Day 109: Moonshadow

Day 109:

I like the moon. It provides light like the sun. Not too much to give you burns. Just enough to see on a good day. It's also not half as audacious as the sun. It rises and sets without much of a scene. I just comes and goes, shining its light so you don't stumble on an otherwise pitch-black night. It doesn't scream for attention. The moon is beautiful in its silence.

Day 108: Angry Fish

Day 108:

Just because i'm really excited to dive in Dumaguete... here's a funny pic we took yesterday. I can just imagine the pufferfish saying... I IS ANGRY FISH! Cheers!

Day 107: Submerged

Day 107:

Hahahaha! I took my camera down underwater for the first time! I tried out my Ikelite underwater casing at Anilao, Batangas. Heavy as hell, but it's sure worth the effort. Although, I'm still struggling with the all new learning curve. I'll get there!

Here's a photo of my brother. This is one of those "for fun" dive sites in Anilao. We were frolicking about waiting for our safety stop to end.

Day 106: Stillness

Day 106:

Now that summer break's on... with some things going slower than I'm used to... Well... things do feel a bit strange.

Day 105: Miniature II

Day 105:

Again, I attempt a fake tilt-shift photo. I think this one is better than the first one! :D enjoy!

Day 104: Vendor of Borrowed Dreams

Day 104:

Movies have a special place in our hearts, doesn't it? For a moment, we're taken away from this horrible world, into another world. Maybe that world would be sad too, like Blue Valentine. Maybe it'd be gory and bloody too, like Saw or 300. Maybe it'd be one where we fall in love and live happily ever after. Maybe it'd be one where we save the world. Maybe it'd be one where we're doomed. For whatever dream we'll find ourselves in as we press play, at least we have that simple reassurance that the world will, even just for a moment... change.

Day 103: Needs

Day 103:

I couldn't help but take this picture. Along one of the streets near divisoria, there's a homeless man. He lives in a push-kart kariton. He asks for change to occasional passers by... but I think he lives off selling junk. I can't really say. I don't want to judge. But I couldn't help but notice those white earphones that scream for attention, as they are snugged against his dark ears.

Day 102: Trailblazers

Day 102:

Took this photo, playing with long exposures along Ma. Orosa St., Malate, Manila.

We are remembered because of the things we leave behind.

Day 101: Naked

Day 101:

Who are we when stripped of the clothes that shield ourselves from the scrutiny of the world? When the pretenses and falsified impressions that form the mask we wear from day to day is hung at the door of our small comfort zones? When we let down our guards, without anxieties and insecurities regarding who we are? When we forget our achievements, titles, accomplishments? When our roles cease to define who our selves are? When we are who we are?

One of the scariest leap-of-faith is to reveal one's self to another, fully and truly, naked and real. There is always the chance of rejection, not the of a facade, or a part of you, but the rejection of one's self. There is the chance that the revelation will result in more pain than security or acceptance. But it is this revelation of self-to-self the drive that pushes our relationships forward, platonic or no. We want at least one person to know who we are, when we are naked. Then we can feel safe being who we are.

Day 100: Scarcity

Day 100:

I took this picture a few days ago during the birthday party of one of my friends. After a good meal, and cake blowing, they played a silly game. A small piece of cake is placed in the middle of a plate. Everyone holds a fork. At the signal, everyone grabs at the piece. The one who eats it wins. Silly silly game. it doesn't fill you up, it just makes everyone laugh.

There's a sense of situational irony for me here because this behavior of each-man-for-himself, is actually what happens in most of the world. Though, it provides a good subject for photography, my friends' greedy aggression is hardly the behavior they would exhibit to each other. But we see this everyday in different parts of the world. And worse, some people have larger forks than others.

Day 099: Connected

Day 099:

There are lines that bind and lines that tie. Lines that connect us to more resources and information. Lines that introduce us and bring us closer to other people. Power lines. Phone lines. Communication lines. Lines that empower us, enable us, and allow us to do more with our lives. But more important than the lines that we set up with poles and cables are the invisible, implicit lines that we create with the people we interact with, the friends we make, and the peers we work with. Love. Friendship. Respect. Camaraderie. Empathy. Concern.

Day 098: Waiting for...

