Photoblog - Day 355 Mar 30, 2011

Batirol Once Again!

Even if it seems to be a near impromptu moment, it seems that some of us get to see each other during month-end times, which is not so surprising, since it coincides with our getting our paychecks. Thus most of us are indeed in the Makati area, and for those who are in no rush to proceed elsewhere, there is always Tsoko-nut in SM Makati to meet and enjoy a cup of hot chocolate with other dishes.

In this particular case, we may have not been too many - just the people in the picture, namely Benj, Gina, Mon and Fiel; plus the photographer - me. But we still did enjoy each other's company, cheers, jeers and yes... even shamelessly talking about colleagues not around.

These get togethers last about two hours and stretch from lunch until mid-afternoon snack time; but they do make for great quality bonding time.

Photoblog - Day 354 Mar 29, 2011

Bryce Graduates!

This is it! Bryce steps out of High School and the corridors of O.B. Montessori - a school he has been attending for the better part of 10 years. He has proven that he can handle what High School has pitched at him, and nearly finished with an ease that shows that despite how he may be spending a lot of times playing computer games, he can definitely handle the challenges.

Now, however, the challenges will be greater - and not just because it will be a very different environment... but he will be with strangers. I don't know how many of his classmates he'll be seeing in his new school - but it really won't matter. He'll have to work harder.

I'm proud of what he's accomplished, and as the picture shows - so is Barbie... and all I can hope for is that we'll both still be able to help him in any way we can, so his new challenges will be surmountable.

Photoblog - Day 353 Mar 28, 2011

Fire:

This happens to be the insides of a baking oven - particularly, one where pizza can be cooked. I was contemplating on whether to get the over - both in and out... or just concentrate on the inside. Obviously, I opted for the latter because I also wanted to capture the texture of the flames against the logs... though obviously, the logs can't be seen here... just their silhouette.

The other thing different about this picture is the fact that I used my zoom lens for this. You see, I had to take this from across the dining area to the work area of the restaurant - plus I had to content with a glass wall - hence the need to make sure the glass was near-invisible, to look like it was not there at all.

So, basically, I wanted to capture the flames... to make sure they're recognizable as flames... and the rest can be left to everyone else's imagination. But I really liked how the flames emphasize the shape of the oven mouth top - with it's near Moorish-inspires shape; while the walls almost just give a hint on how the rest of said oven mouth's shape actually is.

Photoblog - Day 352 Mar 27, 2011

Earth Hour again!

First of all, as the title might give the wrong impression, I'm not complaining about Earth Hour, as more likely celebrating it - in fact, I've been helping celebrate it for three years now.

I understand that some see this as a publicity stunt... that the energy crisis that many carp about... or that the heating up of our weather as a supposed result of using too much fossil fuels, may be just a figment of someone's imagination.

Setting any political agenda aside, I still think that conservation - in any form, is a worthy effort to exercise. At the very least, it can help lower the bills... and I don't see anything artificial or crazy about that idea.

SO as part of this celebration, I had the dining table set up for some people who still have not had dinner... and well, why not? Isn't dinner by candle-light classy? Obviously, I did not want to use any flash photos here. I want to just use the natural lighting - and cumulative shadows that an evening celebrating Earth Hour can offer.

Photoblog - Day 351 Mar 26, 2011

Boni Bacardi 2011:

This happens to be the latest in a supposedly monthly (if possible) get together of friends - with special mention to the Boni group, since it's normally easier to get a smaller group together... specially when they live near each other.

Case in point, we've been trying to organize the larger Bacardi group for the past two months, but for whatever reason, things just did not push through. So, I guess we in the Boni Bacardi group are lucky that we can do this.

Apparently, the concept has been going around - I know that Brian and Jingo have friends who call them Bacardi people, since they know that they, with the rest of the Bacardi or the Boni Bacardi people, do have Bacardi Nights - maybe from our pictures.

Hahahaha.... are we actually starting a trend? Who knows?

Thor Movie Poster Giveaway!

Thor Movie Poster Giveaway!

It may not say much... but it shows power in a minimalist manner.

Also, admit it... Mjolnir (Thor's hammer for all non-Thor fans) looks awesome!

Lastly - if you're part of the curious but uninformed regarding who Thor is (and naturally, by extension, what his capabilities are), might I suggest watching a few Avengers cartoons - even Ultimate Avengers will do. That way, you'll get a one hour update regarding who these heroes in the Avengers initiative that's been hinted in the Marvel movies of Iron Man and Hulk are.

