[Mobile Snapshot] Seeking Serenity After the Storm

   O Seth, son of Nut, god of storms, 

We offer these beads of silver dew,
To appease thy wrath.

[Snapshots] Color Your World » Pahiyas Festival Photo Set

Today I'm adding post series to my blog by accepting snapshots and photo sets from visitors and friends. I'm still experimenting on accepting guest posting on this blog so I got no rules yet. Here are some photos submitted by my friend Aldan Reposo. 

Somebody

Waiting

Sizzling Faith

House Blooms

Human Scarecrow

Sun Temple

Corny Day

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Our Guest Shutterbug:  ALDAN B. REPOSO

Aldan is corporate drone based in Manila intrigued by the magic of photography, aiming to capture outdoor images when he is outside his cubicle doing travel gigs with his friends.

Links:  Multiply | Facebook: Aldan Reposo

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Mt Pinatubo Hiking » Capturing Beauty out of Chaos: Mobile Phone Photography

This is another attempt on mobile phone photography and I think it shows through a little bit of improvement from my previous photos so I´m going to post my Pinatubo set almost entirely, and as such I would like some feedback and advise on my shots because I still find them lacking composition. Sorry about this being such a wall of greens and ashes but the background story in text is rather complex, and deserves a separate post - I’m still editing it (meaning I’m still on lazy-mode) so please bear with me.

I took these photos using my very handy Samsung Galaxy S smartphone during our “Akyat Pinatubo Bloggers Climb for A Cause” last month. Mt. Pinatubo became synonymous with death, destruction and mudflow when it erupted but after a few years, it became a tourist attraction, hence my title “Beauty out of Chaos”

Here take a look:

"Out there"

"Bumpy ride"

"Race to the Horizon"

"Ash Desert"

"White Phantasm"

"Ash Symphony"

"Pinatubo Collage"

"Monuments of Destruction"

"Mystery Mountain"

"Against the White"

"Catching the Fallen Leaf"

"Baptism of the Solitary Wanderer"

"Death of the Evil Tree"

"Ash Caves"

"Pebbled Harmony"

"Rocks in  Bloom"

"Escape of the Ash Leaves"

"Colored Conformity"

"Metamorphosis at Rest"

"Beautiful Lucifer in Paradise"

"Lost Flock"

"Where is Moises"

"Mystery of Death"

"Femme Fatale"

P.S.

Well, it looks like Google got irritated at me for not writing for so long a time and for my intermittent posts and kicked my adsense and traffic round a bit. As a result I review my dusty drafts folder, cringed a lot for the long list of pending articles and decided to go backwards and abandoned chronological posting of my travel adventures.

I’m still editing my “Spiritual Walk to Pinatubo” so I posted this photo set as teaser. After this, I will post something about my recent trip to Hong Kong going all the way back to my pending post about our Quezon and Vigan escapade.

Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral Images » Mobile Things To Do While in Cebu City

The Griffin at the Cathedral's pediment

This is my noob attempt at phontography and SGS photowalk during our recent Cebu City visit. Although SLR camera is still the best at capturing images, always carrying it around is a real drag. We are now living a high-tech world where “convergence” is everywhere. Gone are the days when a point-and-shoot camera was a camera, an MP3 player was an MP3 player, a mobile phone was a just a phone.

I got some savings for a DSLR camera last year, but I end up buying a smartphone because I realized I need it more than an SLR. However, I’m planning to buy one if I have that extra budget again - I’ll try phontography in the meantime. They say phontography is the next generation revolution in point-and-shoot photography because every second somewhere in the world a picture is being clicked using a mobile phone and being immediately uploaded on the Internet.

I was browsing the net on this subject and came across “Cellular Obscura,” the mobile phone photography blog by Shawn Rocco, photojournalist for the News & Observer in North Carolina. The blog is emphasizing the notion that it's not always the quality of the camera that counts, but the artist behind it. Really inspiring!

I want to dig on this subject on the coming weeks. Now here’s my first attempt at phone photography using my Samsung Galaxy S featuring the Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral.

Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral »The Bishop’s Throne

Ancient church tradition dictates that the local ordinary or bishop wields his power from his throne, the seat of the archdiocese. This was reflected in the Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral, which has a “throne” or seat made of marble located on the left side of the altar for the politically powerful His Eminence Ricardo Cardinal Vidal.

Aside from entailing authority the Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral is the symbol of unity of the church, the “unifying factor” in Cebu province.

"Seat of Power"

Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral is shaped into a cruciform with thick walls that were built to withstand typhoon and other natural calamities. Inside the church, a large dome sits upon the pillars of the transept, accenting the barrel vaulted ceiling. The convent now has balustrades to resemble Spanish era architecture.

"Cathedral Sentinel"

The church was almost completely destroyed during World War II. The remaining original structures are the belfry and the facade.

"Holy Grandeur"

The cathedral is a typical example of a baroque colonial church. When you enter, you will see an old design but it is devoid of ceiling murals typical in old Bohol Churches. 

"Mute Belfry"

During World War II, much of the cathedral was destroyed by Allied bombings of the city. Only the belfry (built in 1835), the facade, and the walls remained. It was quickly rebuilt in the 1950s under the supervision of architect Jose Ma. Zaragosa.

"The Power of the Golden Orbs"

The cathedral also underwent a 30 million peso renovation for the 75th anniversary celebration last April 28, 2009.

"Lungkot-lungkutan"

That's it! These photos are all from my Samsung Galaxy S phone. I used some built-in phone camera adjustment and scene selections while capturing these  images and do some light and color enhancement in photoshop. 

I'm a real noob at photography and I want to learn the basic tricks so I will be busy reading phone photography articles in a few weeks.

Also if you can help me in any way, I'll appreciate that. Please share your inputs or suggested readings on the comments section.

Thanks in advance!!!

.   

Combat Jump Shots » Fun Things to Do On A Boring Weekend

Lying on my room reading e-book and eating pancit canton -- this is what I usually do during weekend and I realized how boring it really is behind my dusty gray walled cube. Though sometimes it is really nice to just lie on my bed, surf the net and sleep the whole day after a hell week at work, still it is awesome to spend the weekend outside kicking my lazy butt on a sunny day. 

This half of January has been a crazy whirlwind of a little good and a whole lot of bad at work and everything else. Most working days, I wish I could just have that provincial mundane life everyone complains about – you know, the oh so slow days in the province with ricefields and mountains.

I’m trying to make a point here, alright – that most of our weekend is boring. But enough of my senseless nostalgic rants.

I did go to Antipolo last week at one of our crew’s crib. A friend invited me to tag along for the dinner invitation. Technically I’m gatecrashing on that Friday dinner, but what the heck, that’s the whole point of fun ayt? Dinner was filled with awesome food, booze and small talk. We stayed overnight then hmmm, what else has happened? NONE. The booze didn’t hit the right synapse so we end up normal.

But hey, we didn’t go this far, on this mountainous city just to spend another boring weekend. It’s a good thing Aldan got his DSLR. As you may have notice on this blog, me and my friends are certified camwhores.

We decided to go out and take a little out of the box jump shots. We want to look at some ways to break out of the mold and take striking photos by breaking (or at least trying to change) the pa-cute photo shoots we usually had and adding a little randomness into our jump shots.

This is how we break our supposed-to-be boring weekend.Hiyaaaaa!!!

Yodz and Bernard initial fight

 See what a little posing can do for your jump shot?

Lady Gara and her magic toothpick fighting against Bernard

More of like Pandango dancing than fighting... 

You cannot kill me guys!!! I am Master Yodi!

Another Pandango-sa-ilaw fighting technique from Lady Gara and Bern

I said you cannot defeat Master Yodi!!!

Nice try Evil Anjho! Let's fight till the end.. Hiyaaaa!!!

 This is my favorite shot - with facial expression and a cool combat pose. Nice!

In the end, we will all go to Heaven....

We were all amazed by the result of our quick photo shoot - it was surprising and quite funny. This look like a bit silly but that's the point of having fun ayt?

If you’ve got your own special jump shot, I ask that you post a link to it or post it here on my comment section.

May you always have great weekend guys!!!

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Special thanks to Aldan Reposo for the amazing shots.   

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