Cherry Adame

It was another first for me: my first time to try my luck at outdoor portraiture. Thankfully, with the presence of IDPC masters, my mentors, I was able to carry on and absorb few lessons (lighting techniques, how to make a model pose, how to talk to the model to make them feel relax, and be the first one to adjust when finding the right angles).

At that time, I still don’t own a DSLR. Below shots are taken using my very first camera, Canon Powershot SX100. The shoot venue is at La Mesa Ecopark.

Roofdeck Photoshoot at Netcube

It was one of those days were a photoshoot invite would circulate in the outlook inbox. And I am pretty much the late bloomer active member who is always on top of the list of confirmed attendees (because I joined late and had fun since then) . Looking back, I couldn't help but miss those days with IDPC folks, our out of town trips, long email threads, mini-workshops and Thursday meetings. Perhaps, gone are those days since Intel's site closure announcement. It felt sad to lose big blue, the company that made a huge difference in our lives and one great member, kuya Abet, surely, he will be missed.

Indeed, some good things never really lasts, same thing almost happened in this shoot. I nearly lost my chance to take a decent photograph. We arrived late because of heavy traffic. For safety reasons, the guard had to step up and remind us of our time limit to stay there.

Batad and Banaue Trip

This is how my addiction to photography started.

I only want an out of town trip and IDPC then was bound north, August last year. I was excited when Arpi invited me to join the group. It has been a long time since I've been out on a trip, so I grabbed the opportunity, disregarded the fact that the whole bunch were a total stranger to me.

I carried with me a Canon Powershot SX100 IS. Thankfully IDPC folks were kind enough to help me with the settings. I would recall kuya Ronald would timely review my shots, specific to composition. I also had my first shot with panorama (that i never take time to stitch yet), with Alford as our mentor and his monopad to support my cam. Then, an experience with long shutter that my point and shoot is never capable of, but Chito have managed to give me a few "makeshift" tips of using my shades instead of filters, and then lent me a teeny weeny tripod to support the camera (the one that i intend not to return). He was actually the one who enlightened me on how to manipulate the manual settings of my point and shoot camera and what good it could do with my shots.

I would love to go on and talk about how each one in the group had made this trip so meaningful to me... (special mention kuya bong and kuya ed who made our tummies ache with so much laughter) but it's going to be a pretty long introduction, so to IDPC folks who was there with me during this trip... here's a big hug from me... you truly made a big difference in my life...

being with you guys, is one of the best days of my life...

thank you... thank you...

Camiguin Island Adventure

It was another out of town trip with IDPC, and with the permission with the group I tag along my good friend Eric Silla. We stayed with the Abuzo's and had tons of fun shooting here and there, it felt like we've been to every corner of Camiguin in the span of 3 days.

Katibawasan Falls

Sunken Cemetery

Paras Beach Resort

White Island

Another Sunset Shot near Belle's Grandma's House

Mantigue Island

Last glimpse of Camiguin, at the port.

It was also a great time to learn shooting using natural available lights, how to wait for the sun to go down c/o sir veni and the best hours to shoot and how to compensate if it went beyond already.

Thank you Belle, the people who organized this and the rest of the IDPC folks for this adventure. It was indeed one of the must-see places here in the Philippines.

Bel and Zalvi

Bel and Zalvi's frustration was to have a pre-nup shoot and since we're up for a shoot like this, we disregarded the fact that they are already married.

Off to Tagaytay, I made them wear something fancy, forced Zalvi to wear make-up and then invited one of the wedding masters in IDPC, kuya Mike Agsaoay. After lunch, we've decided to look for another venue to shoot and kuya Ren suggested that we took a trip to Amadeo. The idea to shoot there was great, by then Bel and Zalvi became more at ease with the cameras around. The shots came out so naturally perfect as they tease around.

We enjoyed the shoot with this lovely couple. We are actually still looking forward to doing another shoot with them, provided that time would allow us.

Bel and Zalvi, congratulations for a wonderful marriage.

Kuya Mike A and Kuya Ren, thank you for sharing your expertise with us.

Kuya Gotch, I'm really glad you joined and did enjoy as well.

Back and Forth

This blog site had been in existence since 2005. It started out as a venue for my personal heartaches. One day, I just kind of stopped updating it. My presumption then was that it would be automatically terminated due to inactivity. Years after, it finally haunted me. That time I was busy google’ing my name out of boredom. Yep, it's a serious habit of mine! It definitely freaked me out seeing actual names of my so-called first love or serious crush maybe, or whatever that may be called 5 years ago. Here's the catch, I forgot the password and surprisingly even the email address that I used to create the account. Of course, it was revived after a series of trial and error.

So many things happened since the last time I have written in here. What I was then is no longer half of who I am now. I guess, one obvious fact is that how I speak before is no longer the way I speak now. I tried to read every entry but I couldn't even finish one. I was so embarrassed. 

I realized that changes may be inevitable but these changes aren’t always about moving forward neither about living it backwards.

Of the many imperfections that I have come to accept over the years, there exists a perfect word for me – I am constantly "refurbished". I live in random choices and to live spontaneously is what keeps me going.

Just like the kids at the shore, they don't just wait for the waves, they don't mind pacing back and forth. Pretty much like how I deal with life... at least for now.