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The wait is over. Our town Pandi held the inaugural edition of its very own Barong At Saya Festival last Friday.  I was pleasantly surprised to learn about this festival about two weeks ago. I remember back in January after shooting Bustos town's Minasa Festival, I was wondering when Pandi would have its own festival. I also had the idea of a "Barong Festival" (see the Minasa festival photos and my comments of Pandi having a festival at http://gwapoi.multiply.com/photos/album/406/Minasa_Festival). Two months later, I got a Facebook tag announcing the Barong at Saya Festival. Our town is known to produce excellent Filipiniana wear and accessories (if you still havent' heard, then now you know). The preparations were rushed due to the lack of time, but nonetheless I was really impressed with the turnout of the event. I have to admit I was out of the loop as to what exactly would be happening during the street parade and culminating activity at the Pandi Sports Complex. I thought the contingents would be performing at the complex, but was later told only the awarding and showcasing of formal wear would take place (they also did a short number for the Unang Hirit TV coverage). As an unfortunate result, I wasn't able to take photos of the street dancing (which is really disappointing on my part). But there's always next year. Here are my photos of the event, all shot in the sports complex :             Pandi town officials and distinguished guests                This was how cramped the place was. The performers had very little wiggle room.        That's all I have to show for now. I'll shoot it again next year. I have no doubt the event will be bigger and better organized. I shall be inviting my photographer friends and we'll be having a blast. =) Way to go, Pandi! [13 April 2012] As some of you may know, I'm expecting my first child soon. My wife Anie is now 32 weeks pregnant and before her tummy gets any bigger, we did a preggy shoot. It's something I've never done before so it made the shoot doubly exciting. We agreed to do only 7 photos. Seven Shots for Seven. =)        Thanks for looking! (HMUA : Ronna Cervantes-Bombase) 
It was just another Good Friday in Brgy. Kapitangan, Paombong. It was the usual - flagellants and penitents, a sea of spectators, a wave of wily photographers, a platoon of frustrated organizers and marshals. I wanted to shoot in a different location, but after checking a place in Plaridel where I thought there would be a crucifixion re-enactment (turned out I assumed wrong), I decided to shoot in Kapitangan again. This time I decided to do-away with the fisheye lens which I used last year (view my 2011 set HERE) in favor of the trusty 24-70mm plus use the lighter 135mm f/2 L instead of the burdensome 70-200 f/2.8L. That was about it. I tried as much as I could to make the set different this year. I tried, alright? But the event and the subject stayed the same, basically. And much as I wanted to keep the colors untouched, I'm anticipating too-bloody-red comments, so just like last year, I introduced a vintage-y slight yellow tone to offset the redness of the blood. To make it "bearable" to look at. So let's go. 
I wince when I see this photo.
This was how crazy it was.
And these boys enjoyed the view on a tree.
Gotta commend his/her will to take the pain.
They sure were ready.
Sterilization is VERY important.
Some bits to share : - There were more people and more penitents last year. - Fortunately, it was not as hot this year compared to last. - Most photographers are hard-headed and just don't listen to organizers' directions and pleas. - I have a confession to make, one which hurts to tell. I dropped my 7D and the 135mm lens attached to it. I had my 5D3 camera on my shoulder strap, and I put the 7D in a bag. I've gotten used to the 7D being on another shoulder strap. After shooting with the 7D at one point, I just lay it down at the top of my bag, "feeling" it was secure. A second later, it dropped to the ground, about a 4-foot fall. As I knelt to quickly pick it up, a lady said "shit, ang sakit". I thought she was referring to the misery of having your camera hit the ground. As I stood back up, I looked at the lady and she gave me that angry look. Turns out the 7D hit her foot. Told her I'm really sorry and realized her foot cushioned my 7D's fall. I've now dropped my cameras twice. The first time was when I dropped my 60D last October during the MassKara Festival in Bacolod. I vow not to get careless again. This will be my last time to shoot Kapitangan. Next year I'll shoot somewhere else on Good Friday or I won't shoot at all. Thanks for looking! =) I also attended last year's MIAS, took photos, and named the album The Most Boring Carshow Set You'll Ever See (click on text to view the photos). Well, this photo set you're about to see beats the previous year's, because this is definitely more boring. So again, if you're looking for pretty models here, don't waste your time and close this link, because you're up for a big disappointment. Anyway, the MIAS has changed its name to the Manila National Open Model Shoot (MNOMS). The car companies - exasperated that they're paying big bucks to set up their displays, bring in the cars, pay for models to attract the crowd, only to see the girls become the main attraction - have given up and accepted the reality that majority of the