Mother bird rescues her baby!

As I was walking at our backyard, I could not help notice several birds flying really low and somewhat in a "panic mode". I saw one bird still on the ground, I came in closer and saw that it was a baby maya that could not fly which caused its parents to fly like crazy when they saw me approaching. I quickly ran inside the house and grabbed my camera with the intention to capture the rescue attempt of the little bird's parents.

I lied flat on the pavement for about 15 minutes as I watched the rescue team fly over me and survey the area. I had to move back from my position to give them a bit of security that I would not be in range to harm them. Then, finally! The moment I've been waiting for! Mother lands beside her baby!



My shutter release goes off, bursting at a rate of 5 frames per second! The sound resembling that of a sub machine gun...Mother bird panics, and soars thru the air! I finally realize that by using my 200mm lens, it would not give me a safe distance to capture the moment in stealth. I give up my position and entered the house, giving the little bird's parents a worry free opportunity to pick up their baby.



I'll probably save up so one day I could buy a 600mm lens and be more effective in capturing wild life photography. I certainly enjoyed the thrill of capturing such moments. :D

Popo & Jackie - March 28, 2008

Food! Food! Food!

Here are more food shots that I've done and of all the genres in photography, shooting food is a totally different language which makes it so interesting! :D Doesn't that chicken look delicious?! The Red Ice Tea shot for Kitaro took me three attempts to get it right! Wheeew!!! I definitely need a cold drink after that one.



This iced tea glass was shot with only one Nikon SB-800, believe it, or not?!

More products from Kitaro

Here are some new products we can expect soon from Kitaro! This time, it really made me hungry during the photo shoot! :p I remember before I left seeing Leslie looking at the tray of sushi, and saying: "I love Kitaro", It made me think, hmmm...me too! :O

I got to bring home one big tray of sushi and I guess I'll never go hungry again, haha! Go out and treat yourself for some Kitaro sushi today, you deserve it! :)

Don't harm the animals! Just shoot 'em!

My friend Jonas invited me to the Philippine Canine Club, Inc.'s All-Breeds Championship Dog Show. As an enthusiast, he was sharing to me the different breed types and characteristics of the dogs which was very educational. It even made me think of how diverse we people are as well! A great opportunity to learn new stuff and take some photos. They were so adorable and amazing, especially the large breeds! My all time favorites: Pug! (especially the round, over weight ones!) :D , Boxer, Doberman and Siberian Husky! I'm glad the Pomeranian won "Best in Show", it was my best bet! Check out some of the images of yesterdays event:

The cute 'lil furball got its well deserved title.


Hai! Watashi wa, Nihon-jin desu! Banzai! :O


Here is a whippet, whipping its handler! No, just kidding! This race dog just wanted to give its handler a wet kiss on the lips! :D (do you see the pattern on both handler and k9?)


'Sup Dawg??!!!


My kind of dog!

The Holy Land

Ok, I'm really excited about my trip to Israel this coming May. Shalom! I'm kinda tense in the sense that I'm worried on how I will pack! Should I bring most of my gear and take good shots of the places I'll be going to?? But I am overly excited as well to learn from the tour and fellowship with other Christians. It is also the 60th anniversary of the nation's statehood, it was a prophecy foretold thousands of years ago (during the old testament times) that Israel will be reunited as a nation in 1948!

As part of the Conference/Tour, we will visit places such as the City of David, Western wall excavations, Garden of Gethsemane, Garden Tomb, Samaria, Dead Sea, Galilee and Judea!

Here are some images of the Promised Land!

Temple of the Rock, Jerusalem


Church of Nativity, Bethlehem (Birth spot of our Lord Jesus Christ)

Let there be Sushi!

I had a new assignment yesterday and I was tasked to shoot some food shots for a popular local sushi bar - Kitaro! It got me really excited to do this because the last time I shot food was at Mark Floro's Food Photography class at PCCI.

I brought all my stuff, you name it! The heavy light stands, strobe heads, umbrellas and soft boxes, camera and lenses and my 17" powerbook and without any assistant that moment I just thought that lifting all those equipment will just exhaust my energy! So, I said to myself, " I don't really need all this stuff!" Immediately, I pulled my D200, 2 Sb-800's and Su-800 and that was about it! Using Nikon's Advanced Lighting technology, I was able to achieve studio output quality in my layouts.

Kitaro is coming out with some new products that you just would like to try when it is made available. Believe me, the sushi really rocks! Check this out:



The proud and beautiful manager of Kitaro, Leslie!



I'm definitely getting some sushi tonight! :D

Flight schedules for 2008

I have several scheduled trips this year in different locations and in case some of you would like to schedule a prenup /portrait session I would definitely be glad to accommodate you. I'll be going to Vietnam this April 13-18, 2008, after that I'll be going to the Holy Land, Israel on May 7-21, 2008 as part of my equipping for my calling to serve the Lord Jesus Christ in the ministry, I don't think I'll be able to do a prenup session here but I would be glad to meet up and fellowship with other pinoys who would be there at that time! and perhaps take some souvenir photos :D. Then I'm off to Singapore on July for a workshop on the 22 and 23rd, I could probably stretch my stay there to about 7 days. Finally, I'll be going to Sydney this August, date is not yet confirmed, but for those interested please schedule an appointment with me soon so we could discuss the possibilities in arranging the dates.

Vietnam, April 13-18, 2008

Holy Land, May 7-21, 2008 (In time for the 60th anniversary statehood)

Singapore, July 21-24, 2008

Australia, August 2008

Free Hugs in Manila

Last February 23, we went out on the streets to give everyone a Free Hug! Together with Kim, Christopher and Dexter we were able to go to 4 different sites were we found lots of people that just needed a hug and did it brighten their day! We are caught up with anxiety and stress on a daily basis that a simple gesture of love recieved from a stranger could just change the way we see life. So, why don't we all go out and hug a stranger today! :D FREE HUGS!!!!!







Here is a photo of me giving freehugs that Kim took, I just wonder how she managed to take this shot with a 70-200mm in an arm's length! Hahaha!

Preparing for Free Hugs

Ok, you guys may be wondering what's going on here?? Well, were preparing for a free hug campaign which started immediately after we finished making the boards. Captured again with my Lomo. Great job Kim! :D



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My first Lomo portrait session

Here goes the first set of portrait images I took using Lomo. Special thanks to Mark and our lovely model Klaudia. :D

Photo of the day

As I was working on some revisions on my album layouts I stumbled across this file. This is actually a shot of a flower girl putting on her shoes. As I look at the image, I could just imagine the emotion and anticipation she had at the moment. Perhaps similar to the bride? A bit nervous? or simply excited? Or maybe both?? what do you think???

Rommel & Jacklyn engagement portraits

Aside from the usual outdoor engagement portraits, I find it good to try new stuff all the time. Shooting indoors was a good idea. Made me feel relaxed and at home! :D

Controlling light even better.

I recieved my new Nikon SU-800 Commander unit today and it got me really excited to test it out! It has been out of stock here in Manila and after checking in about 10 stores in Hong Kong my brother was able to purchase one for me. Finally, a faster way of adjusting the settings for the Advanced Lighting System which would require me to toggle with the D200's menu when using the pop-up flash in commander mode. (saves me a lot of time and batteries!)




What better way to try it out?? I asked my niece, Alyssa to model for me. Using two SB-800's and setting them to TTL mode with a little fine tuning to blend with the ambient light of our living room and in A Mode with the D200.




To really push it to the test (flash and my niece) I asked Alyssa to jump and by bouncing the two flash groups off the white walls I was able to achieve the awesome stopping power of the SB-800 units!