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Parklane International Hotel, near Cebu Business Park, is one of those new hotels built in time for the Asean Summit. Barely six months old, it was designed by the same architect who built Cebu International Convention Center. Parklane has everything -- rooms with chic furniture (very Cebu), a pool with a view, and a decent buffet selection. However, their service falls short of a five-star -- atypical of most Cebu hotels I stayed in. The locals seem to not mind, though, as it has become a popular venue for weddings and small conventions.
I like shooting a Nescafe product launch since its production numbers have the flair (and pomposity) of most Philippine festivals. It's easy to get into the groove and plan your shots steps ahead because at the back of your mind, the performers will do something formulaic -- like a Vilma Santos or Alma Moreno dance pose finish in the 80s. Chicken.
The last time I was in Cebu four years ago, the only place to get a decent cup of coffee was The Tinder Box, a deli cafe showcasing a Wallpaperesque interior and Santis product lines. And now there's Cafe Georg, a couple of steps from The Tinder Box. It has the moistest and chewiest carrot cake you will find on this corner of the Philippines to go with your good cup of coffee.
This is the view from room 506 in Parklane International Hotel. At one glance, it seems a mockery at me for not staying at the Disney-like Waterfront Lahug from a distance but at the same time, it's a blatant reminder that I shouldn't bother myself with views, especially if I just have two hours of sleep between air shuttling from the last flight out of Iloilo and the first flight to Cebu.
Is it me or is it just me? I always seem to find a good self-portrait elements in Iloilo. Here are infinite portraits of me in a kids' science museum.
Iloilo is an island -- that's one of the knowledge nuggets I learned from talking to Mannie Gruenberg, the operations manager of the fastest growing cafe chain in Iloilo. The rivers that bordered the city proper are actually small sea channels -- that's why the water is more than brackish. I tasked myself of shooting a definitive photo of Iloilo -- a sweet blend of rural and urban elements. Here's what I have found: a sunset in Emilion, a modern Filipino restaurant with views of the "river" and just beyond the mangrove, SM City Iloilo.
At a right time on the 18th hole of Iloilo Golf Course, the olderst one in the country, a row of trees will cast a Tim Burtonesque shadows near the rough and sand strap.
The golfer's bane is the photographer's boon. I always find myself wishing the ball to fall on the sand trap. A photo of a golfer hitting from there with trails of sand, ball in midair, framed by the flag and the green is always a keeper.
Museo Iloilo turns upbeat with red, yellow and blue colors -- a stark contrast to the city's old attractions of Baroque, Filipino-Baroque, Gothic and Neo-Gothic churches.
A geometric study of an urban mobile phone user.
It was Laarni's first portrait sitting and we just found out she's allergic to mascara--her eyes were all itchy and she couldn't stop herself from rubbing them. A scene presented itself when the sun cast a double flare on my lens. And thanks to Olympus camera's live view feature, I was able to frame it carefully without risk of an eye strain.
The website I built from scratch is finally complete www.geocities.com/arleneadto. Although my wife's profile photo is not yet what we envision to be (chic makeup with beauty lighting), this candid photo taken during former BusinessDay editor and BWorldonline top honcho Mike Marasigan's xmas party has to make do. I am sure it will take her forever to shop for her perfect dress (why won't a plain Hanes do?). I am slated to go to Iloilo, then Cebu, then most probably Subic on the next days and "A Page Under Construction" is something my mild obsessive-compulsiveness can not take.
Quark is hot. The 26-year-old director of Super Noypi and and A Date with Jao Mapa seems an antithesis to the films he has worked on (both films have dark undertones and both see Jao Mapa die!). His jolly personality cuts across -- uhm, (art) direction -- and shows on film (pixel) whatever my motivation is. (Quark, let's try mysterious... enigmatic... sexy eyes...) Quark, who also directs the latest music videos of your favorite local rock bands, is so hot right now he is strongly considering cooling down next year--as in retiring. Wag naman. This is my first shoot for METRO Magazine, and I hope it's not the last.
Is it just me or do I hear whispers whenever I look at this photo? I shot this scene last June at Pilar Antique and Craft Store in Kusina Salud. Unfortunately when we came back before Christmas, the place underwent rearrangements and these guys were gone, probably HEADed to someBODY's house.
I have had my driver's license renewed this afternoon (*hint, hint: who's celebrating his birthday) and got to experience first-rate government bureaucracy again. The transfer of Land Transportation Office in La Loma to a new venue across Sto. Domingo Church has done it some good -- the perimeter has been fenced, discouraging fixers to prey on LTO virgins. There seems to be a sense of order now: information desks are placed on important corners, barkers echoing the applicants names after every PA. However, why do they have to allow smoking in the area and why do they assigned a non-photographer to take the license ID. At least, Luneta photographers know how to cue you by counting 1-2-3. Result: I seem to be staring at my right side crotch -- mindlessly. Come to think of it -- there isn't any photo of myself I love recently except for this one taken in HK three years ago.
Hmmm... what's this? A trilogy? You can only get away with canned formula for so long. There's a limit to people's patience and gullibility so unless it's the caliber of Indiana Jones, Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, or The Godfather -- don't push your luck with the same hard selling plot or production. So please, please forgive this Enteng Kabisote.
