lost boys studios - blog

Fun Shoot for Gimmet

2010-11-28T22:00:00.005+08:00

My friend Shatz needed photos for a project in fashion design school. So us guys rented a studio and shot her stuff with her friends as models. Got great shots that day!

Fran was great to photograph - lovely cheekbones, great body
and I love the expression she gives with her eyes!

Cre and I playing around with some movement

Shatz has a great face that the camera loves

Mayi knew her poses, angles and was just great at the shoot

Groupshot!

The shoot was pretty long and exhausting, but it was fun playing around, the company was great and very well worthwhile. The photos were used at http://gimmet.multiply.com. Check 'em out!

Diego
www.lostboys.ph

All Walks Of Life

2010-11-21T15:32:00.000+08:00

One thing I love about my 100 Strangers project is that I'm learning to be more open and receptive to human interaction with my camera in hand. I tend to be in a photographer / observer mode when I'm holding a camera, but with the project I've learned to smile more often to total strangers, talk to them if possible and all. With this mindset, I was able to meet some very interesting characters with all sorts of backgrounds from all over the world - France, Spain, Philippines, Italy, Vietnam, Bangkok, USA, Cambodia, Africa, Holland and more.

Here are a few more I met recently, and I'm very proud to have them as my first strangers in my project to be shot in black & white film:

This is Aymerich. He's from Paris, France and is studying pharmacology now. I met him while on the Mekkong River and happened to be very nice company. He spoke very good english and was traveling by himself for a month across Vietnam and Bangkok.

This is Jorge, a very nice fellow from Spain. He was travelling with his girlfriend Marina (below) across Vietnam. I met them while having lunch at the Mekkong River. We were having lunch and we all just smiled and nodded to each other, and eventually struck up a conversation. We exchanged our contact info and ran into them again in Bangkok about a week after we first met! Very very nice guy who spoke good English and happens to be working in the IT industry! (I took up Information Technology in college).

Meet Marina, a beautiful lady from Spain. She was travelling with Jorge and had the nicest smile that I hoped to capture in this photo. She didn't speak much English and always had to ask Jorge to translate, which was amusing. She works in a deli in Madrid, and she says they've got the best stuff and should pass by should I visit Madrid anytime soon.

This is Mulumba! You may have met him already, I posted his photo about a month ago. He is such a cool character, full of energy and adventure. He was born in Congo, grew up in Canada and is now travelling across Asia for work as a writer. I asked him why leave Canada, and he answered saying he wanted to get out there and challenge himself. Awesome. Props to you, Mulumba and I hope things are doing good for you!

This guy is Krishna, an artist from Holland. I met him while having dinner in the streets of Bangkok and I just HAD to ask. He looked really interesting with the whole beard thing and the dim fluorescent lights hit him in a great way. He was such a nice guy and was most accommodating for a photo, I love his expression here.

I hope you enjoyed the photos! Have an awesome week :)

Diego
www.lostboys.ph

Economics of Controversy

2010-11-18T17:53:00.004+08:00

I shot my very first magazine covers (two of them!) a few months ago for an impressive local magazine called Monday Magazine. A talented team that gets along with each other great always churns out great stuff and I'm very happy with the outcome! More photos after the jump below:

1st cover with Gwendoline Ruais.
Great energy and company to work with!

2nd cover with Marx Topacio

Chris and I with the Monday Mag crew, hair and makeup by Fred, stylists George and Mikey, our female model Gwen

Big thanks to Monday Magazine for the opportunity! The magazine is a great one, very different and has a lot of interesting stuff in it. Go and check 'em out!

Have an awesome weekend :)

Diego
www.lostboys.ph

What Makes a Great Picture?

2010-11-17T10:42:00.001+08:00

We often think too much about gear and lighting that we forget to ask ourselves, what makes a great photo? What haven't I tried or seen before?

I found this great video online, thought of sharing it to you guys:

Diego
www.lostboys.ph

Vietnam Flashbacks - Part 3

2010-11-11T22:49:00.001+08:00

The last set of my favorite photos from the Vietnam backpacking trip I recently had:

The Lost Boys in a boy band pose!
Quite a challenge shooting a group shot me in it on film!

Met people from all over the world!

The market is the best place to eat like the locals and get the authentic experience.

Taking the train all over Vietnam was a cool experience.
This photo reminds me of the Hogwarts Express, and is probably my favorite photo of the trip.

Brian enjoying the sunset on the train.

Ken playing around with video.

Welcome to Hanoi.

I think that's it! Vietnam was amazing. Just like pretty much everything else in life, it's best experienced by spending TIME and just exploring the place like a 6 year old. Don't try to plan too much and leave room for spontaneity (lots of it).

We literally got lost a number of times on the trip, once on an island along Central Vietnam on our bikes wandering around the rice fields. Just be prepared, have good company with you and keep an open mind, and I promise you that getting lost just might be the best thing you've done in ages :)

Diego
www.lostboys.ph

Vietnam Flashbacks - Part 2

2010-11-09T06:21:00.000+08:00

Here is the second batch of favorite photos I took on a recent backpacking trip to Vietnam:

Vietnam has amazing war museums. A must-see.

A glimpse of the beautiful Vietnamese road mayhem.

Skinless frogs, anyone?

A must-try for food lovers. Lau Chua at Can Tho.

Mekong River at 530AM. I wish I had color film then.

Our awesome boatman "Yo"

The city of Can Tho at night.

Lots of interesting activity at the floating market.

This is how the market boats indicate what they're selling.

You even have food and drink stalls at the floating market!

Rice paper

I hope you liked them! I love that last photo, I took it when we visited a rice paper factory. Beautiful light that time.

I'll be uploading the last batch of photos soon, there's one particular photo there that I'm really happy with :)

Diego

www.lostboys.ph

Vietnam Flashbacks - Part 1

2010-11-03T06:34:00.010+08:00

Us Lost Boys went on a backpacking trip across Vietnam about 2 months ago. Great experience, living off a backpack and waking up everyday for an adventure. We were a group of 6 but split into 2 groups of 3 for most of the trip. Our group - Brian/Fonta, Ken and I - started off in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) a.k.a. Saigon.

Child and Adult walking to the castle-like structure in the city.

HCMC was amazing, full of energy and LOADS of great food on the streets. We had one rule - if we felt like doing anything, speak up and let's do it. "Let's try that food cart. Okay! Let's head east. Sure! Let's try renting a bike. Alright!" Our conversations while exploring Vietnam was like that. We'd literally wander around and occasionally get lost. Great feeling.

Loaded with nothing but my little Pentax Film SLR and rolls of film, I took a good number of photos. Took me a while to have them developed, scanned and processed them. So here are a few of my favorite photos of the trip!

I was going down the stairs of a noodle house and spotted this scene.
Right before I clicked, the girl looked up. It totally made the photo.

Vietnam is full of female ninjas. They cover up pretty much everything to stay white.

The market is one of the best places to eat!

I LOVE coconut/buko juice and Vietnam's all about motorbikes. Combine the two and voila!

I love the Vietnamese hats. I got one myself and used it a lot. Keeps my dry from the rain (at least chest-up) and keeps me nice and cool from the heat.

A gentleman relaxing around one of the town's large and busy roundabouts.

The marketplace is bustling with stalls like this in the evening.

Brian and Ken enjoying the awesome noodles on the street stalls and carts.

Vietnam is rich with spices. I sure wish I had some colored film for this shot.

I absolutely love noodles and Pho is amazing here. It's everywhere, cheap and very delicious. Very healthy too!

I'll be posting more soon, a lot of better ones I believe!

Diego

www.lostboys.ph

Pannzian

2010-10-31T06:23:00.050+08:00

We recently shot for the food at a favorite hidden spot of ours (WAAAY up north from the city). It's an amazing place, very nature-oriented, spacious and private. Great place to relax, unwind, bond with friends, do some soul-searching, and read your latest book on the beach hammocks. So the place is great, and the food is AWESOME. They've been improving their menu and boy everything was just delicious.

Photos came out great and here are some of my favorites:

The classic Vigan Longganisa breakfast!

French Apple Toast with Maple and Peanut Butter Sauce

Crab Paella.
A twist on the classic Paella, large hermit crabs used.
Rare, exotic and very delicious!

Pansit Sisig.
Absolutely delicious and healthier than it sounds!

Ensaymada con Sago with Hot Cacao.
Perfect light merienda!

Fresh buko juice!
Perfect healthy and delicious refreshment.

Overall, I'm happy with the shots. The food is as good as they (hopefully) look, trust me. Posting this just made me real hungry, I'm gonna raid the fridge :)

Pannzian Beach Resort
Website

Contact Info

Keep your eyes peeled for their upcoming website update!

Diego

www.lostboys.ph

Published in the US!

2010-10-29T06:22:00.003+08:00

Would like to share: A photo we took a few months ago was published by a US-based magazine called Baby Couture! It's a really good magazine, where it's all Hollywood stars and high-profile people in it with their children. I'm really happy, this is a first for us to be published outside of the Philippines :)

Thank you Baby Couture! :)

Baby Couture Magazine

Web - http://www.ibabycouture.com/

Blog - http://www.ibabycouture.com/blog/

Diego

www.lostboys.ph

UPDATE - My 100 Strangers Project

2010-10-26T01:39:00.003+08:00

It's been a while since I updated my 100 Strangers project. Getting caught up with work and I've become REALLY picky in adding photos to the project. It'll take me a while to finish this but I'm confident it will be well worth it.

So here are the new additions to my 100 Strangers project, and these are taken in film. It's a whole new experience for me. For more info on the project and its nature check out www.100strangers.com. You can see my whole set so far by clicking here - 100 Strangers.

This is Le Tao, I hope I spelled his name right. He is a farmer on the field I approached while biking around the rice fields of central Vietnam.

This is Khao. She is a lovely woman I saw while biking at one of the remote islands along central Vietnam. She was doing something with the rice on the pavement. Beautiful eyes and a great smile.

This is Misa, a lady I met along Cua Dai Beach in Vietnam. She had the nicest smile and she spoke very good English. She also happened to sell some souvenirs and I got myself a nice bookmark that I use today.

Will be posting more soon!

