2010 Transport Show

The longest running carshow in the Philippines is back.

Just like any other carshows, there were booths selling anything from car parts and accessories, to condo units. As for this event, there was nothing really special about it, just the typical carshow.

The only different is with me, I get a tiny amount of guts to ask some of the models if I could take their pictures, something that I NEVER did before. Very unlikely for someone who is into photography as a hobby.

Despite of expecting to see cool cars, conversions, and restorations, I found some of interest, like a good old bicycle and a restored car made out of wood.

The rest of the exhibits:

And of course, the models:

And the best of them all:

15th Hot Air Balloon Fiesta

“A Weekend of Everything that Flies” – This was the slogan used for the 15th Philippine International Hot Air Balloon Fiesta held at Clark Freeport Zone in Angeles City, Pampanga. And why not? By far, this is the simplest and yet most sensible slogans I ever heard used in an event. And of all things that fly, one type stands out, balloon flying.

We all started appreciating balloons when we were young. Toy balloons, of course. from our first birthday, these cute fliers are “a must have” in a birthday party. And I have never seen a baby cry or crawl away from a toy balloon. Somehow, it is our instinct to enjoy them. And us we grow up, we become less interested with those toy balloons. When was the last time, if there ever was a time, that we saw grown ups strutting around with a balloon tied on their wrist? Although we have outgrown our enthusiasm with these trinkets, there is this one type of balloon that at a first glance until the end of our breath, we would never get tired of appreciating, the hot air balloon. And who said that cute stuffs do not come in big packages? These balloons not just big, they are huge. They are not just toys, they are rides. And above all, they do not just pop and drop on the ground, they last for a lifetime, even in our memories.

This year’s event was just as exciting as the past hot air balloon festivals. We just do not ever get tired watching these cute giants fly. Maybe because we are amazed and curious about being able to ride them and fly, surrendering its direction to the blow of the wind, or just maybe because of their stunning and cute designs. Regardless of the reason, there is one thing we all have in common, we LOVE them so much and we will always enjoy watching them and hopefully, ride in them.

Just how excited and eager we are to see these hot air balloons? Well, just enough to wake up at 2:00 to 3:00 in the morning and waiting for hours in lines stretching in meters up to the main road.

There were horses around without eye covers (or whatever you wanna call them) so I opted not to take shots using flash. But once we got inside, we quickly occupied the front area which only took minutes to be filled by spectators. And at last, the preparation for the event started at 5:45 AM.

To officially open the event, members of the Philippine Sky Diving Team did a sky dive with the Philippine flag, in sync with the Philippine National Anthem.

After the flag landed and folded by the army, a dance performance was held, with the dancers dressed in bird-like costumes, they were not able to fly, though.


But they pulled out some acrobatic moves.

A few moments later, the fancy balloons began to take shape. They were really cute.


Start your morning with a beer? Yeah right.

At around 7:00, all balloons were fully inflated and ready to fly.

And the moment all spectators have been waiting for, the balloons began to ascend one after the other.




The sun is up.

And so is turtle. Uhm is that supposed to be a butt-hole?

While most of the balloons flew far above the spectators,

one of them dared to hover above us and was just within our reach. Great control.

But there were these balloons that almost went out of control, colliding at each other, but thank goodness the balloonists managed to maneuver the balloons away from each other.

There were other attractions and activities that kept us busy during our stay.
Like having your picture taken with an airplane as your background.

With live bullets? Whoa.

Or even inside one.


And what is good about everyone having their picture taken in a whole bunch of crowd doing the same? Capturing somebody else doing some monkey business. Like this dude in red. Haha.

The Navy personnel and the pilots were very accommodating. Until now, I could still not believe they were that hospitable and courteous.

A big salute to all of them.

They were just as joyful as they could be, not the typical “Sir, yes, sir” soldier in the field. Clearly, they were also enjoying being there and part of the event.

