Labels: gadgetry, home, photographs

Labels: lomo, photographs

Labels: lomo, photographs

5 stars for:

1. Chowking's Nai Cha
2. Sunny summer weekends
3. Sketchcrawling
4. New pencils (and sharpening them)
5. Wai Ying

Labels: art, food, lomo, paperjournal, photographs

Labels: books, photographs, tolkien

Manila Chinatown

Lunch at Wai Ying -- yummy and inexpensive: white chicken + roasted duck + rice + century egg + hakao + milk tea jelly.





Walked around. Took pictures. Bought a bouquet of pencils! Sketched. At 5:30, headed back to Makati on the Pasig River Ferry. I loved today.

Labels: art, food, paperjournal, photographs

March 25 was Tolkien Reading Day. And since my TPTS friends and I couldn't organize a read-aloud or even a simple get-together, we decided to just have something online to celebrate the day. And we came up with this questionnaire/meme for kicks.

What books by JRRT have you read?
The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, The Silmarillion, The Book of Lost Tales 1, Farmer Giles of Ham, Smith of Wootton Major, Roverandom, The Children of Hurin

What is your favorite book?
The Lord of the Rings

What is your fave line from any Tolkien book?
"In a hole in the ground there lived a Hobbit."

and

"Horns, horns, horns. On dark Mindolluin's sides they dimly echoed. Great horns from the North wildly blowing. Rohan had come at last."

WHo/What introduced you to LOTR?
When I was around 8 or 9, my tita rented videos of The Hobbit and LOTR. Gollum freaked me, but I kept watching it. It always stuck at the back of my head (maybe because I couldn't understand how LOTR ended since I never got to see the ROTK cartoon). Then I saw the books in the store many years after. I just finished high school. I bought them and got hooked. When I finished LOTR (I was in college), I went right back to the beginning to read it all over again. Been rereading almost once a year since 1993.

How many times have you read LOTR?
10? I don't know. I didn't get to read it religiously every year, I missed some years.

For those of us who reread the trilogy: what new things did you notice in your last re-reading?
Little details that pop out at you like old friends.

Have you seen the LOTR movies?
What LOTR movies?

How many times and which edition?
In the cinema, I saw FOTR nine times (one for each mortal man doomed to die); TTT seven times (one for every dwarf lord in his hall of stone); ROTK 4 - (one for each Elven king under the sky, plus Bilbo hahaha). I couldn't just watch it 3 times naman kasi.

Saw the extended also on DVD.

Who is your LOTR crush?
Legolas since I read the book. I didn't go for the brooding filthy kind. Parang masaya syang kasama sa backpacking. Fresh na fresh.

What changes from book to film did you not like?
Not a lot. Maybe Arwen's extended role - especially at Bruinen. I don't really mind changes all that much.

What is it with the LOTR movies you didn't like?
Sam came off as too whiny or cheesy. I liked him in the book more. There was something noble about his simple nature.

Favorite parts of the trilogy (book and/or film)?
The ride of the Rohirrim and their arrival at the siege of Gondor. Theoden is my king. You can have Aragorn and his Mexican-accented thin rallying speech.

What is your most unforgettable LOTR scene in the movie?
Ride of the Rohirrim pa rin and their arrival at the siege of Gondor.

If you are a member of the fellowship, who would you be?
Hmm. I want to say Pippin, but I think I'd be Gandalf.

Who among the characters in LOTR you could most relate to?
Bilbo maybe. Gandalf sometimes, maybe.

Who among the character in LOTR you hate or maybe dislike most?
No one, really. I feel sorry for Denethor.

What's your favorite short story from Tolkien?
I liked Farmer Giles of Ham but I read it once or twice only. I like it cos it has a dragon!

Who / What is Garm?
Tatcee says he's a dog.

Who is your favorite hobbit?
Pippin

Who is your favorite dwarf from the hobbit?
Bombur who refused to lag behind when they were going to Beorn's place in small groups.
And Thorin who is royally stuck up! Hehe.

Have you tried watching all Extended Edition Movies of LOTR in one day?
No.

What is your nerdest / geekiest LOTR moment?
When I talk about it, I guess. Some say with the way I talk, they think I believe it's real. Fools! Of course it's real.

First thing you will ask/tell JRRT when you meet him in the afterlife?
Hello!

Which of the symptoms of "Signs of Someone Frighteningly Obsessed with LOTR" (see TORN) do you display?
Maybe #9: If someone ticks them off, they call the person a name like 'Fool of a Took' or 'Nassty hobbitses'.

What made you obsessed wit LOTR?
Ang ganda eh!

How many friends do you have who are also fans of Tolkien?
Marami.

Who among your family members are Tolkien fans?
None.

