Nagsasa Cove

I went on an adventure with my friends last March 1 and 2. Honestly, I didn't have anything planned for the trip even though I was the one who asked everyone to go haha. But surprisingly everything went well except for a few glitches. Jed, Francis, Rap, Ron, and Marv went with me.

We left early tuesday morning at 6:30 am in the morning. That was the schedule of the bus leaving from cubao station headed to zambales. I almost went to the wrong station because I was under the impression that the cubao station is the one near kamias road. Fortunately Marv texted me early in the morning and told me that that is not the cubao station hahaha. The trip was long and it took us 4 hours to reach the town of San Antonio, Zambales. We met up with Manong Vic there (contacted him prior to the trip).

Before going to Pundaquit beach, we went to the market to buy food. It was funny because we bought only a little food. 2 kilos of rice for three meals for 6 men hahaha. Then a kilo of pork, a kilo of chicken, 1 1/2 kilos of beef, and a medium sized fish. I was really worried our food wasn't enough for us so i kept thinking about it during the boat ride.

So we went to Pundaquit which is the jump-off point to Nagsasa cove. The boat took so long to get to the cove. Plus the boat didn't have a roof so we were being toasted under the midday sun. By the time we got to the cove, exposed parts of our body were already red. Upon arrival we ate right away. The caretakers cooked for us beef (inihaw) which was as chewy as rubber haha.

We rested then we picthed our tent. Rap and I went around the place to take some pictures. The mountains were burned and according to the caretakers, it was done by the hunters. The "usa" or deer fed on those mountains so the hunters needed to burn the mountains to draw the "usa" to their traps. It was weird though that they had to burn the whole mountain just to get those wild animals.

But still I have to say that the place is wonderful. Scenery is breathtaking. I began to imagine how much more beautiful it would like if the mountains weren't burned hahaha. The place is so vast we were able to wander around for the whole day. There's a small aeta village on the other side of the cove, a river leading to the mountains, and pine trees covering most of the land.

Come sunset, we started swimming. I almost drowned because the sea floor is uneven. There were shallow parts but there were also very deep parts. We accidentally drifted towards the deep part while swimming and we almost drowned. We had to swim all the way to the shore which was very exhausting. We were traumatized so we just went back to camp and get ready for sunset.

We took a little more pictures of the sun setting and then we waited for dinner. The place gets very dark at night. We were only given a molotov-like lamp while we were eating. It wasn't very bright so we didn't notice that our food was still raw hahaha.s o we gave it back to the caretakers for further cooking. We bought firewood afterwards and started a bonfire. We drank alcohol around the fire and told stories. Then it started raining.

There were no other shaded places except the caretakers hut so we stayed there. The caretakers were drinking too so we joined them. They had a lot of jokes and they were very funny. They spoke Ilocano too so I was able to understand their converstations haha.

I woke up late in the morning. The boatman was going to pick us up after lunch. We killed time taking group pics and wandering around. At around 1pm we left the cove and headed home to Manila.

It was really fun. I need to go back there...

Camera: Rolleicord III, Xenar

Film: Fuji Reala 100

Quezon Memorial Circle

I always go to this place whenever I need to test a camera or film or if i just don't have anything to do. It's near my house so I can just go anytime I want. There are lots of people especially in the afternoon. It is particularly notorious for being a date place for couples. You'll see them occupying every bench in the place. But there are other interesting stuff also (if you know where to look). Like these ones:

Flip. Spotmatic F. Takumar 50. Arista Premium 400

Balloon. Spotmatic F. Takumar 50. Legacy Pro 400

Bubbles. Spotmatic F. Takumar 50. Legacy Pro 400

Bubbles. Spotmatic F. Takumar 50. Legacy Pro 400

Camera: Spotmatic F

Film: Arista Premium 400, Legacy Pro 400

Do-it-Yourself

I have two russian lenses that have stiff focusing mechanisms. I sent one for repair to Mr. Jay Javier(http://russiancamerafix.multiply.com/) late last year because I haven't mustered up the confidence yet to open it because I have never tried it before. And sir Jay is the guru when it comes to these things. I did try to fix my Lubitel's self timer before but I ended up breaking the whole thing HAHA. So I was really scared.

I really wanted to get the other one fixed too but I just couldn't find the time. Yesterday, I got tired of studying and started playing with the other lens. I read up on instructions on the internet and I managed to take it apart by myself. Here are some pictures:

Tools of the trade

Industar 26-m disassembled

Old grease fossilized into wax

So I removed the old grease using petrol (As per sir Jay's suggestion) and replaced it with new grease. Reassembling the lens was the hard part as it took me more time to put things back together in reverse order. But in due time I was able to finish and here is the lens now mounted on my fed-2:

Fed-2 with Industar-26m lens

disassembly instructions can be found here:

http://pentax-manuals.com/repairs/i6ldservice.pdf

Blue Christmas

Last november I signed up for a project called Blue Christmas wherein Ateneo students would sponsor classes for sector-based kids. It was an early Christmas treat for the kids. Class activities were held in the morning then a program in the afternoon complete with huge inflatables. It was something the kids look forward to every year. You can easily tell from their faces that it was really something important for them.

As for me, it was my first time. I had nothing better to do that day so I volunteered. I don't regret joining because it was really fun. I hoped I could join again next time but then I'm already graduating. I guess I really need to find a sustainable way of helping people...

Here's one of the kids in our class that day during the coloring activity...

Blue Christmas. Spotmatic F. Kodak Ultima

Juxtaposition

We went to this place called Wawa lake somewhere near Angono, Rizal. It's around an hour away from Metro Manila if I remember correctly. You can still see the buildings of Metro Manila from the edge of the lake. The place is great except that there's a huge sludge of mud by the shore. It's supposed to block water in case the lake overflows.

I brought my folder loaded with a roll of Kodak Ektacolor film to see how the old russian lens performs with modern medium format color negative film. When I saw the results I was blown away. Medium format has that smooth rendering of color. I'm not sure how to describe it but it's really different from 35mm film.

Here's the shot I took:

Wawa. Moskva-2. Kodak Ektacolor

Bokeh Trap

Whenever I search for sample shots from a specific camera or lens on flickr, the most interesting shots are always taken wide open at full aperture. For some reason I can't explain, bokeh has that special effect on people. But as always, anything that is overused can be unappealing. So browsing through flickr hivemind can be frustrating sometimes.

Don't get me wrong, I like bokeh too. There are instances when you really have to shoot at full aperture (e.g. low light) and there are shots that would really look more appealing if they are shot at full aperture. Personally, I haven't mastered it and sometimes I find myself caught in what photographers often call bokeh trap.

Here's one i took to test the bokeh of my rolleicord. This was shot at f/5.6 though instead of f/3.5 which is a full and a half stop away from the widest aperture:

Bokeh. Rolleicord. Fuji Acros

On the Road

You know that feeling, when you're looking out the window from inside the car and you see something special and you want to stop the car, get out and take a picture of it?

That is what I exactly felt when I saw this scene outside the car window...

Luna, Isabela. Rolleicord. Fuji Acros

This is from the first roll my rolleicord. I like its ergonomics better than the Yashica-D