Maldita (wicked, bitch, damned, witch, [fill in the expletives] girl). Whatever is its etymology, it's worth the catchy name for a ladies fashion wear. Arlene went to SM Mall of Asia with a three-inch stilleto shoes this afternoon hoping she could "winged" strolling in the Philippines' second biggest mall. After 10 minutes, we were shopping for sandals or slippers to ease her pain. Was it a ploy? It could be. Nevertheless, it yielded a picture perfect scene (in visual elements and figures of speech) when we dropped by at Maldita. Sinong nagma-maldita? (Who's bitchin'?):p
After spending an extended two-week holiday in Tarlac, Arani is home. (A little FYI to those who care, the word "Arani" is a Greek word for "orange." My wife Arlene and her siblings Arnel, Arnold, and Aricel had a weird notion to name their children "Ar-". Heck, it could be Aragon or Arwen due to their popularity during those times. Arani was the best compromise I could make.) Not surprisingly, Arani grows up to have fascination for colors. Her clothes should always match, preferably pink or purple thank you very much. She calls me her "brown" Dada but in times of her tantrum she longs for a pink one.
By the turn of the 20th century, doom prophets foretold the death of painting due to the fast emergence of photography. In stark contrast, these days I see more and more digital photographers produce work with painting-like feel. Manny Librodo, one of the best travel portrait photographers, comes up with photos with pre-Raphaelite lighting in his recent Cambodia trip. Dominique James' recent photos in the Mobile Philippines' exhibit are teeming with wayward lines of electric abstraction. Here's another dose of dusk cloud studies.
When they are in a hurry, they are in a hurry. I had only a minute to photograph these elite members of the Philippine Air Force. I shot at different exposures, even with fill flash but the darkest one seems closest to my taste.
It was Belgian expat fashion photographer Frank Hoefsmit who taught me to look at the sky and the horizon at dusk or dawn as a long-time photo project. The colors are different he says (I am paraphrasing or waxing poetic now), richer, more intense and something magical happens if you just let go and sway with the flow (read:slow shutter speed with deliberate camera shake). Frank is one of Manila's image makers who continues to inspire me. And then there's Esta Bien.
5. The "commissary" was replaced with "SM". 4. Instead of a salute, the guard at the HQ's door greets you "Gud Murning, Ma'am, Sir!" 3. There's a stainless steel owner type jeep parked on a space for handicapped people. 2. A Harley Davidson ripped-off from China seems "kul". 1. The egg becomes "ebun." My trip to Clark Airfield Pampanga today was uneventful except for the chance to hook up with old colleagues and pilsen pals. My subjects' uniforms, props, and what-have-yous were not complete that we had to resched the shoot for next week. It was ambush shoot anyways. MJ, our production coordinator from the defunct BusinessDay magazine, settled for a token pose for her Friendster account. Don't be deceived by her looks; she can be very, very cruel in her blogs.
Forgive the terrible pun ("linis" - clean) as I am close to brain fart these days -- juggling between left and right brain functions; redesigning, copywriting, photographing, layouting (with tables -- go old school!) my wife's website. Dennis, a fellow card player, represents my time away from work. Ours, however, is not poker, which seems to be growing more chic with players wearing Ray Ban to hide prying eyes. It's VS system ccg -- that's collectible card game -- for the uninitiated. Hey, I am a closet geek, thank you very much. On certain nights in a week, we deal, shuffle, cut, and combat with our cardboard narcotics. And that's just pure heaven. We see stars...
The Taiwan earthquake officially reached Caloocan shores when my Bayantel and PLDT DSL connections went kaput, preventing me from uploading photos in the last two days. During my travels in northern Luzon, locals would say in jest that they are closer to Taiwan than to Manila (a sardonic comment on Philippine's government incapability) that they hear Taipei's cock crowing in the morning -- a joke purportedly invented by my wife's late dad in his Visayan dreams. This cock (don't you just love saying that without *bleep*?) ain't the one in Taiwan but is equally dashing as all Alpha males at the foot of pedestrian overpass in Balintawak can be.
If not for this bee, I would not have discovered how lovely -- heck, flamboyant -- a guava tree flower is. It has multiple filaments that seemed to blur the nearby orchids to non-existence. How's that for metaphorical sex! Too bad I only got one chance to shoot this brief tryst; I fumbled for the manual focus too long (argh! the bane of photographing macros with point-and-shoots) that the bee flew to higher blooms shortly.
Just a lone power post behind a backdrop of clouds. Love the texture.
In the eyes of my three-year-old princess, Ella is Queen. Arani, my daughter, emulates all the things Queen Ella does -- that crazy boom-tarat-tarat charade, fascination for boots, and accessorizing with fake curly hairs. Arani does not mind being away with Dad and Mum as long as she's with Ella. Here's a picture I took of Ella shortly before I left for Manila two days ago (January 1). She just came from asking aguinaldo from her aunts and uncles. Last night, I got a call from Arani telling me she misses me and that she wants me there by her side ASAP -- for the first time!!! My heart did that boom-tarat-tarat thing.
We have to thank Freud and his free association concept for giving insight to the complexities of the 21st human mind. If this photo were an inkblot, it could easily be a 41st Klingon spaceship in Star Trek. How cool! How glam! How fab! How techno-chic! Alas, in reality it's just a Vanda orchid in my mother-in-law's backyard in Capas, Tarlac. And it's color ube.
Philippine Star's banner photo ran one before Christmas; Philippine Daily Inquirer ran another on New Year's Day. Time exposure with sparklers seem to be vogue in human interest photos these days and after much ponder I realize I haven't got one. So here's my take -- flipped horizontally in Photoshop, of course.
It's not what you think it is. I found these boys caressing the tall grass in the early morning. After a quick inquiry, I learned that they were looking to catch spiders for the traditional game of spider fight (think: Pokemon 100 years ago). After some time (still no spiders), they had to stop to pull out the amorseco, which clinged on their clothes making their skin itch like crazy.
