Katmichelle Creations - Digital Resources for Scrapbooking

One thing that gets me excited is crafts and scrapbooking. It was something that i always love to do ever since i was a child. I especially love paper crafts. This is the reason why i like to collect notebooks. Paper excites me. seriously. that's so geeky but hey, i like being like that. I also loved collecting stationery when i was in elementary school. I liked trading them with friends, which most of us called "barter" back then. I think a lot of Filipino girls did this back in the 90's.

Anyway, i recently chanced upon a wonderful photography and craft blog which inspired the heck out of me. I got so excited, i even wrote on my journal right away for some ideas that came to me that time. So because of that, i have thought of designing patterns for digital scrapbooking. I will soon open a shop on Etsy when i have created more designs.

Here are three sets i've created so far.

asked: on street photography

nameistoocommon asked: hello!! i really adore your photos esp your street photographs. would you mind sharing us, your followers some tips in shooting at the streets? :) cause i personally am a bit shy when it comes to street photography. :D

Thanks :) but to be honest, i feel that street photography is something i need to improve on, because like you, i get shy and cautious taking pictures of people.

taking pictures of people without their consent is a big issue to some. The best i think would be to ask their permission before you take the shot. If this is not applicable then probably, you have to make sure they don’t see you taking their picture or that you’re not in any way intruding on what they’re doing. Be as subtle as you can. Most of the time, you could capture the best moments when your subjects are not looking.

Using a telephoto lens would be helpful because it would allow you to take shots of subjects far from you. But remember, big cameras tend to attract attention so using a compact but good camera would also be a good idea. In my opinion, substance is more important than quality in street photography.

Again, i’m not a pro at this so what i told you were just based on my experience. Anyone is free to share their tips or correct me if i may have thought wrong.

dumaguete fiesta bazaar and ukay-ukay

November 25 is coming up, Dumaguete's charter day, and if you're Pinoy, you'll know that when a town's Fiesta comes, people celebrate with a lot of food and hospitality. People love fiestas because you could go to houses to eat what they have prepared - most of the time you'll get invited by your friends but based on experience, you can also invite yourself when you tag along with friends who got invited. It's really one of the occasions when you can guiltily lust on lechon and get drunk like there's no tomorrow.

But aside from the "eating", there also have been regular fairs set up in the narrow streets near the city hall and the park. They have a lot of stalls for ukay-ukay, bargain shoes, some music, plastic tables facing a stage with local performers playing. You know, typical good festive mood.














There was also the street dance parade but it started at around 5 and it was getting dark. i don't like taking pictures in the dark, with or without flash.

eliminated

Intramurals week, the best thing is of course, not having classes. This year, i am the appointed adviser for Soccer games for our department. We only played three games, the first and only win was only because our competition didn't show up. It's alright. All games were well-played. I saw they tried hard to win.

The photos above, though, aren't of my team, but of my brother's.

Double Exposure using dPicture App for Android

Saturday afternoon

Today, i went out to watch a soccer game and went around the plaza to see the local ukay-ukay stalls in the fair. It's another year, and the city is again celebrating fiesta.

I took the chance to bring some of my film cameras aside from the usual dslr.

Lomography: Rule #10

I was browsing through Lomography.com and stumbled upon the ten golden rules, which i will try to follow from now on. Rule no. 10 says:

Don't worry about any rules.
Don't listen to others; remain true to yourself, follow your inner Lomographic voice and never forget that not all that glitters is a golden rule.

Discover your own Lomography, forget about your education, socialisation, indoctrination, knowledge and everything you've learned and not learned about photography. Set free your innermost desires, never stop moving, never stop Lomographing; believe in yourself, focus on the important and not so important things, enjoy life in all its variations, forget about the camera in your hand and shoot 'til your eyes are glowing!

Source.

just the right sweetness

Not exactly a fan of donuts one particular popular donut shop which recently opened in Cebu is quite something. Well, it should be quite something because of its cost but really, it does taste special. The plain ones didn't have much impact on me and I like the ones with toppings (no nuts). The cream filling is especially delicious because the sweetness is just right.