Diego
www.lostboys.ph

Ca Phe Sua Da

2010-10-16T11:50:00.001+08:00

I'm on the road now to a shoot that's a long drive from the city, and it's hot out there. Pit stop at a Starbucks and I'm sipping on my Caramel Macchiato while taking care of some work stuff, and I just remembered the fantastic iced coffee we'd always have in our recent trip to Vietnam. cà phê sữa đá is what they call it. A simple concoction of Vietnamese Coffee + ice + sweet condensed milk.

Perfect on a hot day, cheap (about a US dollar on the streets) and quite addicting. Heck they even have it on the Mekkong River! The photo above is a guy that has a little boat that's set up like a mini-bar with coffee and other drinks. You'll find other boats like his roaming around the floating markets along the river.

I want my cà phê sữa đá.

Diego
www.lostboys.ph

Meet Mulumba

2010-10-14T17:53:00.000+08:00

Meet Mulumba. He's a writer and painter I met at Bangkok last month. We were eating at this eatery on the street with the best curry I've ever had. Apparently he was born at the Rupublic of Congo, grew up at Canada and decided to move to Asia to challenge himself and see what's out there. We overheard him speaking French over his cellphone, which was cool. He's a really friendly, interesting and inspiring guy full of character, I just HAD to take his photo. I think he's a wonderful addition to my 100 Strangers project.

He's got a website and blog at mulumbatshikuka.wordpress.com. If you get to read this post, Mulumba, I do wish you the very best of luck in Asia and I hope we cross paths again!

I took this photo with my little Pentax SLR with a roll of Fuji B&W film loaded. I was really nervous about not having it in digital, no way of knowing if I got the shot or not. It's been a few weeks now since we got back from our backpacking trip across Vietnam and I finally got myself a film scanner. I picked up the Canon 9000F yesterday and the photo of Mulumba is my first stab at scanning film.

Apparently, like what I've heard a number of times, scanning film is a whole craft of its own. Loading the film and making sure to avoid scratches and dust is really difficult. Then there are too many options in scanning software. After some tweaks and a little photoshop to remove some dust etc, I'm quite happy with the result. There's so much to learn but I'm looking forward to really delve into this film experience.

Diego
www.lostboys.ph

Where To?

2010-10-05T07:30:00.004+08:00

Back in Bangkok, I chanced upon a streetside hawker selling flag patches from various countries. I suppose various would be an understatement because he had practically the whole United Nations stable in his little caboodle. Even Hong Kong, which technically is not a country, was well represented in the pile.

Four days and a 60% price reduction later, I wind up helping myself to 6 flags - Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, Hong Kong, Japan – all of which represented the different countries that have had the dubious honor to call me guest. Missing from the team was the USA (I actually forgot to buy it) and South Korea (I was only there for 3 hours so I was not exactly sure if it counted).

By no means is this a list for any traveler to be proud of - most backpackers do that many countries or more in one trip alone. It did however, start me thinking about where exactly in the world I’ve been aiming my feet at. The first obvious item on the list would be to finish up Southeast Asia. Third-world cost of living aside, Southeast Asia is probably the only area in the world I can visit without a pre-procured visa. On this list, the only unchecked boxes are Laos, Myanmar, Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore.

Of course, I'm taking a little detour and passing by Brazil. How can you be there and not go to Brazil?

Another adventure I've always wanted to have was a modified Che Guevara route. That basically entails going from the southernmost tip of Argentina all the way up to Mexico, preferably on a motorcycle, while trying to avoid all the small squabbles between countries and drug shootouts. I’d probably have an easier time too with the locals than what I’ve experienced so far as Spanish is a lot less foreign to me than say, Thai.

Of course, I’d be hard pressed to leave the European experience out of this listing. The big history geek that I am, the call to personally visit the lands of the world empires I grew up studying is just to great to resist. To stand where Cicero stood in the Temple of Jupiter Stator, giving the first of the famous Catiline Orations, to stroll purposefully down the coastline of Thermopylae remembering Leonidas, to pass through the Arc de Triomphe with the Marcia Trionfale resounding firmly in my head, for a chance to experience these moments I would gladly give my left kidney.

Many other pipe dream destinations are still swimming in the back of my head, Batanes, Gen San Tuna Boat Fishing and hunting with the Cagayan Valley locals among others. Many more flags are destined to adorn my walls, many more ambitions borne out of childhood reading to be realized. Only God knows where I shall turn up next. The world is amazing, and I am determined to see as much of it as I can before I leave.

Chris
www.lostboys.ph

In Case You Haven't Met

2010-10-04T13:20:00.000+08:00

In case you haven't met Ken, he's the latest addition to the Lost Boys. He's got amazing talent, is great company and has the enthusiasm of a twelve-year old.

Christmas Lights from 30 Stop on Vimeo.

Keep your eyes peeled for more of his work :)

Diego
www.lostboys.ph

Vietnamese Cravings

2010-09-25T13:32:00.005+08:00

We got back from an 18-day trip across Vietnam last week and I took nothing but a small backpack of clothes, my trusty ol' Pentax film SLR and 10 rolls of B&W film. I used up 7 rolls and got the contact sheets today. I was nervous but am relieved to see they came out great!

What I was disappointed to see though was the food shots came out bleh. I didn't take many because I knew I had B&W film loaded. I couldn't capture the fantastic food full of color. The red peppers, fresh veggies etc wouldn't register. So I dug up some photos I took for a local Vietnamese restaurant I shot for. I really liked those photos and it's the closest thing to my eating experience I can share.

Pho. It's everywhere and it's delicious, and it costs about a US dollar or less. I happen to LOVE noodles so this was heaven to me. People have it for breakfast and it's best in the morning because everything's fresh from the market. Didn't stop me from buying some for midnight snacks. They're loaded with veggies, much more than the photo. I loved it, the combo of the different veggies and spices with perfect noodles and different slices of beef. I tried the chicken and was amused to see the chicken wasn't sliced and in whole parts, proved to be a challenge to eat with chopsticks and a spoon.

Ca Phe Sua Da - Vietnamese Iced Coffee. They're sold everywhere, on the streets in carts, in restaurants, cafes, and even on little boats at the floating markets along the great Mekong River. Great for cooling off during a hot day, and absolutely delicious.

The fresh vegetables and spices are everywhere. I don't have the usual problem of finishing my veggies, in fact I think I'm one of the few who would rejoice in seeing a whole pyrex of broccoli on the dinner table. I love loading my pho and banh mi with veggies and spices.

Spring rolls! Theirs had more shrimp and more veggies. They're cheap too! You can buy them per piece at the market eateries for about $0.25 or 5,000 Dong. We had different kinds of spring rolls too, with different meats and spices. Perfect merienda.

Sad to say, I don't have a photo of Banh Mi. Do a quick google search and you'll see something very similar to this:

Basically it's a french baguette loaded with veggies, spices, different sauces, cheese, liver paté and 3 different kinds of meat. They slice meat that look like local versions of salami. Under their cart you'll usually find a hot clay pot heating the bread. They cost less than a dollar and we'd have them everyday. They're on the streets and they're everywhere, and they're absolutely delicious. Load them up with hot sauce and you're set!

If you happen to be in Manila, do yourself a favor and try out the Vietnamese restaurant I took these photos for. It's called Ba Noi's and is along Perea street in Makati. Order a bowl of Beef Pho, Spring rolls, and Bo Luc Lac. Have some Ca Phe Sua Da as well. After your meal, walk down the street for some nice desserts at Mom & Tina's. You won't regret it :)

Diego
www.lostboys.ph

Two Overhead

2010-09-17T03:08:00.002+08:00

Alas, sleep beckons when I am most inspired. The past two days since I returned from my travels have been spent in front of the laptop, processing and processing. Souvenirs have gone yet untouched, clothes still tightly packed in the bag in which they traveled a thousand miles.

Before I depart for the Land of Nod, however, I leave with two shots that particularly caught my attention - one colored and one black & white. I normally do not have the opportunity to do overhead shots as much as eye-level shots or a perspective slightly below/above the subject, so these interest me.

This was shot inside an art store. The (slightly cute) saleslady had wanted to show me more of her artworks in the store's second-floor warehouse, to which I gladly obliged. The view from the top fascinated me, as well as the caged cat at the bottom. It wasn't until Pau pointed out though that I should take a shot of it that I actually whipped out the camera and took it. Thanks, Pau.

I took this while checking out the open-air atrium of an old preserved tube house in Hanoi. The old man was doing calligraphy pieces and scenic artwork, all by hand, which were then sold for the preservation of the house. Word is, the city has plans to restore a lot of old houses to their...well, old glory. Beautiful stuff. Although, the particular house I visited used to be a rich man's house so I guess I've seen the best of the best already.

Two weeks worth of photos to comb through and process. I wish that sleep were unnecessary. It's really during these lonely hours that I become really productive.

- Chris

The Man With the Violin

2010-09-06T02:41:00.001+08:00

I write today from the quiet little town of Hoi An. Pau, Patch and I arrived here after a grueling (yet interesting) 22-hour bus ride which involved delays due to the bus’s battery dying on us, two extremely irritable bus drivers/conductors, frequent shouting matches between aforementioned bus drivers/conductors and a certain male passenger, and many more absurdly unique events which continuously poked my consciousness as if to constantly remind me where exactly I was.

It’s been a fast-paced 5 days in Hanoi, which by the way has lived up to my expectations of the city. If you thought that Saigon was crazy and full of motorbikes, Hanoi is about 2 notches above it, both in craziness and number of motorbikes. Sure, back here we see individual motorbikes go up on sidewalks to avoid traffic, but imagine a SEA of them on the sidewalks. I also saw a car up on the sidewalk at one point in a particularly nasty traffic snarl.

Like a Vietnamese version of Morgan Freeman in Bruce Almighty

Last September 2 marked the 65th Independence day of Vietnam. Apparently, the man responsible for this was Ho Chi Minh, who had an Emilio Aguinaldo-like role but is revered like Jose Rizal. A quick trip to the Ho Chi Minh Museum confirmed this significance. Uncle Ho, as he is so affectionately called much to my amusement, pretty much built modern-day Vietnam, with his roles in the struggles against both the French and the Americans, as well as leading Vietnam into unprecedented economic growth into this day and age.

