Sleeping on the Bus

A Trip to the Art World

2010-07-29T19:29:00.000-07:00

Okay, let me preface this post by saying that I know little to nothing about the local art scene. Sure, we have a Baldemor hanging in our house and another picture of this haunting young woman coming out of the jungle (told you I didn't know much) but while on assignment in the SM Mall of Asia Complex I bumped into a friend who happened to be organizing Manila Art 10. With my job pretty much done for the day I kind of invited myself to the formal opening.

The place was jam packed with artists, socialites and other important people but the highlight for me were the art pieces that kind of called out to me.

Having said that, after partaking of the lechon, I did stop myself from taking a picture of a painting that had Mr. Bean and Spongebob in it. That would really have given me away. . .

Manila Art 10 is still ongoing, until this Sunday. Definitely worth the trip to SMX.

Switching to the Apple. . . .

2010-07-23T02:38:00.000-07:00

Switching ever so slightly to using a Mac. I attended a free training session that Apple resellers give here in the Philippines. Don't expect a lot, especially if you already tinker with the software. But if you're a neanderthal like me who needs to be shown how things work then it's perfect. The first session I attended was on iPhoto and it helped me out a lot. There's a real paradigm shift that you need to go through if you are as imbedded in PC as I am but once you realize what's going on it's not so bad.

I won't go into the details but if you want to learn a bit more, go to the nearest Apple reseller and ask them about their training schedules for the basic iLife software modules (iPhoto, iMovie, iDVD). It's free, even if you didn't buy a computer from them.

Cheap Tip

2010-07-22T19:14:00.000-07:00

From photos of places like India, Kyrgyzstan, Paris, New York and even the pristine beaches of Philippines I find that about 90% of my photos now consist of the above. I'm not complaining, as subject matters go, taking pictures of my daughter is pretty exciting. It's part photojournalism as I try and catch something new about her every day, part time lapse as she grows from baby to toddler(and the terrible twos)and part documentary.

I noticed that as the pictures started piling up I needed to do something with them. I think digital photography's biggest drawback is that people leave the photos on their hard drive until the inevitable happens (hard drive failure or accidental erasure) and before you know it all the memories are gone.

As much as I like photo albums, they're slightly expensive and I've seen how some of them can be destructive in the long term (those magnetic type ones basically super glued all our pictures from the 70's and 80's into the album making them hard to scan). Also, photo albums are hard to store as people who have lost their memories to Typhoon Ondoy can attest to.

So a simple solution for me was to buy a simple sketch pad (acid free) and paste the pictures onto the pages (with photo friendly glue). One of the upsides to using a sketchpad is that you can write whatever you want on the side. Okay, this solution may not be as robust as a photo album (imagine people passing this around) but as a keepsake I plan to show it to family once and store it for the next few decades (in a ziploc bag) until my daughter is old enough to reminisce about her baby years.

Backing Up

2010-06-12T00:04:00.000-07:00

Just a quick note on backing up those beautiful pictures you've been taking. Everyone now knows the importance of backing up but very few people actually do this religiously.

Okay, so the worst thing you can do is keep the pictures on your camera (ok, maybe the worst thing you can do is not take the picture at all but . . .) so make sure you download them to your computer as soon as possible. This is even more important when you're on a trip because we've all heard the sob stories of people losing their camera (which is okay) with all the pictures they've just taken from their once in a lifetime trip to Brazil, Peru, Alaska, etc. still in the camera (which is not okay).

If you stop there you're actually already backed up, simple isn't it? That is if you don't erase your photos from your memory card. So keep backing up to the computer, don't erase the memory card and once the memory card is full, file it away for back-up purposes. This is what I call the lazy man's back-up plan.

Here's the hardcore 3-2-1 back-up plan that I'm trying to currently implement.

3 stands for 3 copies - have at least 3 copies of all the files you want to save.

2 stands for 2 mediums - use at least 2 different mediums when you back up. You could use DVD-Rs, CDs or external hard drives. Or even better save one copy on a hard drive and another copy online through the different services like carbonite.com. If you do that then you automatically take care of the last item.

1 stands for keeping at least one copy off-site. No use keeping your back up next to your computer. In case of a fire or flood, say bye bye to both or in the case of my friend who kept his back-up file with his laptop, he lost both to a guy who knicked it from his car.

The above maybe hard core but at the very least make one copy and keep it offsite (maybe your office). Storage isn't that expensive and unless you're like me that keeps everything in RAW and doesn't erase anything you could easily fit everything into a 1 TB drive. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

What the . . . .

