Freezing cold and windy! You’d think that God created another climate specifically for Tagaytay in December.
But the smiles and hugs of friends and family kept the weather warm. For a guest list of 300++, it’s amazing that everybody knew everybody else. Kim of course, had the most radiant smile.
GaimanMania once again hits the Philippines!
Neil Gaiman of American Gods, Stardust and Sandman fame dropped by the Philippines for a speaking engagement at the recently concluded AdCongress and as an honorable guest at the Philippine Graphic/Fiction Awards. (For the uninitiated, Neil is a demigod in fantasy and “horror” fiction not unlike Tarantino’s status in indie film making)
But my real story goes like this…
Some two years ago, when Gaiman first visited the country for a book signing, and just the same time when Pang was pregnant with our second, we fell in line to have a couple of our comics signed (needless to say, I was a big fan).
A lot of people turned up. A LOT. To give you an idea, the queue started at Fully Booked at the upper level of Gateway and spiraling all the way down to the 7-11 along Aurora Avenue. That’s where we started to line-up a good five hours before the signing started.
Yet it was all worth it, we decided that it would be cool to have the comic dedicated to Lukas Ezra (the name we would be giving our second son).
Neil Gaiman, a comic book, a marker and an infanticipating lady on her last trimester - the result - a masterpiece doodle for a yet to be born baby boy. Surreal!
Here’s the “doodle” two years after …
And the three generations below …
Jakob and Lukas with their dad (center), and his dad (lower right).
Lolo Patricio would have been proud.
“I must confess, I have always wondered what lay beyond life, my dear.”
Yeah, everybody wonders. And sooner or later everybody gets to find out.”
from SANDMAN #31: “Three Septembers and a January”
I managed to snatch a batch of Ilford black and white film from Jill Lejano last week. Here are some choice pics taken with a canon EOS 1V - the grand daddy and last flagship model of film cameras from Canon.
Reina and Adolph, from November 9’s wedding.
Lomomanila in cooperation with Smart Communications, Fuji YKL, Linksys and Geiser Maclang presents Lomolove Too. A month long lomography exhibit and party. Exhibit runs from Nov 10 till Dec 1 at the Blacksoup Projects Gallery, Cubao Expo, QC. Exhibit launch and party this Saturday, starting at 8 pm with live performances by The Dawn, Cambio, Taken By Cars, the Ronnies, Top Junk, Corporate Lofi, Ang Bandang Shirley, Pasok Mga Bwitre and more.
some recent snaps…
pagbilao, quezon
hot sand on the knees…
love ko ‘to
love ko s’ya
“And now I’m going to say something corny, thanks to you for being such an appreciative audience. Now here’s another song about killing yourself.” - Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails/HongKong
Angst is a word you pick up in Philo 101 in college. A catchall term you use for all the frustration you feel when you can’t score a date, when you’re broke and when you’re flunking your subjects. Now like all proper “angst-ridden” teenagers, you have to have a soundtrack to your pitiful, despicable existence. Back in my day you could listen to Linger by the Cranberries, Minsan by the Eraserheads, Silent all these Years by Tori Amos. I listened to all of them. And I also listened to Nine Inch Nails.
Nothing beat NIN when it comes to pained, angry songs. Perfect accompaniment to those rainy nights of doom and gloom.
College was a silly time. You think you had big-ass problems. But wait ’til you graduate sonny-boy, the real misery is yet to begin.
What’s your soundtrack when you wallow in misery?
It’s time for a break. Time for some sun and some sand and some sea and some grass.
Here’s some good news amidst the foul weather - at the recently concluded WEVA Creative Excellence Awards we bagged a total of 5 awards. One Gold, three Silvers and one Bronze!
Here are the official results.
Base camp is pretty stoked as entries from the team specifically Ceremony and Reception were edited by Cecile and Sherry respectively.
And a big FYI, our Gold came through the way of a corporate video me and my wife collaborated on. Let’s just say the most kick-ass cutting was courtesy of her. Also, if you look closely, there’s one shot where this running basketball player drove straight at me. The bump was left in the edit (watch closely), what nobody saw was the bump on my head.
The wins were truly a team effort.
Here’s the badass team I’m mighty proud of:
L-R, Sandy, Jason, Pang, Cecile, Rjoi, Rissa, Darlene (not in picture, Joanne and Sherry)
There’s more reason to be proud because a couple of other Pinoyvideomakers won in the competition - Imacron and MG Digital Video. Based from the stories of the attendees (Lito Genilo, Ariel Javelosa, Dominic Velasco), it was truly a glorious moment for the country.
Here are the videos we won for:
Gold - Corporate Video - The Phillipine Basketball League
Silver - Onsite Video - Charisse and Jon
Silver - Reception - Dominique and Raul
Silver - Love Story - Jean and Pongs
Bronze - Ceremony - Millet and Gerard
Check out some BW pictures I shot using a Horizon Perfekt camera. (posting the wedding pics with the kindest permission from Dino Lara). The camera shoots a 170 degree field of view with little distortion (unlike a fisheye).
The future, after all, is wide 
It’s not everyday that one of the bands who wrote half the soundtrack of your life flies in and performs in our teensy part of the world.
This time shopping was the gravy, it was Mr. Smith we flew in for.
With his amazing guitar prowess and vocal range faithful to the albums, you woudn’t think the guy was pushing 50.
Read the rest of this entry »
Twenty-two days and fourteen rolls after, I’m still high on Lomo.
As with all passions, I came into it head-on, devouring everything I could read about it, joining it’s premiere local community - lomomanila, savoring the pictures graciously shared online and learning as much as possible from the pioneers (thanks Jill).
The attraction for Lomo stemmed perhaps from how lomographs looked - super saturated, vignetted, off-kilter colors and blurs. The exact characteristics of the videos that we make. The coincidence was uncanny yet not surprising.
But reading more about lomography, you learn that it’s not all “style”. It’s not even strictly the cameras.
You realize it’s more of a lifestyle, an attitude. To shoot without boundaries, without being constrained with the traditional rules of photography (though no question, lomography IS photography), to be spontaneous in shooting, to not think at all.
BS? Maybe. Fun. No doubt.
Here’s a wedding entirely shot with a Lomo Kompakt Automat+. Chris and Cho.
The point being there is no point. Why? Because I wanted to and I could.
Further reading:
lomomanila (the shiznit Pinoy Lomo Forum)
lomography (official site)
a dissident’s point of view
Jason Magbanua is a wedding videographer
...from his saturated coloring to his flowing glidecam runs, Jason is one of the most ambitious and creative videographers on the planet. He's raised the bar on same-day edits, and his full wedding use timeshifting to create a seamless tapestry...
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