I was therefore half-expecting a spectacular display of national pride as I woke up that morning. Although I didn’t exactly get what I was looking for (my search would have been more fruitful in say, North Korea), I did discover a few nice touches to Vietnam along the way.

The Man with the Violin
After having breakfast, I went to Pau’s hotel to see if they were already up and about. Upon being informed that they had not yet come down from their room, I decided to get an early start and do a bit of Independence-Day sightseeing. The first choice destination was the city cathedral as it was only a 2-minute walk from the hostel. So sleepily I went, trudging along the backpacker-infested alleyways of Ngo Huyen. What greeted me there upon arrival however, ensured that all sloth left in me was melted away.

Seated on the hard concrete right in front of the cathedral gate was an wizened old man in a cowboy hat with a violin in hand and a crowd in the other. They were all seated around him in a circle, singing what appeared to be an old Vietnamese song about Uncle Ho. As foreign as Vietnamese is to me, I recognize Uncle Ho’s name when I hear it, and I can only assume that the words ‘we,’ ‘love,’ and ‘you’ were there at some point. He’d change songs every so often, stopping to teach the words to those in the group who didn’t know the lyrics, mostly the younger ones.

Ho two, as I had mentally referred to him by that time (he looked like…guess who?) also catered his entertainment to the foreigners passing by, inviting them to sit with him for a spell and promptly proceeding to play their respective national anthem. One woman in particular stood out as she did just that - stand to attention - as Ho two started playing the first few notes of Das Deutschlandlied.

Watching him play so enthusiastically and spurred by national pride (he did not ask for a single cent from anyone during the 45 minutes or so that I was there) made jealousy pull at my heart strings, as I longed to see that same thing in my beloved Philippines, perhaps with Ang Bayan Ko or even seasonal melodies such as Pasko Na, Sinta Ko sweetly wafting through the wisps of air at Luneta, rather than La Bamba at a cheesy restaurant (I used to request that ALL the time as a child. I have no idea why).

I’m sure that these people still exist here, hidden as diamonds in the rough along the streets of Manila. I take it upon myself to find them, maybe just to listen to them play, maybe to sing along a bit, and maybe to give them an affectionate pat on the back and tell them how much that meant to me.

-Chris

What The Philippines Can Learn From Vietnam

2010-09-01T02:00:00.003+08:00

Here I am at some town by the great Mekong River, 12:39AM, in bed and surprised to find some wi-fi. 3 full days into Vietnam and I'm blown away. Some thoughts as to what my home country can learn from Vietnam.

1. Eating healthy is awesome. A lot of our street food is mostly full of cholesterol. Absolutely awesome for tastebuds but not very good for the heart. The food here is mostly boiled, steamed, fresh and loaded with veggies and spices, AND absolutely delicious. Eating the food here is a great way of getting to know the country.

2. Pollution. I have seen thousands of motorbikes, hundreds of cars and buses, and only spotted 1 smoke-belcher. I see dozens of them on a single drive to work in the Philippines.

The cities here are clean. They people even "pollute" properly by throwing their trash on the street by putting them all neatly into a spot for the street cleaners to pick them up. I was walking along the streets of Saigon/Ho Chi Minh in the middle of the night and was astonished to find the streets VERY clean.

3. Traffic. You can have a LOT of vehicles on the roads but have things flow smoothly. It's the jeeps and buses that kill us in Manila. Locking up the streets AND polluting. Here in Vietnam there are a LOT of vehicles on the road but things just flow, and I realized it's because there aren't many buses and ZERO jeeps to clog up the roads. And the buses stop at bus stops and the side of the roads properly. Last week in Manila, a bus made half the lanes of EDSA highway stop because the bus stopped and the conductor was taking a pee on the bus tire. In the friggin' middle of the road. Amazing.

My dad read somewhere that the traffic conditions in a country is a good indicator of how the country is doing. It's really bad in Manila, how people don't follow the simplest of rules ALL THE TIME, how terrible admins are at building roads, signs and enforcing the law, and that a lot of us are afraid of crooked cops who want some money to let you off the hook. The traffic conditions here show how Vietnam is really progressing. I was amazed to see how well the provincial highways are built compared to the ones we have back home.

4. Make the country more tourist-friendly. It's great that Manila is an English-speaking place but the public transportation is so terrible, public utilities like signs (horrible signs in Manila make it hard ti navigate) and lack of maps and tourist kiosks make it not so tourist-friendly. I was amazed to see kiosks with touch-screen maps, very nice public toilets (the ones in Manila are a joke), very well-lit streets, and an AMAZING museum showing the real ugly truth of the Vietnam war (and war itself in general). I think I actually feel safer walking the streets and parks here at 1AM than I would in Manila, and not because there are more cops here or anything (I haven't seen many actually).

I really really love my country but we've got to move forward as sometimes I really thing we've been moving backward in the past years. I hope the new government changes that.

Diego
www.lostboys.ph

Film

2010-08-22T22:49:00.003+08:00

It's been almost a month now since the last blog post. Wow. The month has gone by so quickly, and it was a great month. I was able to shoot a lot for Monday Magazine, went out partying with my friends, spent a lot of time with my parents and had a great birthday with my family and the Lost Boys. The 18 year-old bottle of Chivas they gave me was awesome, along with the Cuban cigar. Monday Magazine gave me a fantastic bottle of 18 year-old Glennfiddich single malt too!

Anyway so I've been shooting film for about 2 months now. I haven't touched my personal digital camera in a few months as well. I'm thinking of selling it, but it's really hard to let go of this beautiful simple Pentax setup I've got. Fantastic glass. So I first tried out a few rolls of Tri-X, beautiful stuff. Tried out a roll of Kodak Ultramax and I liked it as well. Great vivid stuff. Bought a few rolls of cheapo Lucky film too. Meh. I'm staying away from the cheap stuff.

Now I'm on a few rolls of Fuji Neopans and can't wait to have them developed. Hopefully tomorrow. I learned that going to a good developer really pays off. I first tried Studio58 at Makati and they came out with great results, but they cost more. Tried out a few rolls of colored film at Wells Photo and they came out okay. Gave them a roll of B&W and it came out like crap. Sigh. I'm sticking to Studio58.

I love shooting with my 'lil Pentax film cam. The humungous viewfinder, the right size and weight, and the beautiful sound of the shutter. Oh and I'm really liking the output too. Now I'm thinking the unthinkable - spending 3 weeks at Vietnam just shooting film. I'm nervous but hella excited. Hmm maybe 8 rolls of Neopans of Tri-X would do? I'll check out the results of the Neopans, I hope they come out great. I can get them much cheaper than Tri-X rolls. Anyone know of a good cheap source of Tri-X?

Diego
www.lostboys.ph

Mad Men

2010-07-27T23:57:00.002+08:00

I've become very picky when it comes to TV shows. Same for movies. And videogames. It would take a REALLY good show or company, for me to tune in and glue my eyes on the screen instead of getting out there and living life.

Why waste my time on the screen, when I can be fine-tuning my photography, or researching on how to properly run the business, or pick minds of my favorite and most-respected photographers with their latest blog posts and photos? I could be out there playing with the dogs (I love our dogs), or be catching up with old friends, or making new ones, or learning the foreign language that attracts me most? I could be resting for an early morning workout, or preparing documents for work, or actually beefing up my reading habit (not much of a reader, but slowly working on that).

Don't take it that I don't like TV. I love watching with my friends and family. Even simple shows like CSI, NCIS, Glee, and Bones.

Up In The Air. Inception. Dexter. Rome. Band of Brothers. Now those are awesome. Okay, I'm guilty, let's add Simpsons as well. I love the humor. I kinda like stupid guy humor movies too.

Now Mad Men. This show is amazing. May not be for everyone, maybe it's just me. Maybe it's because I'm in the arts, or maybe it's just a guy thing. The production, the lighting, the feel, and the amazing characters.

I'm a little late in catching this show. I've heard good things about it for a while. You might want to check it out.

Diego
www.lostboys.ph

Rookies

2010-07-23T00:51:00.006+08:00

Today pretty much wrapped things up over at De La Salle University for the Rookies 2010 shoot. The pace of the day was relatively slow, as we were just hanging out in school handing out contact sheets and contracts to the block presidents.

As a sidenote, I fail to see why blocks elect officers other than the president/vice-president at DLSU. They really don’t have much use for officers on a block level, as the block will start dissolving as early as the second term. Oh well, I guess letting go of high school practices is a bit hard.

I first joined the Lost Boys during the last Rookies Shoot, having come from the world of the corporate slave galleys. It can get a bit nostalgic looking back at the past year, and although since then we’ve taken a path that has led us to other fields of photography as well, schools shall always have a special place in my heart. I shall always want to work with schools, with students. Their (mostly) youthful energy rubs off on you, more and more as you spend time with them, and one would be lucky to have it stay with him until old age. Coincidentally, our desire to forever keep that vigour of youth is also quite in line with our name as the Lost Boys.

A couple of outtakes from the shoot:

Fonta taking Paolo's shades for a spin. Some superhero theme is buzzing around in my head.

Diego with the latest issue of Monday Magazine, a great publication for the yuppie demographic.
He shot the cover as well as the article shown.
Also shown (in the article) is the best hand model EVER (hint: me).

Three of the great people we've met and worked with at DLSU. L-R: Sam, Pao, Mary.
Not in the picture (because I wasn't able to take any of them): Syfu, Tinch, Stefi,

Evil Postcards and Other Beautiful Stories

2010-07-21T10:44:00.001+08:00

A good friend and a photography teacher of mine is having an opening to his exhibit this August 4, 2010 entitled "Evil Postcards and Other Beautiful Stories" at Silverlens Gallery.

I took a class under Johann about two years ago at Silverlens Gallery, and out of all the workshops, classes and seminars I've taken, his was my favorite. It wasn't only about the technical stuff, but I learned to appreciate the art and how to start developing my own vision. I love browsing through his Flickr account every now and then, he's got a neat blog called manilacamerastyle.com/.

Silverlens is a great place to check out every now and then. It's got a gallery (duh) for photos and another one for installation art, a very neat library, and they have artist talks and workshops. It's at 2320 Pasong Tamo Extension, Yupangco Building 2, Makati City. Check out below for details:

Hope to see you there!

