Overjive Shoot Sneak Peek

Here are some proofs that I am not yet dead or missing but just busy juggling my day job, part-time job and other stuff about life. 

A Crowbar and some Bruises

Before the summer ended I went back to the abandoned building at Betty-Go Belmonte station to do another fashion shoot. Better watch out for the crowbar or get hit. 

Graffiti & Demonstrations

I'm having a great week and hopefully it will end that way. Last Sunday we did a shoot at an abandoned building in Betty Go Belmonte and just this evening I took some photos during the Labor Day demonstrations at Mendiola.

Long Overdue: Stef & Carol's Portraits

After a gazillion years of getting stuck I finally managed to get these photos done. Yes!

Moriones in Mindoro

For this year's Holy Week (or People-Trying-To-Be-Holy-For-A-Few-Days as I call it) the family has decided to ditch the usual 5-day staycation and do something that we haven't done for quite some time. We visited Mindoro, dad's hometown and half of my origins.

Sunday Skate Shoot at UP Diliman

Just did a quick shoot last Sunday with the awesome Momma Nikka at UP Diliman. I kind of realize that I suck as a sports photographer and would probably practice that in my later years (or never at all) but for now I'm all for lifestyle, editorial, documentary and street photography.

Photography Inspiration: Brassai

If there was one photographer who live and very much showed his love for the place where he lived in it's Gyula Halász or more commonly known as George Brassaï or Brassaï for short. A Hungarian artist who did a lot of creative work like making sculptures, films, drawing and above all photography. Brassaï first worked as a journalist for a Hungarian newspaper but later moved to Paris wherein he stayed there for all his life.

My 2012 in Images

2012 has been both a good and a bad year for me in terms of photography work. Good because I believe that I have improved at least, acquired new gear, got heaps of books and learned new things. Bad because I wasn't able to shoot that much unlike 2011. 

Now that 2012 is coming to a close I would like to commemorate this one hell of a year by recollecting some of my favorite images that I have taken and the stories behind it.

Kath's Birthday Gig

I recently took photographs of my cousin Kath's birthday gig party at Headstock Bar in Marikina and I came across into one of the most biggest dilemmas a photographer has to face. Shooting the same exact thing again. For this shoot to be a bit different what I did is I went in close so that I could photograph half of the musician's body along with whatever there is.

And these are the resulting images:

Photography Inspiration: Helmut Newton

Lately I have been studying the works of classic photographers in my quest to improve and push my craft further. This time I'm featuring Helmut Newton which I consider to be one of my main sources of inspiration. Newton's provocative black and white photographs are often dubbed as innovative that he has become one of Vogue's mainstay photographers and acclaimed fashion photographers of his time.

I couldn't help but compare Araki and Newton since both share the same penchant of mostly shooting women subjects while infusing nudity and sex in their photographs, but both photographers differ in terms of how their subjects are portrayed in the photographs.

Of Posts and Plays

Last Sunday I headed out to join a tour around at some of the beautiful but forgotten places here in Manila. The itinerary was pretty long (we are supposed to go to Arroceros Park, Aduana and many more) but because of the inclement weather we just trimmed down the tour into two places. First was the Philippine Post Office or PhilPost and the other one was the Manila Metropolitan Theater both are situated in the Lawton area.

For this shoot I challenged myself not to use my trusty wide angle lens and explore the capabilities of my nifty-fifty. At first it was tough because I am accustomed to shooting the whole scene first rather than focusing on the intimate details specially when it comes to architectural details.

Photography Inspiration: Irving Penn

I just recently discovered the great Irving Penn while I was researching things for a blog post at work. I was actually taken aback after seeing the photograph of the Ballet Society and the image of Lisa Fonssagrives. His images are just so powerful and poetic that it feels like the eyes of the person in his photograph is looking right at your very essence. Most of his photographs are stripped off color and elaborate backgrounds which makes his work so direct and emotionally charged.

The Weekend Gig-Away

While most people I know either spent their 3 day weekend at home pampering themselves or on a trip out of town to escape the chaotic streets of Manila, I on the other hand went to see unsigned bands playing their hearts out offering the restless youth a music that speaks to them. It's awesome to see such dedicated people doing amazing things for music, most specially if you are living here in the Philippines were the mainstream music is mostly comprised of overly covered songs which are not even remotely good and neither it did justice to the original song.

Anyway, time to stop this drama and get this shit down.

Friday: Black Kath Productions' 1st Anniversary at Headstock Bar - My favorite production just celebrated it's first birthday and I wouldn't miss it out specially all the fun and good memories I had every time I attend a Black Kath gig.

Maybe Thursday

Of Lights and Sounds

Sorry for the late upload! I haven't been able to shoot that much since my last post because I have been focusing all my energies at work. 

