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Weekends have always been quiet here in Saint Paul. People retreating to suburbs; visiting more populous cities with bigger malls are the more common reasons why this part of town is tranquil after weekdays. Inner city roads almost void of traffic, people ignore the crossing signal/signs when crossing the street; restaurants are generally closed.

Dubbed as the most livable place in America, I don’t see any reason why this place shouldn’t be.

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So far, of all the countries I’ve been to, Minnesota has the warmest people and most friendly atmosphere. This is really a big surprise for me because US MSM and social networking sites like Digg, Reddit, and Fark distorted my general view about this country. The amount of insane political/social news I read daily is just crazy (don’t tase me bro!, fuck! we’ll do it live!, uprising on Digg, among all other things).

I’ve been here for almost a month now. 2 more to go, and probably lots more to either pave my impression or make me think otherwise.

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One of the things that made Baguio a complete place for me is SM. Cool weather? Check. Nice hotel? Check. Fast internet? Check. Nice restos and places to hangout? Check. It has been 15 years since I visited the place, and it was a very nice surprise to see Baguio’s progress during those years. There’s even a portion of Baguio that looks and feels exactly like downtown Manila!

Will definitely visit the place again next year.

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Above, shots from a public park in Baguio City, fronting the hotel we stayed in. Although presented in black and white, notice the damp (wet) surrounding. This was taken an hour or two after we got off the bus and after checking-in at the the hotel (needless to say we were welcomed by heavy rain); camera was set to use Canon’s CLEAR PictureStyle, and the dial to full manual.

Btw, I’m not really sure if it is really checkers they are playing. Send me a message if you think otherwise.

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After months of reading about this group in Rick’s blog, I finally had the chance to see them in action. I was out looking for a gift to my mother for her upcoming birthday when I chanced upon some bloke, who I assume is the group’s leader, giving a small speech on the group’s background (where and how they started, etc.). More than a dozen kids accompanied parents listened intently to what the speaker had to say; and carefully studied and followed the doodlers when they started doodling.

There were several photographers in the area, and I’m guessing all of them are enthusiasts. Interestingly enough, Reuters also sent a cameraman and a photographer. Some local art group getting international media coverage? I hope so. Or is the coverage backed by the Ayala’s? Probably. Eitherways, it’s a win-win scenario for the group, and I am hoping they get the international spotlight they deserve.

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From the pictures above, one can clearly see that I am not trying to be creative or anything artsy. I’ve owned my strobist gear(s) for over 1 to 2 months now, but it’s only until yesterday that I started using them somewhat seriously, starting with still life.

What I am trying to achieve in this set is to see the different effects of light to the subject: (1) when the lights are moved relative to the subject (or equally, when the subjects are moved relative to the light source), (2) raising/lowering of the flashgun’s light output, and (3) effects of zoom function of the flash to overall look and feel of the image.

Some Notes:
1: Worked on a two strobe setup (580EXII as the master; Falcon Eyes as the slave). See fourth image on the lights’ position and distance from the subject.
2: Using my lightmeter, I started at f22/ ISO200/ 1/30 shutter. I worked my way up from there, with varying flash power output (anywhere between 1 to 1/32).
3: It’s hard to get the camera to focus with the lights turned off. I used my cellphone to partially illuminate the subject just to let the camera focus. A small pen/flashlight should come in handy next time.
4: Our house is pretty crowded right now and I’m left with less than 1×1 sq/m working area inside my room. I think I could’ve done more given a much bigger space.

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Little Bridge, Batangas: Now is the time of the year when people flock to beaches and public pools to cool down from the searing heat of summer. And as part of our (many) annual group get-togethers, we decided to go a bit ahead of the crowd (shorelines start to get filled during the Holy Week until mid to last weeks of May, sometimes extending until mid-June when the monsoon rain is late).