Diego
www.lostboys.ph

Steps to greatness?

2010-07-10T11:34:00.002+08:00

I think one has to be really obsessed.. crazy mad.. to be great in something. I don't want to be good. I want to be great.

Diego
www.lostboys.ph

Lost Strangers

2010-07-03T05:00:00.002+08:00

Some of you may know I'm doing a set of 100 Strangers. I picked the idea up from Flickr, you can check out www.100strangers.com for more info. Basically you approach strangers and take their info with their permission, and you need to take down some info about them. I've been very picky with my strangers, I want this little project to be a masterpiece of mine. Too picky perhaps, I've only got about 20 strangers so far.

A few months ago I went to Bohol with my family. I took my camera and was able to photograph 2 people for the project. I forgot about the photos and I stumbled upon them a week ago. I couldn't find my little notebook where I wrote down their names and info.

Lost Stranger #1: I met this very interesting character while at Bohol earlier this year. I was at a nice quiet island and I took a walk around and saw this gentleman having a nice relaxing smoke. I talked to him and snapped his photo. He is a driver from Manila and is on vacation to recover from a recent surgery.

Lost Stranger #2: I met this young man while at Bohol Bee Farm while he was conducting a tour around the place explaining the bees and the plants. He was such a nice person to listen to and was quite knowledgeable too. He took up a course related to farming or something and had a very lively personality.

Lesson learned. I gotta upload my photos quicker and I should invest in nicer better notebooks (that aren't too small). I hope that notebook turns up soon!

Diego
www.lostboys.ph

REVIEW: Think Tank's Airport Check In Laptop Bag

2010-06-30T08:00:00.020+08:00

Okay I'm not one who would really do gear reviews but this bag isn't getting enough praise out there. Meet Think Tank's Airport Check In. This is the best laptop bag I've ever used.

I've always been a backpack kind of guy. I don't like my weight on one side of my body. Not good for the back, and it has the tendency to bump stuff while on the go. I have this lovely orange Timbuk2 backpack that's just fantastic and has held up for a few years. Looks brand new.

When I started doing photography full-time, I was kind of ashamed to use an orange backpack for my laptop when dealing with commercial clients. While I loved the youthful image it gave me, I felt it was a bit too unprofessional. I'm dealing with clients that are thinking of shelling out some big money and I don't want them to think of me as just some college kid that takes photos. I wanted a more professional-looking bag.

I used a slim briefcase type of bag for a while. Very sleek and portable, but didn't carry much. The handle was giving way too. So I needed more space, and one that was built like a tank. I looked no further than Think Tank.

I love Think Tank stuff. I use their rollers, their shoulder bags (yes I know, gasp!) especially their Urban Disguise series, and their accessories. Built very well and very smart. Pricier than the competition but fantastic. A visit to EchoStore (our local Think Tank distro) and I knew the Airport Check In was the bag I needed.

First of all, this bag is built like a tank. Beefy zippers and handle, stitched well everywhere and didn't skimp on little stuff like the metal swivel clasps that are on the strap. Feel the bag and you know it ain't cheap. Little details like the mesh-like bottom of the handle to avoid sweaty hands and the place for putting a business card, make the bag not only built well but also built very SMART.

The bag can fit loads of stuff. It easily fits my 15" Macbook Pro and can swallow the 17" version as well. I'm able to put my Wacom Intuos4 tablet as well. It has a great organizer where I put my extension cables, my 15 ft. USB cable for tethering, monitor calibrator, the bag's rain cover, the shoulder harness, a mouse, plug adapters and more. It keeps it all neat and tidy too! The area where the organizer stays in also houses a magazine or two, and work documents.

The front-most zipper is where I keep all the little stuff like my pens, wallet, phone, keys, business cards, post-its, ipod, earphones, eyedrops (great for keeping my eyes fresh while at work!) and card reader.

Carrying all the weight around is a breeze with the fantastic straps that came with it. There's the beefy shoulder strap that does well in cushioning and staying on your shoulder. First time I saw it I thought the strap was way too big. But after loading up the bag I understood why the strap was designed that way!

Then there's the shoulder harness that came along with it. I use it when traveling long walks and it is just fantastic. I did a week-long shoot at Palawan for a client and the bag was great to haul around with the shoulder harness.

At times where I roll my Airport International roller, I attach the bag onto the roller. The back part of the Check In has a zipper/pouch thingy where you can slide the roller's handle into. Great feature when going through the airport and other long hauls with the roller! When not attached to the roller, I keep a notebook in it.

There are side pockets on the bag, one is a mesh pocket where I usually drop my phone in, and the other is an expandable zipped pocket where I usually keep a thermos of hot coffee. Hot coffee is a must for long shoots!

Lastly, It's got a great rain cover. It's one that's really well-made. I've had bags with cheapo rain-covers that didn't do much but protect from light showers. This one is seam-sealed and it's made of thicker material too. I love how they don't skimp on the quality of materials.

I love the bag. I take it to all my shoots and pretty much almost everywhere else. It wasn't cheap and cost me about Php8,800 (about $150 US SRP) and it's not as light and compact, but I didn't want compact in the first place and I knew quality usually costs more. I needed a professional-looking bag that is well-built and fits all my needs, and I got it. I've been getting a lot of complements on the bag with how well it's built and its neat features.

Great job, Think Tank! I easily give this bag a 10/10. I can't really think of how to improve it. It's that good.

Now I'm eyeing Think Tank's Artificial Intelligence for the times I want to travel light and when I only need the essentials :D

Diego
www.lostboys.ph

*Product shots courtesy of Think Tank Photo
*For more info check out the Think Tank website: www.thinktankphoto.com

*For the local (Philippines) Think Tank availability check out www.echostoreph.com

Will you risk looking like a fool for love, for your dreams, for the adventure of being alive?

2010-06-27T03:42:00.000+08:00

Some beautiful work I came across a while back:

The Invitation

by Oriah Mountain Dreamer, Indian Elder

It doesn't interest me what you do for a living. I want to know what you ache for, and if you dare to dream of meeting your hearts longing.

It doesn't interest me how old you are. I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love, for your dreams, for the adventure of being alive.

It doesn't interest me what planets are squaring your moon. I want to know if you have touched the center of your own sorrow, if you have been opened by life's betrayals, or have become shriveled and closed from fear of further pain.

I want to know if you can sit with pain, mine or your own, without moving to hide it or fade it or fix it. I want to know if you can be with joy, mine or your own; if you can dance with wildness and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes without cautioning us to be careful, be realistic, or to remember the limitations of being human.

It doesn't interest me if the story you are telling me is true, I want to know if you can disappoint another to be true to yourself. if you can bear the accusation of betrayal and not betray your own soul.

I want to know if you can be faithful and therefore trustworthy. I want to know if you can see beauty, even when it is not pretty every day, and if you can source your life from its presence.

I want to know if you can live with failure, yours or mine, and still stand on the edge of a lake and shout to the silver of the full moon, "Yes!"

It doesn't interest me to know where you live or how much money you have. I want to know if you can get up after the night of grief and despair, weary and bruised to the bone, and do what needs to be done for the children.

It doesn't interest me who you are, or how you came to be here- I want to know if you will stand in the center of the fire with me and not shrink back.

It doesn't interest me where or what or with whom you have studied I want to know what sustains you from the inside when all else falls away. I want to know if you can be alone with yourself, and if you truly like the company you keep in the empty moments.

May 1994

Diego
www.lostboys.ph

recharge. transform.

2010-05-28T18:36:00.004+08:00

untitled, originally uploaded by Diego Lorenzo F. Jose.

After killing myself in this afternoon's workout, I did my usual stretching routine at home. I love the feeling of my heart pumping much-needed blood, sweating profusely and feeling the beads of sweat rolling down my face. I then laid down on my dad's yoga mat (yeah my dad does yoga, he's awesome that way), and stared up.

I just stared up, blankly. My body slowly relaxing, my pulse slowing down. Kicked my shoes off and just felt the very soft breeze from the ceiling fan. Listened to the sound of dinner being cooked in the nearby kitchen, the rustling of the leaves outside, the birds chirping. Looked at the ceiling fan and lights with its glowing blades of light and shadows circling the stationary ones.

Grabbed my phone and snapped the photo above.

Felt like I was floating, and boy it felt great. Sometimes we push ourselves so hard and for so long that we forget to relax and recharge. I try real hard to avoid the opposite, I hate being unproductive.

I met up with my good friend Dimo the other day, sharing some ideas and talking about things that bog us down as well. That was a great pep talk for both of us. As creatives, there's that tendency to get in a rut and lose ourselves in it. That stupid rat race and the challenges of being in a creative field.

Once I got home that day, I got on the web and read some blogs, watched some videos, and read the latest book I got and pumping myself with inspiration. Two things hit the nail perfectly: Zack Arias' "Transform" video, and Chase Jarvis' blog post "Long Ass Curvy Road".

That's it. We've got to LOVE what we're doing, and we've got to transform and adapt.

Before we push ourselves and all that, I think one should refocus and find him/herself every now and then. Make sure you've got your bearings right. As Dimo's going to be recharging at the waves of Pagudpud, I'm gonna be hitting the beach with friends to recharge my batteries.

Once done, it's time to push again :D

Diego
www.lostboys.ph

Up In The Air

2010-05-16T12:17:00.003+08:00

Flight, originally uploaded by Diego Lorenzo F. Jose.

Today I watched "Up In The Air" by Jason Reitman while on my lunch break. It's such a good movie. I kinda like Clooney movies.

Love the characters and the screenplay. Scenes are great and I like the lighting done. Nothing groundbreaking but I've been taking notice of the lighting and compositions of the shots in movies more. I particularly liked the scenes in the airports using silhouettes. I also like the scene by the end where he's just staring at the huge board with all the flight details.

Hit some strings I guess, as I ended up listening to the songs at the end of the movie leaning on my comfy chair and staring at the ceiling. I'm in my mid-20's and I'm single, and I'd hate to get myself in a situation like Clooney's character Ryan Bingam. If you haven't seen the movie, I highly recommend you check it out.

Diego
www.lostboys.ph

100 Strangers Update - Palawan

2010-04-23T15:15:00.005+08:00

At a very successful and fun shoot at Palawan with the Monday Magazine crew, I took the time to add more shots into my ongoing 100 Strangers Project.