Day 098:

There's not much of a story here... Waiting for a taxi at night... Maybe. Waiting for love to pass by. Maybe. Waiting for.. anything. Or just watching from the gate for time to pass by. Maybe. Nothing much. Waiting for the end to come? Maybe.

Just a study of play with light, composition, and long exposure.

Day 097: Passion

Day 097:

There are things. Actually, maybe most things. You can do well, if you have enough passion. Maybe you'll begin without that much competency. But passion will push you through. Passion will lead you to learn more and more. Passion will be your drive. Passion will make you succeed.

Day 096: Dreams of Tomorrow

Day 096:

Ladies and Gentlemen... I present you with the lights of tomorrow... or rather today. Located in the Faculty Medical Arts Building of the PGH, we have Operating Rooms that are lit by shadowless and heatless sources of light, designed specially for safer, faster, more effective medical interventions.

I also present to you a dream. My dream. Or at least one of my dreams. (Together with being a Divemaster or scuba instructor and a professional photographer!) Surgery. hahaha. Maybe in the future, it'll change. When I see what surgery means, or how surgeons are made. But now, at least I have a dream.

The next important step, is looking at people who have "achieved" their dream. Look at what models they've patterned their life after. Will it work for you? Look at how they live their lives or the decisions they've made. Can you do the same? Look at who they are. Would you like to be similar to them? Then you look at the dream again. Is it still your dream?

Day 095: Dark and Scary Corners

Day 095:

I took this photo on one of my night strolls around Manila. This is a sidewalk along Pedro Gil, a major road beside my university. On a normal day, this path would be bustling with people going to and from work, students rushing to their classes, doctors and healthcare workers hurrying to save lives, and vendors pushing and shoving to make a living. That is, of course during the daytime...

At night, normal paths like this become more than a little ominous. I think I was brave carrying my tripod and Canon7d around the streets of Manila at this time. Although, admittedly, this sidewalk is relatively safe and close to civilization... the streets of Manila are not exactly your best site for an leisurely evening stroll. But, as a photographer, there is beauty to be seen here. I love the way this photo came out. Slow shutter speed and a tripod. Very useful.

Likewise, there are paths in our lives that are ominous presences. We cannot help but be afraid, as we enter them. Exams, entrance tests, rites of passage, neighborhood changes... all of these are moments of uncertainty. We look at them. cringe a little. gather our guts. lunge forward. hope that it will be worth it. And like this photo... It often is.

Day 094: Time-Bound

Day 093:

Time changes our orientation about everything. A seemingly mediocre task, when placed within the confines of a time limit becomes rattling and challenging. As the time of judgement comes closer and closer, things just become seemingly more and more impossible. We can panic and lose our heads... or we can do what we have to do. As doctors, I think we must be ready to do the latter, under any form of pressure, from everyone, from time, or from ourselves.

Day 093: From the Eyes of a Child

Day 093:

Today, my 2 year-old brother is a guest photographer in my blog. He's pretty funny. Before he learns how to write or read, he already knows how to operate a digital camera. He loves playing with my mother's dual screen samsung. Thank God he doesn't take vanity pics... well, at least not yet. But he often walks around our house, with an awkward hold on my mother's red-and-black camera. He'll call our attention, point and shoot.

Most of his shots would classify as low-angle shots. Understandable. But if you go through the things he takes a picture of (most of which are blurred, or covered with his own finger), you'll get a glimpse of what a child sees in the world. Wouldn't that be something? :)

Day 092: Slippery Business

Day 092:

Balancing different responsibilities is a troublesome act... the danger of failing one, the other or both is always high.

I took this photo... I just found it funny. The placement of the sign just lent itself to a humorous interpretation... maybe one too literal. Hehehehe.

Day 091: Sometimes the day...

Day 091:

... it just sucks.

Sometimes, the day just doesn't go right. Anxiety hits in. Arguments ensue. Nervous about an upcoming exam. Waiting for past exams results. Unstable realities. Harsh difficulties. Hopeful for the future. Worried about the present. Take a moment. Rub your aching head. Think about what you've done wrong. What you've done right. Reflect. Change what you can. Accept what you can't. Take action. Expect the worst. Hope for the best. Do your best. Don't rest when you're tired. Rest when you're done.

[Note: Thank you Nino Venida, for taking this photo. As obviously, I was the model. I haven't done BW post processing in a while. I missed it. So here's a rough go.]