I really looked forward to this outing because: (1) I need to shoot something for my entry in our company’s photocontest; (2) I need to relax and the beach is one of the best relaxation place in my list; (3) One of the couples in our group is getting married in November and for some reason, I felt that I need to talk and ask them some things questions I think I can’t ask them if they are already married. I just can’t believe time flies so fast that we’re already on our marrying age and people are settling down. Yep, I already have some earmark for the future, aside from what me and my girlfriend’s setting aside. But truth be told, all I can see in the near future is more travels and employment abroad (a career prospect in an uber big and known company in Japan is waiting for me for over a month now, and I am a heartbeat away from signing the contract). I just jumped ship and I don’t like the idea of leaving so soon. Arrrggghhh, I clearly need to re-evaluate my goals and priorities.

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I’ve been meaning to buy a decent lightmeter since going strobist. I want to remove the guesswork in finding the correct exposure in my portrait shots (programming the settings on the camera and flash to sync well is tricky, being new to this part of photography and knowing squat about it). Searching on the internet, the use of lightmeter among other strobists is a mix of yes and no answers - others recommend its use while others are not so supportive about it. It took me three weeks of thinking and evaluating before I finally decided getting one. My clincher? I see myself upgrading from strobist to having a full continuous light setup in the future, where having a lightmeter is essential (if I remember correctly). And even if I don’t, results (pictures) above suggests that going manual mode and using a lightmeter to provide you with settings to input in your camera will give you better results.

Some Notes:
1: Sekonic L-358, the strap, leather pouch, CR123A battery (inside). You also get two attachments to the lightmeter - the lumisphere (round and white ball you see on top of the unit), and the lumigrid (for measuring reflected light, a.k.a. metering light on places where you can’t reach or go like landscapes, buildings, neon lights on signboards, etc.)
2 to 3: Used the lumisphere here. First pic using the lightmeter, second using the on-camera lightmeter.
3 to 4: Used the lumigrid here (order of metering is the same with images 2 to 3).

All test shots are taken on the same time (seconds in between), and on the same place. No post-processing whatsoever, just cropped and saved the pictures. These are my test on ambient light measurement. Will be testing the flash metering soon.

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As posted before, events are just not my thing. I take pictures when I want to, whenever I feel like it. But for this one, amazingly, I’ve lasted more than tenfolds of what I’ve been through the last event I’ve attended (which was a birthday party, just in case you failed to click on the link). There’s something with weddings that kept me going. Maybe it’s the shared emanating excitement of the couple; the anticipation of the crowd; or the vigor and adrenaline of the hired photographers donning expensive cameras and lenses, darting in and out of the altar. Really, what I felt then was nothing short of amazing. Shot after shot, each and every scene of the wedding, I craved for wider variety of shots. I experimented a lot.

A beginner’s advice to another beginner asking for what gear to bring during a wedding shoot: 24-105mm f4L is perfect for ranged shooting, 16-35mm f2.8 for group shots, 580EXII , 3 pcs. of 4Gb cards, and an extra battery for the camera and another set for the flash gun. Now, these are all Canon gears. You may look for something equivalent for the camera system you are using. If you want to go further and experiment like bat fuck insane or ape shit crazy, bring another flashgun and wireless flash triggers (Pocket Wizard/Flash Waves) and go strobist style. If you are worrying about the other photographers, don’t worry, they won’t mind you (well at least in my case where they couldn’t care less, even if I’m already blocking them sometimes). But there’s a borderline between learning and being an ass, so just be sensitive. You wouldn’t want to be blamed for their mediocre shots, right?

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The four pictures above are posted in chronological order (taken the same day, during the same visit, while walking around the henge). It was around half past three when we entered the Stonehenge grounds, and the sun sets at a little over 4 in the afternoon so I’ve got what I think are the best parts of the day - clear, bright afternoon skies and the so-called golden moment of the day (20 to 30 minutes before the sun totally sets).

This will probably the last set of pictures that I will post taken during our stay in the United Kingdom. We already have plans of going back there sometime soon but nothing is really concrete and confirmed. 2008 is a very special year for all of us in the family, and I hope everything will turn out as planned.