Photography Shooting Technique #3: Focus Recomposition

Photography Shooting Technique #3: Focus Recomposition
Requirement: DSLR / Film camera with Autofocus lens
Shooting style: Hand held or mounted on a tripod / monopod
Flash / Lighting: Built-in / Speedlite / Studio or Strobe / Continuous / Ambient
Best Used: NOT advisable; Methods shown in the latter part of the discussion is applicable when NONE of the focus points is directly on the subject to be focused

Portraiture is the most commonly used form of photography. Regardless of location, all you need is a model or simply anyone from the crowd who is willing to pose for a shot. So, given the situation, someone poses in front of you; you aim for the eye; focused the lens as sharp as you can get it to be; BUT suddenly, you recomposed your shot then pressed the shutter button. Upon viewing the picture to 100% size, the eye just got out of focus, then you’ll start asking yourself “why”, and you’ll end up repeating the process only to end up with the same result.

In my two years in photography, I have seen amateurs, and even professional photographers practice those steps. And more often than not in group photoshoots, somebody from your fellow photographers will advise you to focus the eyes. The problem is, upon composing the frame, non of the focus points in your viewfinder is positioned directly to either eye. Such dilemma is, almost all the times, experienced by photographers who use cameras with 1 or 3 focus points, or even on cameras with 9 focus points. This discussion will explain why the subject becomes out of focus after recomposing the frame and the factors to consider to avoid the habit of recomposing your frame after focusing the subject.

Let’s discuss first the “why it happens”:
Please refer to the image below:

Just imagine that this picture of the basketball court, the hoop is the camera; the free throw line is the subject (represented by the blue dotted line); the green line is the initial focusing line of sight; the red line is the recomposed line of site; the yellow line is the depth of field of the initial composition; the purple line is the depth of field after recomposing; and the red dotted line is the new focused plane.

In such scenario, we need to consider 5 factors: the final composition of the shot, the focus points of the camera, the distance of the subject from the camera, the aperture opening of the lens which determines the depth of field, and of course the photographer him/herself respectively.
Final composition and focus point: The subject poses and you compose the shot but it appears that in that composition, none of the focus points is hitting your subject, in this case and most of the times, the eye(s). The tendency is that you would change the angle of the camera then place one of the focusing points over one of the eyes and start focusing it;
Distance of the subject and aperture opening: Once you start placing the focus point of the camera over the subject, the focus “plane” (that’s how I call the imaginary wall parallel to the photographer and the subject) also changes which is greatly affected by the distance of the subject from the camera. The depth of field, however, is determined by the aperture opening. Since you are “recomposing” to place the focus point to the eye, your are also extending the distance of the subject from the camera, like a pendulum effect. So once you redirect the camera to finalize your composition, you have already moved your focusing distance farther. This is when the depth of field comes into play (yellow and purple lines). If you are using a wide opening (lower aperture value such as f/1.8), the depth of field becomes smaller, let’s say to about a foot (12 inches) in front and beyond the subject. A larger aperture value such as f/4.5, on the other hand, will give you a wider depth of field of around 3 feet (estimated values only). Bottom line is, the wider the aperture opening you use, the more likely your subject will go out of focus after recomposing.
Photographer: By the time that you recompose to your final composition, the focusing distance of the camera from the subject has gone further beyond from where the subject is actually standing. This is tolerable if the subject is still within the depth of field, which rarely happens in portrait photography since we usually want our subject to stand out over the background. If you are using a wider aperture opening, your subject will be significantly go out of focus (refer to the yellow and purple lines).

How to recompose without changing the focusing distance from the subject? - This is fairly simple. It all boils down to how the photographer should move:
1. Focus on the subject (i.e. eye);
2. Recompose by moving parallel without changing the angle of the camera. Simply put, move in a horizontal and/or vertical motion as if there is an invisible wall between you and the subject, maintaining your distance from the subject as you move. Please see the illustration below (initial focusing and recomposing, respectively):

Actual example shots below (both images cropped at 100%):

The first image was taken using the usual method as described on the first part of this discussion while the second image (below) was taken using the parallel recomposing and exact same camera settings.

Photography Shooting Technique #2: Using Mirror Lockup

Photography Shooting Technique #2: Using Mirror Lockup
Requirement: DSLR camera with Mirror Lockup (I think all DSLR’s have this, I’m not sure though with Film cameras)
Shooting style: Hand held (Not applicable for use with tripod)
Flash / Lighting: Built-in / Speedlite / Studio or Strobe / Continuous / Ambient
Best Used: For macro shooting; When using slow shutter speed (slowest value may depend on how “stable” you can be); When shooting long range or when using long focal length

In my previous post, we have discussed how to effectively utilize the manual focus in live view shooting to improve the sharpness of the subject to be photographed. In this post, we will be discussing how to use Mirror Lockup to reduce camera shake.

