So, I Joined the Sinulog Photo Contest

I really like this take. Too bad the January 12 runway event is not the official Sinulog Festival Queen even on January 13 so it does not qualify for submission. 😦 (ISO400 70mm f/5.6 1/80s)

Ever since I got my interchangeable lens camera (Sony a5000) back on 2015, I’ve been planning on joining the Sinulog Photo Contest. I planned for it back then to join on Sinulog 2016 and that was my reason for buying my SEL1670Z lens. Alas, it was not to be as I had a job related training in Manila on January of that year. Thankfully, I am free this year. Here are my thoughts and photos of the experience…

Mt. Talinis Part 2: We’re Going Down!

The still recovering Lake Nailig. Given how much it rained the day before and the morning I took this, it probably is very different now that two weeks have passed. (ISO100 16mm f/8.0 1/40sec)

Continuing from my last post, My First Taste of Mt. Talinis Part 1. It is, unfortunately for us, not all going down from here. To the non-climbers, many–if not most–climbers tend to prefer descents to climbs — so long as it’s not too steep — as it puts less strain on your heart and lungs. The legs, however, tend to get a beating, especially with the descent we took from Lake Nailig to Casaroro Falls. Anyway, here is how our day went….

My First Taste of Mt. Talinis Part 1

Misty Lake on the Mountains High. This is a shot of the shores of Lake Nailig, one of many crater lakes on Mt. Talinis. (ISO100 25mm f/5.6 1/20sec)

Mt. Talinis, I’ve heard so much about it. I remember in my last job where I got asked if I’ve climbed this mountain when a co-worker found out that I do mountain climbing. I haven’t, I just never found the time.Well, now I have. This is my journey as told through my lens.

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.

Morning the Night

Just peeking. 🙂 (ISO100 70mm f/22 1/40sec)

Well, it seems like this late sleeper finally caught his sunrise. I’ve been meaning to do it since I made my post on missing it (Missing the Sun Rise). It took me months, but I finally managed. 😀

A Glimpse of Lent

Cebu Cathedral (ISO100 29mm f/8.0, HDR 1/100 and 1/1600sec) Photog’s note: Tone mapping could have achieved the same look, but going HDR meant lower noise on the shaded area.

My generation and the younger ones have taken to spending their Holy Week holidays at the beach. In the olden days, people only went to the beach on Black Saturday and Easter Sunday, but that is not really the official way of celebrating it even then. It’s more a consequence if our Island Culture here in Cebu that lots of occasions involve going to the beach. Anyway, this year, instead of going to the beach I decided to witness the religious side of Lent and this post details what I saw on Good Friday.

Summer 2016 Begins!

It’s scorching hot at Bas Dako. The sand would just be white without tone mapping. (ISO100 16mm f/11 1/400sec, panorama)

Here in the Philippines, summer starts around March — more like April actually — but the people at work decided to kick it off a bit earlier given that we have some people leaving and one was celebrating his birthday.

A Photoshoot Reloaded

Fuente Osmeña and Chong Hua Hospital on a moonless night (ISO100 24mm f/16 30.0s)

I happens often enough that I take a shot and feel that I didn’t quite nail it. In this post, I relate my experience of getting back there to get the shot I wanted.

Grave Matters

My Maternal Grandparents (ISO100 16mm f/11, HDR, stitched panorama) It’s really sad, their graves are supposed to resemble their house’s porch in terms of construction material—white marble—and small altar to the Mother Mary where the cross is now painted. Thieves stole the roof and the weather did the rest. Now it really looks like a grave site rather than a piece of the life they used to live.

In other parts of the world, people run around wearing costumes and go trick or treating. Given the strong American influence here, we actually do that in malls on October 31, but, for the most part, we still hold to the older tradition of Undas which we celebrate by visiting—and often going into sleep overs—the graves of our loved ones bringing flowers and lighting candles.

Setting your own pace

I could have ended up like this. (Photo taken from http://www.clarksvilleonline.com. Photo by CPD-Jim Knoll)

Of late, I’ve been quite distracted with learning how to drive. I’m not sure how it is in other countries, but here, it is made more difficult by the fact that a lot of things driving related are–in a word–messy.