taal volcano trip

There are several aspects of our journey to taal volcano I would like to include in this blog entry. These include our misconceptions about the volcano, a personal account of my experience going to the top of the volcano to see the crater, a post-mortem analysis of the trip to analyze what we should have done prior to the trip, and of course, thoughts about my UWA 10-22mm lens which I used exclusively to document this event.

But before we go into those aspects, I would like to outline how this trip became possible. This is specially for the benefit of those who want to see the volcano crater themselves.

1. Travel by land to Talisay, Batangas. Actually according to the Internet, you only need to travel to any town by the lake side.
2. Look for a boat. For our case, we employed the boats of Taal Yacht Club. A boat for six costs 1500 PHP.
3. After the ride, you'll probably be already in the island. You just have to walk a couple of hours to see the crater! Or you can also hire a horse if you have plenty of cash. A horse costs approx. 500 PHP.

Here's a view from the point where the crater is visible.

photographers in black

A few weeks ago, we bought black long sleeves which will serve as our JRM Photography uniform. This morning, we used them in Rhen and Pham's wedding in Lipa City. Check out how gorgeous we are wearing them.


If you want to see us in your wedding or event, here's our packages.

photo contests

When I first got a hold of my Canon Digital Rebel XT, one my first thoughts was how I could make money out of it. It's not that I did not love the idea of capturing moments. But the thing was relatively expensive especially for one of my stature, and it may be difficult to sustain it just as a hobby. (These were my thoughts back when I was not yet even aware of the existence of expensive L lenses and full-frame camera bodies, which are definitely many many times more expensive.)

In my search for a way to generate funds from my camera to be able to buy expensive lenses and other accessories or maybe even a full frame body, I came across a book with a good enough title that I bought it for 1295 PHP! The book's title was "Making Money from PHOTOGRAPHY in every conceivable way" by Steve Bavister.

One of the ways that Bavister mentioned was through winning competitions. And true enough, in my tenure as a camera owner, I have learned of at least 20 photocontests with prizes ranging from 10,000-50,000 PHP. In his book, Bavister outlined ten rules for winning competitions:
1. Be constantly on the lookout for competitions.
2. Read the rules carefully.
3. Whenever possible, shoot specifically for the competition.
4. Make sure your entry does not have any technical faults.
5. Try to come up with something special.
6. Actually submit your work.
7. Make your entry as attractive as possible.
8. Put your contact details.
9. Beware of competitions that require you to sign away your copyright.
10. Keep a competition diary.

I would say that these are relatively common-sensical. But I think it helps.

Unfortunately, to this date, I have never won any photo contest nor submitted an entry for any of them. But I'm still always on the lookout, checking if any of my existing photos will be worthy as an entry. I even sometimes think so hard what shots I would take for the contest. Maybe, the next time I come across a contest, I should actually submit an entry if a bright idea comes. Currently, I am thinking of concepts or photo ideas for these contests:

Go Beyond the Stick Photo Contest
Water is Life Photo Contest
"Walang Ganyan sa States" Photo Contest
Sand, Sun and Snapshots

Hopefully I'll be able to submit an entry for any one of these.

the jump shot

The jump shot is probably already a cliche in photo albums. Nonetheless, it is still one of the most difficult photograph to take. It requires persistence, timing, speed, and sometimes, a relatively expensive piece of equipment.
Persistence - quite often, it requires more than one jump to obtain the perfect shot: where everyone is elevated and at the peak of their jump.


Timing - the photographer must make sure that at the moment the shutter is pressed, everyone in the frame is elevated from the ground. Sometimes, it is also required that the photographer consider the amount of delay between the actual exposure and the pressing of the shutter. This is almost certainly true for point and shoot cameras, where the delay is quite noticeable. The photos above were taken using a Powershot A590IS. Among several attempts, only one photo was successful. It was probably a combination of luck, Jay's accurate consideration of the camera delay, and my relatively high jump.

Speed - the shutter speed of the camera should be fast enough to make the jumpers seemingly still. This requires sufficient lighting or a large aperture opening. I wanted to show a jump shot taken in low light to demonstrate how blurred it will be due to the motion of the subject, but I don't have such photo right now.

Expensive equipment - when persistence, timing and speed is an issue, a relatively expensive piece of equipment can be a life saver when taking the jump shot. A Canon Digital Rebel XT for instance with a shooting speed of 3 frames per second can lessen the timing requirement. Furthermore, it's unnoticeable delay between shutter press and exposure allows better accuracy. Even better than the Rebel XT is the Canon 40D with a shooting speed of 6.5 fps or Mark3 at 8.5 fps! A fast lens (which is also expensive) can also help in the speed department with its large aperture opening.

Anyway, here are some of the jump shots that I'll be using as a friendster photo. Thanks to Marci and Jay for being my background. I would've chosen the photos with all of us flying but I wanted to feel special. haha. :P

the best chocolates in the world

I'm talking about Royce.
Yesterday, The Girlfriend arrived from a business trip in Japan and brought them as pasalubong.
Here are some photos I took before I devoured them.



Photos taken using Canon Digital Rebel XT, 18-55 mm kit lens and 430EX Speedlite.
Trivia: Nikon uses Speedlight as the brand name for their flash units. I dunno which company "imitated" the other.

hello world!

In a couple of months, I'll be leaving The Company.
And there are plenty of concerns going through my head.
One of which is what to do next.
And I thought, I'd probably need a past time when I am not hired right away.
The Girlfriend has also been blogging for quite some time already.
And I probably need to practice my English if I want to pursue a career in the academe.
So, here I am. With my first blog entry.
... But I am also thinking, maybe it'd be better if I put in more pictures than words since I'm also into photography.
Maybe I can feature some of the best photos from our Wedding Photography Biz...
Maybe I can also put my gadget wish list...
Anyhoo, bahala na!