See the rest of the photos in my project at http://lostboys.ph/Portfolios/100-Strangers/

For more information on the project check out www.100strangers.com.

This man is Abdu Rasul Burong. He's a 42 year-old seller of beads and trinkets at Palawan and he's from Zamboanga City.

Met him at the public market and he even gave me a neat white necklace.

This is Glenn, our boatman during our Palawan trip. He's from Bohol, another beautiful province I visited once. He's 30 years old and has a great face to photograph.

He was most helpful in carrying gear around and keeping them safe and wet.

This is Mr. Aquino (I can't remember his first name). He's an inhabitant at the island where Kayangan Lake is. I honestly hope I got his name right, I didn't have my notebook with me.

I couldn't help but notice his wonderful face and the beautiful light hitting him.

Kayangan Lake is the cleanest lake in the Philippines. It's brackish water though that's 70% fresh and 30% salty. Clearest waters I've seen.

This is Lita Escarda from Palawan. She runs a casuy/cashew shop and she's got the warmest personality. I can't remember how old she is though (I've got to have that notebook with me all the time).

Diego

Lost Boys Studios

www.lostboys.ph

All I Really Need To Know I Learned In Kindergarten

2010-02-14T18:53:00.001+08:00

I think I found a mantra for life that I really like.

1. Share everything.
2. Play fair.
3. Don't hit people.
4. Put things back where you found them.
5. Clean up your own mess.
6. Don't take things that aren't yours.
7. Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody.
8. Wash your hands before you eat.
9. Flush.
10. Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.
11. Live a balanced life-learn some and think some and draw and paint and dance and play and work everyday some.
12. Take a nap every afternoon.
13. When you go out into the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands, and stick together.

-Robert Fulghum
All I Really Need To Know I Learned In Kindergarten

Nice and simple. Just the way I like things.

Diego

• Posted from my iPhone •

Testing testing 123

2010-02-09T01:06:00.000+08:00

Trying out the new blog!

Strangers 7 to 11

2009-12-02T18:46:00.000+08:00

These photos are part of my 100 Strangers Project. You can find out more about the project at http://www.100strangers.com.

This is photo #7. Meet Ate Nitz and Nel. I met them along with Ate Bing. They make and sell the parol lamps too at a stall near Ate Bing's place. Very nice people :)

This is photo #8. Meet Kuya Bong. (Kuya is a term used to indicate an older brother, as a sign of respect). He makes pottery for a living in Vigan. Vigan is the capital of Ilocos Sur in the Philippines, and it is a well-preserved Spanish colonial city.

Kuya Bong's family does pottery at the Robby Pottery and his dad taught him the craft, just as his grandfather taught his dad. He's a really funny character with a great smile. I found it quite interesting to find out he's 1/4 Chinese, with his chinky eyes and last name which is Go.

This is photo #9. Meet Robert. He works at the pottery place where Kuya Bong (above) works. He takes care of the huge oven used for baking the pots. Robert is 20 years old and lives in a nearby city called Laoag, and works with Ronald (below).

This is photo #10. Meet Richard. He's 18 years old and lives in Vigan. He works in the pottery place with Kuya Bong and Robert.

The place was amazing, a huge pit and oven made of soil and clay giving off so much heat and constantly being fed firewood.

This is photo #11. Meet Victorio Sales. He's a calesa driver in Vigan. A calesa is a horse-driven calash (carriage) used in the Philippines.

He's now 78 years old and has been a calesa driver since he was 18 years old, back when Quirino was the president of the Philippines. A really interesting person that surely has character. I can imagine the changes in the country he has seen and experienced during his 60 years of driving calesas!

I love his pose here. Not bad for an "old-timer" eh? :D

Diego

http://diegojosephoto.blogspot.com

Christmas On The Streets Of Manila

2009-11-25T11:39:00.000+08:00

Christmas is nearing and I'm seeing it pretty much everywhere. I love seeing all these lights and christmas decors, especially the capiz lanterns and parols. The Lost Boys decided to go out shooting along a street up north of Manila, near Greenhills on the street of Granada where there are a lot of vendors selling these lights and parols.

Parols^[1] are ornamental star-like Christmas lanterns from the Philippines. They are traditionally made out of bamboo and paper and comes in various sizes, shapes and designs, however its star-shape façade and basic design remains dominant.

So we parked our cars, had a great dinner at JT's Manukan and set off on foot walking around and taking photos. At first I was focused on the parols and lights, but later on I was more interested in the people that made and sold them.

Meet Ate Bing Trinidad (Ate is used for respect, similar to using Ms./Mr.). This photo is #6 in my 100 Strangers Project. Find out more about the project and see pictures taken by other photographers at http://www.100strangers.com.

I saw her making capiz lanterns, wiring them up with lamp bulbs. I smiled and introduced myself. She's from the province of Bicol and I told her about Chris who's from Bicol too. She said that she was "very happy to meet such handsome photographers". She's got such a warm personality and a contagious laugh. Oh and yes she makes beautiful parols and capiz lanterns.

I'm going to surprise her next week by going back to her with a print of the photo above :D

Happy holidays everyone!

Diego

Out To The Open Road And Into The Big Blue

2009-11-03T17:45:00.000+08:00

I just came from a 3 day road trip to the north with Ina and her brother Chi. It was a great trip and it was a real treat spending time with them. Fantastic food, great company, loads of laughs and stories, neat places, nice drives, and a pretty awesome time surfing. I'm looking forward to a lot more adventures with them.

I made the mistake of leaving my camera battery charger and my camera died after a few stills and videos. These are some of the very few shots I took (I believe I only took about 15 photos) during the trip and I'm really happy with them. I wanted a specific look and I believe this is exactly what I wanted (I apologize for the tilting action done with both shots. I believe I did the tilting thing on all the shots I took). The shots came straight out of the camera, no photoshop or anything other than resizing for the web. The K-7's got some pretty awesome filters to play with, it was my first time and I'm definitely using them a lot more.

Diego

http://diegojosephoto.blogspot.com

Food For Thought. Yum.

2009-10-30T14:13:00.000+08:00

Some of you may not know, is that I love shooting food. The people closer to me, you probably know I love food. I can't cook for squat (working on that), but boy do I love to eat.

My sister bakes during the holidays. She's good at it too. The house starts to smell like heaven in late October. She's preparing ingredients, tweaking recipes and checking all the equipment. She doesn't use preservatives, by the way. People seem to drop by the house more as well (obviously seeking "rejects" and taste tests hehe) :D

Her stuff is REALLY good. Unbiased opinion, really. There's really good stuff out there and Niña's stuff is right up there with the best. She started out with the most basic stuff a few years ago with the chocolate chip cookies (photo above) and crinkles (first photo above), and learned how to tweak it to her taste. They're not really soft and chewy, just the way we love them.

Then came the cheesecakes. Her cheesecakes are awesome. Just the right thickness and creamy-ness, not the jello-like chilled cheesecakes seen at other place but these are baked to perfection.

She's got the Oreo Cheesecake too, which is her most popular cheesecake. It's really good, but I guess I've always like blueberry cheesecakes more, especially when chilled or with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

She's got fantastic lemon squares. I honestly think they're the best lemon squares I've tasted, but I haven't tried ALL the lemon squares out there hehe. They aren't as popular as the cheesecakes but everyone that tries them seems to end up buying a box or two.

My goodness. I love her brownies and boy do I love this photo. Her brownies are to die for. I love the combination of textures: the walnuts all over, the slightly crispy top surface, the fudgy edges on the sides, the moist-foam-cake-like stuff and the creamy chocolate all spread out inside. I'm not a real "connoisseur" and I don't know if that last sentence made sense but bar none it's the best brownies for me. Ever. AndI've tried a LOT of brownies. Gaah just thinking about it freshly heated or out of the oven, and maybe a glass of milk on the side. I could have a whole box if I'm not really paying attention.

Last but certainly no the least, the ultimate, the very best, and my uber-favorite: Niña's Leche Flan. To those that don't know what leche flan:

Cream Caramel, flan, or caramel custard is a rich custard dessert with a layer of soft caramel on top, as opposed to crème brûlée, which is custard with a hard caramel top.

This is my ultimate favorite. ULTIMATE. Her flan is PERFECT. Thick, creamy, just the right amount of burnt caramel. Just SUPER. And I've had lots of different kinds of leche flan. Auugghh. I can EASILY finish a whole serving in a minute without guilt because I'm just too happy to eat it.

Anyway, shameless plug but when you order them during the holiday season they come with nice christmas-themed packaging with cards etc:

So if you're in Manila and happen to be interested in my sister's baked goodies, give Niña call or text at 0917-8421171 or email at jose.regina@gmail.com :D

Diego

http://diegojosephoto.com

http://diegojosephoto.blogspot.com

There's Treasure Everywhere!

2009-10-23T18:16:00.000+08:00

Was thinking of the right title for what I feel today, or rather for the past few days. This one's been a draft post for 2 days now. This cover's perfect.

I love Calvin and Hobbes. It's just a hilarious and well-executed comic, no doubt my very favorite and something I can highly recommend to anyone, and I couldn't agree more to the cover above.

I've been real busy nowadays, but work is a good thing for me. I get to fund my adventures. I've been following a few "professional adventurers" on the web, and these guys just happen to take the most amazing photographs: Tim Allen, Mitchell Kanashkevich, David duChemin, Gavin Gough and Steve McCurry are my favorites.

I see their work and I'm like WOOOWW. Every time. Too awesome. I wish I were an adventurer. I guess I'm more of an "advanced enthusiast adventurer" since my source of income doesn't come from travel/adventure photography. I make my money from other sorts of photos.

Then I realize that, hey my little adventures aren't so bad! I've just come from a fantastic trip from the northern province in the country I call home, the Philippine Islands. It's the beautiful province of Ilocos. It's not as "exotic" or far out as these pro travel photographers go to such like Bhutan, Tibet, Cambodia (been there a 2 months ago and it was great!) or some African province that's hard to pronounce. Then again, "exotic" is subjective.