In this discussion, we will be using a Canon 40D with Canon 50mm f/1.8 II lens. The lens may be classified as a prime lens, but due to its focal length, we can also consider this lens as a medium telephoto lens.

What is Mirror Lockup?
As we press the shutter button, 3 components spring into action: the mirror, the first curtain, the second curtain. All these three components move extremely fast which can cause vibration, just like a recoil of the gun after firing. Exaggerated? Maybe. But the slightest vibration may cause camera shake that will ruin your photo. I’m not saying that you need to use mirror lockup all the time nor using mirror lockup will remove camera shake, but using mirror lockup on certain shooting situations may significantly reduce camera shake, thus improving the quality of your shot.

When to use Mirror Lockup?
1. Shooting close up or macro photography;
2. Shooting long range or using long focal length;
3. Shooting using slow shutter speed (“5 – 1/30)
- All situations shooting hand held.

When shooting in condition #3, it really depends on how stable the photographer can be. The more stable the photographer can hold the camera, the longer shutter speed can be achieved.

How does Mirror Lockup work?
In normal operation, once the shutter button is pressed, the mirror moves up, allowing the first curtain to expose, the second curtain closes, then the mirror returns to its original position. Once the mirror lockup is enabled, the shutter must be pressed twice to complete a shot. The first time the shutter button is pressed, the mirror will move up but the second curtain will NOT activate. This prevents the first curtain to expose. The second time that the shutter button is pressed, the second curtain is then activated so the first curtain exposes and the rest of the actions follow (second curtain will close and the mirror will move back to its original position). In this process, the vibration caused by the mirror moving upward is eliminated, reducing the total combined vibration which results to a lesser camera shake.

Can Mirror Lockup replace IS / VR / VC (Vibration Control)?
Depending on the shooting condition, YES. Also, Image Stabilizer (IS) by Canon or Vibration Reduction (VR) by Nikon lens technology increases the monetary value of the lens by almost half of its original value. Not all of us can afford that.

The images below are cropped 100%, the picture on the left side was taken using normal method while the picture on the right side was taken using Mirror Lockup:

Shutter speed – 1/5, Aperture value – f/7.1, ISO speed – 100, hand held shooting

It is clear that enabling mirror lockup when shooting using slow shutter speed reduces the camera shake caused by the vibration of the 3 components (mirror, 1st and 2nd curtains) in the camera.

Note: Amount of vibration reduction may vary.

Photography Shooting Technique #1: Manual Focus Using Live View

Photography Shooting Technique #1: Manual Focus Using Live View
Requirement: Live view function capable DSLR camera
Shooting style: Hand held or tripod (highly recommended)
Flash / Lighting: Built-in / Speedlite / Studio or Strobe / Continuous / Ambient
Best Used: On low light conditions; When AF function does not work properly; When AF function experiences difficulty in focusing

Most DSLR lenses nowadays, regardless of brand, are equipped with AF (Autofocus) function. This allows the photographer to focus on the subject faster rather than doing it manually (Manual focus or MF). As a photographer, I, as well, find using AF the most convenient way in taking pictures, especially when the subject is moving or a sudden moment worth shooting arises which requires an almost instant focusing speed. Different lens brands have put special consideration on the AF function, developing new technology to improve focusing speed such as the Ultrasonic Motor (USM) by Canon, Silent Wave Motor (SWM) by Nikon, Hyper-Sonic Motor (HSM) by Sigma, and Ultrasonic Silent Drive (USD) by Tamron to name a few. Despite all the benefits and efforts put on the AF function, the MF function is still able to find its place in the photography scene, where the AF function meets its limitations.