Do you have an LOTR poster or any Tolkien related poster hanging in your house?
I only have one artwork displayed in my home, it's a framed LOTR illustration.
This one: http://www.popartuk.com/film/lord-of-the-rings/lotr-illustration-2931-poster.asp

Do you collect books of Tolkien (different editions)?
Yes. I like old paperbacks that I find in 2nd hand stores. I also like fancy hardcover ones. I like buying different editions of The Hobbit -- though I'm not interested in buying ALL. Just the ones that have covers that I find nice.

Are you a member of other Tolkien related group / book club or mailing list?
TPTS.

Have you cos-played a Tolkien Character? Who was the character you portrayed?
No.

Do you use tolkien character's names in your yahoo / gmail / multiply / blogger / facebook/ plurk / twitter etc. accounts?
As a net handle? No.

Do you collect Tolkien books or memorabilia? What do you have in your collection?
I don't really collect, but I have a few books and a sword (Sting).

Are you a toy collector? do you have tolkien inspired Toys?
A few toys (Sauron, a couple of wraiths, Leggy)

Have you ever named your pet from a Tolkien character?
No.

If you have children, are their names Tolkien related? If yes, what is their names/nickname?
Nope.

If you have names for gadgets (computer, camera, etc) have you named them after Tolkien characters?
I think I named one of my discs (ultimate/Frisbee) Earendil. Because it glowed.

Did you write a Tolkien related paper for any of your classes?
No. I wrote one on The Beatles though.

Have you attended any Tolkien Related Festival or convention?
Just one which TPTS was involved in. A Long Expected Party.

Who is the biggest Tolkien nut / geek you know?
The people here.

Are you in favor of del Torro directing The Hobbit movies?
Sure, why not. I did like El Laberinto del Fauno.

and the obligatory question... Is Legolas(in the movies) cute?y/y?Hahahaha..
Yeah.

Labels: books, photographs, tolkien

Maybe I'll get to play on Saturday. =)

Labels: lomo, photographs

In Power Plant, there's Lulu Belle.
In High Street, there's Yogurt Froz.
In Il Terraza (Tomas Morato), there's FYI.
In Rustan's Supermarket Makati, there's White Hat.
I love everything!
Next in line: California Berry at Paseo Center =)

Labels: food, photographs

Labels: photographs

Labels: lomo, photographs

Brought The Moondog (300D) to work to take some shots. Twas fun!



Chef mom made this panini for one of our episodes. I stole it right after the last take. The Stylist helped. It was yummy.

Labels: photographs, tv work

Labels: home, photographs

Got up a bit late again today and totally missed breakfast-time. Went straight to an early lunch at the Salcedo weekend market with F. Got me grilled tilapia and monggo (both my favorites!), while F got some lapu-lapu sisig and lechon kawali (quite yummy as well). For dessert, we shared a small tub of frozen yogurt. Nice and light =)

It was a nice day, although it could've been sunnier (it's still too gray for my taste), so we spent an hour more at the park just hanging around. F sketched in his journal, making a nice spread with our leftovers as subjects.



I myself haven't been doodling much, but I hope that'll change soon. I have a bunch of new journals, after all. In the meantime, I just snap photos using whatever camera I had the urge to bring with me that day.

Finally got some grocery-shopping done. Stocked up on food so I won't have to always step out to eat. We also decided to make dinner instead of eat out tonight. Got a bunch of meats that we plan to grill. But, for tonight, we decided on something light, simple, and fast. Salmon! I can't thank my cooking show staff enough for that wonderful gift of a grill pan!

I kept it simple -- seasoned the fillets with salt and pepper while heating up the lightly oiled pan. Once I had a very hot pan, I grilled the fillets for less a minute on each side. Yummmmmeehhh.



Roasted potatoes and bell peppers again (still had some left-over) and whipped up a light dressing of sour cream mixed with feta cheese, seasoned with garlic powder and oregano. It was nice on the taters and veggies. =)

It was a really yummy day. To cap it, we're having mango-strawberry and yogurt smoothies (got the fresh fruits from the market this morning!). Got lots more left for tomorrow. Perhaps this will be my breakfast. Mmmm.... I do love food. And what do you know, I like to make it, too.

=)

Labels: food, home, photographs

Labels: photographs

Got my share ready for tomorrow's Yale party ready.

Clockwise from upper left:

1) Legolas Green Dip -- mix in a blender: 1 cup of fresh basil, 4 cloves of garlic, some salt, cream cheese and some sour cream.

2) Napoleon Dynamite -- Mash some feta cheese and slices of jalapeno peppers with a fork, put some olive oil, mash mash mash; you can actually stop here. Nice with toasted pita bread. But, if you want it a little dip-py, add some plain yogurt.

I fear I put too much jalapeno. When I was tasting the dip, I couldn't taste the peppers too well, so I kept adding bits. And then I remembered that the party is tomorrow. So, the peppers will have time to steep in the dip. I wonder what will happen...

3) Lemony Snicket Mayo -- just a tub of light mayo with a bit of lemon juice.

Labels: food, home, photographs

A few hours before the beginning of 2009, we had a quiet home-cooked dinner accompanied by some wine.