2010-06-09T23:53:00.000-07:00

Just cleaning up my hard drives, getting ready for some serious back-up action (more of that in an upcoming post) when I saw this picture from one of my trips. The more I looked at it the more bizarre it started looking, more so for an outsider I would think. It almost looks like a weird horror movie screen capture.

In reality though, this pic was taken back in 2002 in the deep dark Pantanal region of Brazil. Marcus, the guy in the white lab coat it a conservationist working in the Fazenda Rio Negro, a research base situated on the river. Every now and then they'd find carcasses of one think or another and they'd chop it up even more to find out what caused its death, what it ate, etc. In this case it was a capibarra.

Needless to say, this is as close as I got to it. I'm a little . . . . squeamish. . . . when it comes to . . . blood, guts and . . . . thud!

Gordon Cancio's Helicopter Picture

2010-04-27T00:03:00.000-07:00

I've been wanting to feature other photographers on my blog like I mentioned earlier (basically because I've run out of travel photos) and because I need the inspiration. So on here it goes.

I met Gordon Cancio while covering the Black Nazarene Ceremony which I featured in a previous entry. In any case, it turns out that Gordon, apart from owning his own dive shop (Dive Stop - 1047 Metropolitan Ave. Makati - 895-4531), also trains our very own Marines to dive. Needless to say, this gives him a lot of opportunities to take great pictures of our armed forces. Not sure what part of the dive training requires a helicopter but what the heck.

Look closely at the picture, took me a while to figure out why it was so amazing.

New Toy - Canon S90

2010-04-15T02:28:00.000-07:00

Okay, my Canon S90 came in last night and I thought I'd play with it right away. Funny, maybe this is just a photographer thing but I didn't want to take inane pictures of my living room just to test it out. Nope, the first pics had to be special so I took it to my niece's very first ballet class. We were all kind of nervous to see how she'd react without mommy at her side but the moment the teacher took her by her hand she was okay. Look at the classic ballerina pose on the very first day. Of course my daughter tried to get in on the action but I think she has some ways to go.

No special settings, I think I put it on Program mode and snapped away so here are the pics. Next time I'll explore their special "modes" but even at the base settings the pics came out okay. Note this was shoot at high noon so I'm surprised the background isn't blown out.

Some quick notes - I think I put it on RAW format which was a mistake. My current RAW converter is outdated and so it didn't recognize the new RAW format. Luckily I had Canon's software to convert these pictures.

I Love You, I Hate You - Tripod

2010-03-23T06:48:00.001-07:00

Whenever I pack for a trip I have a 5 minute staring session with my tripod. It isn't because I'm deciding whether I should bring it or not, it's more of a "I wish you were smaller and lighter" kind of a staring session.

Some of my best pictures are a result of me lugging my tripod around and I've got a standard operating procedure when it comes with me. If I know I'm going to be out until sunset there's no way I'll leave the tripod in my hotel room. That means lugging that sucker with me all day long. Most of the time though I know what sunset or after dark pictures I'll take so I plan my itinerary in such a way that I go back to the hotel before it gets dark.

Sometimes the hardest part of bringing a tripod is actually bringing it in the first place but once you do you'll definitely use it. It's a bit of a fail safe system really, I always reach for it at some point in my trip "I didn't drag you half way across the world not to use you".

For the pictures posted here I think I experimented a lot. Waited for the sky to turn just dark enough for you to think that it's too dark, set my camera to Aperture priority, then played with the exposure compensation to get enough blue out of the sky. My earlier shots had my ISO at 800 but on hindsight you can get away with 200-400 since you're using a tripod anyway.

People who travel

2010-03-21T19:39:00.000-07:00

Since I have been grounded so to speak by the most lovable grounding mechanism in the world, my daughter Eve, I thought I'd start featuring people who do travel in my blog. Sure I could do the easy thing and talk to my brother who's in and out of the country on business trips but I think writing about the business lounge is less than exciting.

I'd rather feature some of my friends who have taken on a different career path. Friends who have joined Greenpeace and found themselves arrested while on protest deep in an Indonesian forest, or those that have joined Medicine Sans Frontiers who have been to locations where taking photographs could have dire consequences. It's still a work in progress but that should spice things up so please be patient with me.

Oh and if you've been following me on twitter, if I can track him down, I'll also feature an Armenian I met at a party here in Manila. He's been hitch hiking across the globe and has reached the farthest places in China and Russia. He's in Cebu now to study Mandarin in a Buddhist temple . . . I know, strange right?

