Miami Herald Article with Missy's Picture in it.

Missy and her friend Julinna and even Ophine are included in a Miami Herald photo that came out today in the Neighbors' section of the paper. She's the one wearing the green long-sleeve shirt. The title of the article in print is 'Ringing in Spring' and the photo was taken during last weekend's Easter egg hunt in Forzano Park in Miramar. The online photo is quite small but fortunately we get the Herald everyday. I'm already planning to cut it and frame it for Missy. To see the article, click HERE.

Your Photo on a Museum Wall

Would you like to see your photo on a museum wall? It's not hard as you may think. There is a way it can be done just like the samples below. It's not exactly truthful but for fun's sake, click here and you can do the same.

City of Miramar Easter Egg Hunt

This morning, we all went to a park where the City of Miramar held their annual Easter Egg Hunt. As usual, the kids were all so excited. CJ together with her Mom Cathie and the Villarta girls, Justrina and Julinna were also there.

It was just a very fast event and it probably took less than 5 minutes for all the kids to gather every available plastic egg they can get their hands on. The eggs were located in a 'pen' and the kids were grouped according to their age. After that, all were busy opening up their eggs and wishfully thinking that they'd get a special prize. Fortunately,one of Missy's eggs contained that piece of paper stating she won that prize. Well, it's just a gift basket with bigger toys and more candies and obviously Missy felt so proud she won one of the prizes.

Again here are some photos from the event.

How to Handle a Telemarketer

Watch and learn! Jerry Seinfeld does his thing.

How to Make a CD/DVD Sleeve

There are many times when I need to dish out some casual photo CDs for friends and then realize that I have no more CD/DVD sleeves available. Watch this video and learn how to make the cheapest, most practical CD/DVD sleeve that will work.




COOLEST, CHEAPEST AND PRACTICAL CD CASES YOU'LL EVER OWN - The best video clips are right here

Picnic at the Park

Memorial Healthcare System, Ophine's employer had a corporate picnic today so after attending church, we proceeded to C.B. Smith park for their annual picnic. There were lots of food as expected but the kids enjoyed doing the fun stuff. I don't really know how to call the things they rode on or used but took some pictures of the kids enjoying the day. We didn't really stay too long since there were still some chores, errands to make and some unfinished kids' homework to finish. Here are some photos.














video clip:

The Best Book on Filipino Food There Is

I came across this wonderful book and ordered one.

Memories of Philippine Kitchens

This is by far the best book on Philippine Food and Cooking I've ever read and it's hardcover. Check the reviews and order it, you won't be disappointed. If you like and eat Filipino food or would just like to learn about the cuisine even if you don't cook, make sure you get one. When you have visitors who are interested with what you serve them (assuming...), show them the book and the more your cooking and original Philippine cuisine will be appreciated.

It's coffee-table book quality, the writing is superb and the photos are gorgeous. The photos here were made by Neal Oshima, one of the Philippines' better known commercial photographers. Just learning about the food's cultural highlights is enough good reading. You'd think Saveur made this one and yes they do write about Filipino Food from time to time. Just note that if you lend it to someone, there's a possibility you won't get it back.

New Blogger Header

I just changed the blogger header. After laboring to do the collage in Photoshop yesterday. I decided to do the change today. It took me a few hours to do some research on editing the html code, doing some trial and error, and playing with the code change on another private blog that I use primarily for testing new techniques before finally I was able to do it. It was not as easy as I thought since the tutorials I've found online were not really complete and I have to figure out what was missing. I added my own changes to fit the image and only then was I able to load it successfully. I'm pretty happy with the result (for now) and I hope you'll like it.

History of my Photography

Above you'd find a collage of some of my favorite photos. Some coming from my pre-digital days. This is just a mixture of what my photography is all about. I will make a separate collage for my portraits but this collage includes 'stints' with photojournalism, landscape and nature, action shots and 'others'. You might want to click on the photo to enlarge it.

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I was about 7 or 8 if I'm not mistaken when my Dad gave us siblings a plastic camera that takes 120 roll film. I think it was an Agfa camera but it was just so long ago that I'm not even sure what it really was. It's no longer with any of us I believe but that started my interest with photography. At that age, we treated it more of a toy wasting film on wherever we wanted to point the camera to without any regard to any technical consideration when taking pictures.

My dad was a photo buff. He even had some darkroom equipment that he passed on to us esp. my twin brother Gary when we were in high school. My brother was more interested with photography and he was even involved with the batch yearbook while I use most of my free time playing basketball with my friends. But during my junior and senior years in HS, I was carrying a camera in my bag almost every day. I was even able to persuade my HS friends and also basketball team mates to pose for me so I can take their solo pictures. It was working fine until a classmate pushed my bag too far on the table and down came my camera, a little broken but I also learned how to fix it's mechanical parts by opening it's bottom plate. It was a Konica Autoreflex 35mm camera with a 50mm Hexanon lens. It was just sort of lent to us by our Dad but we never returned it until it's demise. Then Gary was gifted by my Mom I think with a Pentax ME Super that from time to time I would borrow.

During college, photography took a back seat but I would still occasionally lug a camera around especially during events I was involved with.

After college, I was able to buy my first own 35mm camera and it was a Nikon N4004 from my earnings. That renewed my interest with photography. I ultimately moved to a Canon EOS A2, Nikon 8008s which is still with me and a medium format Mamiya RB67 before I started shooting primarily digital. I have already sold the Canon and the Mamiya equipment last year since the price was really going down so fast when dSLRs where becoming more advanced and more reasonable in price.

I am still very involved with my craft, trying to learn whatever I can to shoot better by studying whatever I needed to learn. Yes, it's very technical but I have always believed I have a good eye for compositions and that's a plus factor for me. Now that I'm concentrating more on portraiture, the learning just never stops. Now, it's just not clicking the shutter but becoming my own lab since I just have to make use of what digital photography offers. My, the learning curve is very steep but it's worth it.

I still have a 'not so short wishlist'. Yes, a very good photographer can shoot with any available equipment but having better and more versatile equipment helps a photographer shoot better photos.