Autofocus function may have been developed using the latest technologies and materials but it also has its own limitations, and like any other devices, camera lenses may also render inoperable due to mishandling or by “natural causes”. The following shooting conditions may render the AF not to function properly:
1. Shooting in low light or poor lighting condition;
2. Focusing on a plain white / bright or plain black subject without color contrast;
3. Shooting through a glass or water;
4. When a focused subject is seen through a hole or when a foreground “framing” is too small for a focusing point (e.g. shooting the shore behind the leaves, animal inside a cage);
5. When a focused subject is beyond any of the focus points’ reach;
6. When a focus point focuses on a subject with a high contrast of color from dark to bright which causes a fringing effect;
7. When the focusing mechanism of the lens is damaged, faulty, or not working properly

These are just some but the most common situations when Manual focus is the best option to use. A reminder though, shooting in MF mode may oftentimes result in out-of-focus shots. This concern mainly falls into human error, in this  case, the photographer since the photographer is in total control of the focusing of the lens. Since the viewfinder compresses the whole composition (for full frame cameras) into a few millimeters of viewing window, the details of the composition appear to be almost tact sharp, but the miniscule details are actually blurry or out of focus. Another concern that needs to be addressed is the fringing effect, an effect that results to a bluish lining between a dark and bright area in the picture. This effect is not recognized by the AF function and is therefore disregarded and not corrected but in MF mode, the fringing effect can be minimized.

Correcting such imperfections can be done manually, setting the lens focusing mechanism into Manual mode and using the Live view function to view the details in a larger perspective. This is a simple yet effective technique which is best used for shooting still objects, portraits, and sometimes, for shooting landscapes.

Indicated below is a step-by-step instruction on how to use the Manual Focus (MF) mode effectively using the camera’s Live view function:
1. Look at the viewfinder and compose the image to capture;
2. Enable the Live view function;
3. Press the magnify button (with magnifying glass icon) to enlarge or zoom in to the center WITHOUT changing the focal length – use the maximum zoom;
4. Set the lens to Manual focus (MF);
5. Rotate the focusing ring of the lens to achieve the desired focus;
6. Press the magnify button again to view the whole composition, recompose if necessary (If the focal length or distance of the camera from the subject has changed, go back to Step #2);
7. Take the shot (holding the camera as you would using a Point & Shoot camera will result to greater amount of camera shake) or alternatively, disable the Live view function, look at the viewfinder, then take the shot to minimize camera shake. Using a tripod is best for Live view shooting.

The images below were shot using AF and MF respectively and place next to each other for comparison:

Refer to the image above. Both shots were taken using exactly the same Shutter speed – 2 seconds, Aperture value – f/1.8, ISO speed – 100. The picture on the left was taken using the AF mode while the picture on the right was taken using the MF mode. Taking the sharpness into consideration, both pictures are virtually the same. Magnifying the images would tell a different story.

Refer to the image above. Both shots are cropped at 100%. Taking the sharpness into consideration, the picture on the right (taken using MF mode) is considerably sharper, even the texture of the box is more prominent than the picture on the left which was taken using AF mode.

Refer to the image above. Both shots are cropped at 100%. Taking fringing effect into consideration, the picture on the right (taken using MF mode) has a significantly reduced fringing effect compared to the picture on the left which was taken using AF mode.

I find this shooting technique to be effective when the subject is not in motion and when there is enough time available to allow the adjustments and corrections to be made during the shoot.

Cebu Dancing Inmates

THEY HAVE DONE IT AGAIN!
The Cebu Dancing Inmates of Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center has yet again made an excellent performance. After their greatest hit of Michael Jackson’s “Thriller”, “Dangerous”, the CPDRC Dancing Inmates proved themselves worthy of being in the spotlight for another Michael Jackson song. This time, their dance will be included in the This Is It DVD, a fifty-concert series made to a movie due to the sudden death of the King of Pop, Michael Jackson. Lead by MJ’s choreographer, Travis Payne, together with dancers, Michael Celebre and Dres Reid, the Inmates perfected the routine in just 2 days.

With this number of dancers to groove in unison, undoubtedly, these guys are impressive.

Solar Eclipse January 15, 2010

Said to be the longest solar eclipse of the millennium, the phenomenon started at around 3:49PM Philippine time which lasted for 2 hours.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) said that the eclipse was annular which means that the moon will block our view of the sun but not totally hiding it, leaving its edges still visible, thus representing a “ring”. The moon remained in the middle of the sun approximately 11 minutes, 8 seconds according to NASA which will not be followed until the 23rd of December, 2043.
Astronomers said that the best place to witness the eclipse was at Maldives (aren’t the guys there REALLY LUCKY? Aside from enjoying their vacation or for any reason of being their, they also witnessed the phenomenon that will not happen for the next 1,000 years at a staggering duration of over 10 minutes). The sight of the “ring” was also witnessed in Central Africa, Southern India, Northern Sri Lanka, and in some parts of Myanmar and China.
In the Philippines, however, only partial solar eclipse was witnessed wherein a portion of our view of the sun was blocked by the moon, at around 15-20 percent.
Although not recommended, I still managed to capture some images of the solar eclipse using my Canon 500D with different filters stacked. The following shots were taken using only the kit lens of the camera (18-55mm).

