Gerrylou's Baby Shower

Baby showers often seen in movies or TV shows usually have the female friends giving gifts to the soon mom to be. Maybe there would some occasional scenes where the partners of those female friends are there but I always thought that it was as simple as that. I guess I'm too naive about life :)

When Karen and I went to Gerrylou's baby shower, it was like a kiddie party. We were given name tags and a couple of kiddie games were played. Good thing I became the designated photographer and didn't have to join the games. hehe


Charades, Pictionary and Baby Names were some of the games that were played


Opening of gifts

Congratulations on your new pride and joy Ge and Joel!Ü

Early Bazaar

Our village held an early single day bazaar last September. Karen and I went there to see what were being sold and we ended up eating more than shopping. :D

Mostly took candid shots of kids playing and eating since it was held at the villages recreation area (which what I call Tahanan Village's Park Ü).

Manila Breakwater

Sharing a photo I took when Randy and I went to the breakwater near Jumbo Restaurant in Manila.


I lost my mood to shoot when one of the security guards called our attention while we were setting up our gear because we had no permit to shoot. Why would we need a permit to shoot the Manila Bay?! Is it now privately owned?!

Just avoid getting into an argument with the guard who appears to be one of those ignorant to photography types, we went to the admin office to inquire if we really need to have a permit to shoot. When the guard on duty their asked a supervisor, she said that as long as no building of PICC or CCP are included in the shot, then it is ok to shoot without a permit.

I know that a privately owned place reserves the right to deny having pictures of their building taken, especially if its inside the building. Deny photography in public places? It's not like the place has something to hide because its open to the public. That's why its called a public place. Anyone and everyone can see what is and what is going on. Another funny thing is, they deny a photographer of taking pictures only if he is using a dSLR. It would not be an issue if he/she is using a point-and-shoot camera. It would also not be a problem if the person holding a dSLR is a foreigner. Can you say discrimination? In my own country by my countrymen?! Sad..

Anyway, this post is turning into a ranting post so I might as well end it here. My apologies for the rant.Ü

R.O.T.C! (Return of the Comeback!)

I am so sorry blogger. I have neglected you for months. I've haven't been updating my blog for months! I've been busy with a lot of stuff lately and I totally forgot to post some updates.

Now that I am seeing a little bit of space in my schedule (as if I had control over my schedule Ü) plus I need to get some electrons out of my system, I should (not sure, again) be able to update my blog at least once a week. I know it's incredibly late but I'll be posting updates going back to my summer this year. I'm praying that this post starts the proverbial ball rolling. :)

I guess, I can start with birthday greetings. I will take this opportunity to greet some office friends of mine. Belated happy birthday to your Ice-ness, Joe-Maldita, and to the good tree who bears good fruits, Chippy! Also, belated happy 60th birthday to my dad! :)


Family Lunch to celebrate my dad's 60th Birthday, last July 19 (Very recent, right?Ü)


Maldita, Ate Plow and Good Tree Chippy lurking at the back.


Something I made for Ice (a.k.a. Ate Plow) on her birthday (Sorry, I was not able to make something for Joems and GP)

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.

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! :)

B&W

I took these while I was waiting for our breakfast. I decided to try shooting in black and white and played around with the camera's B&W filter and toning effects.


Original


Toning effect: Sepia


Original


Toning effect: Sepia; Filter effect: Green


Toning effect: Sepia; Filter effect: Red


Filter effect: Orange


Filter effect: Yellow