Igo, Tapsing ug Sipyat - Photography Made Accessible

This is it!

If you are in Cebu, we are inviting you to a photography workshop on September 12 and 13.

So what's the difference of this workshop to the other photography workshops?

1. We are professionals but we are not professional photographers. As such, we have no trade secrets to keep, instead we have learnings to share. These learnings come from more than 5 years of high spirited photography.

2. This is not our sole source of income, as such the price is kept at the lowest possible. During the first day of the workshop, snacks will be served in the morning and in the afternoon, lunch will be buffet styled, and flowing iced-tea for the entire day.

3. We will demystify photography for you. And that means you don't need high end gears to make great (or "OMG!") pictures. We will help you how to make great pictures with the camera that you have.

If you are interested, please visit the site below for details.

http://igotapsingsipyat.wordpress.com

 

among other things...

I am now itching for new adventures. I am crossing my fingers for the weather to be cooperative in the following days so as not to spoil my peripatetic plans.

But before that new adventure post, these are just some things that I want to share with you...

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  IGO, SIPYAT, TAPSING.  My friends and I have decided that the time has come to share the joys of photography to other people. As such, we are now finalizing the details and materials for a 2-day basic photography workshop here in Cebu (this will keep me busy for a month or so). It is designed for those who have a camera whether P&S or SLR. And since the concept and the rationale is to share, the workshop fees will just be enough to cover the logistics.  And we mean, break-even!!! [Read: it's affordable, below PhP800.00, and where in the photography world will you find this price for a workshop? :) ]

So if you are in Cebu, and you are interested, you may email this address for a reservation: coolwaterworks[at]gmail[dot]com.  There will be three instructors (myself included) and there are only 20 slots available. We will be publising more details soon...

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  MAREEYAH DOT COM. This site is worth a visit. It is an archive of knowledge, fun, and adventure. Plenty of ideas are in store to spark your everyday life: from the sensible how-to articles, fantastic wedding planning, entertaining fiction, and many more. Well, what would you expect from a person whose mind is like a cornucopia of knowledge. I know, because Mareeyah is a friend, and she took everyone by surprise when she once represented our school in THE prestigious Academic Excellence contest in our province. Like me, she is a staple of many academic contests, and definitely a mind to beat.

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  A DASH OF DEJAVU. Another blog I frequently visit. Although, I still try to find the connection of dejavus in the posts, the blog gives a mixture of book reviews, random thoughts, delicious recipes and travels. This is owned by another friend whose mind and opinion I greatly respect - I should because he is one of the best minds I ever met.

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  SFC-MEPZ Chapter Site. I have recently published a new site, this time for my Singles for Christ chapter. All achievements would not be of use and of meaning if not brought back to the service in the Lord's vineyard. And this is one aspect I am also passionate. Together with my brothers and sisters in the community, we will prove to you that being in a Christian community is more fun than you think it is.

So that's it for now. Bear with me... :)

Matters of Fact

I am back.

In my short existence here in the blogosphere, I have received and declined many tags... Recently, I was tagged as a "kreativ" blogger. I ruminated whether I needed to respond to this misspelt tag or not. :)

Out of having no new adventures to post, I decided to list down several facts about me, some of which you may have read somewhere in my old posts... Just to set the record straight, this is not in accordance with the rules of the recent tag (so no ill-feelings for those who have tagged me before).

Here goes...

>>> I sang Gary V.'s "How Did You Know?" three times in public. In all those times, a bride was walking down the isle.... Yes, I used to croon at weddings. The first time I sang this song was during the wedding of my household head in Singles for Christ.

>>> I have been to every province of Western Visayas when I was in high school. I joined many regional academic contests and a field trip. The first of them was the Philippine Math Olympiad. I developed lasting friendships through this contest. The last was a field trip. I woke up late. I caught up with my classmates after 4 hours in another island (that's without the aid of cellphones, just pure guts).

>>> I have joined in only one photo contest. I was my school's representative in the Regional Secondary Press Schools (RSSPC) Photojournalism contest. I lost. The film I submitted to the contest was entirely exposed.