Sounds

So last October 20, I head out to Autonomy Music Bar for Black Kath Prod gig. I really missed shooting gigs like this one. I was doubtful if I will be able to get great shots since it was my first time in Autonomy Bar, I have no idea how the lights work, space and above all I haven't shot a thing prior to this gig.

Still Alive.

Hi! I haven't updated this blog for quite sometime now but don't worry! I'm still shooting though not as often as before since I'm busy with work and saving up every single penny that I can manage because I'm getting myself a Google Nexus 7 (which btw is still not yet available here in RP. WTF Google!) and a new computer  before the year ends (hopefully).

On other notes I have a new job and this is what I do, also I'm going to be a part-time teacher (I think haha) so I will be extremely busy to post new work and updates. If you happen to check my blog regularly you can check out my other blog. This is where I just dump my visual inspirations, random musings and some other shit whether or not its related with photography.

Photo above: I attended the 7th year of Pipho which was a butt-load of fun despite not being able to win any shizznit.

Peace and btw I'm sleepy as crap. Cheers!

Vogue's 120th Anniversary Photo Shoot

Vogue, the most influential and most sought after fashion magazine is going to celebrate its 120th year on September and the best way to celebrate its 120th years is to do a massive photo shoot features some of the most influential people like Florence Welch, Rooney Mara and Jennifer Lawrence to name a few. While the list is filled with A-listers in their respective industries it is inspiring (and pressuring) to know that all of them are all under 45 years old! Norman Jean Roy was the man behind the lens in this editorial shoot who is also a top dog in the fashion industry.

Here are some of the photos:

Raf Simons

Sarah Burton, Christopher Bailey & Stella McCartney

Peter Copping & Erdem Moraliogu

Ricardo Tisci & Rooney Mara

Phoebe Philo

Jennifer Lawrence

You can view all the photos with a detailed description about the people in the photo here.

After seeing all the photographs I was naturally psyched to see the BTS video and Vogue was good enough to post one on their Youtube channel.

So what do you think? I'd love to hear what you guys have to say so hit the comment and let's discuss. (Source: Vogue) Cheers!

Victoria Secret's Unretouched Photographs

This recent set of images of VS Angel Doutzen Kroes that was released by mistake in the Victoria's Secret website for a upcoming September catalog has rekindled the age old discussion of real beauty and heavy photo retouching. In my opinion these images are good to go and to be honest its refreshing to see raw commercial photographs of women and most specially the models of Victoria's Secret in a raw and unedited photograph.

Maybe I'm just lazy or this photographs are really good to go after tweaking the exposure on the skin just a bit and cloning away some of the blemishes. What do you guys think? I'd love to hear what you have in mind so bring those comments in. 

(Sources: Fstoppers, Jezebel)

Photography Inspiration: Patrick Demarchelier

I have been following Patrick Demarchelier's work since I first saw his photographs in a back issue of Vogue July 2011. I really love his work because the his images are always stunning and clean to the very last detail. After doing my bit of research I was awed to learn that he was able to worked with the great Henri Cartier-Bresson as well as Terry Gilbert while he was building up his career. With a client list that comprises some of the biggest names in the fashion industry, Patrick Demarchelier is one hell of a fashion photographer

Images by Patrick Demarchelier

Simon Bruty & Martin Schoeller Photographs the Olympic Hopefuls

Its Olympic season again and people from across the globe are glued to whatever device they can get a hold onto to get updates from the 2012 London Olympics. Some are lucky (most Londoners are) to be able to watch and see the action in the flesh as they cheer for their countrymen to succeed. Press photographers are lucky as well apart from going to London while totting a humble lens to a behemoth 500mm clicking away, capturing the scenes of the Olympics they also are the first to see the and capture the passion and determination of the participants. Whilst ordinary photographers like me are still dreaming of photographing the different sporting events at London.

In line of the Olympics I found some really interesting, if not outstanding editorial photographs of the hopeful athletes competing for the gold. First off is Martin Schoeller's shoot for Time Magazine, ESPN Magazine and Women's Health.

Gabby Douglas on the cover of Time Magazine

Ryan Lochte on the cover of Time Magazine

Lolo Jones for Time Magazine

Oksana Masters for ESPN Magazine

Allyson Felix

Another photogorapher who did a stunning set is Simon Bruty who photographed such superb images for Getty Images and Sports Illustrated. From Tunisia to Yemen Simon Burty photographed these athletes despite the of what is currently happening to their countries. I learned about this beautiful set while watching CNN's The Brief with Jimmy Clancy just this morning and I was really glad that I caught it because it was really inspiring not only to the athletes but also to us photographers who are striving hard to produce such beautiful images.

(Sources & Credits: spd.org | Getty Images | Trendland)