Choices, choices

2010-03-02T22:48:00.000-08:00

I just had a very interesting argument with myself. It goes back to an earlier post about buying a point and shoot camera for the family (actually its for me). I was going back and forth between form and function. Sure it would be great to have all the functionality of my DSLR in a point and shoot but that usually means the cameras will be too big to fit into shirt pockets which I decided was important to me. Maybe it's because of all those miles lugging around my DSLR kit but small, compact and brainless to use were on the top of my priority list.

Then I starting seeing new features in the newer cameras out there. Samsung's T1000 has an imbedded GPS in it which tags the location on to the photo whenever you activate the shutter. That's something I always wanted and would come in useful for any travel photographer. It also has built in wifi and bluetooth so you could post your pictures on some web apps directly, handy for you social network butterflies.

Then there was Olympus' Tough 8000 which was waterproof (to 10meters), shatterproof (from a 2m drop) and freezeproof (to -10 degrees). Okay so the last one is of no consequence to me coming from the Philippines but imagine bringing a camera to the beach, kayaking, mountain climbing and not worrying about it. (Secret tip - most travel photographers do that anyway, even if their gear isn't water/shock/freeze proof).

In the end though the it's all about the pictures and both these cameras didn't stand a chance against the Canon S90. Okay, so it's an unfair comparison the S90 costs US$100 more than either the Olympus and the Samsung. I thought I could live with average image quality but on reading the reviews I can foresee major bouts of frustration if I don't get the Canon. Also, some of the functionality seem to not work as well as you think but give it a year or two when image quality is up to par and when the GPS and wifi and the waterproofing works as it should and I may pick one up. BTW, Olympus said it would be releasing GPS with all of it's cameras in the near future.

Horses Galore

2010-03-02T19:03:00.000-08:00

What do you do when you have half a day to kill in a new city? You do the touristy thing of course, in Vienna that means jumping on one of the horse drawn carriages that criss cross the city. The carriage drivers politely point out the different historical sites but don't forget he's a tourist attraction himself.

Did the same thing in NY a while back but this time my aunt came along for the ride. She shyly admitted that this was her first time on the famous central park carriages . . . . . and she's lived there for 20 plus years.

Whale!

2010-02-18T16:49:00.001-08:00

Here's another S90 pic. Must say, it's low light shots aren't bad. Picture taken in Greenbelt mall when I took my baby to see a baby whale.

Canon S90 shots

2010-02-14T18:22:00.000-08:00

Okay, here are some shots of the S90 I bought for my mother in law. To give it a good work out I took it to one of the most hostile environments I know, my high school homecoming. Apart from the very real threat of spilling beer on it, handing it off to drunk classmates (not that I was much worse for wear) to take pics of me and outright losing it, I had to contend with low light.

Needless to say a lot of the alumni came with their SLRs and their long lenses and big bags (I did that last year) but this is where a point and shoot really shines. I wasn't working and didn't want to lug everything with me, I was there to enjoy and a pocket sized camera let me do just that. The pics weren't bad either.

Love Day

2010-02-14T18:04:00.000-08:00

Okay, totally unrelated to photography or travel but Valentine's Day (aka Love Day) deserves a special entry in my blog since it's the first Valentine's Day of my daughter. She got flowers along with her mom so here is a pic of them enjoying it after a hectic day of love (which consisted of visiting the mother in law and having dinner with friends, go figure).

New Camera . . Yeah!!! But it's not what you think . . . Boohoo!

2010-01-28T23:07:00.001-08:00

I'm on the lookout for a new camera but before you start blurting out those beautiful words (Canon 7D, 5D Mark II or even G11) I have to clarify that it's for my mother in law. She does her fair share of traveling and goes on field trips around the country with her amigas so we thought she should have a way to record the stuff.

Needless to say, it doesn't need to shoot raw, it doesn't need high ISO capability, it doesn't even need manual control (as a matter of fact, if you could just have one button that would be great). Probably the only real requirement is a great big honking LCD screen so she can show the pics right after taking them . . . . (come on, we all do that). Still thinking about what model to get her.

Then it got me thinking, I should probably replace the one we lost recently, a canon Ixus 840IS for those times when you're out with friends and don't feel like lugging your ball and chain around with you (that's my camera gear. . . not . . .). I'd love the Canon G11 but it's not within my recently imposed restricted budget program so I have to look for something more affordable. Will let you know the outcome of the great Point and Shoot hunt.