I had a real neat little adventure about a month ago, right in the city. Met up with Ina in the morning for coffee. Got our umbrellas and decided to walk wherever we felt like doing so. So we spent the whole day walking all over the city, in the rain, in our umbrellas. We crossed streets, watched the cars go by, looked at the stoplights and various signs, passed by a little posh mall-like area, checked out some neat stuff at an awesome outdoor shop and tried out the new electric tricycles that looked like fishes. That was a great day.

Anyway, I've had a good number of adventures in the past and I'm going to do some digging in my archives to share them here, but for now let's focus on that last trip to Ilocos.

Why do I like it? It's got charm, character, beauty and GREAT food. There's a lot to explore there! I've been to Ilocos 6 times last year, and about 2 or 3 times this year. I love it EVERY time. Then again, I think I tend to "love" every place every time.

Visited the place again with the Lost Boys and a great bunch of friends. I also made a little video of the trip as well:

The Pannzian Masterplan from Diego Lorenzo F. Jose on Vimeo.

Now to the photos:

We hired a bunch of guys to ride up an area with loads of mountains, rice terraces, rivers, waterfalls, and rainforests. The ride up is about 45 minutes and it feels like riding through a part of Jurassic Park or something. Giant trees on the sides, really really tall ones that feel like they've been there forever. That's my good buddy with the reversed cap Brian a.k.a. Fonta / The Fonts. The early morning ride up is always a highlight.

This was a view and how it felt like on that motorbike ride. Was riding with Ina, the clean air, the lovely hot summer sun in my face and I could see that bright Gumamela flower in her hair.

I've crossed this bridge more than a dozen times and it's always a treat to do so. A rushing river in the bottom, it's a good distance from one side to another, and about 30-40 feet high up would be an estimate of mine. The river's size depends on the time of year and the weather.

Waterfalls. I think everyone loves them. This one's got 2 curtains of water, and 2 pools of water. It's even got this little cave behind the bigger curtain of water. I love that place, once inside it feels like magic. You see the continuous spray of water causing bunches of tiny rainbows wherever you see, the half-deafening of the crashing water, water droplets "crawling" down the the shimmering wet and smooth rock surface. It's a happy place of mine, one where I can always go to, even alone, to just think, relax and just be at peace.

Enjoyed a foggy sunrise up top with great company. The cool bluish and magenta twilight slowly transforming into that warm soft glow. It feels great to catch the world asleep and watch it slowly wake up.

We did a home-stay and it was just fantastic. Food was great and it was a great experience. There was a river right beside us as well and a constant cool breeze. Here we are, dancing in the moonlight to the lovely and charming music of a local string band. We noticed a restless kalabaw / water buffalo down by the river, lit only by the bright moon above. The crackling fire filling in the silence when the band would change songs and the chatter and laughter of the girls sipping the various local wines (they were good!).

Another highlight of my trip was relaxing under the trees on the hammocks on the beach. Looking up and "defocusing" my eyes, I can "bokeh-fy" and it's something close to the photo above. I find it relaxing. It's something I actually miss after I got laser vision (I had corrective eye laser surgery last year, it's awesome smelling the scent of your eyes burning).

Here we are up top at the view deck. The huge tree house of some sort was kinda wrecked from the recent storms, which sucked. I love that tree house/deck thing. Hard to describe it but it's on a side of mountain up real high, mounted easily up at about 200 feet. I don't think this photo does the view and experience justice. You can probably see the view better in the video I made up above. Had a few drinks, music, hearty laughs and great great company.

Okay I'm ending this post, it's too long already. So yes, I believe there's treasure everywhere. :D

(Aaand abrupt ending here)

Diego

http://diegojosephoto

I want a fast and wide lens.

2009-10-12T00:25:00.001+08:00

Cinnamon Chasers - Luv Deluxe (Official Music Video) from Saman Keshavarz on Vimeo.

Amazing stuff. I've been wanting to play with POV photography for some time now.

Where is the 11-16/2.8? I've been waiting for one for a while now. Pentax, please make a fast and wide lens now.

Then again, I think the 15/4 Limited would be a real sweet compact and sharp lens to have. First things first, I need the cash to get one :P

Diego
http://diegojosephoto.com

Volare

2009-09-29T04:31:00.000+08:00

, originally uploaded by jldmplnktt.
Quick post today.

It's 430 am. Just finished some work. I'm listening to a beautiful version of Volare.

Volare. I want to fly away to some place. My magical getaway place, I'll be seeing you sooner than later, I promise.

Oh and I found a word I've been curious about as to its exact meaning on my Mac's dictionary:

parasol |ˈparəˌsôl; -ˌsäl|
noun1 a light umbrella used to give shade from the sun.

Diego
http://diegojosephoto.com
http://RFontanilla.com

Sit. Feast on your life.

2009-09-25T15:30:00.000+08:00

I rarely read poems, and I can name only 2 so far that really made an impact / impression on me. The first one is Love After Love by Derek Walcott, which I stumbled upon in Audrey Niffeneger's Time Traveler's Wife. It hit some emotional strings, which I'm sure we can all relate to. That was a beautiful poem that still gets me goosebump-ey every now and I love its killer last line: "Sit. Feast on your life."

Now for the second one, shared by Ina on Facebook, that just blew me away. Amazing stuff.

The Invitation

It doesn’t interest me what you do for a living.

I want to know what you ache for

and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart’s longing.

It doesn’t interest me how old you are.

I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool

for love

for your dream

for the adventure of being alive.

It doesn’t interest me what planets are squaring your moon...

I want to know if you have touched the centre of your own sorrow

if you have been opened by life’s betrayals

or have become shrivelled and closed

from fear of further pain.

I want to know if you can sit with pain

mine or your own

without moving to hide it

or fade it

or fix it.

I want to know if you can be with joy

mine or your own

if you can dance with wildness

and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes

without cautioning us

to be careful

to be realistic

to remember the limitations of being human.

It doesn’t interest me if the story you are telling me

is true.

I want to know if you can

disappoint another

to be true to yourself.

If you can bear the accusation of betrayal

and not betray your own soul.

If you can be faithless

and therefore trustworthy.

I want to know if you can see Beauty

even when it is not pretty

every day.

And if you can source your own life

from its presence.

I want to know if you can live with failure

yours and mine

and still stand at the edge of the lake

and shout to the silver of the full moon,

“Yes.”

It doesn’t interest me

to know where you live or how much money you have.

I want to know if you can get up

after the night of grief and despair

weary and bruised to the bone

and do what needs to be done

to feed the children.

It doesn’t interest me who you know

or how you came to be here.

I want to know if you will stand

in the centre of the fire

with me

and not shrink back.

It doesn’t interest me where or what or with whom

you have studied.

I want to know what sustains you

from the inside

when all else falls away.

I want to know if you can be alone

with yourself

and if you truly like the company you keep

in the empty moments.

By Oriah Mountain Dreamer

out of summer

2009-09-17T00:58:00.000+08:00

out of summer, originally uploaded by A.gga.

This photo caught my eye on Flickr today. Love this shot.

Diego
http://diegojosephoto.com
http://RFontanilla.com

Jumpstarting Is The Easy Part

2009-09-15T15:35:00.000+08:00

Ideas ideas ideas. My mind's been wandering and been on overdrive for the past week or so, although I should be taking more photos. I've got to list these ideas down, gather them lest a lot of them be:

(1) forgotten, (2) always remain a cool idea or (3) started but unfinished.

To-do Lists are awesome. After graduation I made a long to-do list of things I wanted to do or accomplish before I started looking for work. I got this big whiteboard, wrote my list there (with cool checkboxes too) and hung it on my wall. Each day was cool, wake up anytime I wanted, do my morning routine and then look at my whiteboard thinking "hmm.. what will I do today?"

Things in my list included: fix my car, clean up my whole room, travel to palawan, count and deposit all the coins I put in my jar, take a food photography class and a whole lot more. Took me about a month or two to finish that list. Or even longer I believe.

Anyway, so I've been getting all these ideas. It's really easy to get excited with them: start working out again, learn a foreign language, starting photo ideas/projects, having a bike ride around the city, start reading a book, etc.

The jumpstarting is the easy part. The question is what are you doing with the momentum?

I got the idea from a really awesome photographer Zack Arias.

So I'm taking my first step: erasing all the junk that was on my white board and starting my new to-do lists: (1) things I have to do and (2) things I want to do.

Blogging about it now is another step I'm taking to help make them a reality. Next I'm actually planning my stuff out and mark my calendars on my mac and phone with reminders etc.

So, what steps are YOU taking to make your ideas/dreams happen? :)

Diego

http://diegojosephoto.com

http://RFontanilla.com

Changing The World One Frame At A Time

2009-09-04T23:01:00.000+08:00

The creative juices are just flowing, and the net proves just that. I'm now playing with video, something I never thought I'd be doing. I've got 2 little personal projects (1 photo and 1 video) in the works, a pending project with a creative friend and several others in the drawing board with the Lost Boys.

Then I watch this video. Do yourself a favor and watch the video.

Genius. Inspiring. Pure awesomeness.

My last blog post was about connecting with others. Here's my perfect chance to do so, and it's your perfect chance as well. Come join me and the thousands across the world in this army of creative power.

Diego

http://diegojosephoto.com

Disconnected. Connected.

2009-09-03T10:51:00.000+08:00

5 days disconnected from the city, internet, mobile phones etc resulted being so much more connected to my new friends and old, soaking up our awesome planet's natural beauties, and to be able to touch lives and share a creative spark over the internet.

The Pannzian Masterplan from Diego Lorenzo F. Jose on Vimeo.

I just got back in town from a fantastic trip to the northern province of Ilocos with a great bunch of friends. A magical and wonderful land with pristine rainforests, blue waters, clear skies and amazing people. A mystical land beyond the reach of technology... at least for my Globe cell-phone coverage :P

The Lost Boys were there with me: Fonta and Chris. Right now they're the closest I have to brothers. Aliping Dash and and King Ken provided hearty laughs, as the girls slowly got the "oy cheers", the chops and suck-its (inside jokes and lingo). Ina still on her quest to master the jumping suck-it, KC and Dash giving us a scare with the "cute guy and ugly wife" episode, Kate with her burnt nose and uber-high tolerance to alcohol, Fonts and Ken "shining light" on the trip, Chris Yuhico the Devastator with 8 strikes (or was it 7?), Kitch providing a lot of good vibes and smiles, and Lynn for extending her trip making the initial 3 "extendees" to 8!

