Macro and DIY Light Box

I borrowed Randy's close-up filter and try out some macro shots using my DIY "light box". It's not a complete light box yet because I still lack the proper lighting equipment. I was just lucky that when I took these, there was enough light coming in to my room that the box was still well lit. C&C are very much welcome.





Note: Forgot to clean the Ferrari cars and only noticed the dirt after I took the photos. (Need to pay attention to detail.)

Tropa Tup's Reunion

Sunday is considered to be family day. This past Sunday was similar to it when Karena and I went out with our friends Dave and Anne with Baby Via, Barry and Kathy with Selle and Resty. All of whom were married. As usual, we were often asked as to when we would be married. We'll get to that soon enough guys. Just sit tight. :)

It's always fun to be with these guys and I hope even with our busy schedules, we can get to see each other more often. Maybe in Bohol? :)

On a side note, Baby Via is getting bigger and I had fun taking photos of her during Hector's (Karen and Ian's baby) 1st birthday. Check out some of the photos I took.

Boracay 2008 (Day 2)

We woke up early for our wonderful breakfast of tapa and tocino courtesy of Club Ten. It was a good way to start our second day. Our second day was what I would call our adventure day in Boracay. For Php1300, we went on a boat ride going to Crystal Cove. A nice, small island with a nice view of the open sea and two underwater caves. On our way there, Karen got scared because of the waves. I even told her that the boat ride was a little similar to what I experienced the last time I went to Corregidor. The difference was, the waves in Boracay were less rough compared to Corregidor. :) I was not able to get inside the first cave because the way down was a little narrow considering my size and my camera gear. According to Karen, the first cave was a little scary because it was dark and the waves were really splashing hard that they were not allowed to swim even with a life saver on. We walked around the island to get to the second cave. Inside the second cave, there was an even smaller one that you would have to crouch to get inside but we were not that adventurous so we just stayed near the mouth of the cave.Ü



A couple shots of the view above Cave 1


View from the stairwell going down to Cave 1 (The closest I could get Ü)



On our way to Cave 2 (Prepare for a long walk under the sun)


Cave 2 (Click on the picture to see the note on the entrance to the smaller cave)


On our way back to the boat
We then headed to the snorkelling site and it was like a small port when we got there. I guess the other tourists also thought that it was a good time to go snorkelling. :)


Karen having fun swimming with the fishes


Ice cream sold in the middle of the sea for Php40
We got back just in time for lunch and we ate at Big Mamas Pinoy Hot Pot and Grill. Unfortunately for Karen, they were serving grilled food only during dinner. After lunch and a short break, we then went on a buggy ride heading to Mount Luho for a view of Boracay from above. We were supposed to ride an ATV but Karen was not up to driving so we settled for a buggy. We were supposed to go a butterfly farm as well but we opted to stay longer in Mount Luho and forego the butterfly farm. I was hoping to get some sunset shots there but since it was still early, the sun was still too high for sunset shots.


Sunset at Mount Luho


The other side of Boracay




Some of our photos


Love this quote


Nice little bugger, I mean, buggies :) (Cost: Php2300)
How else would we cap our day but with a dinner at Jonah's with the fruit shake! We knew we made the right choice to have dinner as soon as we tasted the pasta and the pizza. :)



Yummy Pizza from Jonah's
I was not going home without getting a henna tattoo. I think I got bit by the henna bug way too much, though. :)


On our third day, we did not do much since we would be leaving Boracay by noon. We just spent the day with another Jonah's fruit shake. Karen went swimming for a few minutes while I had my henna tattoo retouched.Ü

We had a wonderful time in Boracay. It really is different when you are out on a trip and enjoying the beautiful scenery. My only regret was that Boracay has become too commercialized. The stores/stands found near the beach is quite alright. They do provide some sort of accessibility when it comes to the needs of the tourists. What I do not like are the people who keep on appraching you selling stuff like sunglasses or souvenir wood carvings. These people made me feel like I was walking around in Greenhills where a guy just walks towards me asking me if I would like to buy some DVDs. It is a little difficult to enjoy the beach atmosphere when these "entrepreneur" keep on interrupting your relaxing beach moments. :(

If you are after going out and having fun at night on a beach setting, then Boracay is one of the places you are looking for. However, if you would like to have a relaxing time on the beach, you might be better off going to some other beach/island/province.

