PhotoHunt: SEASONAL

All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day give us the timely, and not often ignored, reminder of our own mortality, death's inevitability, and the importance of living life to the fullest. Until we reach our final destination.

Heritage Park, Taguig City, November 2012, using a phonecam.

Safari Year Five

I quietly celebrated my photoblog’s fifth year online this week. While swimming through some posts through the years, I am grateful for having experienced so many places, so much culture, and myriad events. I am even more grateful that I have began to see anything and everything as “blog-able” – no need to wait for an elusive double rainbow or the perfect symmetry of sun, sea, and sky. The last five years online have helped teach me that I make the so-called Kodak moments, and each is a Kodak moment- if I choose it to be. No scenery is too grand or too murky for beauty and wonder to reside in.

To celebrate my blogoversary, allow me to re-dedicate this blog with words I have used to launch it five years ago:

This photoblog is inspired by Dan Eldon, a young photojournalist who was killed while on duty in Somalia. Reckoned by many to have been a premature death, he left an extensive set of journals chronicling a life that was short but truly well-lived. Thank you, Dan, for reminding me that each moment is a golden photo opportunity, to be grabbed, savored, captured, framed, and shared…

This safari that is my life is still so good.

--==+==--

I am a firm believer in Dan Eldon’s mission statement that

"The most important part of vehicle maintenance is clean windows, so if you are broken down, you will enjoy the beauty of the view."





In a recent road trip, I am glad the owner of the vehicle we were in was of the same thinking, too. The view from Valencia City to Cagayan De Oro City was simply awesome- a 130-kilometer trip punctuated by rolling hills, gorgeous skies, and imposing mountains. Now, I had to be a bit creative to capture my surroundings since we were cruising at a speed that was meant to enable us to join a meeting without being late.

on the road in Bukidnon,April 2012, using a digicam.

PhotoHunt: ZAP

I think the moon is one of the most underrated icons of beauty. Most likely because we fail to fully see its beauty since it peeks around the time we're supposed to be sleeping. It doesn't help that it has also been been infamously associated with werewolves, lunatics, and all the creepy crawlies that go bump in the night.

I still happen to be awake at this unusual hour (it's 2.36am here in the Philippines as I type this) and while reading my Twitter timeline, someone mentioned about the moon. I looked up and out of the window and- voila- a sight I hardly behold.

I don't know if this is already the supermoon mentioned frequently as of late, but regardless, the moon will always be super, magical to me =]

the sky outside my house, Taguig City, May 2012, using a digicam.

PhotoHunt: CARD

Following this PhilPost truck one time made me think of the lost art of letter-writing. In the age of emails and Twitter, how many of us have received birthday cards by mail lately? How many are still excited when the mailman swings by to unload a bunch of letters (minus the bills, of course)?

on the road to work, March 2011, using a digicam.

PhotoHunt: INFORMATIVE

Stamps are a window to a country's soul. They are my favorite snapshots into its psyche- the serious, the whimsical, the historic, the sporty, the mysterious, the business side of a nation- all can be captured, one image at a time in a 2-cm by 2-cm frame.

As we celebrate the 150th birth anniversary of our national hero, Dr Jose Rizal, I hauled out of its 15-year hiding place these stamps which commemorated the centennial of his martyrdom in 1996. These series of stamps contain vistas of his life, including: his portraits from childhood to adulthood; the places he visited, including his home-away-from-home in Heidelburg, Germany; his many eclectic loves, including sculpture, and; most importantly, his masterpieces- Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo, both of which stoked the embers of a fledgling nation's desire for independence, which resulted to a conflagration of a revolution that paved the way for our freedom, albeit short-lived, but no less significant in the eyes of our citizens, of Asia, and the world.

Stamps are my favorite souvenirs to take home whenever I travel to a country outside my own. However, revisiting my Philippine collection is also a worthwhile journey to take, if only to rediscover how truly blessed I am to emerge from a lineage of heroes, how blessed I am to be Filipino.

June 2011, using a digicam.

Litratong Pinoy: PRENO (Break)

Gaano karami pa kaya sa atin ang tumitigil upang magbigay-pugay tuwing mapapadaan sa isang paaralan, opisina, o palatuntunan na itinataas ang ating watawat at kinakanta ang ating pambansang awit? Gaano karami pa kaya sa atin ang napapatigil upang isipin, sariwain, ipagpasalamat, ipagpatuloy ang pagpupunyagi ng mga nauna sa atin upang makamit ang kalayaang ating tinatamasa sa kasalukuyan?

Isang paalala mula sa ating Pambansang Bayani, Jose Rizal, sa panahon ng paggunita sa ika-150 taon ng kanyang kapanganakan:



PRENO = BREAK

I wonder-

How many among us stop and pause when the national anthem is being sung and our flag is being raised at a school, office, or program?

How many among us stop to think about, reminisce, be thankful for, and continue the efforts of those who came before us to fight for the freedom we enjoy today?

Please see the reminder above from the Philippines' National Hero, Jose Rizal, on the occasion of his sesquicentennial birth anniversary celebration-

inside Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City, June 2011, using a digicam.

Four-Year Clutter

The beach wasn't as immaculate as I hoped it would be, this being my last chance to catch the famous sunset by the shores of Boracay. A lot of people were there ahead of me, taking over every possible available patch of white sand still available. At first I was a bit upset: how now can I take the best photo of the glorious sunset with all this people milling about, standing in my way, preventing me from taking the shot?!

But then again, to keep this sun to myself is awfully selfish, this gorgeous sunset being just too beautiful NOT to share.

--==+==--

As one sun descends beneath the horizon, so ascends another one to begin a new day. A new year. Here's to the start of my fifth year of maintaining this blog, a collection of random photos from my past, present, and future travels, interspersed with random musings and odd finds, online postcards from sojourns near and far.