All this time i was wondering why all the fuss over this brand of donuts and now i know.

on taking pictures in supermarkets

I was at the local grocery store today, snapping pictures of my sister and some other things like shelves, fruits, items that i found colorful and nice to take pictures of. Later, i noticed that one of the security guards was observing me. I overheard he was told to ask me to put away my camera. Apparently, i didn't know that it's not okay to take pictures in supermarkets.

Honestly, i felt offended but i made a bit of research and learned that there are some supermarkets that don't allow taking pictures because of privacy reasons or anything that might cause them to lose money because of those pictures.

But also, it never occurred to me that what i did would be anything close to spying or something like that. But i also realize now that i did take pictures of the shelves and items which showed the price tags. I decided not to post them as i don't want to get into any trouble.

I also wonder, if someone had been taking pictures using a digital camera, would they also try to call that person's attention? In my case, i already got the clue while the security guard was on his way to tell me, so i put on the cap and turned it off. He saw what i did and walked away.

old pictures from grandma

My grandmother keeps a small envelope of pictures under her pillow. My mother says some old people are like that. They look at pictures of their past, the people they love and reminisce, maybe usually before she sleeps because it's under her pillow. She's old and fragile but she is so precious to us.


Grandma and my sister


my grandparents when they got married


somewhere in this photo is my lolo. this was a picture of him and his colleagues at work.


Their family picture. My mom is the girl on the right. i looked a lot like her when i was her age.

Unread

I follow this unwritten rule about books and their movie versions. I won't watch the movie unless i've finished the book. Because I like knowing everything first before watching the movie and i am always curious if what i had imagined while reading the books are the same as how the film makers interpret it, if they had imagined the same things as me.

So far, i have faithfully followed that except for a few i recall:

• Lord of the Rings - I just couldn't sit through how long it was, but the movie tells me the book would be so much better if i'd read all of it
• Eat, Pray, Love - it was showing on HBO right there and then, and i love Julia Roberts. I couldn't NOT watch it.
• Ella Enchanted - long time ago, i only learned it had a novel version after i'd seen the movie.

Those are actually just all i could remember for now. There were others, yes.

As for the Harry Potter series, still now in the middle of book seven, but with very slow progress because the internet is always in the way. but i promise myself to read for about 30 minutes more or less before i sleep. I still haven't seen the last two parts of the seventh film and i'm seeing all these spoilers in tumblr (grrrrr!).

I'm still enjoying hating Snape and i'm getting the idea it will turn out he's not evil after all. Well, that's a good twist but i would have liked to know about it myself. Oh well. I better just get on with the chapters quickly so i can watch the movie already.

And, i have so many books piling up. i don't know why i keep buying them when they're clearly not going away. They will always be sold in bookstores or online but i can't help it whenever i see a book i want to read, i have this urge to get it for myself, as in sense of ownership.

Some of the books pending are:

• Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters (Rick Riordan)
• How to walk in high-heels (Camilla Morton)
• Her Fearful Symmetry (Audrey Niffenegger)
• Al Capone does my shirts (Gennifer Choldenko)
• Seabiscuit (Laura Hillenbrand)
• The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini)
• The Romanov Prophecy (Steve Berry)

And a few classics like Alice In Wonderland and Peter Pan.

And, instead of studying for the lecture on Friday, here i am, blogging. This is why i don't get things done right away.

Vivitar PN2011 Toy Camera

Yesterday, I went to a thrift shop and got this toy camera, a Vivitar PN2011. It’s cheap, i got it for Php100, and according to the salesperson, it’s no longer working, but i checked and i think it still does. It doesn’t require batteries, and it can also shoot fake panoramic images (by cropping out the top and bottom parts of the frame leaving the center looking long and thin like panoramic shots). i’m excited for a test roll.




There are a bunch more other compact film cameras, one of those i am thinking of getting is a Ricoh TF-500 Automatic. It seems pretty cool because based on info from camerapedia, it's has two lenses, a 35mm wide lens and a 70mm telephoto; curious how the telephoto lens shots look like from a compact camera.