This, obviously, is a shot of fireworks exploding. This was taken on a Saturday at 7:00PM on the Mall of Asia. Let me tell you something… We don’t have this in Davao. Fireworks are not allowed in Davao. The mayor forbids any form of fireworks to be brought in, sold, or ignited within Davao City’s limits. It’s kinda hard for the Chinese community since this is one of their tradition and belief. I kinda miss fireworks. I am very fascinated about it. I like how it is choreographed to explode in a rythm. I love how the colors mixed. I even like the smell of the explosive powder. So if you see me during a fireworks display, I’ll probably be giggling like a school girl so don’t bother me.

This shot… well I don’t remember much of it. I took this on the night of the day that we bought the camera. I was about as savvy with it’s function as I am dextrous with my left hand. Anyway, I would leave the shot details to the EXIF data below. As for post processing, I cropped it, made the sky darker and removed a lot of noise. I increased the saturation a bit. I sort of cheated got in between the lines and removed the smoke and light that leaked.

Camera: Nikon D60
Lens: 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6
Shutter Speed: 1″
Aperture: f/7.1
ISO: 360
Exposure Compensation: -0.7EV
Metering Mode: 3D Matrix
Focal Length: 18mm
White Balance: Manual
Picture Control: Normal

I gave “Obstacles and Journeys” as the title because this is from a kid’s playground (me thinks so) and this, for me, symbolizes a kid’s journey as well as obstacle. It is the kid’s journey to get to the top, so that he/she can achieve his/her goal. It’s also an obstacle since climbing a flight of stairs, even if it’s just 4 steps, can be very daunting for a 2 year old.

I post processed the shot to have a lower saturation. I also increased the contrast a lot so that the grain and unevenness of the metal is obvious.

Camera: Nikon D90
Lens: 35mm f/1.8
Shutter Speed: 1/1000″
Aperture: f/1.8
ISO: 200
Exposure Compensation: ±0EV
Metering Mode: 3D Matrix
Focal Length: 35mm
White Balance: Sunny
Picture Control: Normal

For post processing, I tried something different. I used a Holga-ish effect on the photo. I vignetted it heavily, decreased the contrased, increase the brightness and smoothen his skin a bit. I also made it less noisier than what an actual Holga would take.

Camera: Nikon D90
Lens:35mm f/1.8
Shutter Speed: 1/50″
Aperture: f/1.8
ISO: 1000
Exposure Compensation: ±1EV
Metering Mode: Spot
Focal Length: 35mm
White Balance: Auto
Picture Control: Normal

Another shot from my Samal Trip. I really don’t know what flower this is. It’s daisy like though. So I’ll call it, “Donald”. You know… Donald Duck… Daisy Duck’s partner…? Ok, I make bad jokes. Anyway, This was taken about noon, in the garden of I think was the neighbor of my mom’s mother’s first cousin. I think.

I post processed the shot like I always do. I increased the tonal contrast of the flower and I made the leaves and grass greener. I then darkened (burned in PS speak) everthing twice except for the flower.

Camera: Nikon D60
Lens: 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6
Shutter Speed: 1/2500″
Aperture: f/5.6
ISO: 400
Exposure Compensation: ±0EV
Metering Mode: 3D MatrixF
ocal Length: 32mm
White Balance: Auto
Picture Control: Normal

Post processing was basically the same as “Reymar”.

Camera: Nikon D90
Lens:35mm f/1.8
Shutter Speed: 1/80″
Aperture: f/1.8
ISO: 1000
Exposure Compensation: ±1EV
Metering Mode: Spot
Focal Length: 35mm
White Balance: Auto
Picture Control: Normal

My mind has not stopped thinking and it has thought of a lot of things. Things I don’t normally think about, things I shouldn’t think about, things I thought I’ll never think about. All sorts of things. I can handle that though. My mind was never much of an idler (quite the opposite for my body though) so this much thinking doesn’t bother me. The stuff I think about, now that bothers me. There are just too much things that I cannot really understand. Somethings I understand, but don’t make sense. There are also things that I understand and makes sense but I don’t want to accept. What I like about my brain is that it can think of a lot of things at the same time and that it can think of the most impossible scenarios (read: paranoia). Apparently, it’s what I don’t like about it either. I have been pushing it to run at full power, all the time. What I’ve neglected to do was to train it to stop. Now, my mind keeps racing… thinking of the scariest and most unnerving of thoughts. Even if I am very sleepy, I have a hard time falling asleep. Every time my body relaxes, my mind takes it as a sign to think harder. If I do fall asleep and I was woken up by a noise or shake, instead of being groggy, my mind is on full alert and begins to bombard my consciousness with thoughts so shaking that I can’t sleep anymore. This is sort of a bad thing. A really bad thing. Why? Well…