This has become and will continue to be a fantastic portal for connecting with virtual buddies from Manila, Ireland, Singapore, Norway, San Francisco, and beyond. Thank you all for your kind words and appreciation. Thank you for making this corner a regular stop.

Thank you God for the gift of travel, the gift of senses, the gift of memories, the gift of adventure, the gift of restraint, the gift of insight, the gift of gratitude, the gift of wonder.

On to the next adventure =]

Station 2, Boracay Island, town of Malay, Aklan province, March 2011, using a digicam.

Litratong Pinoy: ITIM (Black)

Ang isa sa mga gusali sa Bonifacio High Street na malimit na makinang at maliwanag ay pansamantalang nabalot ng dilim nang makilahok ang buong lungsod ng Taguig sa taunang EARTH HOUR noong 2010. Ang Earth Hour ang sabayang pagpatay ng ilaw o/at di mahahalagang gamit na de-kuryente upang maging isang mahalagang makabuluhang hakbang tungo sa pag-alaga sa planeta at sa kumakarampot na mga pangangailangang pangkalikasan.

Sa Sabado, Marso 26 na, sa ganap na 8.30-9.30 ng gabi ang Earth Hour sa taong ito. Makilahok at tumugon sa hamon ng isang oras na patay-kuryente hanggang sa panghabambuhay na tuwirang pagbabago para mapalawig pa ang kumakaunti nating rekursong pangkalikasan.

ITIM = BLACK

The usually bright and glittery buildings of Bonifacio High Street has been turned ito pitch-black space as the entire city of Taguig participated in Earth Hour last year. Earth Hour is the simultaneous switching off of lights and/or other unnecessary electrical gadgets meant to be a symbolic gesture of unity to save the planets dwindling natural and energy resources.

This Saturday, March 26, Earth Hour will happen again wherever you are on the planet, from 8.30-9.30 pm. Be part of this hour-long show of global action which will hopefuly be the start of a lifelong commitment to care for our planet and each other.

Building 3, Bonifacio High Street, Taguig City, 2010, using a digicam.

PhotoHunt: MOSTLY BLACK

The lights were turned out simultaneously for an hour last year as local establishments in my current hometown joined Earth Hour 2010.

In one month's time, March 26th 8.30pm wherever you are, it will be Earth Hour once again! This year, the challenge is "to grow beyond the hour," to make the annual, symbolic lights out event the springboard for more sustained personal, commercial, and governmental effort throughout the year to be more energy-efficient and environment friendly.

Find out more about Earth Hour 2011 by clicking the banner below:

Bonifacio High Street, Taguig City, March 2010, using a digicam.

PhotoHunt: BUBBLES

This is a detail on the window of a spa resthouse some 60 kilometers south of Manila. I can't help but reflect on how this feature mirrors my country which celebrates its 112th Independence Day today. With 90 million people, speaking 85 languages, living in a an archipelago with 7,107 islands, there is the inevitable fragmentation brought about by geography and culture on close scrutiny. However, if we pull back and see the bigger picture, we are but one colorful fabric, forming a cohesive state, unified by our differences, forged together by our welcome diversity. It's the only nation we have, so we have to make it work.

Sonya's Garden, near Tagaytay City, January 2009, using a digicam.

Litratong Pinoy: PAG-ASA (Hope)

Dilaw ang kulay ng pag-asa ngayon sa Pilipinas. Ang dilaw na laso na ito, kung ating kakapitan, sama-samang tatangan at hahatakin, ang lubid na mag-aahon sa ating bansa, paalis na lusak na kinasasadlakan natin. Kung mananatili tayong kanya-kanya, makasarili, at mapanira sa bawat isa at sa ating pamunuan, ito ang tali na bibigti sa ating bansa.

PAG-ASA = HOPE

Yellow stickers abound in the Philippines. It is the symbol adopted by then-candidate Benigno Aquino III to identify his brand of politics and leadership. And now that he has been proclaimed as the President-Elect of the Philippines, this color yellow has become the color of hope. This yellow ribbon, if we hold on to it, grasp it altogether, and with all our might pull forward in the same direction, the Philippines may just emerge from the terrible muck it is currently in. However, if we allow discord and selfishness to reign, it could very well be another noose by which we'll orchestrate our own country's demise.

Sales Interchange, Taguig City, March 2010, using a digicam.

Tree for Three

Whenever we travel, we try our best to live by this mantra-

Take nothing but pictures.
Leave nothing but footprints.
Kill nothing but time.

We try to be as less obtrusive as possible as regards ecology, whether we are in an urban or a real jungle. Taking public transportation or walking instead of bringing our private vehicles. Bringing our own food and drink containers instead of buying pre-packaged and bottled ones. Reusing hotel towels until they’re threadbare. I would like to think that many of the photos in this blog where taken during trips wherein we made discernible efforts to be, well, green.

However, I wasn’t too keen on the reality that the green points we’ve earned in those trips get used up as I consume kilowatts of electricity while I write my entries and share photos online! Good thing there is now a means for me to declare that my blog is carbon-neutral.

A German initiative via the website Mach’s green promises to plant one tree for each blog owner that chooses to sign up in this website. This endeavor is made possible in partnership with several non-government organizations and publications dedicated to saving the environment using the most creative yet practical means. A report of the trees already planted as well as the sites for the planting of future trees can be seen in the website, among other details, in the spirit of transparency and accountability. The steps towards making your own blog carbon-neutral are very simple and they begin by heading over to Mach’s green.

And so, I celebrate this photoblog’s anniversary number 3 by securing for it a tree to make it carbon-neutral. May this be an auspicious start to more adventures in and more photos of a safer, greener, grander planet.