Looking Back

Quite a number of people who both know me and my brother, Jonas, well often make observations about how different we are. In many ways, there is truth in their comments. As children, I would sit happily with very few friends (or even a book at times) while he would be off 'directing' most of the neighborhood kids as to what game they should play for that afternoon. My yaya, at some point, may have contemplated putting a bell around my neck just so she could tell if I was in her vicinity, while my brother's minder may have thought about plugging her ears with cotton. I was quite the young diplomat but ended up in a lot of fights with my brother because he somehow dragged me into the ones that he had already unintentionally started. Good times.

Now that we're both into our 30's, I have come to realize with each passing year how much alike we are. We both like to be among our closest friends, although their numbers may differ. We both speak up to make a point, although the volume of our words may vary. We both stand up for what we believe is right, although we've given up the use of our fists to do so.

My brother and I will always have our differences and similarities. But for me, what's important is the realization that we have shared such a wonderful relationship despite them.

Happy birthday, Jon.

Sasha — Bohemian at Busay

Carlo and I got to shoot Sasha again the last time he was home from Singapore. We initially planned for a hippie/Bohemian-themed shoot, but decided to deviate from that eventually to make use of what the location had to offer since it was quite a long way from the city. It was a warm and windy day, which did not only feel odd, but left us parched at the end. We were holding on to our lighting equipment the whole time because there was no picking it up from the foot of the mountain on the other side. All in all, it was a typical sojourn into a faraway place just to make pictures.

*You can view and comment on each picture in this set by viewing the album here.

Watching the World Go By

Getting Away. I know that the world is not bound by the divisions of my office cubicle, but the stress of the job can often make it seem that way. It often feels like places like these are too many miles away, but I have realized that they will remain that way unless I take the first step. And that the world is too beautiful and diverse a place to leave unexplored.

Speaking Up

What kind of pictures would you like to shoot?

Is the first question, I believe, that one should answer before embarking on the pursuit of photography. In fact, it should even come before deciding on what camera to get. Although I arrived at my answer to that question by trial (and a lot of ) error, I gather that I have found my place in the vast of sea of pictures that make up an ever-changing photographic tapestry.

I will reiterate that my passion and greater interest has always been shooting pictures of people, and telling their stories in the process. However, I have come to realize that if I am to sustain myself in the business of photography, then I have to exhibit some degree of versatility when it comes to the work that I can produce.

Allow me then to present a sample of how I shoot (and in most cases, light) the following subjects:

*Click on any of the images to view it larger in a light box.

Furniture

Food

Flowers

Fashion

But at end of the day, I find my home in making pictures of people where... well, allow me to quote a touching testimonial from one of my favorite subjects and best friend, Maricel —

"I can testify that you have a way of capturing images of people not in their 'usual self', but in 'what they are capable of'."

With that being said, allow me to present one of the ways by which I make pictures of

People

I am Joel. I am a photographer. 

What kind of pictures would you like me to shoot for you?

__________

If you're interested in commissioning my services, please refer to my contact details in the 'Contact/Bookings' tab under the site title above. 

The Daybreak Diaries (3)

Rebirthing Pains

Choosing a path that is altogether different from the one that you're already on is a daunting decision in itself, but I found out that it is unfortunately just the beginning. I had spent most of my energy swimming in circles in the choppy seas of an aimless life, and I now find myself struggling against the countercurrent of a past existence that I am trying to escape from. There are certainly times when I wonder whether I have the strength to see this course change through.

The path less traveled is full of doubt and nearly devoid of the very people who once populated my old life. I have also discovered that many of these persons have made the assumption that my identity is inextricably bound to the previous path that I was on. I was typecast into a role in their very own lives. And sadly for most of these people, their 'scripts' will not accept rewrites.

I played a number of roles for too long — the obedient son, the responsible brother, the dutiful nerd, the gracious doormat, the phenomenal failure, the eventual pariah — that the masks that I had swapped out for various acts had become glued to my face. Even I no longer knew who I really was before the curtains on this life went up. Prying all these masks off will be incredibly painful, and there will even be occasions where I will be tempted to put them back on.

The need for acceptance and belonging can be very compelling, but I must remind myself that I clawed myself back up from the darkest depths of my psyche and although I maybe gasping for breath, it is free air that is now sustaining my ragged soul.

