My Mismatched Socks

Spent a good 5 days in Bali a short while back, and it was great to have been able to finally kick back, relax, and not think about work (as much as I normally do). Adding another set of photos to my growing backlog, but hopefully I get to these a little sooner!

Anyway, just wanted to share one of my favorite photos from the trip—not exactly screaming “BALI!”, as it was shot in a Starbucks, but it just embodied some of the moments in my life that I enjoy the most.

This was actually a spontaneous photo shoot of sorts, as we decided to do it right then and there. If these two look familiar, they’re the first couple I ever had an engagement shoot for, Troy & Jessica. They’re my Starbucks couple, and the Balinese store design was too pretty to pass up! Elevated floor with just cushions for seats? Yes please!

The spontaneity of the shoot was a refreshing change from work, and I missed the thrill of finding new places to shoot at. It was a good thing that the baristas were very friendly, and had no qualms at all about us taking photos like this in the store (unlike here in Manila, unfortunately). If only I could take more photos of lovely people (willing models!) at coffee shops, I’d be a happy camper!

Engagement: James + Nicole

Of course, being my forgetful self, I completely forgot to post a set of photos from James & Nicole’s engagement shoot! I owe special thanks to Kiks & Misha (whom we all miss terribly!) who were at the shoot with me. :)

Favorite from the set! I just love the negative space with this one.

Washington DC: The Capitol

I’m almost one year delayed with my US posts — I haven’t even gotten to my San Francisco photos yet!! Shame on me. But now that I have a tiny bit of time on my hands, a new post from my US trip last August 2012.

So as promised in my last post (way back in February!!!), pictures from our visit to the Capitol! This place is so grand. When I was a kid, this building stuck to my young mind so much that I thought it was the white house (kind of like how I thought that the Chrysler building was the Empire State). LOL but I now know better!

We were told not to refer to the Capitol as “the Capitol building”, because it’s redundant — “Capitol” already meant “building”, apparently. My young mind also believed that it was actually called the Capital because…it was in the capital of the US.

Check out that ceiling! It was spectacular. I can’t even begin to explain how amazing it is. If you look at the first photo in this blog post, this is actually the inside of the domed part. WHAT!!! It looks like it’s your normal high ceiling, but believe me. It isn’t. Not even CLOSE. High ceiling is an understatement.

I tried photographing it from a different angle just to see if I could capture its height, but I failed. You just have to visit it yourself; it’s worth the trip, I promise you! And did I mention that we were underground? HOW INSANE IS THAT

This place would have been wonderful to photograph had there been no people, but that’s just impossible (unless I worked there) so please bear with the greatly distorted images of people in these pictures.

Anyway, this was one of my favorite parts of the Capitol. It was so elegant, that I could imagine a ball happening in here. Everything looked so regal, what with the gold and maroon hues. For a place that housed statues of former US presidents, of course you wouldn’t want it to be anything short of grand.

Our tour guide showed us a neat little architectural trick in this room. She faced the floor, and whispered through cupped hands, saying that if any of us could hear what she was saying that we approach the area she was in. IT WAS SO COOL. It reminded me of the episode Natural History from HIMYM where Ted kept whispering things from one area that could be heard on the other side of the room. I didn’t think it was possible, but there we go! This wasn’t the Natural History museum, but it’s the same thing.

I have a tendency to stray away from the large tour group to take photos, LOL. It was a delight to have Tricia’s Canon 10-22mm UWA lens with me (thanks for lending it to me, Trin! ILY), as I wouldn’t have been able to capture the beauty and largeness of this place with just my Pancake!

Hi, mom & dad! My siblings and I are so lucky to be able to travel, thanks to the combined powers of our parents. Forever grateful. They deserve a photo with Martin Luther King Jr.!

After our quick tour of the Capitol, we found this little nook somewhere on the grounds. It had a water fountain where my sister could refill her tumbler of water.

I should really bring a travel-friendly tripod next time.

Engagement: Justin + Gilainne

Design work and teaching are what have been keeping me busy these past weeks, that I sorely miss taking photos. I’ve barely picked up my camera this summer which is a little depressing, but thankfully I have Tricia as a friend! I’ve been spending the past couple of weeks in her company helping her out with her blog photos, but perhaps my favorite “collaboration” with her—if you can call it that—was taking engagement photos of her cousin Gilainne & her fiancé Justin!

