Dumaguete and Cherry Blossoms

I think I may be obsessed with film photos, thus, my constant attempt to imitate the look and feel of it. Considering my lack of new snapshots, I dug up even deeper in my photo trunk and reprocessed these shots from a few years back.

People love cherry blossoms. I mean, who wouldn't love these puffy white and pink blooms? I may be wrong but I think cherry blossoms do not grow in this country. So you can just imagine my excitement when I saw a tree growing very similar flowers as the actual cherry blossom (sakura) trees.

Playing with Mextures by Merek Davis

Today, I took a look at my room and thought of things to photograph. I also discovered the white balance setting I never got to use before, the preset where you specify color temperature (K*). I used a yellowish-red color and got some good warm colored shots. I added some cool old photo textures by Merek Davis and arrived with the following photos.

 

Thankful

Oftentimes, I find myself reflecting upon life and the world we live in today and marvel at the amazing and wonderful things we take for granted. I'm talking about the flowers in the garden, the birds perched on power lines, the beautiful sky so blue adorned with perfect puffy clouds, the food on our table, our friends and family who love us.

You might wonder what has gotten into me for thinking about these things. Nothing actually. I am really someone whose thoughts seem to wander when I'm alone. I like to observe things as they happen and try to think beyond what I see.

I admit that I'm not a very religious person. I fail to attend mass every Sunday but every time I miss one, I feel guilty. Everyday, when I go to work and before I go to bed and the moment I wake up, I think about everything that happened and I just wonder if there's really a greater being. But then I think about all the beautiful and wonderful miracles and places in this world, I think again and say, "how can there not be a higher being?" For everything to be working so perfect in this world despite the problems, there's just so much to be thankful for.

This is a truly unlikely, out of the blue post but I guess it would be nice to share what I'm thankful for. (But of course, I cannot possibly list all of them!)

I am thankful for

+ the gift of life; being able to wake up everyday and that the world did not end yesterday
+ a complete family, who care and love each other despite problems
+ the food on our table and the people who prepare them
+ the ability to share our thoughts freely to people, whether in person or online
+ for receiving blessings, things we need and things we want
+ for the hardship of my parents in sending all of me and my siblings to school, going to work everyday to provide for us
+ for simple laughter and tears of joy, for peaceful nights without harm and danger
+ for the skills and talent and being able to do them freely
+ for the worry-free days, no matter how boring or fun-filled
+ for my students, especially those who really try to learn and study the lessons I give them
+ for my friends who remember and appreciate me
+ for good health, that until this day we are able to move and walk and talk with so much energy as yesterday
+ for our home and our safety, that there are no tragedies or calamities that endanger us and our loved ones

Like I said, too many to mention. But I just wanted to share. I also whisper a prayer anytime I remember any of these. This is what I get for being alone most days but I'm working on it.

On another note, I am turning thirty in April and I am very anxious. Not looking forward to it at all. Gotta make future plans regarding my career path soon. Crossing my fingers for now.

To summarize this post, I am simply thankful.

Kiddie Parties

I should have more pictures to post considering I have kiddie parties to photograph from time to time, but I would like to post those in my client blog. I've seriously missed taking random things everywhere but I don't get to go out of town and travel that often anymore. But I guess there always comes a time when we get bitten by the lazybug.

I'm digging up photos from previous kiddie parties and I realize there are quite a number of adorable shots that I would like to share.

 

Xander at 22 Days

One thing that happened while I was away from this blog was the birth of my friend's first child, Xander. He is my godson and he is of course very cute, and too adorable for words. And you'd think photographing a newborn is easy because all they do is sleep or lie on their back, but it never actually is. They are too delicate that it's a challenge to have them "pose" to get an effortless-looking photograph. But is still really fun to do, nevertheless.

Such a precious little thing. Thanks to new parents, Roselleand Nabi for letting me take photos of their bouncing baby boy.

 

I tried this technique of reversing a lens to get macro shots.

Silly Drawings

I have recently been using a couple of drawing apps mainly so I could put them to good use instead of having them sit on my iPad eating up space when I could use them for other apps. The best I have tried so far are Paper by FiftyThree and Penultimate by Evernote. The latter I was truly happy to have acquired for free after thinking of actually buying it. Paper, too, is wonderful, but it comes with the basic pen for free and more features have to be purchased (which I am also thinking of getting).

So, I went on and tried drawing simple illustrations. These are obviously not pro artist material but what I love is seeing them all in a page like I actually drew them on real notebook (if you don't already know, I love notebooks and journals). I like seeing doodles and drawings done by people event though the drawings aren't too good. I love the character that exudes from the handwriting and strokes.

Oh, and it's February. Forever and always alone on every February but I got used to it.

 

Oops, misspelled "Stiletto" right there.