The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 3,200 times in 2011. If it were a cable car, it would take about 53 trips to carry that many people.
Cagayan de Oro City, Mindanao, Philippines (18 November 2011) — I’m still in the “My Color Mode” of my Lumix LX5. This time I played around with the “Film Grain” feature. Last night we got invited to a birthday party and I took this opportunity to give the “Film Grain” feature a run. While waiting for the celebrant to arrive, I took the liberty of going around the house to take photos of very interesting fixtures and decorations that were abundant in the living room and dining room.
Happy Birthday -- the birthday celebrant who just arrived from the airport. His mom organized a surprise birthday party for him. Former classmates and friends (my son Diego is one of them) were invited without the celebrant knowing.
Buddha and Mary -- A small dining table found in between a bust of Buddha and a statue of Mary.
After looking at the shots taken that night, I think I am hooked on this feature. I so love the grain that is generated in each shot. I also love the contrast produced. Looking at the photos, I see more blacks and whites rather than different gradients of grey as what is produced by the normal monochrome feature of the camera. Before, when I want to produce black and white photos, I utilize the channel mixer feature of Photoshop to mix (as it were) a balance between the blacks and the whites . Most often however, I feel frustrated in not being able to get the “right” level of contrast between the blacks and the whites. The photos most of the time, end up with more greys than I would like to have. With the film grain mode of the Lumix LX5 less time is spent on post processing. For the set of photos I have taken that night, I only did minor adjustments in Curves or Levels and resized the photos for easier viewing on the net.
Come, rest a while --- This is what this scene seem to be saying. Found this in in the living room and looking at the shot after uploading into my computer, it looked like an exhibit in a museum rather than a fixture/furniture in a house.
Money Horse --- A horse and coins, two symbols of power and strength. I saw this figurine also in the living room and took several shots from different angles. This is my favorite.
As I have been accustomed to, I kept the lens focal length to its widest (24mm). I find zooming a point and shoot camera a bit slow and sometimes less precise. I’d rather use my legs to zoom in or out of a subject. In film grain mode, the camera keeps the ISO at a constant 1600 regardless of the light levels. Shutter and aperture are automatically adjusted by the camera. Since the ISO was constantly in ISO 1600 (cannot change this though when in film grain mode), I didn’t worry about the relatively low light level of the indoor lights. Shooting in black and white also removed my worry about getting correct white balance. There is no need to deal with color cast brought about by mixed light temperatures. All I did was concentrate on composition, play of shadow and light and make sure that the focussing point selects the part of the subject I want to be in sharp focus.
Double Shadow -- A wooden sculpture of what looked like a Thai dancer found in the living room located directly opposite the main door to the house.
Chow Time! -- For the boys.
Chow Time! -- For the girls.
Cagayan de Oro City, Mindanao, Philippines (16 November 2011) — Since I discovered the “My Color Mode” feature of my Lumix LX-5, I am still fascinated with one effect the camera can produce and this is the effect of a pinhole camera. Since I discovered this, I never had the chance to use it extensively since yesterday.
Every afternoon, after school, my children attends Kumon sessions. The Kumon center is located a good 2.5 to 3 kms away from our house. Yesterday our vehicle was used by my wife for she needed to attend a meeting downtown so we were forced to walk. I decided to take photos as we walk to the center. I set the camera to the pinhole effect and fired away. Here are some of the shots I’ve taken that afternoon and early evening on our walk home.
Our Morenga -- Morenga or known in the Philippines as "Malungay" or "Kalamungay" in the Visayan dialect, we planted in front of our house. Good source of iron and vitamin C.
Neighbor -- A photo of our neighbors house. Their house got completed almost at the same time ours was completed and they transfered almost at the same time as we did two years ago.
Strolling Strollers -- Nannys on an afternoon strolling of their wards around the subdivision.
The experience somehow showed me how our subdivision and immediate environ (the place we normally see everyday) looks like through the eye of a pinhole camera. I kept the focal length of the lens to its widest (24mm) and utilized my feet for zooming. In a pinhole mode, the shutter speed and the aperture are in automatic mode. ISO setting is also automatic but goes up to ISO 400 only.
Leicester Road -- One of the road post found in the HIllsborough Pointe Subdivision.
Ampatuan House -- One of the houses (uncompleted) allegedly owned by a member of the Ampatuan Clan of Maguindanao.
Waiting for a ride -- Construction workers waiting for their ride home outside the subdivision after a hard days work in constructing houses in the subdivision.
I Will Follow You -- A student from Xavier University Grade School walking home to one of the many subdivisions located around the campus of the university.
No Littering -- A view of the Xavier University High School Building from the other side of the road.
As soon as we reached the highway (Fr. Masterson Avenue), I experimented on panning shots of vehicles passing by. Here are some of the “successful” ones.
Electric Jeepney -- Yes! The Pueblo de Oro, the developer/company that established the township has a jeepney powered by electricity. The jeepney plys the major roads around the township. Why can't we have more of this for the city?
Red Car -- A red sedan cruising along the Fr. Masterson Avenue.
