It's All in the Green Pill

Running purely on approximately 2 pitchers of margarita, four hours of sleep, a throbbing headache and a wandering mind, I was off to Crowne Plaza and Holiday Inn to meet Jill and the others with an unexpected company. Unfortunately, my nagging hang over would have to take a back seat for the next few hours. I was in a more pressing matter.

We met Francis who was sitting in his room, anxiously waiting for the right time before finally dressing up and leaving for church.

A couple of feet away, Eddah was busy putting detail after detail to make her day the picture perfect day in her life.

The breezy morning ushered the hot, humid afternoon tagged and capped with a cool fun night. It was a pretty long day which didn't really decide to cap off until 10pm (at least for the photographers).

It wasn't all perfect. But it doesn't really matter if there were little bumps along the way.

What's important is that at the end of the day, everyone in all shapes..

And in all ages..

Was happy.

I found mine in a pill, of Advil. Thanks Jill!

A Beginning by the End

After a long, long, looooong haitus from I think almost everything (blame it on my out of the country work assignment) I like and love doing, I guess I am back. Today, 3 days short of the New Year, I've been privileged enough to go and get my hands dirty once again and take some of those momentous photographs in a couple's life. I don't pretend to be a master of this. Nor do I really go after what I juice out from it. I'm all just for the love of putting and immortalizing what I see into the confines of a 2D plane.

I'm pretty far away from what the masters do. All I can do is point, shoot, learn and shoot some more. Learning is fun when what you put your mind into is something you're really interested with. And with someone like the "master" taking the lead, working on-site wouldn't really feel and sound like work at all.

A first: Pre-Nuptial Shoot

More than a week ago Jill invited me to accompany her in a pre-nuptial she's covering. And since the shoot was gonna be in Punta Fuego, I didn't think twice about tagging along.

I have never been to Punta Fuego and I have never been to a pre-nuptial shoot. You can just imagine how the excitement built up towards the day of the shoot.

In as much as I would like to shoot stuff for myself, I got myself busy assisting and shooting with Jill and Jason (Jill's second cam). I wasn't really supposed to shoot with them, so I just tried getting out of their way. Thus, I got shots of the couple usually with their backs on me or are either too far from me. Nonetheless, I was quite satisfied with my shots. Not bad for someone who was just tagging along.

 
Jill though scared of heights braved her fear for the shoot..

The masters shoot, I take notes from afar..

At some point in the shoot, we went to a place they call as the fuego point (I'm not sure). It was one of the rocky cliffs which was overlooking the sea. It was a bit cloudy which pretty much gave a good drama for some of the pics I took home with me.

The fuego point

A speed boat drives by fuego point

If Only

t.. the rain hasn't decided to supply us with water enough to drink for a year
.. mud was never a combination of soil and water
.. mud never saw shoes as the hottest "must haves" in town
.. we were given the chance to eat lunch
.. boat rides never meant you and your equipment have to get wet
.. we didn't have to cross an overflowing river to get to the church and back
.. we didn't have to deal with some people who has a certain attitude
.. we were treated the way our job description stated was
.. we were treated like people and not just the guy/girl with a camera
.. instructions were given in a tone that doesn't suggest ignorance
.. requests were given out in a pleasant tone and not in a commanding one
.. I was less shaky when taking pictures
.. I was able to execute the simple instructions given to me correctly
.. I maximized the opportunities to shoot before I lost them
.. the bunk bed that was left for me to sleep on was not in between couples
.. the island where we left our bags in wasn't guarded by dogs twice my size
.. getting your stuff to head home didn't require braving a litter of dogs

then, I think, it would have been one of the first experiences that would surely make it's mark on 2008. Well, it did leave a mark. Too bad, it was just on the far side of the spectrum.

There are events we attend that usually leaves a mark in your life. You're lucky to be in one. What more to be in a position that helps define it. I have always thought of life-defining events as big (even though with a limited budget), picturesque and perfect in its own right. But of course that always depend in heaven's mercy.

Some would get traumatized with what I was on. But not me. Things like these happen. I fell in love with this craft and what transpired during the weekend hasn't even dented or made me question my interest in it.

So yeah, BRING IT ON!

 

*****

 

Friend 2 (the driver): so you guys work together?
Friend 1 (the baptizer): not really. bininyagan ko lang siya..
Me: Yup! It was a baptism.. a baptism of fire and rain.. literally. :D

 

*****

 

Hey you, the baptizer.. you know who you are. Thank you for the experience. It wasn't the best (I know you'd agree with me on that), but it was surely an adventure I did not leave empty handed. Honestly, I wouldn't have traded anything else for it. :D