Project 365: Week 5

Getting used to the hard work

This blog post has been staring at me for quite some time now, as I couldn't seem to start writing about the Week 5 of Project 365.  From morning shooter to evening shooter, to me it doesn't matter.  Whenever I felt the itch for shooting I go and shoot since it has become a habit or more like a vice.

Whenever I finished shooting for the day, I post process it right away and then post it right here.  So this post has been a few days over due(at least 5 days).  

In my previous post, I wrote that I hate setting things up(flash, tripod, wireless trigger, reverse ring[if shooting macro], switching lens, etc.)  All of the necessary things to get the best out of the shoot.  Right around this week, I eventually got the hang of setting things up.  I don't find it dragging anymore.

February 21, 2013 -  50mm 

Shot with Canon 500d, reverse ring mounted 18-55mm f/3.5-5.2, wireless trigger mounted on the hot shoe, flash set approximately a feet away from the lens, left and angled pointing to the lens.  Yes, I forgot to mention that I shot the 50mm f/1.8 lens here. Flash output was around 1/16 to just get the white to show and the rest to be unrecognizable and dark.

Shot at ISO 200, 1/200 sec aperture not sure EXIF data doesn't say since the lens is in reverse.  I'll probably say at around f/8.

February 22, 2013 - Tilt

I ran out of cigarettes(yes, I'm a smoker) here and went out for a walk.  I was hesitant in bringing out my camera since I think that people will give me disapproving stares and someone might mug me.  Luckily I didn't encounter anyone(or maybe I was just to preoccupied).  Walking to the store I noticed a huge pot with little bamboo shoots.  And snapped away,  despite of the rain dripping down on me. I got a few parallel shots of the bamboo but I wasn't happy with it.  So I tilted the camera slightly to get this shot.

Shot with Canon 500d, and 50mm f/1.8, nothing fancy about this one.  You might be thinking I'm favoring green a bit since I have earlier shots of greens more often than any color, but we'll see further down the road of this project 365.  After all, we've only had 5 weeks of this, right?

Shot at ISO 400, 1/200 sec and f/5.0 at 50mm.

Our Adventures: Hot Air Balloon Festival 2013

Overcast. Dark skies did not dampen the eager crowd. 

If you were able to see my tweets you could tell that we were pretty excited to get to go the Hot Air Balloon Festival this year. Actually Paul's siblings have been planning to go last year especially since Paul's brother-in-law hails from Pampanga. 

Surprisingly it was still a last minute preparation and we made plans to go on the last day of the 4-day festival, which was on Sunday. The 18th Hot Air Balloon festival was held from February 21-24, 2013. 

We left at 4:00 AM in Antipolo and made our way to Pampanga only experiencing traffic when we got to the festival itself which was held in Clark Freeport Zone. 

There were so many people that we had to park our cars very, very far from the site of the event. We walked a long, long way, trudging along grass and gravel, while dust seemed to come from everywhere, we even went through a tunnel just to get to the festival. 

We were walking with so many people and some of them were joking that the long walk was already similar to a 'panata' or a promise/pilgrimage.  

Colorful balloons making their way up to the sky. 

Although the hot air balloons could already be seen from afar, they were not as many as I had hoped to see- (We were not able to see the Darth Vader balloon T.T )  maybe because it was too cloudy and the sun wasn't out yet or maybe we should have arrived earlier. But like as always we just made the most of what was in front of us. 

Spectators by the fence await for the amazing sights.