Model Shoot
Tried my hand at portraiture last Saturday. At first I really wasn’t sure if this was my cup of tea, because I’d really rather take pictures of people I know when it comes to portraits. I guess I was in for a surprise.
I like photowalks mostly because of the all the walking I get to do. Since diet supplements are out of the question for me, all that I can do to keep more or less fit is to walk. For a commuter like me walking has given me a new set of eyes, and I am able to see things much differently than the times when all I am concerned with is getting from point a to point b.
Saturday was a different story: we went for a photowalk AND had models to shoot as well. Donna, Edz and Gugle were starting out and needed to build their portfolio. The D60KREW were all newbies and needed to learn how to shoot portraits and models outdoors. It was a healthy exchange deal, courtesy of our leader Andy Rodriguez.
Edz
Donna
Gugle
More of my output from the shoot here.
Looking for the Kwento
Just recently I blogged about joining PhotoWorldCup 2008 on Ning.com. One of the rules on PWC is to upload just one photo a day per member. This saves space and bandwidth on the server, as opposed to members being able to upload an unlimited number of photos in one day — uploading just one forces a user to choose his best photo for the day.
I received a comment on the first photo I uploaded, the one I call A walk in the clouds, reproduced here in smaller resolution.
Bryan Lee had commented: “simple yet it tells a lot of stories…hmmm, what would be the ending?”
And I realized that is the purpose of taking pictures. To look for the story and to tell it at the same time. And to succeed in doing so will be worth a thousand words.
Hello Ning
A former co-worker and friend, Ejay Sta. Maria, introduced me to an online group called PhotoWorldCup2008 on ning.com. Sometime last year Ejay got himself a Canon EOS 400D and has become quite adept with it in the succeeding months. Since then we had not seen much of each other, but another former co-worker had mentioned to him that I was “kinda sorta” into photography, and Ejay told me to join Photoworldcup, even just to look at the other members’ work. It’s also the first time I’ve signed up for a ning.com account. I have since joined, and have received the customary welcome messages from the creators of the group and from Ejay himself.
The minute I saw the other members’ photos I realized that I was still a long way off from being even just their camera bag handler. Since my pictures weren’t anywhere near as good as anything else I’ve seen there I decided to write something on the ning blog instead. This is what I wrote.
What am I doing here?
Cameras have always fascinated me. Even from the time when I was a little girl and my aunt would make me dress up on a Saturday morning so she could take pictures of me in the garden, I learned to smile for her and her Canon. It would take a few weeks for her to use up all the film in her camera, usually 36 shots, and when it was time to get it developed we’d go to this camera store near my grandmother’s dress shop across the Philippine Women’s University on Taft Avenue. It would take another week before we could get the prints.
That was almost 40 years ago. These days cameras don’t have film, they have memory cards. People with cameras don’t have to worry about wasting shots “dahil sayang ang film”, and they see the the results right away, even print them out at home on photopaper. When I was growing up you went to Bob’s for blow-up prints, which you then picked up after a month, mounted or framed, to be hung on the wall in your room. These days you can have your pictures as wallpaper, both on your computer and your house.
Around 20 years ago my aunt, the same one who woke me up on Saturday mornings for pictures, gave me a used Minolta Hi-Matic AF2. The gift came at a time when I could afford to buy film for it, and I also had a friend who taught me how to hold it. I once spent an entire month’s pay on film and development, after having gone through four rolls of Kodak ASA 300 film and going to places like the Guadalupe shrine in Cebu (I was living in Cebu at the time) and various hills and valleys in the province. Most of the albums I amassed during that time are now lost, except for the time when I went to Iligan City the first time, in 1995.
I still have that camera.
These days I share a Kodak CX7330 with my husband. Together we post our pictures on Gaerlan St. Although limited in its capabilities, the CX7330 has served us well since mid-2004. Most of the time I keep it in my knapsack when I go to and from work. It has archived almost all of our family occasions, and has saved a bus driver and his conductor from a crooked suspicious motorcycle cop preying on vehicles at that dark corner of EDSA and Roxas Blvd., near the Toyota Showroom.
I have been dreaming of getting a Nikon D60, but unfortunately our current finances will not allow me to purchase one as of yet. Maybe one day things will get better and I may manage to get one. But until then I will be busy finding out everything I can about how to take good pictures. I also plan to have a lot of fun doing so.
Busy Weekend
I maintain a few websites for friends sometimes for small gratuities (money for snacks) and once a year as they renew their domain registrations and hosting services I sit down and jazz them up with new templates and layouts.
This weekend I did my sister-in-law Dr. Faith Mesa-Gaerlan’s org site Philippine Society of Emergency Care Physicians (PSECP).
Couple of days back I gave Danton Remoto’s blog a little facelift. I’m also submitting a proposal for his personal website for the May 2010 Elections.
Just finished overhauling MSU Demolay Rainbow for Sam and his brother Ferdie.
I got a few pics lined up for the Gallery on Gaerlan St., more buses with Bayani stickers for Press this Button, and the Lego Boys invade Chinatown on Do I.T. Yourself.
But they will have to wait for their updates, after all it’s a long weekend. I have another day ahead of me to do that.
About Me