Photoblog - Day 350 Mar 25, 2011

New Accessories:

With the help of my sister-in-law, Bea, I was able to purchase - at very reasonable prices, two particular accessories for my camera. Accessories, I might add, that I had not thought I could use... and in some case, one's I hadn't thought existed for my camera.

The first one (upper left black metal ring) is a macro lens adapter - let me explain. A photographer can, by way of removing the camera lens and placing it in reverse - come up with a makeshift macro lens that allows one to look at objects at very close range... much closer than possible when using the lens in the regular manner.

However, doing this means you have to manually hold the lens still while focusing and clicking the camera - a feat not easily done. Yet, I had done this at least twice within this very photoblog. This ring allows the attachment of the lens to the camera - so one need not hold the lens in place... thus releasing the other hand and helping hold the camera steady.

The other accessory is a set of diffusers - one white, plus a blue and yellow colored version - with it's camera attachment at the upper right of the picture. I thought diffusers were just for flash attachments (read as not built in) - but these ones were actually designed for use with built-in, pop-up flashes. Lucky me.

Photoblog - Day 349 Mar 24, 2011

Thirteen!

It's official, Bernice turns into a teenager! Congratulations!!!

She already had a chance to treat her school friends this lunchtime, and since we were all out (working), she did not think we would have a little private celebration at home for her.

But have that little celebration we did - complete with her favorite dishes ordered from Amici. We had pizza lasagna and seafood pasta for afternoon snacks cum early dinner... and boy, were we stuffed. The cookies and cream cake came from Cara Mia, which is Amici's dessert partner (at least, in Greenhills), but we were too stuffed to eat it.

Attendees to her little private celebration were of course us - her family with her uncle Ben and aunt Bea.

Photoblog - Day 348 Mar 23, 2011

Book Marker:

This book marker was a gift to me from Bryce for my recent birthday, and aside from the fact that it is (at least to me) a very practical gift, it also happens to be a very simple but powerful validating tool to me as a father.

See, the marker has a message for a Dad, and Hallmark moment it may read like - but the fact that it was given to me by Bryce gives me assurance that I'm doing something right, and more importantly, my efforts are being recognized and appreciated. Again, yes... it can be a generic message - but I'd like to think that Bryce chose it for a reason, and did not just pick up the first book marker he saw about a father.

So yeah... I'll definitely cherish this. If you look closely, this is not just an ordinary thick or glossy paper marker either - you seem it's metal; and the message is actually printed on a sticker. So yeah... though the message may fade with time (and use)m the marker will last long. Hmmm... on second thought, maybe I should just preserve the book marker?

As an addendum: since I'm talking about Bryce's gift, I felt the need to mention that Bernice also gave me a very personal gift... a letter letting me know how she also likes and appreciates me - and how amazed she is at realizing I was already 50... wow (as she put it).

Photoblog - Day 347 Mar 22, 2011

Training companions:

What does one do when done with their speaking parts in a training - yet said training is not yet officially over? Well I can't answer for everyone else, but as for me, I usually bring a novel that I can read while passing the time.

In this particular case, I've decided to start reading the Jesus Inquest. The book's premise is simple - the author (a barrister) will argue both for and against the Resurrection of Christ. Timely reading for Holy week, don't you think? I thought so... hence this was the next book I asked to read and review for Thomas Nelson.

Should I find the experience or the afternoon droll, then there's the bottled frapuchino by Starbucks. This should perk me up... should the need arise, that is... ans as you can see, the fact that it's open and in a cup means I do need the perker upper.

Photoblog - Day 346 Mar 21, 2011

New batch:

It's been a while since I've featured some comic books here, and that's also because of the fact that I've not had the time to actually get any new issues... that is until this weekend - and only now did I get to really enjoy reading them.

There weren't really a lot, but what I enjoyed most from this batch was the Avengers Academy issues (yup... plural - apparently this month released two of them), followed by the Young Avengers ons shot which is apparently connected to the ongoing mini series. From here, I'll have to say that the New Avengers issue was interesting - but only because it had Chaykin in it.

The Batman issues were, well, average... in fact, I'm beginning to think the Batman Inc is quickly losing steam. Thunderbolts had an interesting twist... the inclusion of Tana Hellstrom... it may be worth looking into a little bit more.

Photoblog - Day 345 Mar 20, 2011

Luna:

The 19th of March was supposed to present a 'super moon' in the sky - meaning a time when the moon would be the closest to the Earth... a situation that happens every 19 years (so they say). In line with this, I was hoping to set up the telescope and also have my camera ready - this way, I could study the moon and see just what's so special and different with this evening's lunar display to justify calling it a super moon.

