Christmas On The Streets Of Manila

Christmas is nearing and I'm seeing it pretty much everywhere. I love seeing all these lights and christmas decors, especially the capiz lanterns and parols. The Lost Boys decided to go out shooting along a street up north of Manila, near Greenhills on the street of Granada where there are a lot of vendors selling these lights and parols.

Parols^[1] are ornamental star-like Christmas lanterns from the Philippines. They are traditionally made out of bamboo and paper and comes in various sizes, shapes and designs, however its star-shape façade and basic design remains dominant.

So we parked our cars, had a great dinner at JT's Manukan and set off on foot walking around and taking photos. At first I was focused on the parols and lights, but later on I was more interested in the people that made and sold them.

Meet Ate Bing Trinidad (Ate is used for respect, similar to using Ms./Mr.). This photo is #6 in my 100 Strangers Project. Find out more about the project and see pictures taken by other photographers at http://www.100strangers.com.

I saw her making capiz lanterns, wiring them up with lamp bulbs. I smiled and introduced myself. She's from the province of Bicol and I told her about Chris who's from Bicol too. She said that she was "very happy to meet such handsome photographers". She's got such a warm personality and a contagious laugh. Oh and yes she makes beautiful parols and capiz lanterns.

I'm going to surprise her next week by going back to her with a print of the photo above :D

Happy holidays everyone!

Diego

Out To The Open Road And Into The Big Blue

I just came from a 3 day road trip to the north with Ina and her brother Chi. It was a great trip and it was a real treat spending time with them. Fantastic food, great company, loads of laughs and stories, neat places, nice drives, and a pretty awesome time surfing. I'm looking forward to a lot more adventures with them.

I made the mistake of leaving my camera battery charger and my camera died after a few stills and videos. These are some of the very few shots I took (I believe I only took about 15 photos) during the trip and I'm really happy with them. I wanted a specific look and I believe this is exactly what I wanted (I apologize for the tilting action done with both shots. I believe I did the tilting thing on all the shots I took). The shots came straight out of the camera, no photoshop or anything other than resizing for the web. The K-7's got some pretty awesome filters to play with, it was my first time and I'm definitely using them a lot more.

Diego

http://diegojosephoto.blogspot.com

Food For Thought. Yum.

Some of you may not know, is that I love shooting food. The people closer to me, you probably know I love food. I can't cook for squat (working on that), but boy do I love to eat.

My sister bakes during the holidays. She's good at it too. The house starts to smell like heaven in late October. She's preparing ingredients, tweaking recipes and checking all the equipment. She doesn't use preservatives, by the way. People seem to drop by the house more as well (obviously seeking "rejects" and taste tests hehe) :D

Her stuff is REALLY good. Unbiased opinion, really. There's really good stuff out there and Niña's stuff is right up there with the best. She started out with the most basic stuff a few years ago with the chocolate chip cookies (photo above) and crinkles (first photo above), and learned how to tweak it to her taste. They're not really soft and chewy, just the way we love them.

Then came the cheesecakes. Her cheesecakes are awesome. Just the right thickness and creamy-ness, not the jello-like chilled cheesecakes seen at other place but these are baked to perfection.

She's got the Oreo Cheesecake too, which is her most popular cheesecake. It's really good, but I guess I've always like blueberry cheesecakes more, especially when chilled or with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

She's got fantastic lemon squares. I honestly think they're the best lemon squares I've tasted, but I haven't tried ALL the lemon squares out there hehe. They aren't as popular as the cheesecakes but everyone that tries them seems to end up buying a box or two.

My goodness. I love her brownies and boy do I love this photo. Her brownies are to die for. I love the combination of textures: the walnuts all over, the slightly crispy top surface, the fudgy edges on the sides, the moist-foam-cake-like stuff and the creamy chocolate all spread out inside. I'm not a real "connoisseur" and I don't know if that last sentence made sense but bar none it's the best brownies for me. Ever. AndI've tried a LOT of brownies. Gaah just thinking about it freshly heated or out of the oven, and maybe a glass of milk on the side. I could have a whole box if I'm not really paying attention.

Last but certainly no the least, the ultimate, the very best, and my uber-favorite: Niña's Leche Flan. To those that don't know what leche flan:

Cream Caramel, flan, or caramel custard is a rich custard dessert with a layer of soft caramel on top, as opposed to crème brûlée, which is custard with a hard caramel top.

