winter glamour

Hi! Click on the thumbnail to view the gallery of "Winter Glamour 2007". The White Room of MyPlace was a great venue in terms of the lighting and the artsy-fartsy design. Bouncing off-cam wasn't a real issue - plenty of very white and very flat surfaces to deflect on.

Despite of the other technical difficulties, the event was a very memorable and enjoyable occasion. I hope you have fun browsing the gallery.

twinks' birthday

Rotaract District Secretary Francoise Marie "Twinkle" Alonzo celebrated her --th (guess her age) birthday last December 20 alongside RAC Paraiso's President Lenna Rosa Desuasido. As usual, her Kamuning abode were full of beauties from the Rotaract Club of Timog who also held their annual election of officers. Unfortunately, DRR Boyet, ADRR Robert, Mark, and I weren't present to take photos of the election as we were busy running for beers! Professional Development Director Abby Carreon emerged as the President-Elect of RAC Timog for Rotary Year 2008-2009. Congratulations Abby!

For the photos, it was a hit-and-miss affair once again. The interior shots were easy, with a low, bright ceiling to bounce from. But outside (were most of the action was), I had to choose between two ceilings - a high and a higher one, with half a meter gap between them. The gap had a major distance issue, 93 billion miles to the nearest galaxy so bouncing off the gap was out of the question. The walls weren't much help either, as they were solid concrete with hardly any paint. So no off-camera bounce for outside shots, just plain old flash in the face, at 1/32nd power. Sorry guys!

Click on the image to view the full gallery.

soul patrol in manila

American Idol winner Taylor "Soul Patrol" Hicks graced the Philippine shores for a series of free concerts courtesy of the Ayala Malls. I happened to catch the second installment at the Greenbelt 3 open area and saw an American Idol in the flesh.

The concert started late by half an hour. I arrived two and a half hours before the event, hoping to get a good vantage point for the "free" concert. But the event wasn't free at all, you had to secure a ticket and to get one, you have to know someone (that is, from the organizers or any of the major sponsors). Shame that the guards are on their usual bulldog mentality, gnarling and barking at anyone near the concert grounds.

Anyhow, I managed to secure on the right flank of the stage, about 15 meters from Taylor. My 18-135mm Nikkor lens struggled to focus on the salt and pepper haired Bammer. The white fabric covering the scaffolding didn't help at all with my strobes so the resulting white-outs. Hope you enjoy viewing the pics though.

Click here for the pics. Or click the thumbnail.