Unfortunately, when evening came, we (that is, Bryce, Bernice and I) realized that the sky was overcast with clouds that prevented our seeing the moon. Not to mention that the place we stayed in hardly had any scenic view of the sky... so I had no view of the moon rising - which apparently would have been the best view to see.

Having set aside our plans to see the moon, we decided to continue just doing our usual thing (which was basically surfing the net), until I just decided to give viewing the moon just one more time - this time, around 11:30pm.

As the picture will show, I did see the the moon - tried taking a picture using my regular lens... but it looked too tiny - so I used my zoom lens instead. The result was a whole lot better picture, and I can only imagine if I was able to find a way to connect my camera to the telescope.

This shot was taken using a purely manual setting, and I even had to try using a tripod to avoid shakes. Unfortunately, since the moon was directly above me, it was hard to set the camera to a 90 degree angle... so I had to take it off the tripod and take the shot with as much support as I could find and hope the shakes did not spoil the picture. Looking at the shot (and this is a relatively enlarged version at that) it seems that I was able to take the shot, sans shakes.

Photoblog - Day 344 Mar 19, 2011

Best Friends:

Pepper finally meets his master - Linus (my brother-in-law). You see, this was the day I went to Batangas to visit my mom, celebrate my birthday with my sister and Bernice (we're all March celebrants) and more importantly - finally bring Pepper to his new permanent home... Cuenca, Batangas.

Can I say it was love at first sight? Possibly (just look at Li's expression). Linus and Pepper's story is a touching one... you see, Li always wanted a dog since he was 10 (he's now 40-something) but his folks were never dog (or pet) lovers - hence he never got a chance to enjoy having a dog as both pet and best friend, had he had the chance, he was partial to liking a Labrador... preferably, black.

Pepper was given at a very early age to his new owner - but she was too busy to care for him, so the person who gave Pepper had to get him back. I was asked if I knew anyone, and since Pepper was going to be given, I thought maybe Tizza might like a dog. I did not yet know about Li's background regarding dogs.

Pepper was brought to us - and despite his cuddly ways, I was reluctant to get too attached to him... as I had promised him to Tizza already. Meanwhile, Li heard of Pepper, adn hoped I could post pics. Though Pepper is basically part Lab and part Pit bull, as a pup his features are more distinctly Lab.

So I guess, you could even say that those two - Pepper and Li were really meant for each other... and somewhere, a little boy is finally happy that his wish came true, while a little puppy is finally getting the love and care he so richly deserves. fairy tales still come true after all.

Photoblog - Day 343 Mar 18, 2011

New Books:

Once again I fly in the face of near crazed uncontrollable spending. I swear, while many women may find shopping almost like a relentless calling... a siren song to a sailor, I find similar feelings with reading materials. That's why leaving me in a bookstore is a sure signal that I, more often than not, will walk out with a new book purchase.

In this case, I splurged a bit - though to be fair it was actually two books each from two different bookstores (big deal, right)... ah, but what purchases. I was surprised with the Stan Lee book. I opened it to peruse - you see, I had long ago read a similar tome by Stan (and John Buscema) entitled How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way. Well to mu surprise, this was an update... with more art examples at that... so I knew I had to get it (the older one was long gone - a victim to floodwaters). Accompanying this - and equally adhering to my artistic side, is the book on storyboard construction... I may not use it yet, but who knows... some day...

From the other bookstore, I discovered the Back of the Napkin book - a visual manner to problem solving. I knew this would be useful to me as a facilitator and manager - it was not a matter of 'if' but 'when'; besides... I had recently been reintroduced by a colleague (Mon) to mind mapping - which emphasized the importance of visualization, hence I saw some parallelism. The other - a Nat Geo magazine, is an experiment. I've always admired the pictures... now I wanted to try the articles - if like what I read, it might just start a new hobby (hoo-boy).

Photoblog - Day 342 Mar 17, 2011

Continuous Learning:

If I had a particular source for most of my learnings in photography, I would have to point to a lot of books (some I've featured here) and magazines as well - though amongst them all, the one constant that seems to be present in a moonthly manner is this particular mag - Digital Photographer Philippines.

This mag is filled with educational articles, how-to tips by people who are known for specific categories. In this issue, you can see they focussed on portraiture, and last issue was about cosplay (costume role-play) photography, and the previous one featured black and white photography tips - so how's that for diversity?

To think I started the habit of buying this issue just half a year ago (six months past, for the math challenged) and I'm really satisfied with it that I'm thinking of subscribing. What's more, the magazine has it's on-line community counterpart - and boy... I'll need at least two months to trawl the wisdom in said site. Sometimes, it can be daunting with the 'I'm not worthy' episodes - but that is quickly replaced with the 'how's they do that' phase... and the challenge to do something similar begins.