Boracay 2008 (Day 1)

Aaahhh.... Cool sea breeze, powder-like white sand beach, (not so) clear waters...My expectations of Boracay were met, including the high priced activities and number of tourists.Ü (I was a bit disappointed with the algae, though.)

We left Manila at around 8:20AM via Cebu Pacific Airlines and got to Kalibo Airport after 45 minutes. I guess I was so excited that I did not notice the time. We were lucky to have been able to get a room at The Club Ten because their price was so affordable (Php3,700 for 3D/2N) and it already includes transfer to and from the Kalibo Airport. Not bad for those who are on a tight budget and do not mind walking a few feet along a side street to get to the beach. The only trouble we had along the way was the bus ride going to the Caticlan port from the airport. The air conditioning inside the bus was not able to compensate for the heat that day. We got to Club Ten around 12 noon and had very little time for rest. Karen and I were already hungry and after we were done figuring out how we were going to unpack and spend the rest of the day, we went to D'Mall for our lunch. We ate at Mang Inasal because we were so hungry that we no longer tried to look for other places to eat. Besides, we were both getting cranky because of hunger and the heat.Ü

To cool our heads a bit, we went over to Jonah's where I got to taste their famous fruit shakes! I ordered banana mocha shake and Karen had vanilla milkshake.


It was so good that I almost finished the glass before I remember to take a photo of it!Ü


Karen enjoying her vanilla milkshake
Afterwards, we continued went for a leisurely wlak along Station 1 of Boracay and since it was also sunset, I was also scouting for a good place to take sunset photos. It was hard to find a spot with the least number of people because there were already a lot of tourists in Boracay that weekend. Luckily, as the sun went down the crowd was also getting smaller and I was able to setup near the grotto. It was also in front of Nigi Nigi Too where Jerome, Sol and Velvet stayed.



Some sky shots


Karen as Mari Mar Ü




Boracay Sunset


With Jerome, Velvet, and Sol


Grotto
After one bottle of beer with Jerome, Velvet and Sol, we had to call it a night because Karen has not had any sleep since she came from her shift.

That's it for today. I'll continue this tomorrow.Ü

LAKBAYAN Grade Updated

My Lakbayan grade is C-!

How much of the Philippines have you visited? Find out at Lakbayan!

Created by Eugene Villar.

I am now a C- Traveler! Woohoo! :)

"I.T." Bonding at Bataan and Corregidor

Another road trip right after the Panagbenga was something my co-team leads planned spontaneously. Before I went to Baguio, my "I.T." (I.T. - Iwas Trabaho) friends wanted to go out while they still had the same days off. It was only I who had a different schedule but I didn't want to pass up the chance to go to Bataan and Corregidor because I haven't been to Bataan and the last time I went to Corregidor was MANY years ago on one of our high school field trips. Luckily, my application for leave was approved. :)

We first went to Mount Samat where the Dambana ng Kagitingan (Shrine of Valor) can be seen. It was cloudy when we got there so I was not able to get good shots of the cross but we still managed to have some fun while we were there.



The towering cross atop Mount Samat and some scultures found at its base.
We went up the cross and had a glimpse of what the view was at that altitude.




Moment factor


F."I.T. Five (Fabulous "I.T." Five)
The following day, we woke up early and prepared for our trip to Corregidor via a banca (small fisherman's boat). I had to borrow Master Aaron's dry bag so I can ride the banca at ease knowing that my camera is safe from getting wet.Ü

Here are some the photos I took in Corregidor.


Cannon-ICE-d


Master Doods taking a photo of our top super model, Shen-Shen


F."I.T." Trio - TL Ice, TL Jun-Jun and TL Joems





Malinta Tunnel


Thanks to our "I.T." head Doods "Rick" Nario and his parents for allowing us to stay at their home in Mariveles, Bataan. Doods' parents were so accommodating during our stay that Senyora Ice was already begging to be adopted!Ü Tita Zeny cooked us hearty meals with her famous adobo! Yummy! It was also there that I discovered a very delicious dessert made by Tita Zeny. Sliced banana with caramle syrup! It was just a simple dish of sliced banana covered with caramel. The caramel had the right consistency that it did not make the banana slices crunchy to the bite. TL Jun-Jun fell in love with the dessert so much that he did not even share it with us when we took some home with us. Thank you guys! I had such a blast! Until the next time!