We are the best company for each other, I agree.

Labels: food, home, photographs

I read 34 books this year.

My favorite stories for 2008:
Un Lun Dun - China Mieville
The Graveyard Book - Neil Gaiman
The Thirteenth Tale - Diane Setterfield
The Book of Lost Things - John Connolly
Everyday Matters - Danny Gregory
The Mysterious Benedict Society - Trenton Lee Stewart
The Looking Glass Wars - Frank Beddor
Magyk - Angie Sage
The Time Travelers - Linda Buckley-Archer
Red Seas Under Red Skies - Scott Lynch

Got new ones on my bookpile, thanks to F (December pressies!) and a couple of bookstore gift cheques. I'm happy!



Farewell, 2008! Hello, 2009!

Labels: home, photographs

Among the lovely things I got for Christmas was this bottle of oil flavored with rosemary and caperberries.

I decided to use it today, when I used my electric oven for the first time. I've had this oven ever since I moved here, but I never really considered using it because I was intimidated by it. Finally decided to give it a try today.

I thought roasted potatoes would be a good and easy dish. So, we picked up some at the market and I pulled up a simple recipe on allrecipes.com to guide me.

I diced the potatoes, drizzled the oil over them, seasoned them with black pepper and salt. Then popped them into the pre-heated oven (400 degrees F). While waiting for the potatoes to be ready, F made some burger patties and grilled them using my new grill pan (also a gift!). Didn't get to take a shot of it with my phone though.

It was a yummy home-cooked meal. Looking forward to more!

Labels: food, home, photographs

Labels: lomo, photographs

1. A normal quiet day with no real agenda except whatever strikes my fancy (which is usually just a toss between internet surfing, watching CSI, walking around or reading in bed).
2. More of those normal quiet days.

Labels: lomo, photographs

Labels: photographs

Labels: lomo, photographs

picture yourself in a boat on a river
with tangerine trees and marmalade skies

Labels: lomo, photographs

Labels: art, crafts, lomo, paperjournal, photographs

Lomo LC-A / Velvia50 xpro, Strawberry Farm, La Trinidad

The onion shoots looked nicer than the strawberry plants.

Labels: lomo, photographs

I do love mornings. 

Labels: lomo, photographs

Balloon man in Burnham bites into a bun. Lomo LCA - Velvia50 xpro


Fried stuff on sticks. Lomo LC-A / Lucky200


Lomo LC-A / Lucky200


Lomo LC-A / Lucky200

Lots of street food to choose from at the park! I'm partial to the steamed corn. =)

Labels: lomo, photographs

Labels: lomo, photographs

Labels: flexaret VI, photographs

Labels: lomo, photographs

Fisheye2 - Lucky 200, photo by F.

The weather was beautiful -- sunny, but cool. In the evenings, it got a little chilly. But, it was still lovely. We walked everywhere, indulged in yummy food and enjoyed our nice hotel room until the short long-weekend was over.

Labels: lomo, photographs

Labels: lomo, photographs

Labels: photographs, supersampler

Nokia had an area in Powerplant some weeks ago.  They had nice light-up boxes that spelled out their name.

Labels: lomo, photographs

Labels: lomo, photographs

Labels: lomo, photographs

Labels: lomo, photographs

Labels: art, crafts, home, paperjournal, photographs

I like slide film well enough, but I really love regular color negatives. Especially if it's Samsung 100!  Too bad my stash (expired 2004) is dwindling (and fast!).  I'm going to have to take a break from using Samsung.  I bought two rolls of Velvia 50 from Fuji dela Rosa.  Think I'd like to do doubles again.

I haven't really had any opportunity to shoot outside the metro in a long time.  My last out of towner (for work) was that trip to Ilocos Norte, and a vacation in Boracay.  So, most of my photos of late have been taken in and around my home court.

X with earrings.  Serendra.

Look who's in our spot in Kopi Roti!  Hehe.

Pink and green look nice together.  Thank goodness for sunny days.

Pretty pooch.

Stop and shoot the flowers.

Money hunny.

Meeting spot.

Kiss and click!

Labels: lomo, photographs

Labels: lomo, photographs

Labels: photographs

A treat for no reason at all. Yum yum.

Labels: photographs

Been a bit busy of late, what with the new job that requires quite a commute (a big change from freelancing!). It's been very interesting so far, with lots of new things and processes to learn.



I bring my LCA with me when I can. I have two rolls sitting in my cabinet waiting for three more rolls so I can turn them in to Digiprint. It's more cost efficient that way. I also turn to my celphone for snapshots.





One Saturday's wandering in Market! Market yielded this find in a bargain bookshop: a copy of Danny Gregory's The Creative License (in great condition!).  I really squealed when I caught sight of it.



I watched a great half-concert in August.



Gengar the purple Pokemon keeps me company in my new workplace. The afternoon sun casts a dramatic light on him.