It was nice to see such positive reactions from my previous video from all over (google analytics is awesome): with viewers from unexpected places such as Sweden, France, Canada, South Africa and even Saudi Arabia! This whole internet things is simply amazing. I was very happy to be blogged about on my good friend, an amazing photographer and fellow Pentaxian, Mark Dimo on my video and contributing to his creativity with his 100 strangers project. That was really cool and flattering because I just worship the guy and his work. Another friend posted about my video on his very informative blog which was a pleasant surprise as well!

This time I used only my Pentax K-7 for all the footage and it was a real pleasure to use. The small size and quality of the build, the ergonomics, the quality of the video which I'm really happy with, and the optics of the Limited lenses and FA50/1.4 I use are outstanding. Didn't break the bank too :D

Anyway, I've got to run. The trip was a blast, the people were just amazing and it was such an adventure. Hope you like the video!

'Til the next adventure!

Diego

http://diegojosephoto.com

http://RFontanilla.com

Off Exploring Dreamland

2009-08-28T00:25:00.000+08:00

City traffic bokeh Manhattan @ New York, originally uploaded by redeyesatdawn.

Today's interesting photo. Goodnight earth, hello dreamland.

Diego
http://diegojosephoto.com
http://RFontanilla.com

Just let it rain

2009-08-26T21:14:00.000+08:00

Just let it rain, originally uploaded by ~james.

I'm listening to "Attention Tokyo" and my mind's wandering places. Restlessness + stillness. I feel like I'm floating, thank goodness for the waves that take me along.

I think my element's water. Showers are times I get to think. When the water rushes over your ears, the sound of the world drowns out. All that noise, fading out. Things get clearer and my mind's at peace. It's like that calmness of sleep with the awareness of being awake, kinda dreamlike.

I miss the sound of waves rolling along the shore.

Diego

http://diegojosephoto.com

Relax. Breathe.

2009-08-24T02:32:00.000+08:00

, originally uploaded by ı| CάcąọButteя [Busy].

Sometimes things look better when out of focus, when your eyes are relaxed.

A perfect example is this beautiful vase I spotted at Vietnam. Very nice, very pretty. Was about to move on but I spotted the reflections of the lights on its shiny surface. Compose, set my exposure and defocus while dragging the shutter to get that starburst-like-highlights-with-streaks effect instead of the usual soft, blurry, circular highlights:

May sound weird but I love "defocusing" my eyes. Sometimes when I'm stuck in traffic and there are droplets on my windows or windshield, I "defocus" my eyes and let those drops of water turn into lovely "bokeh highlights".

I sometimes miss having bad eyes. All that blurry goodness was something I loved in car rides, obviously not when I'm driving. The city and its lights would all turn into moving highlights, all that familiarity and routine turning into a new, mysterious, intriguing blurry goodness. Very relaxing, staring into nowhere. Tension, stress and worries dissipate. Easy to breathe.

Speaking of breathing: I watched Tick Tick Boom the other day and it was about this artist turning 30, all stressed and worried about still not making a real "hit". I liked what his girl told him, which is something we should be reminded of every now and then: Don't forget to breathe.

Diego
http://diegojosephoto.com

Strangers #4 and #5

2009-08-20T12:24:00.000+08:00

This picture is #4 in my 100 strangers project. Find out more about the project and see pictures taken by other photographers at www.100Strangers.com

This is another interesting character I met at Vietnam. His name is Palasse and he's French. He was from Paris, fell in love with Vietnam at his visit and now lives at Saigon.

He's an artist and runs a very cool t-shirt shop that I highly recommend. It's called Saigon T-Shirt Shop and the Papaya Shirts. More expensive but high quality and very good + unique designs. Not the usual cheap shirts that everyone has from the markets.

This picture is #5 in my 100 strangers project. Find out more about the project and see pictures taken by other photographers at www.100Strangers.com

This man is Phuen. I met him at Siem-Reap, Cambodia. He's injured and lost limbs from a landmine explosion. Now he's going around selling books and things, which I admire, instead of just sitting around begging.

Despite his hardships, I love the expression, his eyes and his smile.

Diego

http://diegojosephoto.com

Strangers #2 and #3

2009-08-18T13:10:00.000+08:00

This picture is #2 in my 100 strangers project. Find out more about the project and see pictures taken by other photographers at www.100Strangers.com

I met this lady at Siem Reap, Cambodia while taking photos. Her name is Michela and she's from Rome, Italy. She was real pleasant to talk to and she's a documentary director.

I think she's the only documentary director I've ever met.

This picture is #3 in my 100 strangers project. Find out more about the project and see pictures taken by other photographers at www.100Strangers.com

This gentleman is Alex. He is also from Rome and was with Michela. He's also an interesting character, as he's apparently a TV and radio show host back at Rome.

How cool is that?

Diego

http://diegojosephoto.com

Stranger #1

2009-08-17T14:55:00.000+08:00

This picture is #1 in my 100 Strangers project. Find out more about the project and see pictures taken by other photographers at www.100strangers.com

I met this interesting fellow at a temple at Cambodia. I approached him and spoke to him a few phrases in their native language (I keep a little notebook with me). His name is "Ta Kia" and I'm not sure if that's how it's spelled.

I would've loved to know more about him but there was a big language barrier. He looked like a caretaker of one of the temples.

Diego

http://diegojosephoto.com

-------

So I recently started on my own 100 Strangers project. It's a really cool project about stepping out of your comfort zone of portrait photography, to take a 100 photos of people you don't know. Here's what the 100 Strangers website says:

100 Strangers

Step out of your comfort zone to a new level of portrait photography: take 100 portraits of people you don't know.

The idea

The One Hundred Strangers project is a learning group for people who want to improve the social and technical skills needed for taking portraits of strangers and telling their stories. The method is learning by doing.

The project is lots of fun and improves photojournalistic skills. During the process you might expand your every day living experience - and who knows, maybe you will even get a couple of new friends during the process.

We welcome both beginner and advanced photographers. You may be new to photographing strangers or already have experience of this type of photography.

The challenge

Take 100 photographs of at least 100 people you don't know. Approach a person or group of people and ask for permission to both take a photo of them and to post it to the flickr 100 Strangers group. Get to know your subjects. Who are they? What is their life like?

Try to tell a small story with each photo you take. This may be a story about the person or how you felt approaching that particular individual. You may have, for example, tried a new approach or used a new photographic technique. Try to learn something from every encounter you make.

A Take on Video at Cambodia!

2009-08-14T13:02:00.000+08:00

I just got back from a 6-day trip to Vietnam and Cambodia with a bunch of new friends and old. It was really short and I plan to go back next year!

I was really excited to try video out with my new Pentax K-7. I think the hardest part was thinking of songs to use. I ended up with "I'm Yours" by Jason Mraz as the whole group was singing it at a bar called "Angkor What?" Felt appropriate too as I feel like giving myself to this world and get lost in it: The world is just awesome :)

So I've got to get myself another ipod (my old ipod stays in the car) to carry everywhere, it sure helps out with creativity!

So here's what I came up with, hope you like it!

Cambodiaaaa from Diego Lorenzo F. Jose on Vimeo.

'Til the next adventure!

Diego

http://diegojosephoto.com

P.S. Typo on the place we stayed at, it's supposed to be "Villa SIEM Reap"

How Do You Like Your Coffee?

2009-08-02T16:14:00.000+08:00

fresh barako, originally uploaded by Diego Lorenzo F. Jose.

A good cup of coffee a day keeps the soul happy.

I love coffee. I started really liking it probably 2 years ago. I used to be more of a tea person, but after trying Barako and French Pressed stuff I was hooked. Now I do keep intake in moderation but sometimes I take 4 cups a day when deep in work.

Barako's just awesome. It's arguably my favorite. I've got this bag of Barako here at home from a good friend Cheska (thanks Ches!) from Batangas and it's GOOD stuff. I also like stuff from Starbucks or wherever. Now when I take my coffee at Starbucks, it's gotta be pressed. I try whatever's there and have it pressed. I like it that way. Add a brownie or someheated banana loaf and I've got a little slice (or cup) of something close to heaven. It's my little happy place.

Good coffee makes me smile. It makes me slow down and relax. It can pump me up and roaring for work if needed. It helps me when I'm trying to read, because I usually get bored when reading most stuff on print. There are some exceptions though, like some exceptional graphic novels by Neil Gaiman and an annoyingly good (add: tear-jerking) fantasy love story by Audrey Niffenegger shared by someone dear to me.

Anyway, back to now. Here I am with my cup of barako (that's slowly getting cold), ready for work. Lots of photos to process, and the caffeine helps me focus.

So here's how I like my coffee. I like it hot. Add a little muscovado and if needed (depending on the acidity of the beans used), a little milk. I love the half-and-half milk from Starbucks. I could take that alone hehe. If it's barako, I get it straight from the machine/drip. Everything else, pretty much prefer the press. Add something warm to chew on, some banana bread or brownies, and I'm all good!

So if anyone's willing to share: How do you like your coffee? :D

Diego
http://diegojosephoto.com
http://RFontanilla.com

Lucas, a.k.a. Spaceman Spiff

2009-07-30T00:39:00.000+08:00

Lucas, a.k.a. Spaceman Spiff, originally uploaded by The Johann Espiritu™.

I'd love to take photos of the kids I hope to someday have. A nice little film camera, a few fast lenses and all sorts of film.

(Here I am getting lost in Flickr again)

I wonder what kind of kid(s) I'll have. It'd be awesome if my boy had the imagination of Calvin, flying around conquering planets and vanquishing alien evil with triceratops in jet planes. I'd love to be there assisting him in operating his transmogrifying box and searching for buried treasure.

Now about this photo: it was taken by Johann, lawyer/photographer/overall funny and nice guy whom I took a class under at Silverlens. That's his son in the photo. I can't recommend his class enough and the other classes at Silverlens. Expensive, yes. Worth it, very much so. I've been wanting to take the other classes there and someday I will. I check out his photostream over at http://www.flickr.com/photos/yophoto/ and I always enjoy looking at his photos and favorites.