This is my ultimate favorite. ULTIMATE. Her flan is PERFECT. Thick, creamy, just the right amount of burnt caramel. Just SUPER. And I've had lots of different kinds of leche flan. Auugghh. I can EASILY finish a whole serving in a minute without guilt because I'm just too happy to eat it.

Anyway, shameless plug but when you order them during the holiday season they come with nice christmas-themed packaging with cards etc:

So if you're in Manila and happen to be interested in my sister's baked goodies, give Niña call or text at 0917-8421171 or email at jose.regina@gmail.com :D

Diego

http://diegojosephoto.com

http://diegojosephoto.blogspot.com

There's Treasure Everywhere!

Was thinking of the right title for what I feel today, or rather for the past few days. This one's been a draft post for 2 days now. This cover's perfect.

I love Calvin and Hobbes. It's just a hilarious and well-executed comic, no doubt my very favorite and something I can highly recommend to anyone, and I couldn't agree more to the cover above.

I've been real busy nowadays, but work is a good thing for me. I get to fund my adventures. I've been following a few "professional adventurers" on the web, and these guys just happen to take the most amazing photographs: Tim Allen, Mitchell Kanashkevich, David duChemin, Gavin Gough and Steve McCurry are my favorites.

I want a fast and wide lens.

Cinnamon Chasers - Luv Deluxe (Official Music Video) from Saman Keshavarz on Vimeo.

Amazing stuff. I've been wanting to play with POV photography for some time now.

Where is the 11-16/2.8? I've been waiting for one for a while now. Pentax, please make a fast and wide lens now.

Then again, I think the 15/4 Limited would be a real sweet compact and sharp lens to have. First things first, I need the cash to get one :P

Diego
http://diegojosephoto.com

Volare

, originally uploaded by jldmplnktt.
Quick post today.

It's 430 am. Just finished some work. I'm listening to a beautiful version of Volare.

Volare. I want to fly away to some place. My magical getaway place, I'll be seeing you sooner than later, I promise.

Oh and I found a word I've been curious about as to its exact meaning on my Mac's dictionary:

parasol |ˈparəˌsôl; -ˌsäl|
noun1 a light umbrella used to give shade from the sun.

Diego
http://diegojosephoto.com
http://RFontanilla.com

Sit. Feast on your life.

I rarely read poems, and I can name only 2 so far that really made an impact / impression on me. The first one is Love After Love by Derek Walcott, which I stumbled upon in Audrey Niffeneger's Time Traveler's Wife. It hit some emotional strings, which I'm sure we can all relate to. That was a beautiful poem that still gets me goosebump-ey every now and I love its killer last line: "Sit. Feast on your life."

Now for the second one, shared by Ina on Facebook, that just blew me away. Amazing stuff.

The Invitation

It doesn’t interest me what you do for a living.

I want to know what you ache for

and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart’s longing.

It doesn’t interest me how old you are.

I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool

for love

for your dream

for the adventure of being alive.

It doesn’t interest me what planets are squaring your moon...

I want to know if you have touched the centre of your own sorrow

if you have been opened by life’s betrayals

or have become shrivelled and closed

from fear of further pain.

I want to know if you can sit with pain

mine or your own

without moving to hide it

or fade it

or fix it.

I want to know if you can be with joy

mine or your own

if you can dance with wildness

and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes

without cautioning us

to be careful

to be realistic

to remember the limitations of being human.

It doesn’t interest me if the story you are telling me

is true.

I want to know if you can

disappoint another

to be true to yourself.

If you can bear the accusation of betrayal

and not betray your own soul.

If you can be faithless

and therefore trustworthy.

I want to know if you can see Beauty

even when it is not pretty

every day.

And if you can source your own life

from its presence.

I want to know if you can live with failure

yours and mine

and still stand at the edge of the lake

and shout to the silver of the full moon,

“Yes.”

It doesn’t interest me

to know where you live or how much money you have.

I want to know if you can get up

after the night of grief and despair

weary and bruised to the bone

and do what needs to be done

to feed the children.

It doesn’t interest me who you know

or how you came to be here.

I want to know if you will stand

in the centre of the fire

with me

and not shrink back.

It doesn’t interest me where or what or with whom

you have studied.

I want to know what sustains you

from the inside

when all else falls away.

I want to know if you can be alone

with yourself

and if you truly like the company you keep

in the empty moments.

By Oriah Mountain Dreamer