The Diwata's Gifts

This post will deal less with the technical aspect of the diwata-themed pictures that I shot recently, but will instead focus more on the lessons that I learned as I went through the process of conceptualizing, planning and executing the shoot. I have already expressed how much I want to do more with my photography here, so I decided that investing in a personal project to build my portfolio was a step in the right direction.

The diwata's gifts will be revealed after the jump.

Let Sleeping Flashes Lie

I haven't had the luxury of being able to sit down and work on a proper post. There are a number of possible topics floating around in my head, but I haven't been able to nail them down just yet. I am hoping that the coming long weekend will afford me the time to write something more substantial. However, I don't want the long pause in between posts to become a recurring thing; so, I'm squeaking this one out and hoping it will build enough momentum to carry me through the end of the week.

I will be writing at greater length about the diwata-themed shoot that I did as part of building my portfolio. For now, let me just share a happy accident that occurred at that time. I had Jing up on the tree and while we were adjusting her pose, checking her hair, fixing her dress, and waiting for the early morning sun to shine consistently (C'mon, buddy. Make up your mind!) the hot-shoe flash fell asleep entered power-saving mode. Now, I usually test fire the flash before I make the shot, but apparently my brain also fell asleep.

So, the shutter clicks and Queenie reports that the flash didn't fire. I checked the image on the back of my camera and confirmed that very fact. This is what I saw on my LCD screen.

A few years back, I would've found my finger moving towards the trash button, but I found that the image worked despite the flash not firing. I decided to keep the picture because it's not too often that the universe lines everything up just waiting for you to make the 'wrong' move.

Watching the World Go By

Split-second Serenity. I believe I haven't posted an entry in this segment in a while. Not only have there been ground-shaking developments this past week, but it has probably been one of the longest for me as well. I was busy checking things off my to-do list that I had no time to stop and smell the rain-drenched earth. As I was juggling submitting midterm grades and covering the Regional Chemistry Olympiad yesterday, I came across the scene above. It was a picture-worthy view that I've been admiring from the third floor of our building since the middle of the week, which is why I finally decided to capture it while it was still there (the grass-cutter will surely make short work of it the following week). I brought the camera to my eye, breathed, allowed the world to melt away (albeit for the briefest of moments), and pressed the shutter.

Lab Art from the Rat Lab

I found myself bored yesterday afternoon. It wasn't a case of not having any work to do (the paper mountain from midterms week still awaited immolation my attention), but more of not wanting to do anything even remotely related to the four-letter word. My brain enforced a strict no-work policy, so off I went to the biochemistry lab, hoping that the mice would be doing something interesting for me to capture. No such luck.

I was going to stow my camera back in its bag when I noticed the rust and stain patterns on the sink surface and decided to look for intriguing textures instead. To aid in the obfuscation, I did a lot more work on these images in post than I usually do. After looking at the finished versions, I was quite pleased with how they seemed familiar yet different at the same time, making the mundane a little bit more captivating.

To complete the cycle of madness come full circle, let me give each of my above images a title. I'd like to call the one above 'Soul Erosion' (Wow, artsy!). ;-)# More of the inanity pictures can be viewed on my G+ account by clicking on this link.

Enjoy.