Bicycle Lane -- Streets in the city still does not have designated bicycle and motorcycle lanes thus they share the main road with all the other bigger vehicles.
On our walk home, despite the sun having already set, I continued to take some shots. Of course most of the shots came out blurry as I didn’t have a tripod. However, I continued shooting handheld and tried my best to keep my hands as steady as possible.
Kumon -- The Kumon center where my children goes to for their mathematics exercises.
Night Class -- Xavier University High School Campus at night.
Hump Ahead -- A jeepney passes by a warning sign of a hump ahead.
Brothers Walking -- Diego and Gabriel walking ahead of me on our walk home as a taxi passes through.
Home Sweet Home -- Home at last. A signage in one of the post of our front gate.
My running shoes placed in our Lanai to dry
Cagayan de Oro City, Mindanao, Philippines (16 Sept 2011) – I was into running way back in 1983-84. I was actively running daily and even joined a few 5K marathons. I stopped running when I got involved in swimming around 1985 till 1990. From that time I have never came back to running till now.I’m still into my fifth day of running again (actually at this point still jogging) and I’m still in the process of allowing my leg muscles to get used to do a continuous routine motion for an extended period of time. Following running experts advice, I have to start slow and slowly build-up as I go. So I’m taking it easy, jogging at least two rounds and a half around our village. I’ll increase the time or distance (number of rounds/laps) in time.
It is amazing to note however how running, like the other sports I have been involved in like swimming and badminton, has been elevated into a very scientific endeavor. Back in my highschool days there was no talk about specially designed running shoes to compensate for over or under pronation, high arch stride and whatnot. Heck, no one gave a damn about overpronation and underpronation in the first place. There were no high-tech watches to monitor your pace, heart rate and distance. There were no miCoach and Nike+ and iPod nano’s and iPhones that you can use to monitor your running by downloading a software from the net. Way back then, all one has to worry about was to ensure that one has a good pair of running shoes and you go out and run. Wear what you have available. There were no climacools. If I remember correctly there was only Botak. There were no designer running hats/caps and flashy Oakley running sunglasses. Now you have a baker’s dozen of brands to choose from Adidas to Nike to Asics to Brooks to Saucony.
Of course the sport has evolved over time and part of its evolution, adopted technology that is available to enhance or improve the sport. A few days back, I read a shout-out of a former colleague during my swimming days wherein he mentioned that he went back to swim again after many years of absence from the sport (he is into Scuba Diving now by the way) and he had to literally remove his “old” swimming paddles when he saw the newer and more high-tech equipment that the newer swimming generation is using now. I found it funny but made me think too that “new” does not necessarily mean “better.” Having the latest gadgets does not necessarily and automatically translate into making one a better runner, swimmer, or photographer.
When I was scouting for a good running shoes a few months back, it was only that time that I got bombarded by a lot of information about available gadgets, accessories and equipment related to running. The options are just enormous. One can easily drown and to a certain extent forget that these are just tools to help one improve or achieve a specific output or goal. True, the sport has evolved and technology has found a more efficient and better way of making running more enjoyable and less injury prone. I do admit that the temptation to have this and that “high-tech” shoes or gadget or apparel crossed my mind only to be tempered by the reality that I’m still about to re-start running. As of this writing I am still into my fifth day of jogging (not yet properly running even). Who knows, I might stop after a few months down the road for whatever reason (i.e. schedules, work, etc.) and thus waste resources on something that I won’t be using to the hilt.
So for now, with a good pair of running shoes, I’ll enjoy my running/jogging and hit the road for as long as I can. Besides, all this talk about these newer and high tech gadgets and accessories just makes me feel — darn old.
Cagayan de Oro City, Mindanao, Philippines (23 August 2011) — I got my Panasonic Lumix LX-5 today and brought it out for a spin to draw first blood. I haven’t fully explored the features of the camera but I’m confident I will be able to familiarize myself with the camera features in time. I just love the wide-angle lens of the Lumix LX-5 and the maximum aperture opening of f/2.0. My preference has always been on the wide-angle side over the telephoto side of shooting.
When I started to play around with digital, I started with a borrowed P&S Canon G3 and every now and then I get to use a G5. My first ever paid shoot was with a borrowed Canon G5. Even when I already had my own DSLR, I still would shot with a P&S (in most cases a borrowed one). There is something about shooting with digital P&S (or at least a P&S size digital camera but with controls same as DSLRs). For one, the weight is not a problem and this includes storage and handling. As soon as a photographic opportunity shows up, one can just start shooting right away. Secondly, there are types or angles of shots that is easier achieved with a smaller and lighter camera. The size too of a digital P&S removes the intimidation factor when shooting in a public and crowded place. Take out a “big black box” SLR and questions like “why are you taking pictures?” or “What purpose is your picture-taking for?” will surely be asked of you and this already disturbs the moment. People around you tend to immediately put themselves “on guard”. The spontaneity of the moment is lost.
This time around, now that I have my own P&S, the LX-5 will be my all-around, walk-around camera. The SLRs will still be used but for specialized shooting assignments. Here are some sample photos taken during the break-in of the camera:
