Snap Collapse

Adventure is my middle name.
–Hiro, Lunar 2: Eternal Blue

Although I’d rather be lazing off on a Saturday, I took the only moment to finally get on with my photo essay. It’s my ticket to passing Photojournalism overall. I wouldn’t want to waste three units worth of tuition, almost P3,000 worth of photolab fee, a Canon AE-1 and dozens of rolls of film just to flunk the legendary Photojournalism and Event Coverage subject. It’s the first “big” major I’ve “advanced” to.

Then again I still haven’t taken Biological Science, Basic IT and World Literature yet. Should have been done with those last semester had only I not underloaded. Oh well, at least I’m likely to graduate on time compared to those bums and slackers.

So I left for Intramuros despite the inconsiderate rain. I had a pretty uncomfortable time in the bus. Just why does the stupid conductor have to squeeze passengers through like a can of sardines? Money matters, of course. Good thing one male passenger was chivalrous enough to offer me his seat. Turns out he just wanted to watch the TV blocked by the standing passengers. No complaints there!

Time to map out the photo flatplan! I circumnavigated the walls of Intramuros alone and on foot. Subjects taken in order are:

1. Tower of Lyceum
2. Golf course with Manila City Hall amidst the background
3. Lamp post head from atop the walls
4. Mapua Institute of Technology front gate
5. One of the cannon replicas scattered across the walls
6. Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila (University of the City of Manila)
7. La Fondacion
8. Dome ruin near La Fondacion
9. Bronze statue of 19th century foot soldier
10. Manila Cathedral facade

I just pray I had the correct guesstimations of aperture and shutter speed. That’s the one thing I hate about film. Once you click, you can’t undo the trick. Hey, that rhymes! For the last time we’re required to use black and white film.

My last roll contained plates depicting squatters. My photo essay will be about Intramuros being a tourist paradise and at the same time a hellhole of hounds. Intramuros is only grand on the outside. But once you explore the interiors, expect to be greeted by eye sores of buildings and a stampede of smelly street kids begging you for money. Am I sounding harsh?

Kuya Wine commented that Intramuros seemed to be my favorite place. Naturally. I go there everyday to attend school plus I like the sceneries. Miraculously I haven’t been victimized by a flying golf ball yet. I know the periphery like the back of my hand. Also it’s where Carlo and I used to “get busy” in our early days thanks to the many nooks and crannies.

EDIT 10/10/2007: It may not be part of the photo essay but I brought my Kodak EasyShare C530 with me just in case! I had nothing better to do during my rest and thought I’d capture this!

After a diligent day devoted to final exams, I decided I deserve a treat at McDonald’s. I had my usual order of No. 6: Cheeseburger meal with orange juice and regular fries. Goodness knows I’m not a sodaholic. And a little food trivia: One order of regular fries contains more cholesterol than a Big Mac. Of course I’m concerned about my health too.

And oh yes. I just bought an English-Chinese dictionary (‘coz I already have a Chinese-English) and a new novel: Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman.

Since I’ve read all seven Harry Potter books and completed all of Paulo Coelho’s novels, time to start on a new reading obsession. I’ve read Neil Gaiman specializes in adult fantasy. Once I’m done with that, I think I’ll save up for American Gods next. Stardust has good reviews too though as well as Coraline. Anansi Boys didn’t live up to expectations though.

Postscript: Once again I was mistaken a Korean. The poor bloke of a Calesa driver even bothered to follow me while I was walking my way to Manila Cathedral, camera hanging around my neck.

“Miss, calesa?”
I shook my head, obviously saying “No.”
“Miss, calesa?”
Again, I shook my head, further indicating I was already irritated.
“Yu want rayd hors, miss?”
I got fed up and doubled my walking speed.

The fact that he had to speak to me in twisted English with a thick accent both amused and annoyed me. He must be so desperate to follow me with his dingy carriage and assuming me to be a clueless Korean tourist.

Vanity in Monochrome

To say hello to our final period in Photojourn, Professor Oblena gave us our first activity: Portraiture

Ain’t I great? Photograph courtesy of Noren Mariano. This was taken for “personal” purposes. Not the actual photograph Noren’s going to submit.

And here’s the one I took of Noren. I decided on the pose since Noren wasn’t born a model. The shot was quite overexposed but I’m not too disappointed. In fact I think it gave the photo an ethereal effect. Carlo (my classmate) even commented she looks like Lara Croft!

Both photographs taken with a Canon AE-1 using Lucky SHD100 at 1/60S and ƒ5.6

And of course how can I forget to showcase my Midterm exam of a wildlife photo? I got a 90% on this!

