“Do you see that out there?
The strange, unfamiliar light?
It's called the sun.
Let's go get us a little.”
― Nora Roberts,
The Hollow
There are days where I am just amazed at the beauty of light and how it falls perfectly through leaves, and this was one of them. This place is one of my favorites because you step in and everywhere you go, you are shaded by a canopy that lets in the most gorgeous light, no matter what time it is. This day was spent for exploration and just soaking in soft, morning light while surrounded by tall trees and winding pathways.
I got to enjoy the pretty little things again, with great conversation thrown in. Our location scouting turned out to be the mini-portrait session that we had talked about a year before, but this one was totally unplanned. Still, it turned out great. Conversations with Ann just flow, whether we're in a cafe or walking through a mini-forest and stopping to marvel at yellow berries. We even reached a point when we both realized that a three-hour coffee chat is often far from enough, since we usually last well into the night, even if we met up for lunch! It's probably because she's one of those people who is tuned in to the same wavelength as I am, and we prefer quiet talks over loud, group conversations. But the laughters are always easy to hear! It's always a wonderful time when you can take pictures and laugh with such heart. Plus the light! The light was beautiful that day, soft, glowing and fresh.
If you want to go to a place where it's quiet, beautiful and peaceful, you might want to visit Father Tropa's Zoo. It's one of my favorite places because the light is just so beautiful, even when the sun is shining its hardest! The place stays cool, you can hear the sound of birds and the rustling of the leaves, and if you're lucky, you get to see leaves turn yellow, brown and even red. Plus, the animals there could really use your donations. :)
Dogs are our link to paradise.
They don’t know evil or jealousy or discontent.
To sit with a dog on a hillside on a glorious afternoon
is to be back in Eden,
where doing nothing was not boring
—it was peace.
—Milan Kundera
So this guy spent a few days with me. He soiled the carpet, the small sofa, and made a mess of the small patch of lawn that this house is lucky enough to call its own, but it was all good. When he grins he lights up the whole room.
“I have lost my smile,
but don't worry.
The dandelion has it.”
― ThÃch Nhất Hạnh
Peace Is Every Step: The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life
I made a mental note to discover the lovely wild flowers growing around my neck of the woods but making mental notes and taking pictures and blogging are very different things. It rained today and I was walking home and noticed a bed of flowers sticking out from the sidewalk. I started picking one or two, feeling sorry for the flowers because of this unexpected intrusion into their lives, but also aware that I really wanted to take these home before I got soaking wet. It was when I got home that I realized, I was actually excited to shoot these lovelies! It was dark and I only had my Oly with me so I know that I could expect grainy pics and tight shots, but heck, sometimes you just have to take pictures of flowers.
So in the spirit of the gratitude challenges I see on my Facebook feed, I am not ashamed to say that I am thankful to be discovering flowers again, their unexpected beauty, how ubiquitous they are, how easily it is to overlook them, yet how easy it is to fall in love with them. Can you imagine a world where flowers became expensive commodities, like gold or silver or a new iPhone? That would be a sad, sad world indeed, and I am grateful that such beautiful things grow everywhere, and they're free!
Well, it's not really, but I enjoy making the packaging for photos as much as I enjoy taking them. This is the first box created in my new apartment (WOOT!) since I transferred my crafting supplies there. Planning on making more memories in that apartment and taking more pictures there, too! For now, proof box photos :)
“This is an important lesson to remember when you're having a bad day, a bad month, or a shitty year. Things will change: you won't feel this way forever. And anyway, sometimes the hardest lessons to learn are the ones your soul needs most. I believe you can't feel real joy unless you've felt heartache. You can't have a sense of victory unless you know what it means to fail. You can't know what it's like to feel holy until you know what it's like to feel really fucking evil. And you can't be birthed again until you've died.”
--Kelly Cutrone
There are just days when I feel like I've left the major parts of my life behind and I cannot wait to get back. The stress of finals week, the uncertainty brought by things that are out of my control, and the desire to just get back into the fray that is my life outside of law school leaves me itching, and I mean itching, to write! Work and writing have always been my refuge, and frankly, this month has not been pretty, so I pretty much feel like I want to get away from it all, hide in a cave somewhere, bawl my eyes out if that will make me feel better.
I have returned to working again, although not really fully into it. I missed my clients, their warm, kind words when they receive work that they like. Stuff like that warms my heart, and they become dear friends, these clients who I've never seen or met in person, as well as clients who are here in Dumaguete. I also miss shooting since I know that I need to practice more. I met a friend for the first time today and although we just talked for less than an hour, he gave me words that encouraged me to shoot more and overcome deep-seated insecurities when it comes to using the camera. He also gave me a precious gift from a close friend of his who's been a real inspiration when it comes to shooting (excited to blog about this meeting more!!!)