And before you knock point and shoot cameras, above and below are pics I took with my trusty old Canon Powershot S40.

The Rope

2010-01-25T21:16:00.000-08:00

The procession was about to start, two ropes would be unfurled in front of the carosa which would bear the Black Nazarene. Devotees would then pull the image from Quirino Grandstand back to Quiapo Church.

Sounds simple enough except for the fact that devotees believe the Black Nazarene can grant those with true devotion their wishes and in a country where the majority of the people live in poverty that is a major draw. As a matter of fact, that is probably the reason why it is the biggest religious festival (in terms of people attending) in the country. During the procession people will do anything to touch the statue and failing that, they will go for the rope in order to serve the image and hopefully still get their wishes granted.

Luckily, I was allowed in the cordoned off area just before image was to take its trip to Quiapo. The crowds however could no longer be contained and soon, the carosa was surrounded by the hordes of devotees. It almost seemed like a medieval siege with the different chapters bear their standard / flags to advertise their devotion. Soon, the rope was being passed to the crowd and the demeanor changed from organized nervousness to chaos. The crowd was so tightly packed now that whenever a wave pushed the crowd two or three feet in any direction, the people would not fall or trip, they would just lean over and push back.

When the rope neared my area I could see the fanatical look on people's faces, some looking so desperate as if touching the rope would bring them back from the brink of death. I really couldn't understand it and yet, as the fate would have it, the rope came closer and closer to me. In the end, it turned up right in front of my camera and all of a sudden I decided I had to touch the rope no matter what. I put my camera, which had been glued to my face until then, down and started pushing and shoving. I didn't care how many people I had to go through I had to touch that rope and after a few hefty pushes here and there I reached out and touched it. Not sure what I was expecting but after I let go I just stood there. As the rope stretched out an opening for one person seemed to open up right in front of me giving me a chance to actually join the procession instead of just rolling the rope out but as I pondered whether I should join, in that split second of hesitation, 4 people squeezed into that spot and soon the procession started moving forwards.

I took another few pictures close up and then moved back to the roof to join the other photographers.

I'm glad I went down despite all the warnings of being crushed alive, because that was going to be the only time I would be able to get that close to the rope or the image from then on. All in all close to 2 million people joined the procession and the less than 5 km route from Quirino Grandstand to Quiapo Church took close to 8 hours to finish.

Location, location, location

2010-01-20T18:08:00.000-08:00

I was on the roof of the Quirino Grandstand ready to take pictures of the Black Nazarene's departure for Quiapo Church. Apparently the rooftop is the place to be since you can capture the crowds and get a real feel for size of this event. But as more and more photographers started showing up (some with better lenses than me) it became apparent that I would at best get "just another" picture of this event.

So when a fellow photographer said that it usually takes the procession 30 minutes to clear the grandstand I made a drastic decision. I decided to go down and join the crowds and get close up pictures as the procession left.

As I was on ground level looking up at the photographers on the roof I kept saying "Yes, I'm the only one here taking pictures from this vantage point". That was until the mob started telling me "Pare, masisira yan" - (Friend, that's going to break) pointing at my camera. I told them that it was an old camera and thank you for the friendly advice.

Soon after as the crush of the crowd became more intense, they said in a less friendly voice "Pare, makakasakit ka niyan" - (Friend, you're going to hurt people) pointing at my shoes. You see, devotees of the Black Nazarene join the procession barefoot so my hiking boots were going to inflict major damage . So in the spirit of the procession, I took of my shoes to the delight of my new found friend.

Gear Choice for Quiapo Festival

2010-01-10T21:01:00.000-08:00

Covering the country's largest religious procession had it's own challenges. One of my objectives for this project was to be in the crowd, to take pictures of people struggling to get close to the statue of Jesus of Nazareth. I had seen pictures of festival beforehand and knew I would be in a crush of people. I've also heard of people fainting, getting injured and even dying during the procession so I knew I had to have the proper gear with me. My trusty Lowepro Pro Mag 2 would not do, it being a sling / shoulder bag presented me with the real possibility of getting hung up. I could see the headlines now "Photographer, strangled by his own camera bag".

So I decided to take my old Toploader 75Aw but attached to a chest rig. This way my gear was always in front of me with no sticky fingers probing the contents. An added benefit which I would find out later was that it served as a buffer between me and the next guy when the pushing started, giving my camera a safe place to be (basically on top of it).

I wasn't too worried about the camera itself. A Canon 30D which has more than depreciated itself over and over again, I was secretly hoping it would fall apart and give me a reason to upgrade. And I had no illusions of changing lenses in the middle of the crowd, I'd stick to one when things started getting dicey.