If you share in similar trials, know that these can only make you stronger. And I truly believe that life will get better. Don't give up.

Watching the World Go By

The Other Side. I get so caught up on what I do not have that I become blind to what I do actually have. I become discontented, envious, and eventually unhappy. I realize that if I looked hard enough, somewhere the grass will always be greener. However, I have also come to see that verdancy cannot cover up for an unmistakable lack of character.  

Three Steps to Curing Picture Vomit (Step 3)

Here's what we've done so far:

• Offloaded images from the camera onto the computer (preferably backed up on a separate location as well)
• Weeded out the rejects from the lot (as described in step 1)
• Narrowed down the field of 'contestants' by placing only good images in a pick pile (as illustrated in step 2)

Take note that we haven't uploaded any of our pictures yet. At this stage, they're still residing in a folder in your hard drive awaiting the third and final step. 

Step 3. Create a 'diet' plan and stick to it.

If you've faithfully followed steps 1 and 2, then the last one should be fairly easy. Before you make your final selects for upload, think of a theme to the album that you are about to put out there for perpetual posterity  — a thread that ties all of your images together into one cohesive and beautiful tapestry. It can be as simple as showing the chronology of events as they unfolded or it can be as elaborate as allowing colors and emotions to meld together into one meaningful piece. 

It doesn't even have to be mind-blowingly profound each time; what's important is that you actually made a real effort to tell a tale with your pictures, rather than just splatter them all over a browser page. They deserve more than that. If you understand the need to organize your thoughts before speaking in front of people, then this process should make perfect sense. You want to be concise, comprehensive but brief.

Once more, allow me to illustrate my point further with an example using my own images. These are pictures I made during a family outing to a local beach, which should be an event that most of us (in the tropics) would have experienced at least more than once in our life. 

*The pictures are labelled in pairs to help me present the goal of this exercise. Hover your mouse over each image to view the label.

__________

__________

I imagine you might have a set of images like this in your pick pile. Once you have a theme in mind, choose only one from each picture pair to tell your story. The photo that you choose must be the one that best conveys the message that you want to get across. You want each significant event to be represented, but you also don't want to diminish how special it is by identifying each moment as being memorable.

So, which three photos would you choose?

You can see what I came up with after the jump.

Watching the World Go By

Sun Flower. Far from tainted light skylines of the city, I remember marveling at the sheer multitude of stars in the sky on a moonless night. Photography had not found me yet then, but I do have a vivid memory of that breathtaking sight. That experience has inspired me to look up to the heavens ever since. Where we wait for boredom to blink in our daily lives, we often miss the marvels that occur overhead.

Three Steps to Curing Picture Vomit (Step 2)

Step 2. Rinse and Do Not Repeat

Okay, so now your pictures are off the card and in your computer. You've weeded out the rejects from the pictures you just shot (as detailed in the previous step). Now, it's time to go over them again and pick out the images that you will proceed to put in a passed-the-audition pile. I would suggest working on copies of your pictures (if you're not using photo management software that preserves the originals) in the event that you might unintentionally delete an image.

The objective of this step is to look at images that essentially depict the same scene, person or object; and choose one to two from that series to go into your pick pile. You don't really need to have four pictures of a waterfall from more or less the same angle, right? 

So, how will an image qualify as a pick? 

Well, allow me to share two examples showing how I go about this process using pictures that I shot myself.

Example 1. The Virtual Slide show

Last year, I shot a short horror flick with a talented group of people from our very own department. There was a downpour on one of the nights that we were shooting, and it was in the middle of all that inclement weather that I chanced upon this tree in the rain. I was in charge of shooting production stills, so I had my camera with me. I took a few moments, while we were walking to one of the indoor locations, to quickly change my settings and shoot a few frames of the scene in front of me. The following pictures are three very similar images of what I saw that night.

So, did I really need all three pictures taking up space on my hard drive?

You can read the answer to this question and the second example after the jump.

Jade - Maternity Portraits

Jade, the lovely woman in the pictures that follow, is a very good friend of my wife, Susan. We conceptualized and planned a maternity portrait session as a gift to her last March, as she was expecting her first child then. She has since given birth to a healthy and beautiful baby boy. However, please allow me to share a few hand-picked pictures that I especially liked from that session here.

The pictures in the collage above can be viewed individually (and larger) after the jump.