Anyway, I am dying to post on a regular basis again. I still have a lot on my plate, responsibilities that need to be checked off before the week is over. I am hoping though, that Saturday next week will see me with a brighter, sunnier face, an even happier disposition, ready to enjoy what this summer has to offer :D
For now, a few photo box shots. I love making these boxes. I decorate them myself and wrap them in twine for an organic effect. I also fold the paper CD case to turn it into something cute and functional without having to use glue or tape (I thank the crafty tutorial gods for stuff like these). Part of me feels like this is the most enjoyable part of shooting, which has nothing to do with shooting at all haha! Simple pleasures--I'll take what I can get ;)
A friend of mine is selling these cute stuffed dolls that you can stick your face on to. Yes, literally. She has this supercool printer that prints faces to give the dolls a face (without faces, they still look cute!) She came by the house and I had fun taking photos of the adorable fluffy little things while doing a little bit of catching up with her. Check out her
CutieMe Facebook page for orders. :)
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| Prayers for Leyte, Cebu, Palawan and other places struck by Yolanda |
The devastation that I see on TV is shocking. Although my hometown also braced for the storm, we experienced just a tiny fraction of what the people in Tacloban and other hard-hit areas experienced. The tragic scenes of men crying over dead wives and daughters, lifeless children covered in blankets, evacuation centers drenched and covered in debris-- it is heartbreaking and never something that one could wish on his worst enemy. As the water swelled and entered homes in Tacloban, we were safe, warm and dry inside our homes in Dumaguete, and even wondered if 'this' was it. Little did we know that in other places, people were fighting for and losing their lives. It is sad, the amount of lives lost. Could we have foreseen that the damage would be this great? Looking at how ravaged Tacloban is, the entire city should have been evacuated. Maybe no one saw it coming. We knew it was strong, but strong enough to pummel an entire city to the ground? Maybe not.
I am rambling. There is no emotion but sadness. Sadness for all the lives lost, sadness for the survivors who are hurting for lost loved ones, for the survivors who have slept and will continue to sleep in the rain and cold, with little food, water, or clean clothing.
I really hope that this will be the last, at least until we get on our feet. We are a strong people, after all. But lately I have been feeling like we really deserve a break, a breather from all that's been going on. Suffering through typhoons and earthquakes is not a privilege in my book. An opportunity to learn lessons and test our capacity for kindness and strength, maybe, but to those who lost loved ones in the waves and floods, this is hardly a privilege that they would want to bear.
Contact numbers for those looking to send help or donations can be found
here.
“No, this is not the beginning of a new chapter in my life; this is the beginning of a new book!
That first book is already closed, ended, and tossed into the seas;
this new book is newly opened, has just begun!
Look, it is the first page!
And it is a beautiful one!”
portraits, portraits, portraits, portraits, portraits, portraits, portraits, portraits, portraits, portraits,
― C. JoyBell C.
I love reconnecting with friends who live far away. Ken is one of my friends who I got to know online before we actually met in person. We hit it off right away, perhaps because we think alike about so many things. Although she spends most of the year in Oman because of her work, her vacations are filled with reunions and catching up with her friends. We've been talking about doing a portrait shoot and this vacation was the perfect time to do it, although with the few hours we had, I felt like another shoot is really a must! (LOL!) Despite the almost hurried way we did this shoot it was a great way to reconnect and catch. Plus, I got to see some of the beautiful pieces of Mideastern jewelry and dresses that she was selling.
We have always talked about dreams and passions and following your own path in life. Ken is surely on her way. Although she works as a nurse, she finds time to pursue her other passions, like fashion and staying fit, which in my opinion, is such a great way to live a life. You are not your work or your profession or your hobby. We are so much more than that. Part of living a full life is enjoying life after work, having other things that fulfill you and make your heart full aside from making a living. Friends like her remind me of that, especially when we finally get together and have these conversations.
portraits, portraits, portraits, portraits
I finally tried the biggest burger over at Kap Joe's and boy, it did not disappoint! This is their signature burger, the one with flag (I got a Canadian flag keeping the ham and pineapple slices together) and it was big! See how it fills up almost half of the plate there? And that's a regular plate, not a platter, a plate that we use for eating lunch and midnight meals (yes, I have those and frequently, I might add.) Greens at the bottom, crispy, yet moist beef patty right on top of that, slices of tomatoes, cucumber, maybe a little bit of coleslaw, ham, one fried egg and cheese on top. My mouth was in burger heaven! And all these for PHP 69!
Nikki, a fried of mine had her birthday at Island Leisure Boutique Hotel and Spa sometime in September. I have heard of the hotel and have read about it on Facebook but never really knew what the inside looked, so I was pretty curious about going. The hotel is charming, cute and homey, which is no surprise since it used to be a house before it was gutted and transformed into what it is now. There are small nooks with fountains and benches for you to choose from. I found the decor interesting, probably a mix of different Asian themes. The upstairs rooms still smelled of pain and woodwork, but they already had a fully functioning spa and Jacuzzi. I also loved the lighting-- subdued and soft, which was not surprising since it doubles as a spa after all.
I like the boutique concept-- the items used to decorate the hotel is for sale, and you can see how much by flipping over the price tags attached to each one. I don't know if Dumaguete has other boutique hotels like this. This is a pretty nice concept and it would be nice to see other hotels like this pop up in the city.
The food left a lot to be desired, however. I wouldn't go into the details since I forgot what we ordered. One of the friends ordered beef, which came hard and rubbery. She practically wrestled the beef into submission since she was hungry and needed to go back to work after dinner. My mashed potatoes came cold and bland, very much unlike other preparations of the same dish that I have tried in restaurants in the city. The only thing in the menu we liked was the calamares. The exterior was crunchy and crisp, while the squid meat was soft.
Perhaps it was just our luck that we went there when the place was still very new, and the staff didn't have the system down yet, so there were problems with the service as well. ( For one, they brought the silverware per dish, which required a lot of going back and forth, pretty tiring to watch even if you didn't do the actual going back and forth yourself.)
We did have fun taking pictures though. I kind of want to go back again, to sample the spa this time. Perhaps we can make a date out of it. Hopefully by then we'll see improvements in the food and service as well.