This is my first time to work on a cooking show. It's fun (and fattening). See, new stuff! =) This was taken last Monday.



And today's excursion to Trinoma got me a nice pair of shoes. Yey! I've been looking for a nice pair of wedges, in this shade of blue!



And free YoCard bookmarks from KopiRoti (where we had dinner tonight just before we got a massage in Relaksasi).

Lovely mundane things that partly comprise the ups of life.

Labels: photographs, tv work

Labels: art, lomo, paperjournal, photographs

This is from my first ever attempt at double-exposure. Collab with F. The frames didn't align, but I like how some of the images can be spliced together; they flow into each other sort of. Here's one that I like. =) Yey. I think I might try this again!

Lomo LC-A + Velvia50 + double-exposed and cross-processed to death; and then spliced in Photoshop:

Labels: lomo, photographs

I participated (thru Lomomanila) in a double-exposure collab with some members of Lomotion Singapore. I got a roll of exposed slide film from ian (aka thycursed) and shot over it. It's the Ian+Ian roll! Here are my favorites:

Lomo LC-A, Kodak Elitechrome, double-exposed and crossprocessed



That's ian (thycursed), i suppose, in the mirror; silhouette of leaf-less tree mine.



Person walking shot thycursed's. Kolektib image mine.



I'm guessing that's his foot on some seriously floral tiles. My feet on the lower right on a surface with less personality.



Mental note: Tree silhouettes work well in doublex.



The right side of the frame with the flowers -- mine. Yey! A successful doublex venture, methinks.

The whole set is here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ulan25/sets/72157606214916216/

Labels: lomo, photographs

Trying out my Flexaret VI.





I think I'm slowly getting the hang of it.

Labels: flexaret VI, photographs

For the past few weeks, my Lomomanila friends and I have been shooting around Bonifacio Global City for our biggest display of photos to date.

Last Friday, we put the display up: four panels (back-to-back) of vibrant and quirky snapshots, taken using various film cameras, arranged in a colorful mosaic.













So, friends, please drop by and see our work! The lomowalls are in the shaded walkway in front of T.G.I. Friday's.

The exhibit is called Lomovisions and it will be on display until the end of May. It features the photographs of the following Lomomanila members:

Jim Abao
Corn Agudera
Romer Aguirre
Tara Almario
Tin Ang
Ginomatic Arcinas
Jonas Asistio
Lianne Bacorro
Eric Belbis
Lawrence Bersales
Ian Calalang
Gabby Cantero
Chrissie Capicoy
Felice Capicoy
Christian Carolino
Jennie Castillo
Fozzy Castro
Gab Cheekee
Bam Cocjin
Bibay Cordero
Ron Cruz
Olive David
Angelo Gian De Mesa
Ruby De Vera
Joven dela Cruz
Chips Dayrit
Michelle Dellota
Mark Domingo
Charissa Dumaraos
Guiki Espina
Che Evangelista
Alex Ezequiel
Eugene Fabian
Patricia Faytaren
Marge Francia
Francis Gaerlan
JC Gepte
Maico Gravidez
Mon Guinto
Risa Halaguena
Jimmy Hilario
Francis Inton
Glai Jacinto
Jill Lejano
Renel Macapagal
Jason Magbanua
Bryan James Mandario
Jun Marcelino
Faye Marcos
Honey Marcos
Thea Napa
Liane Ng
Christiane Pagsisihan
Dennis Pagulayan
Pam Pastor
Jed Quiambao
Burton Raya
Cat Ramos
Richard Remulla
Giff Ricarte
Kitkat Rodrigo
Bong Rojales
Ian Roxas <-- me! hehe
Chino San Diego
Kharen Santia
Jolo Santos
Caloy Soliongco
Mariel Sunit
Oliever Talusan
Valerie Tenorio
Sherwin Tolentino
Rollie Valenzuela
Lorenz Visco
Rossy Yabut
Chris Yambing
Edgar Alan Zeta Yap
Ian Ysip
Zel Zalamea

(Lomovisions is part of The Passion Fest 2008 at Bonifacio Global City)

Labels: lomo, photographs

Labels: photographs

Took forever to get the kid to warm up to me. When he finally let me photograph him, he just gave a small smile. His friends told me why he wouldn't smile wider.

Bungi.

Hehehe.


Bulacan. Lomo LC-A and Samsung 100.

Photos cheer me up.

Labels: lomo, photographs

Shooter


Raymund


Kjwan


Tirso

A few more shots from the Karl Roy benefit. Krys says Karl's steadily getting better. There'll be other benefit shows coming up, I hear. Smaller ones in bars. Wanna catch Razorback again.

----

Home dsl is still down. I'm cranky as hell.

Labels: music, photographs

[Taken during the benefit concert for Karl Roy. ]

I'm home from my trip to Cagayan de Oro. My dsl at home is busted. Boo.

