The Dubai Chronicles: Rebirth

about dxb chronicles

The saga of Jeff living in the City of Gold. Presently living in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, unravel his journey throughout the city with memoirs and everyday life stories.

manila update - final episode

i just got back from makati and had dinner with long time no see friends. two days left and i feel like there's much more to do... so little time. i barely sleep recently.

anyway, here are the updates and my checklist for this week.

- ~~got the ticket and papers~~
- ~~portraiture of tita lana (as a gift from mom)~~

- ~~photo shoot with james' kids~~

- ~~avp presentation project for faith and hanz~~
- ~~printing of the best photos taken for portfolio album~~
- ~~meet up and dinner with closest friends~~

- ~~buy photo album as sample~~
- ~~product photography for my cousin in the states~~

- ~~visit hidalgo or photoworld 2007 and purchase stuffs~~
- ~~glamour photography with flatlighters~~

- ~~streetchildren eb with a cause with fellow dpp members and sbc in sampaloc~~

- ~~new set of contact lenses (one year stock)~~
- post corregidor travel
- ~~visit dad at the cemetery~~
- ~~meet the kids and say goodbye~~

- ~~final talk with mayi and deal with the kids' situation~~
- ~~pack my stuffs in the luggage~~
- fix aunt pet's desktop computer
- ~~buy magazines~~
- haircut and ~~spa treatment~~

the dubai chronicles will start it's saga once again...

discoursed by jeff @ 7:44 PM | 8 comment(s) | permalink

Sunday, January 28, 2007

then and now

i was very busy for the past week starting with the invasion of corregidor island in bataan, a studio shoot with fellow photogs and apprentice models, an eb for a cause with the streetchildren in sampaloc and a little product photography assignment from my cousins. i'll post them if time permits.

well, it's my dad's birthday yesterday and i was able to visit him few hours ago (it's also my parent's wedding anniversary). i took a snap of his place a year ago and i did the same when i paid my respects to him.

then..

now...

i wish he was here when i really needed him...

discoursed by jeff @ 8:12 AM | 0 comment(s) | permalink

Monday, January 22, 2007

w a w a

after being sick and depressed, i was invited once again by my photographer friends for a photo trek in helping me to overcome these "downers" of life. with very little planning and preparation, four of us went to rizal province, particularly in montalban to visit a small place called wawa.

after stuck traffic for a few hours along marikina-san mateo, we finally arrived in baranggay wawa. before entering the place (i think they declared it as a a national park), you have to pay a toll-fee for the cars (php20) to enter. as soon as you passed the checkpoint, you can go wherever you want to go.

enter wawa

i dont want to bore you with the detailed trek but definitely this is a place for hikers, mountain bikers, mountaineers and photographers. my friend who's with us came to the place before and we didn't have difficulty in going the nice sceneries. the local people here are very friendly that even one of the houses obliged to let us cook for lunch (with pay of course..hehe) and extended more of the usual hospitality (they gave us sweet potatoes!).

the usual backpacker

the path here is better than sagrada familia (zambales) and it's easy for flipflop-wearing trekkers. the paths are somewhat rocky especially ascending to the wawa dam but passable. after the dam, the pathway is loose earth. you can enjoy your views there while walking. you can see caves (they have four according to some sites), limestones, waterfall and the quiet river.

one of the walkways

athough we didn't went further for the trek (im just recovering from sickness), we stayed until early afternoon to shoot, shoot and shoot. due to impromptu trek, im not aware that my batteries weren't charged (stupid me) enough for the trip and opt for mental capture and very picky snaps.

wawa dam

the wawa gorge

hopefully before i disappear, i could visit this place once again...

discoursed by jeff @ 12:04 PM | 7 comment(s) | permalink

Friday, January 19, 2007

p a a l a m

sorry for a few days' absence. i've been sick and it's been really depressing. last night, i picked up my stuffs from my former home. she and the kids were present when i moved out. it was really sad for the kids to see. i have no other choice and there's nothing left for me to be there. all has been said and done...

