Road Trips and The Tres Marias

This is a super delayed post, with pictures from my Palawan trip last June. I notice that this always happens whenever I take a trip and come home with a gazillion pictures. I just feel lazy sorting them out, not to mention editing them. Sometimes, I really wish I could just post them as they are which is perfectly ok but most times, I feel that editing makes a lot of difference.

So here are the shots I took from the time we were on the road for two hours on our way to the airport, our last day in Palawan. Palawan has so much more to offer and it was a shame we only got to experience two and a half days of this beautiful paradise on earth. Next time I will surely go and see Coron and El Nido and take those packaged island tours maybe.

Riding back to Puerto Princesa, we took the hotel van from Sheridan Hotel and saw some really great views of the forests and limestone cliffs. Truly a marvel I must say, even their trees look different from ordinary ones we have at home.




















Along the way, we also dropped by this little souvenir shop (a little hut) which sold a lot of little trinkets made of wood and other native materials. It had a fabulous view of the horizon seeing the neighboring islands.

One of the interesting things we saw was the "Tres Marias" as the locals called it. It's the set of three islands side by side very clearly visible in the horizon. They're a bit small from this view but you can't miss them. But there are no people who live there so.. nobody ever goes to those three islands. But they sure look really cool from where we were standing.

A Gift from Hersley!

One of the artists we featured in the recent issue of We See It Magazine was Hersley-Ven Casero, who also lives in Dumaguete, was so happy that his work was wonderfully featured. Because of that, he's offered me a little token of his appreciation, which I was absolutely excited about (despite telling him that he really didn't have to).

Hersley is a friend and also one of the popular artists and photographers in our local community. I was a student in one of his photography crash courses and he was the one who introduced me to the great Henri Cartier Bresson. I believe he is also Hersley's idol among others. You can see more of his art in this issue of We See It.

He has offered to give me one of his artworks. I have never received or owned any artworks before so I was truly thankful to get one from him, seeing he's already done so many for local cafe's and restaurants.




As you can see, this is a reversible canvas, I can choose to hang it either way. I love how he did the reflection at the bottom and the colors he used. It has these little gold accents (very small not sure if you can see it in the photo) which I also really like. It is 10" x 14" and it will be the first artwork I will ever hang in my bedroom wall.

If you're reading this, thank you Hersley! For sharing your art to the world and giving a small piece of it to me!

We See It Fall/Autumn Issue

Here it is finally! We See It Magazine volume 7, also the Fall/Autumn and anniversary issue. This is what's been keeping me busy for the past weeks and huge thanks to WSI for giving me the opportunity to work on this issue. It's my first time to be guest editor so I feel eager, anxious and excited hoping you guys like how I've made this issue look!

I must say that I was very inspired working on the pages of this magazine, seeing so much talent both in the world of photography, art and design. I have so much admiration for the artists we have featured so far and I only wish I had more artistic veins in my body to produce something as good.

In this issue's style feature is a young "fashionista" who I simply love for having such passion for fashion at such a young age! I hope you check that out if you get the chance.

Open publication - Free publishing - More art

Sarah's Engagement Party

It was quite a surprise when I learned the news that my high school best friend throwing an engagement party. But I was very happy to attend because despite having lost touch of her for a lot of years, she's still one of the best friends I had when I was a teenager.

Sarah's fiance, Sandeep, is Indian from Punjab, India. They met in New Delhi and instantly fell in love, as Sarah would say, "it was love at first sight." I actually didn't think those things exist but now I guess I believe it does happen to some people. My mother calls it a "whirlwind" romance but whatever it is, I have nothing but good wishes for her and Sandeep.

I also got to tell a few stories from our high school days, me being one of the witnesses of how she came to be known as "Star" as her real name is "Sarah".

I was glad to have spent the evening with my other highschool classmates Freslyn and Rudylen. We took a few pictures afterwards. The party was held at Bethel Guest House.

Love these moments. Good times.

The Colors of Parada Sillimaniana 2012

Every year, our school's founder's day is much anticipated by students and it's the biggest event that our school prepares for every August. It's known to have so many tradition, one is for alumni to come home and walk the halls of our beloved alma mater.

This year, Silliman University (SU) turns 111 years old. That's more than a century from the time it was founded in 1901. SU is the first American school in the Philippines and our home Dumaguete is proud to be its home.

One tradition is the annual parade, also more popularly known by any of its student as the Parada Sillimaniana. It's held always on the the 27th of August. It's a time when both students, teachers, alumni and friends all gather in the campus and walk the streets of Dumaguete, raising each of their department banners proud. It's a 2-3 hour long parade and ends in the Silliman Grandstand where each participating group gets introduced to everybody.

I used to attend this annual parade but I have always complained how exhausting and tiring it was, not to mention the heat we had to endure while we were on the streets. Most people really don't mind because they get to chitchat and take group pictures with friends. This year I decided to just wait in campus streets, get a good spot and take some snapshots of interesting people.