Panagbenga 2008 (Day 3)

The main event! Sunday, Feb 24, was the parade of the flowers. Although, there was a little rain, the parade will still go on. The rain gave us a hard time because we didn't want to get our gear get wet and we were just standing under the overpass when the parade began. As soon as some of the floats with tons of flowers came down session road, even though it was still drizzling, we went closer to the float and clicked away! Master Aaron and Master Randy showed once again their ingenuity by improvising on covering their lenses. I really didn't fear much for my lens because I trusted Canon when they said that their 70-200mm f/4L IS lens was weather sealed but I knew that my camera wasn't so I had no choice but to just pray that the rain won't get inside my camera. I just had to constantly wipe off the water on my lens and camera..while silently praying.Ü


Master Randy and Master Aaron showing off their supreme ingenuity.Ü



Chowking and their models



GMA Network with some of their stars, Ms. Iza Calsado, Ms. Iwa Moto and Ms. Jewel Mische. (Mr. Alfred Vargas and Mr. Richard Gutierrez were also on the float)


SM


Nescafe's flower float


The winner: SMC's flower float


Here are some more celebrities who joined the parade.From Top-Bottom/Left-Right, Ms. Angelica Panganiban, Mrs. Jodie Santamaria-Lacson, Ms. Kim Chiu, Mr. Jomari Yllana, Ms. Melanie Marquez and Mr. Gerald Anderson.


I had such a blast while I was in Baguio. Hopefully, next year would be better since it's Baguio's centennial as a city. Karen should be with me by then.

Panagbenga 2008 (Day 2)

We really didn't have much sleep from the previous day because of the incredibly hard time we had when we were trying to hail a cab so we can go home. We didn't know that there was some unwritten law in Baguio regarding getting a cab during night time. Apparently, cab drivers there can afford to choose their passengers that the only way for a person to be able to ride a cab is if you get lucky that one of them pulls over somewhere near you because they have to drop off a passenger. Other than that, it would be best to know how to get to your destination via jeepney or by walking.Ü

Anyway, we did manage to wake up early the following day to catch the preparations for the Panagbenga Street Dance.






Street Dance Preparation
When we learned that the Panagbenga Street Dance was about to start we tried to make our way down to the bottom of Session Road to get a better place to stay and take photos of the parade. We even tried to steal some photos along the way but the people kept on calling our attention because we were blocking their view.







Kids started to get crankyÜ
After the parade, we ate lunch at Andok's along Session Rd. then went back to our transient house for a rest. We tried to review our photos on the small LCDs of our camera's to try and save more space for the Flower parade the following day. We also waited for our photography guru, Ultimate Master Drin Collantes a.k.a. UMDC (famous for his world class photo watermark/signature DCP/2008) to arrive in Baguio. However, he missed the earliest bus ride to Baguio and I believe there were also some problems with the bus liners that day because of the thousands of people who wanted to go see the Panagbenga. We (Master Randy, Master Aaron and I) left for SM Baguio for another shoot around 6pm and meet up with UMDC. The Itchyworms would be playing there plus we also need to back up our photos just to be safe. We do not want to run out of memory card space during the flower parade nor do we want to go back home to Manila with no photos because our memory cards crashed. Good thing Master Randy had his portable hard drive with him. You're my gadgets idol Master Randy!Ü






My Masters (L-R: Master Randy, Ultimate Master Drin Collantes, Master Aaron)


The Itchyworms
As usual, we had another hard time getting a cab ride back to our transient home but it was not as hard as our first night. Thank God!Ü

Another good day for a photo op over. We capped the night off by drinking beer. Sad part was, the four of us shared the single 500ml of Red Horse because the store near our transient house was closed. WHAT A BUNCH OF LOSERS, RIGHT?hehe