I will no longer elaborate the purpose of my visit to Brgy. Labac. I just want to share some shots I took from this small backyard. Although the location is quite simple and with too much people around (due to a gathering) I still managed to sneak out my camera. The following are the product of an early shoot while most of the people are preparing for our breakfast.

 

Used my Sigma 70-300mm DG Macro lens and set my Canon 400D to Full Manual mode. Exploring the capabilities of my camera.

Thanks to Buboy Eito of Nosebleed Magazine for inviting me to join to this photo session with Maja Salvador at Imagesmith studio located at Pasig City. It's an overwhelming experience working with the Pro photographers like Buboy Eito, Joel Garcia, Jojo Pensica, Michael Agustin, Baba G and Richard Santillian. All of them are PRO Nikon users and I am the only one using a Canon gear for that event. As I've said they are professional in their field not only by taking picture but professional enough to share their knowledges on the how-tos of photography. I can say also that they are die-hard Nikonian's but not even a single bit of hesitations they teach me how to setup my gear properly. Thanks to Joel Garcia and Buboy Eito for educating me in the field of photography. It's a great honor meeting and working with this guys.

My first attempt to capture a Hot Air Balloon flight. Our group drove to Angeles City Pampanga to catch the last day celebration and flight of the Hot Air Balloon participants around the globe. We arrive at the place past 5am in the morning and the file of cars waiting for a parking area is almost 500 meters away from the entrance gate. The sun is starting to rise when we found a parking space for the car and not to mention the very long stretch line of people waiting for their turn to get an entrance ticket.

One of our companions made her very best to sneak into lines and even manage to get 20 pieces of tickets in a short period of time. Mine is ticket #54219. Walla and there we go, camera rolling. Once we step up inside the viewing area the event has started and luckily no balloon yet had lifted-off.

We still manage to get some pre-flight preparations even if the skies are not as blue as I am expected to be. All my shots have a white background as if they were all look over-exposed. Glad to have some post processing technique.

It's been a while since my flickr group Flickristasindios conducted an Outreach; this time we offer our time to Capture a Heart on Valentine's Day. We visited the children of Payatas, Quezon City. Payatas is popular and also known as the "Dumpsite of Metro Manila". For this event, we shared our loved by means of gift giving, providing them some basic household needs like rice, canned goods, noodles and specially a toy for the kids.

A total of 100 Payatas kiddo's attended and was invited to receive our gifts. As they received their gifts, most of them are happy to open the toys not knowing also the value of the goods they are carrying. For a kid, a toy is the most valuable possession they might have. I am happy to be part of this group in which I can also share my time and small amount just make a single kid happy.

If you look at the children's faces you might be carried away with their emotions. Some have a happy face but most of them are sad and lonely. To capture that moments please take time to view some of the kiddo's facial expressions.