Spread the Lomolove

You're all invited!
BlackSoup Projects Gallery
Cubao-X (Marikina Expo)
Araneta Center, Cubao, Q.C.
September 9, 2006
7:00 PM

The Lomowall Exhibit will last until September 30, 2006.

Lays of Lothlorien

This is just a series of photos shot with a Holga 120CFN using expired black and white Kodak Verichrome negative film and Fuji Superia 100 film. Most of the photos are forest shots and some employ double exposure. They make the photos more interesting I appended short poem-stories and entitled them “Chronicles of Ertirdil”. It seems to work and it also shows Tolkien's influence in my imagination.

The first among many

My motley crew of friends at flickr are finally having a photo exhibit. You (those who bother reading my dormant blog) are all invited on the Opening night on Friday, February 17, 2006 at 7pm. Dinner will be served. The exhibit will run for a month at the Round Eyeglass Cafe.

Flurry of activities

The last two weeks disappeared into eternity in less than a second. At least it felt that way. Two weeks ago I tripped and hurt my knees. There was not fracture but it swelled a bit and could barely walk for a couple of days. I was going in and out of Medical City and suffered through their slow elevators. In my last visit to the doctor, I threw caution to the wind and decided to walk 8 floors. The doctor finally said I don't need rehab and could go back to badminton in two (long) weeks (what will I do?!). Last weekend I went with some friends to the beach. The weather wasn't so cooperative and my Kiev35 decided to have more lightleaks (see above photo). This week I was also in and out of Medical City visiting a friend who had a massive cyst removed from her breast (bad business). Hopefully it is just benign. So it's back to the salt mines and trying to keep body and soul together. Business is bad. I already said that in another post and won't repeat it. Yep, business is bad.

End game

Looks like this will be our last year of operations. The print business has been categorized by some economists as a sunset industry. Unless you are in the mainstream—publishing and commercial printing—you don't stand a chance specially nowadays with prices of imported materials such as paper and ink continuously increasing. It hasn't hit me yet but one day it will, like a speeding train, only this time things will have slowed down since. No more work to report to. Time to update my resumé. Actually, I want to put up my own design studio or rent a space somewhere and sell lomography products. Maybe I'll sell some of my photos and digital art. So much uncertainties. It will only materialize when our humble 14-year old print shop folds up.

Too much internet

That's how I feel right now—I've been spending too much time in the internet and detaching myself from the real world. Ironically I haven't updated my blog. I have valid excuses. I have been made co-administrator of Digikitten, a bulletin board for graphic designers and photographers. I have also been preparing my portfolio for the launch of yet another website that will sell stock photos; hopefully that will bring in some money to pay-off some debts ;) I'm also helping another blogsite called litratista.org. It's still underconstruction but it has some basic content already. Well this week will be toxic as well. Have a couple of drop-dead deadlines as opposed to fictitious deadlines that some clients are fond of. It's a good thing I have my trusty cameras to keep me sane. Now to look for willing victims to model for me :p

It's really bad

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That's what a client said, “Business isn't bad. It's really bad.” And this has been the economic environment for the last two years. Try as we might, we are just breakingeven. We have applied all cost-cutting measures imaginable in this cut-throat industry (we're in the print design biz) were the cheapest bidder gets the contract. No such thing as client loyalty. The problem lies in the excalating cost-of-doing-business. So what is there to do. You tell me. We've done all we can except to try another line of services.