>>> I wanted to be a doctor. However, my father told me that if I decide to take the course, he might only be wearing his underwear. I took up Engineering instead. No regrets, I was on full academic scholarship when I was in college.

>>> My weakest subject in college was Physics. Due to the lacking one percent in my grade for this subject I was immediately disqualified from the "laude" spot, and so I stopped dreaming. Ironically, I ended up doing tutorials (and making money) on this subject for many years.

>>> I don't drink and I don't smoke. I am allergic to alchol and I have sinusitis.

>>> I am a stickler for general information. When there are discussions and I am really sure of my facts, my expression would always be "I'll bet my one-month salary!".

>>> My favorite writer is Khalil Gibran. The imagery of his words are just brilliant. However, some of his essays suggest that he is a panentheist.

>>> My most favorite Bible verse is Psalm 46:10 - "Be still and know that I am God." I read it during the time when I was having my on-the-job training in Laguna Technopark. My allowance got delayed for a week. God sent many angels that week...

And that's it... I'll be posting a new adventure soon....

Wordless Days (i'm sick)

For the Coffee Table Book - Issue #15

Sauté. The aroma of garlic and onions is perhaps the most vivid scent that I remember from my childhood.

Sautéing garlic and onions fills an important role in Philippine cuisines and in the history of Filipino cooking…

Imagine how reliving it may have been for the tired and wounded Katipuneros when Melchora Aquino decided to slaughter and cook her many domestic animals to feed them. Surely, the smell of garlic and onions sizzling in oil would have signaled relief.



Communal cooking characterizes Filipino feasts. In times and in places where catering services were unheard of, cooking is done in the yard. Having been gifted with the time and in a place when this was practiced (and it still is), it was pure delight to walk the streets during fiestas and to smell the aroma of food wafting in the air. It was an olfactory high. Of course, prominent in the scents is the smell of sautéed garlic and onions.



In family celebrations and even in sad times, again in a not so distant time and place, cooking awakened helpful spirits. Neighbors seemed to be duty bound to help. The parade of men and women carrying woks, large cauldrons and ladles was a common sight.  The aroma of sautéed garlic and onions would mean a feeding of the bayanihan spirit.

"Treading Light on Black Saturday" Makes a Contribution

About two weeks ago, I received a heartwarming comment regarding my post on my travels during Black Saturday of 2008. I traveled to the northern part of Negros Occidental and visited some local spots. One of them is the Dome House of Escalante City. Let me share my entry:

Escalante City is located in the northeastern tip of the Negros island approximately about 95 kilometers away from Bacolod City. With its close proximity to the island of Cebu, the language of the locals is mixed Cebuano and Hiligaynon with the majority on the former.

In 2005, the city enjoyed some limelight in national and local papers as well as in many travel and general interest television programs. It became host to the first earth bag shelter system in the country. This is the “sole” purpose of my proverbial travel itch: to finally see the dome “houses”.

A House and Not Houses
The 95 km bus ride took me about 1.5 hours and PhP85.00 to finally step on the official city streets of Escalante. I took some time to look around before going to my destination. I went into their public market. The market impressed me. It was the cleanest public market I’ve been into in all of my documented and undocumented travels.
After buying some bottled water, I hailed a tricycle and asked to be taken to the site where the dome “houses” are situated. I opted to speak Cebuano because all personnel in the store where I bought water and the persons I have overheard in the public market were conversing in Cebuano. The driver looked confused and asked me for further description in halting Cebuano. I discovered he speaks Hiligaynon. And so I switched language and asked him again, this time giving description of the “houses” – with domes as roof rather that the usual galvanized iron. With the spark of recognition, he said he knew of only one house that fitted my description. I insisted that I am referring to a number of houses, a village even, with such dome structures. He responded that he knows of the recent housing projects but knew nothing of what I am referring to aside from the single house he knew. In order not to keep the debate any longer, I asked him to take me to the house he is referring to.