exhibit goers will ignore their products and just go to the show to a.) have their photos taken WITH THE MODELS, not with the cars, b.) improve their "portrait photography" portfolio, c.) push their luck in trying to get laid, or d.) all of the above. For shooters like me who are actually interested in the cars themselves, well, good luck. Good luck in weaving thru traffic caused by DSLR-toting shooters angling for shots of the models. Good luck in checking out the cars, or shooting the cars, while a model is close by and you can't tell her to get out of the frame because there are tens of shooters who are occupying her attention. Good luck in thinking that this is still a car show, because it sure doesn't feel like it. It's a model open shoot that's organized in a grand manner - with sparkling cars as props and backdrops. The grandest open model shoot you'll see, indeed. Anyway, I did a quick drop-by at MIAS last weekend, primarily to test my new Canon 5D Mark III. I had the 8-15mm Fisheye L with it. No portrait lens, no flash, no model shoot. Sometimes I got lucky to find cars that were ignored because they had no models beside them. (Anyway, no processing on all photos except cropping, watermarking, and a little sharpening. Converted from RAW using Digital Photo Professional, no Adobe Camera RAW update yet that can convert the 5D3's RAW files. DPP's RAW conversion is a bit soft. Correction : Last photo converted to B&W.)  Jaguar XF. A very fine car, but with no models adorning it, was practically ignored.  Customized Hyundai Elantra (not sure of the model)  Hyundai had the biggest display area, and probably the splashiest  Kudos to BMW. For the second year in a row, they didn't employ models to spruce up their display. If your brand is that good, you don't need girls to attract an audience.  This was the one I looked forward to seeing. The Range Rover Evoque. It's gorgeous.  A car show favorite. Chevy Camaro.  Classic Mini Cooper in earth colors  A typical open model shoot scene. Notice no one even taking pictures of the Mini? And before I end, let me share photos from the 1st edition of the MIAS back in 2005. It was much simpler those days. You go to the show and you can look at the cars without minding open model shoots happening on the side. It felt like a true car show then. That time I'd say 95% of the show-goers went there for the cars. In MIAS 2012, I have to say 70% went there to shoot the models, 20% to have their picture taken with the models like they're close and share it on their social networking account and brag that the models are their "friends", and the remaining 10% are the real car enthusiasts. No wonder the MIAS is now the MNOMS.  My then-girlfriend, now-wife Anie posing in a Peugeot  Me and Anie plus friend Carlo posing with the Mazda 3. No models around. It helped me decide to buy a Mazda 3 a little over a month later. Thanks for looking. Sorry for disappointing you. See you at next year's MIAS! Naaaaaaaaaaaaah. I'll pass. =) No shoots lately. And as I cleared space on my desktop's hard drive by backing up to my external HDDs, I suddenly questioned myself, "why am I backing up these photos?" What for? I've been backing up all my photos since I got serious with photography... or since I took Jo Avila's basic photography workshop. He explained the benefits of shooting RAW, and I believed it. I thought storing your old photos then going back to them at a much, much later time was pretty cool. So since February 2008, I began backing up my RAW photos and processed TIFF files. They're all impeccably organized in my external hard drives, I'm so proud of them. Hahaha. The only downside with what I do is that it takes up so much space. I have two backup copies of my photos, so I employ 4 external drives, a 2-terrabyte drive, a 1.5TB drive, another that's 1TB, and another, my oldest drive which has a 500-gigabyte capacity. I've just been loading up with the drives, each time a bigger upgrade over the previous one. Finally, yesterday, I decided to go back and process old photos. I haven't processed or shared these before. It was like traveling back in time, nitpicking my photos, and trying to salvage them from the depths of my backup drives.  Mayon / May 2008  Vigan Potter / June 2008  UP Infrared / July 2008 (my first IR shot)  Montemar / October 2008  Anie in Drapes / October 2008 (People incorrectly assume that Anie and I met because she was a model and I'm a photographer, but I only picked up the hobby in 2008, and this was, in reality, our first photoshoot)  Rushmore Twilight / October 2008  Over The Moon / November 2008  Autumn's Reflection / November 2008  Fallen Steps / November 2008  Asleep From Day / November 2008 (My cousins Lijayne and Kaye exhausted from the 6-hour trip from Virginia to New York, this is a cute shot I just love)  Man With The Binocular / November 2008  Empire State of Black and White / November 2008  The Woman Who Can't Be Moved / November 2008  New York Scrapers / November 2008  Cloudy Manhattan / November 2008 And that's about it from 2008. I wish I could show more, but I've already shared a ton of photos from 2008 on my old Multiply site. (Check the Old Blog page of this site.) Next time, when I get bored again, I'll venture back to my 2009 discarded photos and try to find something worth sharing. Thanks for looking, and let's keep on shooting. =) |
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