Here’s a little something I wanted to do during my trip to Palawan. I felt during the previous months that I haven’t growing as much as I’d like as a photographer, probably because I’ve shifted my focus on so many distractions. I need to inspire myself again and not succumb to the vacuous feeling I’ve been having lately whenever I get in front of the mirror, click the camera’s shutter, or take that first step out the door before a trip. For my Palawan Photo Series, I’ve stripped down my photos to black and white, back to basics … raw and natural:
Getting there is part of the adventure
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Here’s a gallery of photos I took during my recent trip to Cambodia. Most of them were taken in Siem Reap, where the famed Angkor Temples can be found. Due to the nature of my visit, covering a corporate event, I was able to visit a few high-end hotels and see some sights the usual tourist might not be able to experience like this picture below of an Australian string trio performing for a gala dinner with the Angkor Wat, illuminated by gigawatts of lights, as its backdrop.
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Well, they aren’t real inmates but we did manage to have a photo shoot in an actual prison … or rather ex-prison. The provincial rehabilitation center (jail) was transferred to a town 40 minutes from the city, which left us with an abandoned (heritage) building just ripe for a photo opportunity. The setting was really great! old junk, steel bars, empty hallways, rooms, and corridors, dirty walls, and a haunted ambiance left by a century of history. No professional work, just a bunch of friends having fun.
Disfuntional Family
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Pawikan Cave in Isla Gigantes Sur is one of the places that we visited during our recent trip to Carles. The atriums inside the spacious caverns created such beautiful lighting that we couldn’t resist doing a quick photoshoot. The natural spotlight and mysterious feel of the cave made such a strong effect to the pictures.
Renel in his Druid-like poses
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Some food shots of three restaurants in The Avenue, Smallville taken recently. The three restaurants include Amalfi (Italian), Mojave (Grill and Steakhouse), and Bauhinia (Filipino). All handheld and used only natural lighting. This set-up works fairly well with food photography. If the lighting is poor or if you’ve got shaky hands, better use a tripod to get crisp photos. The hardest part of the shoot was actually being in front of these delicious looking dishes for hours and not being able to eat them.
Bauhinia
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Attempting to incorporate humans into my shots. I’m a bit challenged in photgraphing people since I’m instinctively an introvert but I’m hoping I can change that by practicing on more model shoots with my friends. No professional stuff yet, just a bunch of us having fun. Our first project is a shoot in our local cemetery, here’s what we came up with:
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Being visible in the internet does have it perks because you get attention from all types of audiences, which opens you up to opportunities you wouldn’t have gotten otherwise. Time and time again, Explore Iloilo has given me so much in my life and I’m very grateful that many people are able to appreciate me because of what I do. A month ago, the people behind Green Mango (a new restaurant in Iloilo) contacted me and asked if I was available to shoot for their upcoming outlet. Sure enough, I took the job because it’s an opportunity I can never decline.
It was an exhausting job shooting more than 20 food items in their menu and editing after. Me and Vince had to make the most of our equipment to make the best output that we could produce. We even made do-it-yourself light boxes, reflectors, and diffusers to cover up for our lack of professional equipment. It wasn’t the most ideal set-up but we were able to come up with the shots that the client wanted. Here are samples of our Green Mango Photoshoot
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To be able to support myself financially, I’ve started to open myself to freelance photography work. Me and Vince (a schoolmate and photo buddy) are nursing graduates and thought it would be interesting to call and ourselves as RN Photography, which makes recall easier because it’s quite an interesting way to brand our services. So far we’ve had a few clients including Espresso Central, a coffee shop located in the 2nd floor of Robinsons Mall (the one with the glass flooring in front of the food court). Read the rest of this entry »
Showing off your camera in the streets Quiapo, Binondo, or Intramuros is kind of risky because it would make yourself an easy target for thieves. I had to take pictures of my trip though, so I just took stolen shots instead and planned on putting a lomo effect to compensate for the lack of composititon.
Here’s my Lomo Manila Series (I hope I don’t offend Lomo purists because I’m not very familiar with this style of photography):
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Made a frame of Fort San Pedro’s ruins in Iloilo. It’s such a shame that this heritage structure has ended up in neglect. Not only did the Americans destroy most of it during WWII but the Ilonggos of today have left it for the storms to be destroyed. Fort San Pedro used to be a recognizable landmark in the city and a great place to bring tourists because of its great view of the sunset, now it’s quite shameful to bring visitors to the area.
Ambot-ah is a blog about my life as a travel blogger, nurse, and freelance photographer. After my college graduation, I decided to make a living out of blogging and live out my many passions. Join me on my travels around the Philippines and South East Asia. Read my helpful backpacking journals, budget travel trips, do-it-yourself itineraries, blogging pursuits (making money online), and photography tips. 