Much to my chagrin, the driver was indeed correct in saying that there is only one structure with a dome in Escalante. The house stood with its faded paint and with ferns sprouting in its now parched dome near the hall of Barangay Fe, just beside the national highway leading to the city proper. I instantly recognized it from the television shows I’ve seen where Illac Diaz (the proponent of the dome house) was shown coming out of its door unto the gravel yard. 

“House of the Future” Becomes “House with Structural Failures”
With the hype it was into in 2005, in my mind I assumed that the project of the earth bag shelter or dome house was successful and was eventually proliferated into a village of dome houses. I was embarrassingly wrong. The house now is a picture of a structure crying out with impending structural failure.

After the media hype for this dome house, I wondered what could have gone wrong. I could sense that the intent was good but it seemed that this project lacked the proper follow through and no proper maintenance procedures were set. This is after all, a prototype (refer to this article: First Earth Bag Shelter) whose failure or success could spell out proliferation or termination.

The domes are parched, with layers of cement slowly flaking off and the exposed layers becoming brittle through weathering. Cracks in its walls are visible even at a distance with signs of water ingress reaching its iron structural frame due to the presence of rust stains outside of the walls. Add to the demise these factors brought is the rich presence of ferns growing on top of its domes. The natural acids in the roots of these pteridophytans may contribute to the progressive cement disintegration of the dome structure.

Kelly Hart of earthbagbuilding.com was pointed by a reader (probably the one who collects pictures of dome houses and draws inspiration from the philosopher Rumi) of my blog to this entry. She is involved in documenting earth bag buildings all over the world. She has then re-written her original project page about the Philippine clinic to include some of my observations, with the hope that others would be aware of the potential pitfalls with finishing earthbag domes.

So what went wrong with the first earthbag building in the Philippines? You may want to check this site .

This project has been once again a victim of the "ningas kugon" attitude (fiery at the start but easily gives up) that afflicts most Filipinos. After all the publicity and media hype, no follow through was made to check whether this project has really served its purpose. There was a school in Siargao Island that was also built using the same concept as this project. One may wonder what happened to it. This writer also wonders what the hype and publicity has generated: better public imaging of the persons and organizations involved or an innovative housing solution...

Farewell to a Life Well Lived!

The world recedes; it disappears;
Heav'n opens on my eyes; my ears
With sounds seraphic ring:
Lend, lend your wings! I mount! I fly!
O Grave! where is thy Victory?
O Death! where is thy Sting?
-Alexander Pope

Maria Corazon "Cory" Cojuangco Aquino
11th President of the Republic of the Philippines
Pious Leader, Restorer of Democracy, Mother and Tita
(January 25, 1933 – August 1, 2009)

Today, August 1, 2009, the Philippine beacon of democracy passed away. In 1986, this beacon has united the Filipino people in the unprecedented display of peaceful revolution.

In her last days, she has once again united the nation in prayer - thousands of candles burned, hundreds of Healing Masses and millions of prayers knocked on heaven’s doors.

In the announcement of her passing, her consistent message was echoed by her son: “Pray for one another.”

With all these, the skeptic may ask, “Why was she still taken?”

The answer lies in the yellow ribbons tied in the electric posts, trees and buildings of Metro Manila; in the outpouring of people who flocked to the hospital where she was confined; in the stuffed toys from children, flowers and candles offered outside her home in Times Street in Quezon City; in the long line of people, young and old, to see her one last time in La Salle Greenhills in San Juan City.

People continued to flock to see her – even in the heavy rains which seem to be heaven’s sign of mourning. Young ones who were not even born in the time of the EDSA revolution flashed the “LABAN” sign before her. Men did not withhold their emotions. And tears flowed, and continues to flow…

Why was she taken still?

For us to remember what true democracy is all about…

For us to always evoke the power of prayer…

For us to continue to ask ourselves the question that she has imbibed: “What can I do for my country?”

Today is a sad day in history but a glorious day in heaven. God’s faithful daughter has returned. I believe in my heart God’s welcoming message will be: “Well done My child, for a life well lived!”