Labels: music, photographs

It doesn't matter to me if I shoot film or digital, as long as I shoot. I guess it all depends on my mood. One of these days, I will give my film cameras a little rest and bring only The Moondog (my dslr) with only the 50mm lens.

And I will shoot casual portraits of my friends.

Labels: photographs

Labels: photographs, supersampler

Forgive the silly title. I couldn't think of anything better. :-P

It was a good call to leave The Moondog (my Canon 300D) and trust in all things lomo for this trip. I armed myself with more than 20 rolls of film (120s, 135s - negs and slides) and just winged it. Here I am at Bangui shooting the wind turbines, as taken by my new friend (our client, really) Char. With Petrie (Lomo LC-A) stuck to my face (yes, i look thru the viewfinder!), I snapped away.

I've been hoping to get at least one nice shot. I think this here is one nice shot. :) There are others, I'm just sifting thru the rolls now. Will upload later. Nanginginig pa ko sa saya. Hehehe.

Labels: lomo, photographs, tv work

Goofing off with my best friend at my lola's house on a nondescript Sunday. =)




I'm going to Ilocos, La Union, Bulacan (in that order) next week. Then to Misamis the following week.

I plan to NOT bring my DSLR. Kasi mabigat. Pero kinakabahan ako na wala akong makuhang magandang shots. I plan to bring three cameras only. LC-A, Holga, and Supersampler. I predict that I'll be keeping to the LC-A and Holga most of the time, while firing a few shots on the Supersamp now and then.

If I bring a digital camera, malilito na ko eh. I'll end up not shooting much. Feeling ko.

Pero afraiiiiid. What if I don't get anything???

Bahala na.

Labels: lomo, photographs

We made a magazine!

We = Lomofilipinas.
Magazine = LoFI, a free downloadable (or if you like, web-browseable) magazine about lofi images made by Pinoys.

We've had very positive feedback so far, so I think it's safe to say it was a good first effort!



These photos were taken during the last lomokapihan in Ortigas Center. It was really more of a LoFI meeting, where Jonas presented his awesome layout for the magazine. (Round of piggy points for Jonas!!) A big yahoo for everyone who worked on the issue! Saya! =)


Lomo LC-A | Lucky Color Film 200

Labels: lomo, photographs

Lomomanila had a lomowall at the recent Photoworld Convention in Glorietta.

Lomo LC-A / Samsung 100 (photo by Zoe)

Hewlett Packard had a photodome! Turns out it's my friend TJ's concept. Galeeeng.
Lomo LC-A/ Samsung 100 (another "pretend you dropped something" ninja shot)

Labels: lomo, photographs

What I like best about Makati is that it's pedestrian friendly. I enjoy having real sidewalks and underpasses and skywalks that let me get to the mall or my office on foot in relative safety from motorists.

Now that I live here, I like it.

So, here. This is my neighborhood.

(I love LUCKY film! Yummy saturation, yeah!)

Lomo LC-A / Lucky200

Labels: home, lomo, photographs

It was one of those days when the universe conspired to make things happen -- the sun was out, Karen Kristie and Ava both were free, I was free, and we could all just hang out. We went to the mall where Ava bought lots of goodies. We caught the sunset by the bay. We checked out that carnival (we bought no-ride tickets). And I clicked the day away. Yahoo!

Saturday Fun. Lomo LCA + Samsung color film. Me likey the colors! Will get more. (sending sms to Jolengs...) =D



This image would look complete with alien spacecraft. Lomo LCA + Kodak Elitechrome (crossed)


Carousel. Lomo LCA + Fujicolor 200


View One Saturday set on Flickr =)

Labels: lomo, photographs

Tita


Pol


Abbiedude

Labels: lomo, photographs

Booklet with photo-cover. This is an old shot of mine (2006) printed on board (6x4 inches).

I folded it in the middle, inserted a bunch of paper the same size inside (folded in the middle also) and used staple wire to bind it.

This is a very small notebook. I don't know what I'd do with a notebook this size. This is just an experiment to see how the printing looks.





Notes for next time:
Bigger prints in color (something really vibrant, like a crossprocessed lomo shot)
Use different kinds of paper
Try another kind of binding (glue)

Labels: crafts, photographs

Shots from the first two weeks of the year:

Lomo LCA, Fuji Astia cross-processed

Labels: lomo, photographs

UP is 100 years old this year. Happy centennial, Peyups!


Sky jumpers displayed streamers bearing the names of the different units of the University of the Philippines System.


100-year-old torch-bearer.


A hundred torches.


UP naming mahal.

A few more shots here.

Labels: photographs

Labels: books, home, photographs

Very cool propeller beanie from Tita Ruby (aka Dante's Mom).

Labels: photographs

My friend Aldus (vox/guitar for The Purplechickens) asked if he may pitch my photo "Chiyomi" to the rest of the group as one of the album cover options for Girls, Et Cetera.

Of course I said yes (thrilled!).



"Chiyomi" got approved. It got some nifty elements added to it. It got printed. And here it is.