Shot taken at 4:33PM (Philippines).

Shot taken at 4:48PM with settings adjusted to illuminate cloud formation.

Shot taken at 4:50PM with filters detached from lens and held 20 inches away.

Shot taken at 5:15PM using Monochrome settings.

Shot taken at 5:27PM with settings adjusted to prevent blurring of fence.

Mt. Pinatubo Part 2

This was my second visit to Mt. Pinatubo. I was, however, with a different group, the RACE. The trip was good, going to the volcano but I found it very disappointing when we got to the top. Unlike my first visit, the peak seemed to be untouched, but now, it was landscaped. To see the pictures I took during my first visit, click on the link: http://marlonmadrona.wordpress.com/2009/04/23/39/

The following are the most recent:

Preparing for the ride:

Along the way:

We came across some Aeta settlers, whom I did not see on our first visit:

The trek:

And the peak:

Some other shots:

Together with RACE:

Photoshoot at the peak:

Something I missed on our first visit, one of the boxcars used to transport Filipino and American soldiers from San Fernando, Pampanga to prison camps in Capas, Tarlac after the long march:

Pundaquit, Zambales

After a long vacation from taking a long vacation, we have finally gone to another wonderful destination, Pundaquit, Zambales.

It took us around 3 hours via Victory Liner bus routed to Iba, Zambales to get to our first stop, Brgy. San Antonio, in which, by the way, I was asleep for the whole duration of the bus ride. From there, we took a 10-minute tricycle ride to Nora’s Beach Resort. We were not able to take pictures while on the three-wheeler because the trip was really really bumpy and our cameras might end up bashing around the side car. But on our second visit, we managed to take a short stop at the bridge wherein only one lane can be accommodated.

Ok, let me rephrase. Single lane for vehicles and two lanes for by-standers or passers-by.

Don’t be fooled by the tricycle drivers. The fare from San Antonio proper to as far as Nora’s beach resort is 50 pesos or 25 pesos per head. If the drivers offer a pick up on your departure from the resort, agree on the fare or else, it will cost you double, 50 pesos for them to get to the resort, the other 50 is your actual fare from the resort to San Antonio proper. It would be best to ask people from the resort to fetch vacant rides for you which will cost just 50 pesos or 25 pesos per head.

Nora’s beach resort is not that big. Consists of one main hall, good for around 40 people, a videoke bar, and a few rooms. Their resort is actually filled with trees, so taking pictures of the resort is like capturing a garden with your camera.

Well at least we were welcome by their cute welcoming committee.

Ooopppsss. Not her, this cute little one.

Meet their security.

Manong guard:

And Manang guard:

The resort is situated right in front of the beach. From there, we could see the Capones and Camara islands.

Our plan is to explore the three islands (Anawangin Cove, Camara, and Capones) so we had to start our boating trip early.

I would suggest tourists to visit the Camara Island first since it is the island wherein the waves are most of the time, aggressive. As you get near the island and the waves are high, your boatman will either ask you if you still want to give it a go or will rather suggest to proceed to the next island and just come back once the waves have settled. My suggestion, GO AHEAD AND LAND because there is a very minimal chance that the waves will calm. By the way, your boat will be waiting at a safe distance from the battering waves, so if you decide to leave the island, just wave at your boatman and he will come and pick you up on the shore (always remember which boat you are riding). If your camera is not waterproof, always keep distance from the rocks as there will always be splashes of water flying at your direction.

And ALWAYS be VERY VERY CAREFUL when visiting Camara island. We only did not find snake tracks, we also had a close encounter with a few of them during our stay. Nearly got bitten, too.

Was able to catch this one but it got away. A few inches from my arm, I would have had two fang holes.

This fourth snake that we found almost bit my girlfriend. This crawler was taking on a route behind her when I caught a glimpse of it while shooting a video of the horizon. It lifted its head and was ready to bite my girl. Good thing I was able to warn her on time and she was quick enough to get out of the way.