My heart has not felt this many emotions in such a short span of time. One moment, I am doing fine and in just a blink of an eye, I feel so depressed that nothing seems to be going right but just as quickly, I feel normal again (well, as normal as my mind would permit). There’s the anger that builds up then suddenly explodes. When it’s done exploding, it then implodes to depression. Then there’s this weird determination that tells me that I can do this and that nothing will stop me from living my best. Then when I sit down and think, I break down and all hope is lost. My heart beats a slow yet strong beat. Then it beats a fast, weak, almost faltering beat. Even if all I did that day was to sit down and watch T.V., after all the ups and downs my heart goes through, I still feel like I’ve mined 50 tons of ore using a plastic spoon.

That’s why it’s a bad thing that my brain does not stop thinking. Because even if I want, nay, need to sleep, I can’t because my mind just won’t let me. I am on the brink of a nervous breakdown and complete physical exhaustion. My mind thinks of things that makes my heart beat like crazy. Then my heart exhausts my body, urging it to sleep but my mind revs up it’s engines and thoughts pour into my head. If I do manage to fall asleep, it only means that I will have enough physical energy to power my brain for another bout of nerve wrecking consciousness. I probably need just one more strand of hair to fall on the burden I carry to kill me. However, even if I do looked stressed or if I feel tired…

What’s weird though is that I don’t think I will die just yet. Even if I really, really want all this pain and suffering to stop, I still think and feel that there is still something worth living for. Even if a whole wig or a basket of toupees will fall on my burden, there’s still something there that keeps me going. A little voice when I am about to fall asleep that tells me that it’s okay. The consoling warmth that embraces me when I wake up. The small things that interrupt my busy, boring day that give me energy to keep going. The touch of reality that tells me that everything is still alright. These are some of the things that fuel my day. Even if I look as haggard as the Egyptians who built the pyramids, I still keep going.

So, if people ask me why I look tired… well, it’s because I am. I haven’t slept and even if I had, I am sure to be tired the next day anyway. But it doesn’t matter. Nope, it doesn’t matter if I look tired or feel tired. As long as I have the little voice or the warm embrace, I know that I will make it through the day.

This is shot of my friend, Reymar “Vhong” Ellazo. This was taken at a friend’s son’s birthday party. The party was one of the oppurtunities I had to take photos of people. Lucky for me, the subjects were more than willing to pose and most of them were not bad in projecting emotions.

I made the mistake of not adjusting the white balance for this shot. Also, as I’ve learned, even if you want to take B/W photos, you should still take the shot in color and preferably in RAW format. This is so that the details are preserved. The details found in colored shots create a more contrast conversion. Also, if later you decide to make a low or high key B/W photo, having the advantage of a RAW format makes it easier to adjust tones and exposure.

Camera: Nikon D90
Lens:35mm f/1.8
Shutter Speed: 1/50″
Aperture: f/1.8
ISO: 1000
Exposure Compensation: ±1EV
Metering Mode: Spot
Focal Length: 35mm
White Balance: Auto
Picture Control: Normal

As for the shot, this was taken with the D60 kit lens Nikon AF-S 55-200mm f/4-5.6, which is not really fast. So you can only imagine how many shots I had to take of a small running monkey to get a sharp photo. It was a good thing he sat and ate… a… leaf… Hmmm… Anyway, while he was sitting down, I took the shot. I cropped this photo and played around with it. I increased the foliage “green-ness” and increased the tones so that the monkey’s fur will pop out.

Camera: Nikon D60
Lens: 55-200mm f/4-5.6 VR
Shutter Speed: 1/250″
Aperture: f/5.6
ISO: 800
Exposure Compensation: ±0EV
Metering Mode: Center Wieghted
Focal Length: 190mm
White Balance: Auto
Picture Control: Vivid

Anyway, I post processed this shot (obviously) and converted it to BW. I think the filter effect I chose was BW with a yellow filter something… I forget the name at the moment. I PP’ed it since I am a bad photographer who takes stupid ugly poorly composed shots who just happens to know how to use editing programs. Really, the shot was terrible. I cropped, changed levels, added the BW effect and I still end up with this. You must be wondering why I even bothered to put it up. Well, sue me. Kidding. Not. Really, I’m kidding.

Camera: Nikon D60
Lens: 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 VR
Shutter Speed: 1/125″
Aperture: f/5.6
ISO: 400
Exposure Compensation: ±0EV
Metering Mode: 3D Matrix
Focal Length: 18mm
White Balance: Auto
Picture Control: Normal