I shot their band photo for the album as well (using my Holga again). I got a lot of shots wrong because the switch was on B mode grrr. Good thing I was able to get a good enough shot. This is it:






I am thrilled and a half. =) Thanks to the manox for making me part of their second album.

Labels: holga, photographs

Abbie called to say she was in the area! So off I went to Greenbelt to pick her up, and she had dinner here. It's been a long while since I last saw her. Lomo'd during our walk here, then snapped a few shots after dinner.





It was nice to see her again! I miss hanging out with her, just sketching in our journals. This girl's an artist, she is!

Labels: photographs

Got a bunch of rolls processed yesterday. This shot was taken (Holga 120N with expired Kodak T400CN) in Baguio during our Kantabataan shoot there. I really like the crackin' pattern on the tree bark.

I also finished the film (Natura 1600) in my Vivitar Ultra Wide & Slim. Just got the camera last weekend - a very light plastic camera, very unassuming, very very sneaky. Read up on it and snapped away. Here are my favorites from the roll:

Labels: holga, photographs, vivitar ultra wide and slim

My TPTS friends and I had tea and cakes today to cap our Hobbit storytelling sessions. Will post the rest of the photos tomorrow. :)

Labels: photographs

my photo was published in a Subic guidebook :)

Labels: books, photographs

Tired, but generally ok. Didn't get to take a lot of photos (didn't even fill one 512MB CF card and finished only a roll of film). But we got good material for the show. And everyone's home safe. I'm almost completely recovered from my night of terror on the road from Baguio to Manila on Friday night.

Now to put episodes 5 to 8 together in two weeks.

Labels: photographs, tv work

Labels: lomo, photographs

Just a couple of shots in the condo:

Me.




And my food -- hungarian sausage and pesto spaghetti. I just threw things I had together. Sliced the sausage into thin discs, sauteed it with garlic, added pesto from a jar, then mixed the cooked spaghetti in it. Added parmesan cheese for extra flavor :)

And that was my meal.

Lomo LCA + Colorsplash flash
Fuji Sensia, cross-processed

Labels: home, lomo, photographs

The food-and-friends combo can't be beat!

Friday night with Gel and Danisha, dinner at Amici: We had more than gelato: margherita pizza, vongole, maccheroni al gorgonzola, italian sausages, then profiteroli for dessert and a cup of gelato each. We passed our cups around ala 1-2-3 pass so we could sample everyone's chosen flavor. Yummy.



After dinner, we decided to catch the 11pm screening of Ratatouille (yes, more food!).

Today: I had my first official visitor to the condo. Ava was a frequent visitor at my apartment in QC where we would have dinner in or out at a nearby resto. This morning, we bought food at Salcedo market. We got a huge serving of spinach lasagne (P270) and a pack of hungarian sausages (P200 for 4 pcs). Three people can share the lasagne, it's a really big serving, and very yummy.

Labels: food, photographs

Louie's belle.

Labels: photographs, the bloomfields

Gelliebean.

She produces TV shows. She bakes.

Labels: photographs

Just a quick post before I turn in. This was taken Monday night, during a break in the boys' TV guesting shoot. I have a lot of other shots of the taping, but they will have to wait. New shots from Strumms coming up, too. Perhaps this weekend I can get everything uploaded.

Labels: music, photographs, the bloomfields

"Move one step to your right, Lord Vader!" And Vader obeyed.

I giggled "I commanded Darth Vader!"

Hehehe :-P

Labels: photographs

Uh, yeah.

Ayun. :-p

I submitted a photo for JPG magazine's "Are You Ready To Rock?" theme/issue. So, if you're signed up at JPGmag.com, if you like the photograph, please vote for it! If it gets enough votes, it'll be included in the issue. :)

I submitted this photo of The Bloomfields with their roadie, Marvin, in the foreground watching them finish the set with Little B.

Labels: photographs, the bloomfields

...is something i've really missed.

These are shots from early this evening (before they played at the PBA half-time). The whole set is here.

In other news, I'm dying for a tall ice cold glass of Coca-Cola.


Jay Jay on the Jaguar


Brothers


The Bloomfields

Labels: music, photographs, the bloomfields

Some shots I dug up from my photo box, after Melvin sent a message asking for photos of him on the job =) I had just the shots for him: an entire black and white roll of photographs from their very first story-shoot in 5 and Up.

These were taken in 1998, in Manila Bay where they met a dragonboat team and joined them on their early morning practice.

I remember this shoot very well. I rode my bike from my house to the office (same village) at 3:30am. It was cold! I had on a yellow jacket while I rode my bike. Got terribly startled by some dogs. Pedaled furiously to the office.

We arrived at the location ahead of the team, with enough time to fire a few shots of the two goofing around (as soon as it was light enough).

The negs were scratched. Nikon FM10 and some Kodak black and white film =) i forget what kind...







more here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ulan25/sets/72157600075769289/

Labels: 5 and Up, photographs

My godson.

