“Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.” 

― George Bernard Shaw

This is from a personal shoot I did with a friend last Saturday, an hour of scampering over rocks and staring at the old, gnarled branches of huge acacia trees while feeling the soft texture of sand inside my shoes (yes, methinks I need to get my shoes fixed or buy a new pair). Anyway, I was in heaven. It feels soooooo good, going back to nature, even for just a few hours and just immersing yourself as you stand surrounded by trees and plants and smelling the faint scent of wild flowers as you walk past them. There are pockets of them around the city, and wide swaths as you go towards the mountains. Its realizations like these, that I can go to these places when I want to because they are just minutes away from where I live, that make me appreciate Dumaguete even more. 

I love shooting Rena since I've shot her once before so I think I have a pretty good idea about how she poses and what angles look good on her. She's also very laid back so shooting her never feels awkward.

We were also schoolmates in law school so a few hours with her is spent talking about law school stuff, reminiscing about professors and talking about Bar exam preparations in between shots. I was eager to shoot in this spot since I've been going to this area A LOT lately and I saw how gorgeous this dried-up riverbed is. Everything is pretty here especially the large acacia trees. Their trunks were a soft, light brown and the leaves are the just the right shade of hunter green. Plus, there was a field of dried up acacia leaves in fierce orange and brown, which made for a really dramatic (and  free!) backdrop! More on that later. Still processing Rena's photos but I'm just too excited to post a few, so I'm posting four frames :) 

Birthday parties, especially kiddie parties, have gone up in style. No longer are we treated to the usual spaghetti and cake affairs with the customary clowns and pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey games. Now, birthdays are done all out, from whole sets showcasing candy jars, gorgeous backdrops done in pastels and pinks (if you have a girl celebrant) and colorful balloons, lanterns and everything else a girl needs to have a memorable birthday. And who am I to complain? I swim in pretty when I'm surrounded by awesomely-styled birthday parties and sometimes it's hard not to put the camera down and just keep on taking pictures. Sharmil's first was styled by Engrande Events, so you got pretty pink balloons, a colorful pink and blue cupcake pinata, a lace backdrop for the candy shoppe where you can find chocolates and candies galore, and SHARMIL in lifesized, pastel letters. That's just for starters! Mind you, it takes about half a day to get everything ready for a small party so I was really impressed with how the team managed to transform the family's front yard into a wonderland fit for a little princess. Here are the highlights:  (for more photos head out to the Engrande Events website!)