They were such a delight to shoot; they were naturals! Tricia and I couldn’t help but feel all giddy every now and then. You could tell there really is strong chemistry between them. A lot of my shots are actually candid, like the first photo here!

You can’t help but fall in love with these two if you were there with us taking photos of them. You can clearly see that the love is really there.

I honestly can’t get over how lovely these photos turned out. I guess it helps when everything is genuine—not just the love, but even how they smile and how they touch. Nothing felt posed, which is one thing I absolutely love in shoots like this.

We were lucky to have had cooperative weather, as well. LOOK AT THAT GORGEOUS SUNLIGHT!

While it was a refreshing change of pace to be shooting people, I think it’s time for me to return to my food photography. As much as I do enjoy doing shoots like this, I can never forget what I love the most.

I had a lengthy talk with some really good friends tonight about work ethics, and I somehow realized I need to get back on my feet and just keep shooting (food!), regardless of the presence of client work. Staying active keeps me on my feet, meaning I’m continuously moving towards getting better at my craft, and keeps my brain churning them creative juices. I feel like I haven’t been as inspired as I used to, so I’m making a conscious effort to remedy that, and throwing myself back into the ocean that is food photography.

After all, if my love for photography is as genuine as the love Justin & Gilainne share, then I know that no matter what I do, it will always find me no matter how far I start to drift and pull me back.

It’s been such a stressful week so far, and we’re only half-way through it! I’m pretty close to burning myself out, but that’s not an option, so I de-stress by doing things unrelated to work.

Tricia invited me to come over and shoot with her just this Monday! We took pictures of her cousin Gilainne and her fiancé Justin who both live in Australia, but are having their wedding here in the Philippines! They were such a pleasure to shoot, they were both such naturals! And it goes without saying that they’re also a good-looking couple.

I was swamped with work and errands today, that I stopped working for a while and decided to start post-processing their photos. It was a breath of fresh air, that I wished I could just keep doing this until I finished everything!

While I was working on their pictures, I was thinking about the past few days. I hung out at Tricia’s last Monday and Tuesday, and a lot of what we talked about was weddings, couples, and love, due to the photography work that we’ve been doing.

I realized that at the end of the day, no matter how stressful the world seems, we just have to remember that in spite of all the things that could possibly lead to metaphorical spontaneous combustion, there’s a lot of love in the world as well, and it will always make you feel better, regardless of how it comes. Stress is temporary and fleeting, while love persists, all the time. <3

So I was working on stuff at Starbucks earlier today like all the cool kids do, editing pictures of a previous event photography job, when I got to this photo. When I finished working my Photoshop magic on it (a.k.a. actions to speed up my post-processing), I stopped, stared a little bit at the photo, and thought to myself…

“Well crap, this is probably one of the best photos I took that day. Or at least to me, it is.”

You could say that I kind of realized that I’m definitely on the right track with this Tender Blender thing. Food is definitely my thing, at least now, compared to other subjects. While I do love taking photos in general, I just feel like food is the way to go for me. Though that doesn’t mean I would say no to freelance photography work for things other than the saliva-inducing goodness that is food(porn).

I guess I just haven’t been feeling it lately with other things lately. I have a feeling that I just need to shoot for myself again to get back on track. All I’ve been doing lately is shooting for clients, and I’m beginning to resent having to edit a hundred pictures at a time, when in the past I used to find it therapeutic, even thrilling, to a certain degree. I can’t even bring myself to edit my US photos from months ago, what with all this stress on my shoulders.

I can’t wait for my Bali trip this May — I plan on not thinking about work for the entire duration of my well-deserved vacation, and just take pictures.

I seriously need more personal photography projects. Someone please collaborate with me! I’d be much more motivated and would be more likely to actually do it if I work with someone.

So far one of my favorite photos from one of my latest shoots! Nope, not Tender Blender-related this time. This was actually a freelance job, haha. Can’t wait to work on all the other photos from this set! :)