I live for weekends

The weekend is short, barely enough to recharge. I normally just stroll around the shopping mall close to the house. It's the ultimate mall however small compared to the bigger malls. It has a chapel and a big diorama of the Nativity that is open all year-round. You can find nearly everything in the mall complex at competitive prices. It has a tiangge or a flea market. If you are an impulsive buyer, your budget will be threatened because it offers so many things that you thought you didn't need but once see how cheap it is, a buying decision is instantly made. Most of the time, I just walk around the place and take a mental note of items I might need in the future. I get my haircut, pay bills, do bank transactions, play badminton and many other chores in the mall. Some shops are open 24/7, living up to the saying “the mall never sleeps”. So baring any major plans to go out and shoot, attend an event, or visit some friends and family, my default activity on weekends is strolling around the mall. You just need to get used to the crowd and be in no hurry. Relax. Breathe.

Instagramming

If you have an iPhone, iPod touch or any android phone, and haven't installed the free app Instagram, you are missing half your life. This addicting free app enables you to take snap shots of anything and apply filters on the fly and share it with friends within the app and in other popular social networking sites (like twitter, Facebook, flickr, tumblr...). I got hooked into Instagram the minute I started using it in October 2010. What attracted me to Instagram is how it nicely simulates film photography. Through other free apps, you can add polaroid effects, film sprockets, dust and scratches, vignettes, etc. About a year ago, some guys organized a local Instagram group called IGersmanila. They have been having instameets regularly. It's nice to put a face to your loyal followers and to those you are avidly following as well. Instagram has spawned other websites like Statigram and instacanv.as. Instacanvas enables you to order prints of your favorite image. Don't hesitate to check my gallery as well ;)

Visita Iglesia

Last year I found myself in Paete, Laguna; covering the Holy Week festivities for a coffee table book (it's still in the works). This year was more sober. I just stayed in Manila but on Black Saturday, I couldn't resist any longer the urge to go out and shoot with my friends (from Shutter Revolution). We call it a lomowalk. Armed with our lomos and film cameras, we walked from the Malate Church up to the Churches in Mendiola (dropping by the Ermita Church, San Agustin Church, Manila Cathedral, and finally Adamson). Yes we walked most of time until the final stretch to Malacañang. Like any other lomowalks, it was fun to be with friends, both old and new but who share the same passion—lomography/film photography.

Double life

When I first got into lomography around 2005, one of the first collaborative projects I got into was film exchange or shooting doubles with another photographer. The mechanics goes this way—the first person shoots the 36 shoots, then rewinds the roll and sends you the film and you shoot over the first exposure. The result is a blend of two overlapping images. It get's more interesting when the film exchange involves people from different countries. I recently shot doubles with Grazie. She's from California. I'm happy with the results and am looking forward to doing more doubles in the future.

Alien Resurrection

So I'm restarting my old blog again and will try to make it a point to post a daily photo or a few lines. Why did I stop in the first place? Well Facebook happened and then I was already posting photos in my flickr account and also throwing-in albums in my lomography.com account. So how will blogger be any different? I'm not so sure but I'm just trying out the new blogger interface and see how this pans out. Good enough? Time will tell. And this also marks a new stage in my professional life. More of that in my next blog maybe...

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.