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!

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.

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:

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.

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!

Fete De La Musique 2012: Hip Hop Stage

Last Saturday the city of Makati became a one big venue for music lovers and the like because of the annual Fete dela Musique. Fete dela Musique or World Music Day is a celebration of the beauty and the vastness of music. Makati avenue was closed down to traffic and became the central stage of the festival. Other music genres have their own stages like the Rock stage at Bside and the Hip Hop stage at Kyss.

Naturally I wouldn't let this big event just pass by without me documenting it but seeing that the different music stages are scattered around Makati area. I have decided to stick with the rock stage and hip hop stage plus I have this photography project that I am secretly working on.

I first headed to Bside where I thought my buddy Gerome was but we had a bit of communication mishap. So after realizing he no way near the area I just decided to wing it. Bside was packed and was extremely humid so I have just decided to go straight for the hip hop stage inside but before I leave the area I needed to take a couple of photos. Turns out that it was Nyctinasty's set and upon hearing them play I immediately change my mind into staying there (despite the heat) until they wrapped up their set.

I really like this one for some weird reason.

After Bside I went straight to Kyss for the Hip Hop stage and also because most of my friends who attended Fete are there. The stage had a late start but as soon as the music started pumping everyone was bobbing their heads to the beat. Emcee Anygma shared some snippets of the history of hip hop in the Philippines.

From the gritty streets of Tondo to the high rise buildings in the south, artists from different locations performed their pieces to show that hip hop is just as rich and diverse as the other genres of music.

Tempes from Tondo

Hukbalahap from Tondo

Jazze Manuel

Maria and Jolo of Hifan Records

Target from the South

People's Future

Now, this is the part where the stage totally went nuts because when Picoy and his crew took over the mic everyone was blown away with their sound. I even forgot to take photos because I was having a blast of seeing the real deal of local beat boxing in front of me. 

Picoy Cruz assaulting the audience with his killer beat-boxing skills.

Almost everyone went crazy even the foreign guests who where there. Picoy and his crew are giving the machines a run for its money while launching a barrage of heavy hitting beats at the same time. Things got funky after Picoy's awesome display of his beat-boxing prowess. The Mighty Miscellaneous dropped the mother load in Kyss. Their sound is like having your mom drag you down by the ear without protests to the  times where hip hop was known to be funky.

DJ Umph, Switch, Delphi and D'Tech

From start to finish I was just bobbing my head with their music and clicking the shutter at the same time. If you haven't seen them yet then you should probably check them out since they are launching their album sometime this month.

After the killer set of Miscellaneous, I decided to call it a night since I have loads of stuff to do and I haven't been getting any proper sleep during this past few days. All in all this year's Fete de la Musique was a great  success from what I have witnessed because everyone was really digging it. Hopefully it would be like one big street party again. :)

Next year I'll try and visit all the stages there and probably take portraits of really interesting people. See you to the next Fete! Cheers!

Black Kath - Jam Packed June: My Favorite Snaps

If there is one thing that I learned is that never forget to drink a can of energy drink if you didn't had enough sleep the night before.

Last June 9 I did some "pre-birthday celebration" shooting photos, drinking beer and having a blast at Freedom Bar in Anonas of course this "pre-birthday" celebration wouldn't be possible without my cousin Kath and Black Kath Productions which by the way is one hell of a prod and can certainly kick some serious ass.

Okay, going back to what really this post is about. I tried something new since I am getting wee bit frustrated in shooting gigs in small venues. What I did the unimaginable. I brought a freaking light stand. Yes, a small light stand —now crucify me! I also brought a pair of flash triggers, my reliable CD-R King flash, my battered Sunpak PZ42X which is sadly not as much of a performer compared to its CD-R King counterpart and shit loads of AA batteries.

Yep that's the CD-R King flash at work! Just look at that power! LOL

Now for the setup!

After setting up my light and checking if its firing I placed it first in front and then switched it to the side since not everyone is getting lit enough (my first real lesson with the inverse square law has costed me 3 awesome bands). Then I dialed the power to 1/8th of a power so that I can shoot at around f2.8 up until f8 at ISO 400 while having the shutter speed at around 60th-20th of a second.

This was the first setup and then changed. The photo before this was my second light setup.

Okay, enough with the setup and the technical shenanigans, now its time to showcase some of my favorite shoots of that night.

Keeper shot!

Bass + Flying hair + B&W = Classic.

I really love that expression the drummer is giving.

Now this is what I will call a happy accident

As you can see I am really into wide angle shots.

That's it? Yep! Now I'm thinking that next time I shoot a gig maybe I should try 2 lights and instead of light stands maybe I should get those clamps for convenience, portability and the idea of not having the light stand topple onto some poor bystander.  I do hope you guys like my snaps, I could definitely use some C&Cs here. 

Cheers!

*Edit: my writing skills are so horrible right now. This is my 3rd time editing it. :|

114th Independence Day— A Day Worth of Risk

I risked and therefore I conquered and captured images. These are my 114th Independence Day Collection. All are captured using my 10-22mm on a 500D body and a CD-R King flash/Godox Flash trigger by a Yonguo CTR.

For my 2nd independence day celebration, I have decided to do something I haven't done before. First is photograph people in the street with a speedlight. The second one is to talk to strangers, complete strangers and ask them to pose in front of the camera. In all honesty these are no street portraits. These are still images of the 100% Juan.

All of these images are copyrighted and cannot be used in any means without my permission and the permission of the person in the photograph.

This guy was giving the real owner of the ice cream stand a lesson in posing.

One of my favorite shots during the day.

Wish I had a dog that big too!

Yes even security guards didn't escaped my camera.

I waited for almost 3 hours for the fireworks but its all worth it.

I'm really happy with the results but I think that to be able to create better and more compelling portraits, I need to practice this for 1,000,000.00 times.