sidemirrorshooting

to continue my yearly tradition of taking the leave off valentines day, i did my lomo/photo shoot to be productive. I planned to have some random shoots around Makati and AWM (again).

So, I got to the office at 7:30 to leave my car and my keys to see a long-stemmed rose on my laptop.

roses? hmm…what a way to start my day… :) it was given by the PWLAN/xGSN now DEBUGTOOL/DEBUGLOG boys for all the girls in the group. What a bunch of sweethearts ♥.

So I took off, headed to Joseph’s apartment to adopt his LC-A+ for today. I have 4 rolls of expired slides (2 elite/2ekta chroms) and some other random film for my av-1 and vivitar uw&s (who still has the t400cn), my ixy 910 IS, and what’s left of my creativity. The skyline was pretty that morning from the view of his apartment, before all the gray clouds horned in… I managed to take some pictures.

canon ixy 910 is

happy valentines! OMG we look naked here. Well, he’s half naked, I’m not :P

I dropped him off at the office and I sat on my favorite place along Ayala avenue, which is behind the Philippine stock exchange. And I planned on what to do until the Pilipinas Heritage Library opens.

I was wearing comfy shoes that day (my white flats), I took my chucks for a break, and I was wearing black like I usually do on valentines.

I was watching the people here, since it was the day of crass commercialism and all that you’d see random male and female specimens holding flowers.

I went to the Heritage Library for some inspiration and looked up Portfolio 2, after getting the inspiration I need, I went to greenbelt, thinking of getting coffee, but decided against it and I took a detour to see some sitting ducks across the chapel.

I asked the guard (very politely) if I can shoot the ducks, he smiled and said go ahead and I took out all my cameras. They were cute little things and the group suddenly stood up and crossed the pathway. (the two just sat and got all lazy).

quack! quack! as they proceeded to cross the “street”

I am a sucker for animals. I know. Although I am known to squeal like a little girl when a school of fish try to nibble my fingers and legs. (Underwater photography post soon?)

(more of my shots are in the role of Ektachrome elite 400, which I will be processing to digiprint on Tuesday maybe).

I took a cab back to the office, got my keys and drove to AWM. I was determined to get some better photos. And boy with the sky in overcast, I was presented with a challenge, but maybe an advantage. A cemetery is supposed to be gloomy anyway. Maybe it added the right drama with all the barren trees.

I parked and took another route. Here were my shots. Most of these have lomo counterparts, I’m not really sure how they’d turn out.

gray clouds, barren trees, and crosses, depressing.

I remember his words (show 3 crosses) and here it is..

It was overwhelming to see a lot of crosses , I felt like I wanted to bury myself also after LOL

This is shot accidentally and I sorta like how I was chopped off with my leather spiked choker showing.

So I got back to where I was familiar with, remember the accidental shot? this is the same place,but this isn’t so accidental anymore. :)

AND NO MORE CROPPED CROSSES, EVER, AGAIN!

Hihi, I had to push vibrance in lightroom to see some blue sky…both argh and yargh at lightroom…

I took a detour around the cemetery… and I ended up on this spot of land untainted by crosses. It was a bit odd, and a bit of a comfort since I was getting a bit sick at looking at all the crosses.

I feel so discouraged at that point, it seems as if crosses won’t help me get a good picture, or it seems pretty ordinary since I’ve been looking at them for the past hour, and then I looked to my right and I was surprised…

A wreath of flowers lay on Ysa Delgado’s memorial. The wreath looks fresh and it seems that it’s placed there recently (I was thinking that day as well).

to be remembered even after for so long must be a nice feeling…

Some other random shots…I love the color of the leaves here. It reminds me of fall…

I like how this turned out. I was sitting on the sidewalk, feeling woozy and tired, and I tried placing my cam on the grass, switched to macro and pressed. It was funny how the smaller trees surrounded the big tree. This was totally unintentional and I was goddamned lucky. Plus, I had to maliciously pp this one (abused vibrance, thank you lightroom) just so I can produce a semi-blue sky.

I ended up on the altar of sorts…I was trying to take pictures of the wreath (Nothing good came up), and I was hearing two women talking

Ay, nakuha ko yung babae… (oh, I also shot the girl) she said when she took a picture. I moved outside so they can shoot in touristy peace. :P

Joseph and I didn’t end up having lunch since I was still at the AWM and he needs to be back at around 2:30 for his training so I ended up taking more time in the memorial. I was reading the names and was calculating how many names were engraved on this curvature, so I counted about 196 names engraved on each wall * 2 walls on each row, * (walking and counting the rows…) 11, 12, 13…. oh screw it… I lost count… :D

I always remember miss bean when I do this particular shoes/feet shot. This will always be an inspiration from her. I love you, deer.

I ended my AWM with that, and drove around Makati Avenue for parking, I ended up shelling 160 pesos for PARKING in Greenbelt 4 (darn you, fine print!) I took a jeep near Kalayaan, and walked to powerplant.

I look very lost, I had a late lunch, and went to JP Rizal when the clouds were getting whiter and fluffier, and the sky was peeking out. I tried my luck.

golden at the bottom, blue at the top, lots of poofy fluff in between…

I miss taking cityscapes. So I was thinking were can I go that day so I can take some skyline photos. I tried going back to Joseph’s apartment to see if there is a rooftop I can abuse.

Nada.

I thought again. And remembered a totally valid roofdeck where I won’t get bitched by administration, I crossed the street and went to City Garden’s rooftop restaurant where you see the cityscape on all directions. I was facing the Buendia/Kalayaan, North East cityscape.

I ordered Peach Schnapps and I smoked to my heart’s content (and my lung’s persuasion) while taking occasional photos.

It was nearing sunset. I was in awe.

Kalayaan/Buendia side…

I was imaging how this would look line on a fine blue day… I may go back soon :) The Peach Schnapps was worth all the takes :)

I was being biased to portrait shots that day…for one sole reason ;)

The ice was melting, my stocks of ammo were depleting, but I was really happy, inhaling the fresh air and the cool breeze.

I paid for my drink, went to the other side and took some more photos.

the north east side…

Hope you all had a great valentines! :)

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