So yeah... I would highly recommend getting this mag. It's a treasure trove of ideas tips and inspiration.

Photoblog - Day 341 Mar 16, 2011

Stylized tables:

This shows a pair of tables (and there are more not seen) that I found interesting and stylish at the Ideas Exchange area of Cyber1. I really found them to look simplistic yet artistic, heck... if I had a really spacious living area, I'd like these kind of side tables to be part of said living area.

Why do I like them in particular? Well just look at the design... clean, yet different. It makes an artistic statement with seemingly well balanced and stylized designs. The table itself IS a conversation piece.

I wonder how many people going into this Ideas Exchange area, get distracted (at least, temporarily) by it's design? I know I did... distracted enough to take it's picture anyway, so I can preserve it as part of my blog project.

Oh yeah, one other thing that's cool about this place? It's got a cafe bar where you can order snacks, coffee or... like in my case, tea. This is the coolest Ideas Exchange I've seen - and believe me, I've seen several.

Photoblog - Day 340 Mar 15, 2011

My Golden Moment:

This is me with my family as we celebrate my 50th birthday. As Bernice wrote in her letter to me for this occasion, and I quote" '50... wow.', yeah... I know how it sometimes must feel.

Rest assured, I'm not the first person to turn half a century... and I' sure I'll live longer that this... maybe have more milestones. But how do I feel about this? Well, regarding my age - nothing much... I mean, sure... my body reminds me of it at times, but I'd like to think that I'm still the same person I was yesterday... and inadvertently, hopefully this means I'm still enjoying some semblance of youth.

Most importantly, I live a happy life because what I value as important is with me. I do value my family, and even if I did not have a lot of friends to share this occasion with me (we did have some sort of celebration during lunch), the ambiance, the surprise dinner in the Pen, the cake with the musicians in the lobby playing 'Happy Birthday' and even some people from other tables clapping - acknowledging me, and my little celebration. These were really great moment not captured in pictures... and most of these were planned (in an impromptu manner) by Barbie.

Thank you for the experience 'tart - and I'm glad we had this dinner as a family... yes, including Ben (who took the shot). I guess you can consider this my shot for the month that captured my golden moment.

Photoblog - Day 339 Mar 14, 2011

Stars:

I had thought that I had already showed these star knives a.k.a. shuriken in previous blog entries. In fact I was rather sure I had - so I first decided to look back at all my other photo-blog posts (yes... all 338 of them).

To my surprise, they were never a subject of any previous photo-blog. Well, aside from the fact that this afforded me an opportunity to blog about it (and take a cool picture of it as well), I also had time to reacquaint myself with my collection (I have four of them - two pairs of two types), and take a few cool shots of them.

One particular picture I plan to edit with Photoshop (an incentive for me to learn the software's intricacies) and come up with a CosPlay type of picture. When it's done, I'll post it here. Meanwhile, enjoy the deadly beauty of these blades. I wished I had a large backyard where I could practice with these.

Oh yeah, these for but a part of my blades and blunt weapons collection.

Photoblog - Day 338 Mar 13, 2011

New Lens:

I've been meaning to get this lens for a long time - in fact, I was contemplating on getting this this month - in time to use in Bryce's graduation. So when Barbie asked if I wanted it for my birthday present, she did not have to ask me twice.

So we went to the place she got the4 camera about the same time last year (yes, it was a birthday gift too), and got the lens. So here's my new toy (or accessory) and I already tried it out a few times - and realized a few things I have to think about - like shakes.

That said, I hope to master the use of this lens in time to really use it in Bryce's graduation (near the end of March) and it seems I'll have to consider using it with my mono-pod (a tripod may be too bulky with so many people around).

Photoblog - Day 337 Mar 12, 2011

Glasses:

Today was a very busy day, we had our blood typing done, and I even got a few pictures for the Red Cross Makati to put up in their website (and Facebook). After which, we went to the Shangi La mall in Mandaluyong to have our eyes checked by Alnette (fred's sister) - a move we've wanted to do for a while, but always could not find time to do... until today.

Apparently, we really needed to do this, as my reading glasses grade had changed; so did Barbie's. But the great surprise we had was Bryce having high grades for his glasses. Hence we had his glasses made - and viola! Bryce's new look.

The glasses look good (and thy should - they're Ray Bans) on Bryce - not too geeky or nerdy. In fact they look a bit cool. Hope he feels better now - and hope those glasses keep for a long time.