"Onion Kids Homecoming" at Mugna Gallery

Catching this exhibition by Hersley Casero at Mugna Gallery, Valencia, Negros Oriental. Followed by evening stroll at Valencia Plaza

Enero

Fresh green buds appear
Indicating spring will soon
Energize us all.

Haiku by Paul Holmes

Source

Tiny Humans - Summer

I'm not very "chatty" when I take pictures or when I'm working. Of course I talk when I give out posing instructions but normally I am just the serious type. I'd like to be able to make jokes and make my subjects at ease but most of the time, it's a challenge for me to be more open. With kids though, I don't have to try so hard. They're usually very active and goofy and they make genuine reactions and facial expressions especially when there are also other kids around. That's why it's easier to take spontaneous shots of children because you don't have to tell them to do a certain pose and they give out really good faces to capture.

Summer is KC's little brother. He likes to run around topless both inside the house and out in the yard. I personally like those bouncy little curls. When he saw that I was taking pictures, he just bumped up his energy and went running more, made this tough face so many countless times and sometimes he would stop and open his eyes and look at you very curiously. I showed him his pictures on the camera and he started to tap on the screen ("no Summer, no touch screen!").

Here, his mother was putting on him some clothes because as cold as the weather in Valencia is, he doesn't seem to be bothered with it because he plays around outside with no shirt on!

KC - All grown up

This is KC. She's actually a bit camera-shy but she can pull off a good "eye contact" with my camera. I especially loved her long hair and lashes and the moments we captured when she laughed at her mother's jokes while we were taking her pictures. That helped a lot since I don't have an arsenal of jokes to crack to make my subjects smile or laugh. That's always a struggle on my part. We occasionally paused shooting when some of their neighbors passed by or when her father came out to look because she was too shy to have photos taken while people are looking. We shot these just outside their house and a nearby garden, on a gloomy day with very little sunshine to work with.

I am also revisiting portraits and my love for cinematic black and white — bringing back some of that grainy goodness!

P.S. Last year, I also took photos of her. If you want to see those shots, you can click here.