera. It really took a while to me to figure out how to focus in this set-up.

Tricycles are ubiquitous even on the hi-way with people using them for shorter journeys specially when going to interior areas of the town where it could take them house to house if needed. The problem is that they move too slow thus compelling those behind them to try and overtake and that just makes the whole road a lot more chaotic than it needs to be. Just one look at them makes me glad I opted to take the bus instead of driving. I remember the time when I overtook one tricycle only to have to hit the brakes hard because the tricycle ahead of it slowed down suddenly. Had a bout of nerves after that. Yeah, I’m really glad I took the bus. (ISO100 35mm f/2.8 1/2000sec)

Yeah, the photo is badly focused, but his expression just amuses me so I kept it. (ISO100 35mm f/2.8 1/2000sec)

He’s ‘watering’ the plants. (ISO100 35mm f/2.8 1/2000sec)

Yet another tricycle. (ISO100 35mm f/2.8 1/2000sec)

Yup, it’s one lazy Sunday morning! (ISO100 35mm f/2.8 1/2000sec)

It’s a testament to how prolific motorbikes have become that I kept getting so many photos of people tinkering with their bikes by the roadside. (ISO100 35mm f/2.8 1/2000sec)

He waits. (ISO100 35mm f/2.8 1/2000sec)

A roadside fish market. (ISO100 35mm f/2.8 1/2000sec)

Some ladies waiting for a ride in the shade. Since they did not hail the bus, I’m guessing they’re waiting for a tricycle. (ISO100 35mm f/2.8 1/2000sec)

Mimicry. (ISO100 35mm f/2.8 1/2000sec)

Sun protection is apparently more important than skull protection. People never cease to amaze. If only I could really refer to them fully in the third person, I’m found myself in bike with no helmet a couple of times as well. 😦 Lazy, and reckless. (ISO100 35mm f/2.8 1/2000sec)

Yet more people either waiting or just hanging out. Shades do add to some cool factor though. 😀 (ISO100 35mm f/2.8 1/2000sec)

Of to buy some construction supplies. I wonder where they’ll carry it. (ISO100 35mm f/2.8 1/2000sec)

It’s almost lunchtime when I took this picture. (ISO100 35mm f/2.8 1/2000sec)

A guy with who looks to be his girlfriend and some ladies talking over a stall. A little slice of life that could be anywhere in the Philippines really. (ISO100 35mm f/2.8 1/2000sec)

What are you up to little boy? (ISO100 35mm f/2.8 1/2000sec)

I need some school supplies…. (ISO100 35mm f/2.8 1/2000sec)

This and the photo at the top of this post are major contenders for what I’d call the iconic photos for this trip. He’s a hawker who sells chicharon (chicharones) to bus passengers. Of course, the bus doesn’t really stop for them so in the middle of having his smoke in the waiting shed, he just made a run for it when I saw the bus. That’s smoke coming away from his mouth from his last puff. (ISO100 35mm f/2.8 1/2000sec)

I kept this just because I think she’s pretty. (ISO100 35mm f/2.8 1/2000sec)

I always mistake the bottle for some local energy drinks as beer bottles. One time I stared at a v-hire driver while I was seated on the front seat because I thought he was drinking on the job. (ISO100 35mm f/2.8 1/2000sec)

The people look like they are on a race. With the sale sign prominent in the background, I just made the amusing connection that they are racing for the sale. 😀 (ISO100 35mm f/2.8 1/2000sec)

Her boyfriend was on the bus I was riding. That’s her expression when he disembarked. *the feels* 🙂 (ISO100 35mm f/2.8 1/2000sec)

Guy with scraggly hair outside a hair salon. (ISO100 35mm f/2.8 1/2000sec)

Multicab Overload (ISO100 35mm f/2.8 1/2000sec)

Caught you in a bad moment didn’t I girl? Were you yawning or about to call someone? Whatever the case, you’re now in a wonderful photo. For whatever reason, I just like looking at this photo. Not really sure why. (ISO100 35mm f/2.8 1/2000sec)

Well, that’s it for my journey home from San Remigio. This is the first of many visits to that part of Cebu given that I’ll be regularly visiting Rachel there.

I’m off to climb Mt. Talinis on June 18-19 so it really is going to be a while before I make a new post after this. I hope you liked my post. Have a nice day!

 

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