Categories
Mostly Everything

Marlboro Country, Sabtang

Batanes Marlboro Country

Batanes Marlboro with friends

Marlboro Country

It’s been what … 15 years since my last visit.

Batanes is as beautiful as ever. Although some of the areas have been modernized (read: cemented streets, electricity and w00t — Internet!), the rolling hills, whistling wind and crashing waves still take center stage as the islands’ splendor.

Batanes looks so much more beautiful than my last visit. I’ve gotten so used to city life, I don’t see sprawling hills and cliffs this unbridled. If ever I do, its usually part of some commercial attraction in some residential resort or beach. This is virgin.

Made friends with the cows.

I’ve uploaded the Batanes photoset for everyone to view. Pardon some of the shots that are a little over exposed or grainy – this was a road test for one of the lenses I inherited. The fish eye needs some cleaning and I’ve actually sent it to this convenient place in the south (there’s a guy who sells old cameras in Tropical Hut Grocery, BF Homes). The prime f/2.8 Tamron came out OK but the fish eye needed to be sent back.

This was a special press conference in line with EPSON’s new photo printers. I am covering this for 2BU. To the bloggers and photographers who went on the trip, please send me one or two of your best shots so that we can include it in the article with photo credits. 🙂

Categories
Mostly Everything

Angkor Wat, Cambodia Take Two! (Vietnam Included in set!)

angkor wat sunrise

Last year I posted something (wait let me find it …. here it is!) about wanting to go to Cambodia with friends who could make time out for a few days to see Angkor Wat, shoot it, and go home. Despite my being out of Manila for several times last year, I wasn’t able to do this with friends.

So it’s take two this year! We’re leaving on the 26th of February and will be gone for around a week. Destinations include Vietnam and Cambodia for finally – a vacation trip I’l be going with Phoebe’s family and two other friends.

This is our first time to these places and Lonely Planet advises to not stray away too far or else encounter active land mines. The objective really is to … eat! We’ve been checking out some Vietnam food blogs with some good suggestions but we’re most likely to stay in the Ho Chi Minh area.

Angkor Wat

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated — and by the time we get back, I hope to take down that stock photo of Angkor and post something more personal. Photos updated and uploaded. Shooting Angkor Wat is now a dream realized! Second photo is c/o Phoebe.

Categories
Mostly Everything

Eating my words — Valentine’s Day Gift from Dad!

Remember how my dad gave me his entire Cokin creative filter collection almost a year ago? Well, for Valentine’s he went over the top by giving me a little bit more of his hobby.

But first, let me eat my words. Despite the technical support supremacy of Canon, if all things were constant, I’d opt to go for Nikon’s color quality. So yeah, dad gave me his entire lens collection. These are old lenses – some are 1986 AF Nikkor lenses (I initially thought that all were manual. One or two are AF). I actually feel that the only people who would appreciate this post would be those who are really into old school photography.

So here are the 9 reasons why I shifted to adopted Nikon:

Categories
Mostly Everything

My 2007 in Photos (Part IV)

European Food Festival

The European Food Festival at Serendra. It was like a fashion show but we had trays of food parading the stage.

Categories
Mostly Everything

My 2007 in Photos (Part 1)

Hot Air Balloon

Hot Air Balloon Festival in Clark Pampanga