GEAR TALK: Nikkor 50mm f1.2 Lens

I wouldn’t recommend photographing animls with manual focus lenses. But when I aquired the classic, exotic Nikkor 50mm f/1.2 I couldn’t resist photographing a feline visitor in available 12 watt florecent light at night. If you love rotating lense barrels like I do, then it becomes a passion and obsession heh heh heh! I find out-of-focus background and highlights (“bokeh” in Japanese) visually addictive. In Shane’s photo (cat's name, above) her body is immediately blurred into creamy oblivion by using the widest aperature of f/1.2! This "fast" glass is now part of my arsenal in extreme low light photography. Kudos to Nikon for being backwards-compatible with manual lenses!

Happy 2009 New Year To All!

Let’s all hope again for a brighter, better new year. Here is a quickie fireworks photo I took in just outside my apartment hand-held! Due to unregulated fireworks practices in our streets I just had to quickly hide indoors again. Very few families “hide” in hotels or go to their home province during the new year celebration to protect themselves from random, falling bullets (fired from guns). I should too-if I can afford it. I wish you all a prosperous new year ahead!

Nice Prints is Top 2008 Wedding Booker

Congratulations to Nice Prints studio and Charisse Tiño for being the top wedding booker for 2008 in the Philippines. What a meteoric rise from obscurity! When it comes to value-for-money wedding photo/video services, Nice Prints is hard to beat. And Filipinos know that-it shows. It does feel good to be a part of their roster of photogs. 2009 looks even brighter!

Revising Stage Lighting

I got permission to stategically place my two Nikon Speedlite flash units onstage for the preliminary event of the Mr. and Ms. Slimmers World 2008. T’was my chance to improve and prove that stage par lights can be dramatically improved-with the proper permission from the organizers. Have a look! I placed one flash at the back (far left-side) of the stage while I placed the other off-stage on my far right side (with moi facing the stage) The TriStar radio trigger tripped the two Nikon strobes wirelessly.

Glenn and Lizza Loraine

It's December and it's peak season for Philippine weddings. That's good news for freelance photogs like moi. I'd like to congratulate the gentle couple in Glenn and Lizza for "taking the plunge" finally. It was sheer joy and pleasure documenting their special event. I'm looking forward designing their elegant photo album soon. May your tribe increase guys!

The University of the Philippines at 100

My alma mater the University of the Philippines (or UP in Diliman, Quezon City) celebrates 100 years of liberal education this year. It just saddens me that I couldn't attend the colorful Lantern Parade last December 17 with my College of Fine Arts (CFA) as the perpetual Hall of Fame finale of the said parade. It was in the hallowed halls of the UPCFA that inspired all my photographic vision and aspirations. Congratulations and thank you to my beloved alma mater! May your light of knowlege and wisdom shine brightly in our land forever.

GEAR TALK: Film Fever with Nikon FA

Shooting with the Nikon FA SLR camera gave me that feeling of nostalgic romance with photography all over again! Somewhere along digital "robbed" me of that a bit. Hmmm. Here is my Nikon FA (photo above) with a MD-15 dedicated motor drive. The FA was revolutionary in 1983 as the first manual SLR camera to incorporate the "Matrix" ("Evaluative" in Canon) meter-the defacto technology for superior exposures. The FA is perfect for color and B&W negatives as it tends to over-expose in contrasty situations. Eventually, newer SLRs refined the first-gen Matrix. Grabbing this tank gives me that feeling of professionalism and machoism. Will post some images taken with the FA soon...

Fashion at the Nayon Pilipino Park

It's possible to light-up your fashion photography shoots with just Nikon Speedlite units. For my MOD magazine fashion photography at the Ngayon Pilipino in Subic, Pampanga, I just used two Nikon flash units! Unlike some famous, well-off magazine photogs I had to cut-down drastically on gears and personel without sacrificing on image quality and be economically viable at the same time. The TriStar radio trigger tripped the Nikon Speedlites wirelessly within 50 feet-indoors or out. Any wider than that would mean that I need to procure the expensive Pocket Wizard flash trigger. Posted above are my prefered shots. Buy the December issue of MOD for only Php 100 to see more. Happy Holidays!