His mom is my very good friend Avie from high school. They're flying back home to the US after a two-week visit. Such a sweet boy.

They came over to my lola's house for lunch today.





It's nice to find real friendships that don't fade no matter how far apart life's paths have taken you. It means a great deal to me that when our paths do cross, there's no loss of warmth and affection. And an afternoon at my lola's house feels just like how we used to hang out 18 years ago.

Labels: photographs

Three generations of Marios. My grandfather, Mario Sr. My uncle, Mario Jr. And his son, my cousin Mario III (or Mayo to us, cos that's how he pronounced his name when he was a kid).

This was taken during lunch today at my grandparents' home. Yummy food. Good company. What are Sundays for! =)

Labels: photographs

Louie and Pepe of The Bloomfields.
Strumms, Jupiter Street, Makati
They play there Tuesdays. Catch them if you like rockn'roll! =)

Labels: photographs, the bloomfields

...and the livin' is easy.

Ang init na! All traces of cool weather have completely gone. It should be an interesting summer, with reports going round that it's going to be a real scorcher.

I'm glad we were able to finish our Tolkien photoshoot before it got too hot.



The Holga shots from that shoot have been added to my Tolkien costumers flickr set.

Labels: holga, photographs, tolkien

I organized a photo shoot with some friends from Lomomanila and some cosplayers from the Philippine Tolkien Society. It wasn't a purely lomo activity, it was more of a shoot-with -whatever-you-want kind of thing. So, along with our film-based cameras, we took digital shots as well. Here are some of my digital shots.

These were post-processed in photoshop (levels adjustment and desaturated). As you will notice, I also added a glow effect to some of the shots.


My favorite shot from the whole digital set is this second one, a solo shot of Chiqui. She usually wears pointy prosthetic ears when she cosplays, but unfortunately, she didn't have them during the shoot. A pointy ear would've been striking in this shot. But, even without the ears, I still like it.

The rest of my digital shots are in this Flickr set.

And here are the picture-nerds:

I hope to get the shots from my Holga soon. Ahhh film.

It's such a challenge for the low-EQ'd.

Labels: photographs, tolkien

Kazzzztttttt.

My computer's power source blew up (sort of) last Saturday. I panicked for a little bit and even bugged my friend Bogue who's in Osaka. To cut a long story - I had to reinstall my OS because my files got fried. Or something like that.

So I did. I figured I'd just overwrite the files in the dedicated drive where my old OS was installed. But since I didn't have enough space in that drive, I had to reformat. No problem, my documents were on a separate drive.

The reformat and the reinstall were a success.

Except the drive I chose turned out to be my dedicated drive for 20 gigs worth of MP3s.

Whew. Most of my MP3s are in my Zen. Plus most of the files were ripped from my CDs anyway, so no real harm done.

It's a VERY good thing that it wasn't my documents drive that got formatted. The one with all my photo files. If it had been that drive, I'd have thrown up all over the keyboard in grief.

But, I guess my luck held here. And to celebrate, I made myself a grilled eggplant sandwich using my new grilling machine.



Crunch.

Labels: photographs

Attended a kiddie party this afternoon and snapped a few photos (around 180 haha). Here are two of them -- munkees and a little girl:





I enjoyed the kiddie spaghetti and the hotdog on a stick (with a marshmallow!). The best part of all was the loot bag. I got stickers! Lots of em! Haha!

Labels: photographs

It's not uncommon for me to find only 1/4 of the total shots that I fired to be good, or at least, useful. This is most true especially when shooting under less than favorable light conditions, where you have to crank up the ISO, and use a really big opening, and struggle with a shutter speed not fast enough to freeze action. But, you know, you work with what you've got.

I had this shot of bloom keyboardist Lakan that was a mistake. And I knew it as soon as I took it. I saw it right away.

I really liked Lakan's general stance in that shot. And I also liked my semi-accidental framing. I was purposely putting part of the wall into the shot, leaned, lost my balance a bit, pressed the trigger, and ended up with more wall than I intended.

But I thought the framing turned out nicely. I knew that too as soon as I previewed the shot on my cam. And I was cursing myself for not minding the other settings resulting in the shot turning out too dark.

I kept the photo, partly out of laziness to delete bad shots, and partly out of hope that I could make something out of it. Well, I'm glad I kept it!



With some post-processing, I got it to look like a shot from some toy camera. I was post-processing the other recording shots and was desaturating them for that vintage look. I thought to give the same treatment to this grossly underlit shot. Tweaked the curves, burned the brights...and here it is.

A sort of grungy shot of Lakan, and my favorite shot of him so far.

Labels: photographs, the bloomfields

I've been enjoying my early weekend this week, which started yesterday since the bosses went out of town and didn't really leave any urgent tasks for us. Today, I had lunch in Eastwood and snapped this shot.