Time to bleed on that Photo Essay. No need to suffer from blood loss though. We have three weeks.

Blink Blink

Photography is like sex. The more you do it, the better you get at it.
–Kuya Wine

So after spending two hours in the dark room taking turns with my other classmates in processing, scanning and developing Black and White film, I finally produced my contact print, my plate depicting squatters (two women sitting on a streetside bench) and my wildlife photo of a Midterm exam. I handed them off to Professor Oblena. Now I’ll just sit back and wait for an uno to come knocking on my grade report!

Carlo (my classmate) also handed in his wildlife plate. What was actually a hippo was what I thought a monkey showing its privates. He was fuming then while I just had a good laugh. He also shot two iguanas whom I thought were torrid kissing.

Last Saturday, Carlo (my boyfriend) and I took a trip to Manila Zoo to work on my Midterm exam in Photojournalism. It was neat to have finally met his family. Seeing the elephant was closest to the entrance, I attempted to take its photo and affectionately called him/her “Elie.”

Speaking of elephants, I know two titles which have elephant characters named Elie namely Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong’s Double Trouble and Pocoyo. The latter’s was an anthromorphic pink elephant.

After many photos of guesstimated aperture, I decided to print the lone stork standing on rock. But since my negative made a disappearing act inside the dark room, I merely settled for a close-up eagle behind a cage.

And since I unfortunately don’t have a scanner, I’m afraid I can’t showcase my plates.

Next meeting we are to do portrait photography. I hope one day we’ll have lessons on nude photography too. That’d be a great investment in working for FHM.

Independence

September 20, 2007. That’s the day Mom and Malud arrive from Vancouver, Canada. It’s like it’s never been so long. It felt only a week ago that Mom got bumped off for three days before finally hitching a plane to Canada.

It wasn’t really a challenge being on our own at home. There’s hardly any cleaning to do and we just had to do extended hours of babysitting for the two brats. In fact it has been much better without Malud around. It sucks living with a despair-ridden, fault-finding, attention-hungry grandma on the brink of senility. I just hope one day (at least before she dies) she’ll finally realize that more and more people (even relatives) are starting to dislike her attitude.

I wonder. Will my “dear” grandma have another surge of blood pressure once she reads that paragraph? The truth hurts after all.

I’m only staying in Las Piñas enduring gloom, boredom and tripled travel time and fare just to keep my two little sisters company. If I leave, they’ll no longer have any first-degree family to be with. I guess my instinctive responsibility as a big sister just kicks in naturally.

The day Mom arrives, I’ll be packing my bags and move back to my Uncle’s place in Midtown at Paco, Manila. That way it will take only thirty minutes to get to school and merely P12 jeep fare. I’ll have a bundle of time and money to save for Photography, GBAdvance game cartridges and other hobby purposes. Hidalgo will just be a tiring walk away and I’ll be able to stock up on Kodak ProImage 135/36 for my Canon AE-1.

Photojournalism and Event Coverage has been constantly draining my energy and wallet. It all could have been tolerable if my professor doesn’t require our plates in 5R size. Our current assignment is to take candid Black-and-White photos of squatters’ structures. B&W film may be quite pricey but at least developing won’t be a financial problem. We are to manually develop them in our photolab, equipment and chemicals provided. They are part of our miscellaneous fees after all.

A friend in need is a friend indeed.

Speaking of Photojournalism, I just ditched my “partner.” She isn’t necessarily my partner and we’re graded individually yet since she doesn’t have a camera of her own, she’s grown far too dependent on me to a point that she can’t even go to class when I’m not around. She’d even bug me through text messaging asking if I’ll attend classes or not. She even has the nerve to wait for me by the stairs.

I didn’t mind sharing my camera with her at first but it just happened. She’s grown too comfortable around me and thinks I can just lend her my camera anytime. Plus I don’t like not being able to move properly with someone clinging on you. I just called it quits.

It is partly my fault after all. I was too nice to her. Good fences make good neighbors. Maybe I built my fences too low so she can just hop over it anytime.

And I’ve learned how to spot and avoid fair-weather friends.

For more than two years I’ve been looking after myself. I don’t mean having a job and being financially self-supporting. It’s living without your parents and siblings around and with only your Uncle to back you up. It wasn’t easy with Pops no longer around to give me pocket money whenever I want it. It was the first time I had to manage my own money to fit into my struggle for survival.

I may not be an anak-pawis but I’m definitely not a spoiled urban princess dependent on daddy’s big fat bank account. Sometimes I wish those rich kids suffering from superiority complex soon realize that they are what they are only because of their parents’ money.