The Story of Nars and a Nurse

Scene I Act One:
Don't know you. Strangers from afar. Ended with a smile.


Scene I Act Two
Getting to know you. Getting to know me.



Scene II Act One
Sharing the times together.



Scene III Act One
Life of togetherness. The ring that binds us.


Model: Nars and Irish

A Kiss, Frozen in Time

1/50, f/5.6, ISO 800

Hair and Make Up: Bham Balbin
Location: Tagaytay
Model: Undisclosed. Strict daw ang parents. =P

A kiss is defined as the touching of one person's lips to another place, which is used as an expression of affection or to show respect, and as a greeting or a farewell; kissing can be used to express romantic affection... Yada yada yada.

A kiss is still a kiss.
Intense emotion. The fast beating of the heart which also after can make you blush and/or soar above the skies. And all those sorts of lyrical.

Caught in my frame...
Frozen...
There to stay together... in lip lock.
Ah love...

Roxanne O. Up Close

f/7.1, 1/400, ISO 800

Meal for a picnic: PHP 1000
Bathing suit: PHP 500
Parking fee: PHP 100
Caught her smiling and posing like a model: PRICELESS

Present in a birthday.

I was invited by Rav Toribio in his baby girl Bea's first birthday party.
That would be a great opportunity to brush up my events photography.

I waited for her to smile.
And that was rare.
Then I caught her doing this while eating a biscuit.


Of course, I got some more snaps. Given to Rav.
Enjoyed by his family.
We enjoyed the meal.
And we left with this family portrait to finish it off.


Happy first birthday Bea!

Note: Special thanks to Lesly for the ride.

I Got Free Cupcakes!

f/3.9, 1/60, ISO 100

Office mate's Chat in Facebook:

Lesly: Good luck to your exam tomorrow.

Emn: Thank you. How about cupcakes?

Lesly: No. It's late already. I can't bake at a short notice.

Emn: Ok. Just bring some if you can. =)

Lesly: Ok. (After some short pauses). Ok Ok I will bake cupcakes.

Emn: Yehey! Thanks thanks.

Lesly changed status to: Liezl Lesly is baking cupcakes.

Then Roy changed status to: Roy Orpiano is waiting for the cup cakes.

After few minutes.... Liezl Lesly just baked cupcakes :).

And I say.... Yes to cupcakes!

Note:Lesly is our office mate who is learning how to bake confections. Roy Orpiano is also our office mate who, like me, are taste tester for Lesly.

The Godfather invades Me.

One of my favorite movies of all time, The Godfather. I like the idea of power, honor and loyalty they presented in the movie and the secret world they live in.

I was invited by friends to play Mafia Wars in Facebook. I was hesitant to obliged. Too complicated for me. But I was on a break while reviewing for my network certification exam. Now I can't stop checking the site for my character's health, stamina and energy growth to score the next hit. Uh-oh...

If you are playing. Let's join forces to build a stronger Mafia Family.

Now who to hit next....

For the image above, he is Michael Gbedo, our friend in Isocel Telecom, Cotonou, Benin Africa, shot when I was deployed in Africa 2007-2008. HE is not a real crime godfather just a godfather with too many grandsons. The concept of the shot was a mobster. He pulled it well.

The Street inside Clark

I had an EB with MATARAKI(Allan Opguar) and jpdijamco(JB Dijamco) of Treklens. They are based in Angeles City, Pampanga. We discussed Photography among other things. We then head to find subjects inside Clark to practice Photography. Street Photography in Action. or just by anything to practice composition.

We do stop every now and then, looking for a good scenic view or subjects(people or things) along the way.

We met Tatang (father) on a bridge resting. He said he was a retired photographer in his local town.


Of course I zoomed in.


When some people we're passing us. Tatang would tell them to pose for us.
I think she was the Grandmother.


He was the grandchild. Trying to make a saluting pose.



Allan in Action


JB in Action.


We wrapped things up with a group hug.

When the Street Goes to Fashion

We had to perform lighting experiment. We need to practice the setting of flashes-ala-strobist. The location was set. The participants were already tinkering with the camera settings. The batteries were already charged. Ready for the good old lighting session. Now if we could only find the model that sure knows how to pose, and not try so hard to be one(like the rest of us, especially me). Oh and so we did.


1/60, f/6.3, ISO 400


1/125, f/4.0, ISO 100


1/125, f/2.8, ISO 100


1/6, f/2.8, ISO 1600


The shooting gangs are:
Oggie Duque
Xavier Alcala
Wynn Diancin
Chito Francisco
Jet Ayala

Model:
Summer

Ripening et al...

When we went out for a street walk way before this one. We shoot anything. And anyone. Not minding if its blurred. Shooting every thinkable composition. Burning our CF cards with every click. Then over powering our CPU resources uploading. Just to delete most of it.