That's my photo on that huge banner! My photo of the blooms, I mean. This isn't the first time my shot has been used in their collaterals, but it's always a trip whenever I see my stuff being used. Obvious ba, kinunan ko pa ng letrato...

Last December, I heard that Bellevue Hotel used my brick wall photo of the boys for the posters of their New Year countdown event. I also saw a short announcement of that gig in the paper, with half the brickwall photo beside it. They cropped the photo, thus completely eliminating the drummer, crouched in the foreground, from the image. Bah.

Some months ago, Eastwood also used the same shot (in color) for their big drop down banner and part of a billboard on C5.

After that one, though, Eastwood decided to do their own photo shoot with the boys. Their concept was to replicate album covers of the Beatles. I didn't do any of those concept shots. Eastwood did use some of my images as part of the whole banner layout (mostly the ones at the bottom part of the banner).

Right now, they also have smaller versions of that banner hanging from the ceiling around the mall, as well as standees.



Pretty cool. =) Yey!

Labels: photographs, the bloomfields

I like this shot of Jay Jay, taken during their last Aruba gig (28 Dec 06).

Labels: photographs, the bloomfields

Because I am excited about my blog's new look, I will post another entry just so I can see it on the page.




These photos were taken on November 28. The Bloomfields were in the studio to record, mostly bass and drum tracks. I got to take shots right inside the booth. I sat myself down on the floor, stuffed cotton in my ears, and snapped away. I haven't prepped all the photos yet. I just selected a couple for the sake of posting right now.

Labels: photographs, the bloomfields

Lomomanila is setting up a new lomowall and this time I'm joining!!! It's a good thing I had a bit of time and nice new shots to contribute.

We're not done yet and we'll probably launch this after Christmas. But, it's pretty nice to do something like this with a bunch of enthusiastic fotofreaks.

We'll put up the holgawall next weekend. If I have time to get prints done, I'll contribute on that wall, too.

Photo by fellow Lomomanilan JOLENGS (thank you, thank you!)

Labels: photographs

I went to Avilon Zoo last November 15 to shoot an episode of D'yan Banda. This episode will air next Wednesday, 23 November, 10PM Myx.

Labels: photographs, tv work

Can't say that this is a 'good' photograph technically, but it definitely is my favorite.

---------

The blooms are recording already. I dropped by the studio after work to take a few shots. Louie was recording the bass parts when I got there. They have a long way to go, which for me is a good thing cos I'll get more chances to shoot.



Another shot that I like. Here, Jay Jay and Louie are conferring about the bass line. The bass is strapped to Louie, while Jay Jay plays a riff on it.



The other photos are here. :-)

Labels: photographs, the bloomfields

Shots from a 50's diner in Makati called The Filling Station. It's right smack in the red light district, with foreigners chatting up their local lady friends there. But it's a decent enough place where you can play billiards or just drink with friends. They've got cake and ice cream, too.

We went there yesterday evening to shoot some scenes for D'yan Banda. I like how my shots turned out. They look a little like scenes from some stylized movie...

All taken with The Moondog (Canon 300D). Click photos to get a bigger view:

  
 

The rest of the set here.

Labels: photographs, tv work

I brought my camera to a gig again after a long time. It was a 99.5RT event at Hard Rock and I just tagged along because I wasn't really doing anything.

I'm glad I went. Their performance was even better than last Thursday's. King Creole was hotter and the crowd loved it.

I was hoping that my next set of photos of the boys would not be gig shots (i've got LOTS of those already) and they can't help but look the same after a while.

So here are some shots of them not performing:
Rocky holding water in his mouth, Jay Jay with his celphone's light shining on his face, and Lakan just staring into the lens. :-P



 

These were taken in dark corner of Hard Rock where the boys were taking their dinner. Only the three I arrived with were present at the time these were fired. The other two arrived shortly after. =)

Labels: photographs, the bloomfields

Holy! Here's a wicked double-exposure shot of Chiyomi taken with my Holga. It looks like she's floating out of herself with malignant intent! This fits right into our "eerie enchantment" theme.

This double-x was unintended. I forgot to advance the film after taking a shot (a common thing when using a Holga). There's one frame in roll that was completely blank, which means that I advanced the film thinking that I'd already taken a shot. :-P But that is part of the fun of using this camera. There's the element of surprise with every roll.

 
Che the pixie and Nerisa

I got five decent Holga shots but I think my LCA shots have more character. I feel a little bad also because I have two shots in my contact sheet that would've qualified as good and publishable if only I didn't click just as a photographer walked behind my subject. There were a lot of us shooting, so I guess it couldn't be helped. I feel so bad cos one of these shots was my only decent one of Cosette using my Holga. Sigh. I will just have to try again next time.

But all in all, I'm happy with my Holga session. It's about time I learned how to use it better.

Bong and I have another idea for a shoot that we're cooking up. When it comes to pass, it should be...rockin.

All my Witch Project shots (LCA and Holga) HERE. Do look =) Thanks!

Labels: holga, photographs