That's another thing I love about flickr. Find a photographer you admire and it's just awesome to see the work HE/SHE admires. Then you check out his/her pics then his/her favorites. And it goes on. It's an endless vortex that just sucks you into the world of flickr. Before you know it, you've easily spent an hour or two staring at your screen and blown away with photos from all over the world.

The internet is simply awesome.

Diego

http://diegojosephoto.com

http://RFontanilla.com

lemons and interestingness

2009-07-29T18:38:00.000+08:00

lemons for lemonade, originally uploaded by cannelle-vanille.

I love this photo! Flickr's full of visual goodies.

So, what's your interesting photo for today? :D

Diego
http://diegojosephoto.com
http://RFontanilla.com

Today's Interestingness and Random Thoughts

2009-07-28T13:59:00.000+08:00

bloomy tea, originally uploaded by la Miez.

I like this pic. It's simple. It works. It's interesting. I love interesting photos. I can surf flickr for hours just looking at the interestingness pages. I've got this widget on my mac that shows the day's interesting photos.

Flickr's awesome, it's like a free virtual plane ticket to see the world. I haven't been updating my flickr page though, and I should (http://www.flickr.com/photos/soccerjoe5/). Come to think of it, I haven't been taking as many personal photos as I want. I haven't added any new photos in my Personal portfolio in a while.

I've been using my LX3 though, I love the B&W pics you can get from it. I miss using my own DSLR. I mean, my own one and not our work gear. We use Canon by the way and it's been great. I use Pentax for my personal gear though. The lenses are simply awesome. I sold my Pentax K20D and I'm hoping to get a K-7 real soon. My Pentax glass is just lying there in my cabinet. Fantastic Limited lenses, really.

Man, this is bad writing. I'm hung over from finishing 1.5 liters of rum last night with Brian and Dash. I got a story from them that I was sleepwalking! I actually walked into Brian's parents' bedroom, grabbed a pillowcase from their cabinet and used their bathroom! Brian and Dash freaked out and were trying to get me back to my bed. Wild! What makes even weirder is that I haven't even been inside that room!

Another one for the books. Another hilarious Diego drunken episode.

I don't want to move from this bed. We're tired from our killer shoot at the SONA. That was real awesome though. The mayhem, the security, the protesters, the crowds, the media... all made it so challenging and exciting. I'll post about that soon with some pics and behind-the-scenes stuff.

Gah. I should get up. I need a shower.

Diego

http://diegojosephoto.com

http://RFontanilla.com

Day before the SONA

2009-07-26T23:53:00.000+08:00

Batteries charged, check. CF cards formatted, check.

A few more hours til the SONA and we're all at Brian's place prepping. So we're all here now 'coz Brian's place is 5 minutes away from the House of Congress. Traffic's gonna be killer so it's great we're in the area already. Brian and I checked all the equipment, Chris is handling the paperwork, Dash is our all-around helpful guy, mascot/entertainer and makes awesome coffee, Anton's charging his batteries and EJ's prepping his video gear. Army's here too keeping us company balancing out our overload of testosterone.

Final run-through and briefing in 15 minutes. Wish us luck!

Diego

http://diegojosephoto.com

http://RFontanilla.com

Sexpress

2009-07-26T12:49:00.000+08:00

Sinangag Express. Sexpress. I love this place. It's got my favorite tapsilog and I usually head there after drinks.

From wikipedia:

Tapsilog is the term used when tapa, garlic-fried rice ("sinangag"), and fried egg ("itlog") are combined into one meal, which is served primarily during breakfast.^[1]

My favorite branch is the one down south at the BF area. The one in Makati is different. It's quite a famous spot as my friends in the photo above are all from the north area.

So, where's your favorite tapsi?

ECLIPSE!

2009-07-23T23:43:00.000+08:00

I almost forgot to blog about this. I got to view a solar eclipse for a few minutes for the first time yesterday! Buddies were at my place that morning (that's Brian/Fonta and Chris) and my dad gave us a few strips of x-ray film to see the eclipse without burning up our retinas. It was so awesome!

Getting Ready for the SONA

2009-07-23T21:13:00.000+08:00

We just came from the House of Representatives to finalize things for Monday's shoot at the SONA. We're doing a group photo of all the wives of the country's congressmen, and their family portraits. It's gonna be pretty challenging and I'm really excited for shoot day :D

Generation Kill

2009-07-18T20:57:00.000+08:00

Anyone watch Generation Kill?

It's boring. It's not fancy. It doesn't have any WOW special effects. No Spielberg stuff. It's RAW. It feels so real.

It's awesome.

(a bit of a spoiler alert)

The first 10 minutes in it I was hooked. I saw an episode on tv, I think it was on Cinemax. It wasn't a typical war movie that glorifies battle and the war on terrorism. It's the little stuff that happens in a war. Something like Jarhead (that movie was awesome). It feels so real, shows what a real soldier probably goes through in a war.

The show's about this platoon (or whatever) of marines where this writer/reporter joins them during the first 3 weeks of the invasion of Iraq. Again, this isn't a Spielberg or Michael Bay movie or show. It's so raw and feels so real, it almost feels documentary. It's a 7-part series of 1-hour episodes. I initially thought it was Band of Brothers (that's a show I've got to watch).

The talking, their mannerisms, taking a dump on the field, singing country and hiphop while driving humvees, how the US gives crappy equipment to the marines, their big guns jamming, the guys repairing and maintaining their equipment, how they joke around and call each other codenames, jerking off in war, stealing a guy's photo of his girlfriend and passing it around, conflicts in their personalities, people struggling with their morality and how people are just crazy and don't have any empathy at all.

I love how the show starts off with them all pumped up to get action, being all gruff and exclaiming how they were born to kill. Throughout the show there's this soldier with a videocam taking bits and at the end he makes a video to show the guys. The ending is just genius. The music and the transition of how they realize the kind of shit they were/are in and what they did, how much these experiences will eventually get to them and fuck them up, and haunt them in their latter years.

Awesome stuff.

More back-to-school-ness

2009-07-17T23:51:00.000+08:00

Old friends dropped by: Pong from the sports office, the two lifeguards from the pool

(everybody was in barongs that day), and sir Rene Molano one of my favorite profs

Messing around with the camera chopping and punching

jumping

and.. EJ why'd you do that?

Post Office Mayhem and more

2009-07-16T12:57:00.000+08:00

Was with CISV Philippines during their excursion around Manila the other day. Went to the Museo Pambata, which I found pretty cool, and the Post Office mailing letters/post cards and dancing like crazy.

Awesome bunch of folks! More to come.

Freshman Year

2009-07-11T11:52:00.000+08:00

I'm not used to writing. I suck at it. That's why I take photos. But I promised myself to give it a try. The past few weeks have been real busy. And fun. We've been shooting the freshmen block photos for DLSU.

It's been awesome being back in campus, seeing the people from my college days. It's nice to see the security guards, janitors, teachers, discipline officers and staff still remember me. Even the folks at the campus canteen said it was about time I visited school. Lots of new faces in campus, and there's the annoying dress code that ruins a big chunk of what college is. What's college without tank tops and short shorts??! Seriously.

I remember freshman year and it was fun seeing all these freshmen trying to fit in and stand out. A few of the blocks/sections caught my eye:

my vote for the best block photo

backflips

Times of boredom got to us as well. Check out

our jumping-judo-chop-uppercut-action-sequence:

Friends were there as well:

Now Online

2009-07-03T20:45:00.000+08:00

I've been thinking of blogging for quite some time but was too lazy or intimidated to do so. Just a while ago though, I watched Chase Jarvis' video on his blog entitled The Consequences of Creativity and that just gave me that little push for me to get out there on the web.

Here I am with my first post!

To those of you who don't know me, I'm Diego and I'm from the Philippines and you can find out a bit more about me at the "about / contact" link up there.

I hope to be able to write/blog every few days with images and words that pollute this weird mind of mine!

lost boys studios - blog

Fun Shoot for Gimmet

All Walks Of Life

Economics of Controversy

What Makes a Great Picture?

Vietnam Flashbacks - Part 3

Vietnam Flashbacks - Part 2

Vietnam Flashbacks - Part 1

Pannzian

Published in the US!

UPDATE - My 100 Strangers Project

Ca Phe Sua Da

Meet Mulumba

Where To?

In Case You Haven't Met

Vietnamese Cravings

Two Overhead

The Man With the Violin

What The Philippines Can Learn From Vietnam

Film

Mad Men

Rookies

Evil Postcards and Other Beautiful Stories

Steps to greatness?

Lost Strangers

REVIEW: Think Tank's Airport Check In Laptop Bag

Will you risk looking like a fool for love, for your dreams, for the adventure of being alive?

recharge. transform.

Up In The Air

100 Strangers Update - Palawan

At a very successful and fun shoot at Palawan with the Monday Magazine crew, I took the time to add more shots into my ongoing 100 Strangers Project.See the rest of the photos in my project at http://lostboys.ph/Portfolios/100-Strangers/

For more information on the project check out www.100strangers.com.

All I Really Need To Know I Learned In Kindergarten

Testing testing 123

Strangers 7 to 11

Christmas On The Streets Of Manila

Out To The Open Road And Into The Big Blue

Food For Thought. Yum.

There's Treasure Everywhere!

I want a fast and wide lens.

Volare

Sit. Feast on your life.

out of summer

Jumpstarting Is The Easy Part

Changing The World One Frame At A Time

Disconnected. Connected.

Off Exploring Dreamland

Just let it rain

Relax. Breathe.

Strangers #4 and #5

Strangers #2 and #3

Stranger #1

100 Strangers

The idea

The challenge

A Take on Video at Cambodia!

How Do You Like Your Coffee?

Lucas, a.k.a. Spaceman Spiff

lemons and interestingness

Today's Interestingness and Random Thoughts

Day before the SONA

Sexpress

ECLIPSE!

Getting Ready for the SONA

Generation Kill

More back-to-school-ness

Post Office Mayhem and more

Freshman Year

Now Online

At a very successful and fun shoot at Palawan with the Monday Magazine crew, I took the time to add more shots into my ongoing 100 Strangers Project.

See the rest of the photos in my project at http://lostboys.ph/Portfolios/100-Strangers/