But this time. We were picky. Concentrating on the good subjects only. Conserving the limited spaces we got. Drive space is limited.

We get to mature once in a while.

I Surrender

1/125, f/4.5, ISO 400

Where have you been?

1/125, f/4.0, ISO 200

Yep. These are just the ones that get to be published. Not yet done with the rest of them. But soon.

Sunday Street Session

Time flies fast when you're having fun. It's slow when you're not.
We round up the TaongKalye guys for a Sunday Street Session.
The weather is right. The sky is cloudy for most parts. The streets with bearable traffic. And we're off. With me are Oggie Duque, Xavier Alcala and Wynn Diancin. Jet Ayala met us later. Starting point Ministop @ Hidalgo, Quiapo.

When we turned one corner.
We met him and his family all playing Cara y Cruz.
Gambling with coins. I wonder if he had his breakfast already.

f/40, 1/125, ISO 200

And we met her too. She was all smiles too.
Eager to pose. We obliged.

f/4.0, 1/100, ISO 200

But I was touched by this one. In a kariton (make shift push cart), with his family plying the streets.

f/4.0, 1/125, ISO 400

When we came back to their place. HE was already asleep.


f/8.0, 1/40, ISO 400


We walked some more. But that's for another story. Let's end this one for now.

Maybe next time we'll meet new faces.
That were able to touched our lives with a stare or a smile.

What's your story?

Izaac and VJ shades front, originally uploaded by redhatkeeper.

I started taking pictures with a Film P&S. Started with 1 click. Had it developed with boring composition, and they are still. With family as my favorite subjects. Or only subject for that matter.

Then I was introduced to digital photography. Less capable 3 MP Canon P&S, when clicked showed more blurredness. Then Canon have it replaced (yep for FREE) with an A510 kickass swivel LCD.

I was then introduced to TrekLens. I was like shooting anything that moved. Trying every PP workflow. I was always critiqued and was eager to learn. Then I found out that B&W rocks.

I know we all have the same, or almost, story. We enjoyed family as models. We are so ecstatic to see them smile. And when we took a shot that was so unusual that they call it art as it is.

Kudos to them. I am in photography now because of them. =)


Now these two models, Izaac(my son) and VJ(my nephew) (left-right).

Shot inside McDonalds inside Clark, Angeles City, Pampanga
Waiting for the McChicken.

PostProcess in Photoshop CS4:
VJ had a wound on his upper lip. Had to clone those out. Want my nephew to look good.
Adjusted Levels.
Adjusted Contrast.
Added Vignette on the sides
Sharpen using Luko's Sharpening.

Camera: Olympus E-510
Exposure: 0.017 sec (1/60)
Aperture: f/4
Focal Length: 23 mm
ISO Speed: 200
Exposure Bias: -2 EV
Flash: 8

Now go and call out to those ever reliable models who would take candies as a price.

Oggie is the Mannnnn

Oggie and Sampayan Fence, originally uploaded by redhatkeeper.

I have been lucky to have Oggie, aka Shogun in photography forums and sites, as a friend. His blog is one of the reason why I started one. He is one of my inspiration to continuously look for that spunk in Photography.

Shot with 2 Nikon SB800.

Post process in PS CS4.
Converted to Black and White.
Adjusted Contrast.
Sharpening using USM.

Camera: Olympus E-510
Exposure: 0.008 sec (1/125)
Aperture: f/11.0
Focal Length: 17 mm
Exposure: -0.10
ISO Speed: 400
Exposure Bias: 0 EV

And yep, he is one badass, kickin', punchin', head lockin', free-style martial artist. Wanna prove me wrong?

My Harley... like duh!

Harley on White BG, originally uploaded by redhatkeeper.

This was shot using a desk lamp overhead, casting a shadow on the bike's ground. The textured ground was the back of a tarpaulin. It was white. White is good.

Post processed using PS CS4.
Converted to Black and white.
Adjusted Levels to make white, whiter.
Increased contrast.
Sharpening using Luko's Sharpening method.

Camera: Olympus E-510
Exposure: 0.008 sec (1/125)
Aperture: f/5.0
Focal Length: 21 mm
ISO Speed: 800
Exposure Bias: +2 EV

And yep, this is my dream bike. If ever, I will be fortunate enough to have one.

Why it started with a Frame?

Frames reside in OSI layer 2 and defined by Google for networking as a data packet of fixed or variable length which has been encoded by a data link layer communications protocol for digital transmission over a node-to-node link.

It has many meaning.
One of the many single photographic images in a motion picture.

Just one frame.
Summing it all up.

Starting with one.
Then continuing...

Expect photography.
Expect the whys...
and the hows...