It is always nice to see snakes in the zoo, but a live one in the wild, it is somehow exciting. But getting ourselves almost bitten is nowhere near of anything exciting. Scary would be a better way to describe the feeling.

After that wild experience, I found something I have always wanted to take a picture of, a live crabling. What’s so special of being able to take their pictures? They are extremely fast. Once you have caught their attention and they try to move away from you, one blink of an eye is all it takes to realize that they are a few feet away from you, either running like hell or had taken a dive into the waters. It took me almost 10 minutes of foot crawling to cover a distance of around 4 feet just to get close to this crustacean and take a decent picture of it. It was not bothered by the flash at all. All it cared about is my movement. Any sudden movement I would have done trying to get closer to it would have made it scramming, which it did after my camera reached the opening where the crabling was hiding.

There are 3 ways to go around Camara island. The first one is to climb the rocks as high as a 2-storey building. The second is to swim around the rocks. The third, which is preferred by most tourists, especially those with non-waterproof cameras and would not dare climb the rocks, is to go underneath them. Yes, crawling through the gaps between the rocks.

Since my camera is not waterproof, and I don’t have any casing for it, swimming around the boulders was not an option. Crawling between gaps is not my type of adventure, which left me with one last option, climb, which I do most of the time during such trips. And such sense of adventure usually ends up with great rewards: A better view of the horizon, and at times, things cannot be seen from below, just like the statue of Virgin Mary which can only be seen while you are on the boat, or of course, on top of the rock where it stands, seemingly untouched for a while. Just unfortunate that I was not capable of taking a picture of the statue’s front view since it is situated over the edge of the huge rock. But being able to stand beside it over the edge, and gaze upon the horizon, it was just a very relaxing feeling. A true contentment for me.

Our next stop is the Capones island, sitting right next to Camara island. This the island that we spent most of our time in. We were excited to see the Capones lighthouse, so we did not waste precious time and started on with the trek the moment we hopped out of our boats, making the first route to the other side of the island. It would be better to take the grassy path first and on the way back, take the other route marked by an unfinished construction.

Not enough grass?

Along the way, we saw some rock formations worth climbing, which will be my next target on our third visit.

Upon reaching the other side of the island, we continued walking along the shoreline. Then a field of rocks.

The waves here are just as intense as the other side of the island. The only difference is that there are more and bigger rocks to be found on this side of the island.

And the view on top of these rocks is fantastic. But during the day when the sun is up and the sky is clear, it would be best to equip your camera with a CPL filter to enable you to take shots of the clear, shallow waters.

Getting past the rocky shores breaks no sweat, but going up the hillside is a different story. Once you go uphill, make sure to mind your surroundings. Look up or you will bump your head on tree branches or sprouting roots, watch your steps or one wrong footing, and you would stumble down over soil and rocks, and looking to either left or right would save you from tall grasses and tree branches slapping your face.

It is always good to make some stops and watch the splendor of the sea as her waves rush to the shore.

Found a batch of flowers along the way, worthy of a macro shot.

Finally, the Capones lighthouse. Its surrounding structures seemed to have been long forgotten but the top of the lighthouse appeared to be very well maintained.

Behold the grand entrance to the top.

Watch your step as you climb up and down the spiral staircase as the whole staircase is pretty much rusted and there are no support aside from its central post, which makes the staircase shaking as you make each step.

Making our way to the top of the lighthouse is no easy task. I took a few head bumps before reaching the porch. It is also advisable to wear glasses to protect your eyes from dust particles and chipped off rust. But as soon as I reached the top, I did not mind all the troubles. The view from above was spectacular. Talk about eagle’s eye view.

Make sure that your camera has a neck or hand strap. It is a long way down for your gear if you lose your grip.

The view through a hole.

With flash.

At the foot of the lighthouse, there is this structure which appeared to be like a small office. There is no other way to go beyond the vicinity aside from the windows. By the way, going beyond the structure would be at your own risk.

Then why go beyond the vicinity? The view from the outside is very inviting and difficult to resist.

Why stepping outside is risky? The surface is what it appears to be, rocky. One slip or trip, and you will find your self hitting the pointed rocks, or falling off the cliff. I just had to prove it myself. The view was enticing that I decided to take photographs of the landscape from the edge but the rock that I stepped onto suddenly broke and I almost made a free fall to the waters below which like a few storeys down.