So I brought my 10-20mm, 100-300mm and my general 17-70mm lens (all Sigma lenses). I generally want all three lenses with me wherever I go. The toploader fit my long lens and a smaller lens in the outer pocket. My camera with the other lens would be in my hands at all times.

Other preparations included making sure you didn't have anything you didn't want to lose in your pockets, it was a religious festival but as they say "Chance favors the prepared".

1st Photoproject of the year

2010-01-10T19:19:00.000-08:00

And what a project it was. I've been meaning to photograph the annual Quiapo Festival for 3 years now but I've either totally forgotten about it or have been intimidated by the crowds. So when a friend told me he could help out with access to the event I jumped at the chance.

For those that don't know, January 9 is the Feast of the Black Nazarene in a district of Manila known as Quiapo. The district is in an old part of town, cramped and chaotic and that is on a normal day. On January 9 though it turns into the location of the country's largest religious procession in which 1.5 to 2 million people participate in. I had initially thought of just walking to the site and taking photos but this year I had an ace up my sleeve . . .

Tks to PH for the access.

Happy New Year Everyone. . . .

2010-01-03T01:38:00.000-08:00

First of all, a very happy New Year to everyone out there and one of my resolutions for this year was to cut the red tape and so here's my very first announcement.

Ever since my daughter came along, my photography has gone down the drain along with my blog posts. All of a sudden my portfolio had an increasing share of baby photos, my solo travels began getting cancelled and even my normal SOP of staying behind after a trip with the wife to go around and take photos has been disallowed. Needless to say this has reflected on my blogposts (or lack thereof).

SO, since my baby has been the reason for these issues, I have tasked her with blogging for me. Here is her first entry "df;klhafsdevj;klhads;rhf;lkha;dshf".

Kidding aside though, I can't wait for her to be just a little bit bigger so I can take her places like India, Nepal or Chiang Mai. I can't wait to take her to have her first white Christmas with her Auntie Case and Uncle Sam in Rhode Island. I can't wait to take her to Siem Reap to give her "Temple Overload" like her mom and I experienced when we got there.

Until then however I realized that I didn't have to travel to the ends of the Earth to bring you guys great shots, I've lined up some projects in my own backyard that should bring in amazing images along with the few overseas projects that I've lined up.

So here's to a Happy New Year to everyone and to keeping faithful to your New Year's Resolutions, no matter what they are.

Singapore

2009-12-07T02:09:00.000-08:00

Been in Singapore quite a few times but never took this picture before which is strange because I had 2 to 3 other guys taking the same picture at the same time. Oh well, with a place as small as Singapore I guess it's been photographed over and over again.

Still a nice pic though.

Looking around Heaven - Temple of Heaven, Beijing, China

2009-10-07T02:18:00.000-07:00

Help Out: Capture the Light Charity Auction

2009-10-06T08:14:00.000-07:00

Just a quick note on the flooding that recently occurred in Metro Manila. For those folks wanting to help out, a group of pro-active photographers, visual artists, etc. have come up with the Capture the Light Project. A Project has inexplicably merged together photography and relief operations for the victims of the flooding of typhoon Ondoy (my personal typhoon story coming soon).

One of the ways you can help is in the charity auction where prints, lessons, tutorials and even free studio time are being auctioned off. I think it's a great way to help (at least you get something in return) and help people out at the same time, all proceeds go to the charity mentioned under each item. Visit the site now www.capturethelightproject.com.

. . . . .but please don't bid on the print I'm after . . . .

Family Beach Pictures

2009-09-21T18:47:00.000-07:00

Took my kid to the beach last weekend. It was her first time to see the "big water" and that got me thinking about how much digital photos have changed the landscape of family snapshots. I can literally count on my fingers the number of surviving beach pictures I have of me and my family but my kid is going to have gigabytes of hard drive pics to chose from. Wonder if she'll still think of them as treasures like I think of my beach pics.

My Gear

2009-09-18T06:09:00.001-07:00

Recently went to GDGT.com which allows you to list your gadgets. It then provides news, updates and inputs from other users who have the same gadgets. So for the first time I will admit, my cameras are old. Looking at the Canon 7D though (fingers crossed).

I have a Canon 350D (as my back-up), a Canon 30D as my main camera, an Ixus 860IS for snapshots and a Leica SL2 for nostalgic reasons (my dad's old camera, he was a bit of a gadget freak too).

Chek out the site.