To add more of my share of the extreme, I did climb some other peaks while we were on Capones island. They are not as high as mountains, maybe just around a few meters high, but how to get on top was the actual challenge. I literally crawled my way up and down and clawed through the dried moss as they chipped away and make my ascend dangerous, not to mention the more difficult descent. And when there is moss on the rock, it means that the rock is not as hard as you think it would be. It is more like packed soil that chips off and breaks as I grip and step on each of them. The thought that reaching the top would be the best part, I could have never been wrong. I could barely stand because there was just a thin row of rocks for me to stand upon so I just sat down and took some pictures.

Before leaving the island, I made sure to get over some elevations that are easy to climb.

And a little fooling around.

It was late in the afternoon when we left Capones island so we decided to go to Anawangin cove the following day instead.

The next morning, we departed at around 7:00 in the morning going to Anawangin cove, the haven of hikers and campers in Zambales.

Anawangin cove is the most ideal place in Zambales if you want to get close to nature, unwind, or escape from the buzz of the city. The wind whistles as it blows over the mountain, water from the mountain keep a constant supply of water to the swamp which continuously flows to the sea.

Unknown to most tourists, there is a short trek that will allow you to see the whole of Anawangin cove. From there, you could also see the shores on the other side. The trip is easy enough even for those who are not serious climbers, but still, those who would decide to take on the trek need to be careful. The trail going up is situated almost over the edge of the mountain, with tall grass as rail guards, not to mention that the soil is slippery when wet, or even when it is moist because of the morning dew. And the drop is nowhere to be considered a safe fall, rocks are waiting to break anything that falls into pieces.

The trail ends at the first summit of the mountain. But I did continue on to the next peak. From there, it was a climb-if-you-can adventure. Unfortunately, we did not have enough time and the city calls for our return. On our third visit, however, I am hoping that we will be able to take on the 6-hour hike from Pundaquit to Anawangin Cove and climb the highest mountain in the province.

PRCD at the Autofest 2009 Part 2

After a long wait, PRCD was again invited by the same organizers who brought Autofest 2009. After the very successful first leg of the Autofest 2009 series, comes the much awaited continuation of the event, the Autofest 2009 Part 2, held at the Phoenix Gas Station in Molino, Cavite in conjunction to its soft opening last July 25, 2009.

With our usual prompt arrival, the Philippine R/C Drifters came as early as 10:00 in the morning, and it came to our surprise that their were still considerably minor construction being done at the gasoline station itself. With the full cooperation of the organizers, we manage to relocate our drift demo at a more suitable surface of the station. And with a little help from the construction workers themselves, we had ourselves a nice, smooth, and convenient spot, which was previously covered by cement dust, to hold our R/C drift demo.
How dusty it was before we cleaned it up? See for yourself.

And after that short run, the all-black interior and the tires of the R/C car looked like this:
While our spot was being tidied, some PRCD members gathered around for a chit chat,
a snack,

and even for a siesta.
While I did some more photo shooting.
Hey, what are you looking, rather what are you shooting at?
At last, the clean up was over and the R/C drifters sprung up, grabbed their toys and started playing. R/C car drifting maybe a hobby for others, but for them, it’s an addiction.
Some action shots:
As the sun sets, the participants of the car show and dBDrag arrived, one after the other, revving up their engines as they parked their machines to their respective spots. We had to literally shout at each other because of the noise that we could hardly hear ourselves.

And then again, a car show is never complete without the models. (Just so unfortunate I was not able to watch the Bikini Car Wash)
And when it comes to women, PRCD will not be left behind.

It just so happened that I am one of the judges of all PRCD event during this leg of the Autofest 2009 that I had very minimal time to roam around and check the other cars. Good thing, though, I was still able to take a few shots of some of the cars:
A lineup of Honda Civic’s:

Some other cars:

These two cars were also present during the first part of the Autofest 2009 series.
The Toyota AE86 Trueno,

and the Mitsubishi Evo X:

Despite the great time we had, fatigue was starting to take its toll. As the midnight bell rang, we all decided to head back home. So we asked the organizers if they could start the awarding earlier so we could get some rest, and we were not disappointed. The PRCD’s awarding ceremony was held first.

After the last trophy was handed out, we all packed our things and headed our way home.

Again, another great event from Eventus and Tsikot.com. And was also the most tiring event PRCD ever attended.