...only time will tell.

i cleaned up my things this morning and i can't avoid remembering the memories we've shared together. photographs, letters... everything. i couldn't help myself but weep.

i made another video to say thank you for the good times we had. mayi, miles and julia, you're the best...

i can't still figure it out why this happened to us...

discoursed by jeff @ 1:10 PM | 9 comment(s) | permalink

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

children of manila - part ii

instead of blogging the mission, just watch the video i uploaded on youtube.

now, to sid and mr. pogi, you are both correct. it's your opinion and both entitled to it.

let me point out something. i've been travelling a lot recently during my vacation and this one opened my eyes. mr pogi, if you've been visiting my blog you will see my 'tourist' travels of the north. yes, it's good that we should promote tourism but we should be aware that there are kids out there who are in need.

part photojournalism, part travel blog... and you can't force me to turn this down. why? it's the reality. i didn't say that you have to do something about it, im just want you to make a difference in some ways... let say disseminate the info, donate, whatever you feel.

we didn't have the pleasure of taking these pics because it's really heartbreaking. besides, it's not only the sadness of these children we took pictures of. if you seen the avp i uploaded, it brings different kinds of emotions. you can't just show the happy side. there are always two sides of the coin.

thank you for visiting.

discoursed by jeff @ 5:22 PM | 7 comment(s) | permalink

Monday, January 15, 2007

children of manila - part i

yesterday, two of my treklens friends namely oggie (shogun) and xavier (hydroxycut) invited me for a walkathon of street photography from busy streets of quiapo, to the isolated areas of sta cruz, the silent walls of intramuros, accomodating aura of luneta, the sleepy benches and rocks of baywalk and finally to our end point at picc.

my mission of that day was to let the world see the life of the street children around manila. just to remind everyone, i didn't have the pleasure of taking these pics. these are an eye-opener for me and just want to share it with you to realize that life has its ups and downs. i was having a mixed emotions thru this...happy to see some of them with genuine smiles. sad when you can see through those eyes behind it... thanks for viewing.

note: some of the images are graphic and contain photographs with nudity. i captured the photos to be photojournalistic as possible and i do not promote child pornography here. to be safe, i'm patching black areas to the vital parts. thanks.

in a day's bath...

nothing more to eat...

nowhere to go...

saving it for a day's worth...

still in dreamworld...

discoursed by jeff @ 8:54 AM | 9 comment(s) | permalink

Friday, January 12, 2007

zambales: sagrada familia caves

continuing the trek, we woke up early and orly decided to take us to the sagrada familia caves in sta. cruz (near to our place). having a good night's sleep and a hefty breakfast, we're in full battle gear and head out to the mountains to seek the caves.

200 steps and counting...

going up to the caves was a challenging trek (once again). meeting up manong on the foot of the mountain (manong calls it as a hill), he acted as our tour guide in leading to the mouth of sagrada familia. the road was rough then followed by a steps made of rough rocks, it was long and tiring hike. good thing was we were trained from the sagada trek and seem to get used to do hiking. my friend cris counted (and gasping for air while doing it) the steps to a total of 300 from start till the entrance.

entrance to the shrine

and so arrived and got what we wanted. after unloading the bags, we did our usual gig... photography.

one of the caves

...and another

the caves are usually packed during the summer and most especially the season of holy week where pilgrims gather and pray. manong told us there were many caves aside from the ones we've visited. he also mentioned that there's a big waterfall nearby. due to time constraints we weren't able to visit all of them including the famous shrine where there's a statue-like stone formation of mary and jesus.

once again, the (un)holy group hug

after we're done, we descended back to town, ate lunch and left for manila. the zambales trek was too short for us but the sights are worth it if you have the right contacts and timing. i'll be back again there someday. :)

discoursed by jeff @ 8:04 PM | 4 comment(s) | permalink

Thursday, January 11, 2007

zambales: potipot sunset

after lunch and short nap, we headed out once again to invade another island and this time orly was sure that we're going to land there. finally, we were able to do so.

next invasion, potipot island

going to this island would need to hire a small banca for a 5-minute travel. if you're a triathlon athlete, you might swim this in thirty minutes. :D the cost of the rent of banca is around php300-400 on a two-way basis (we haggled it to 300) and at your own discretion on when will you go back to the mainland. since we don't have the gear for camping, we told them to pick us up after the sunset.

our rations. can't beat the real thing

after landing, we walked to the other side of the island wherein there were rocks and old fallen trees. it was a perfect place for the sunset shoot. while waiting for the right moment, we walked around, experimented, rested and snapped some shots.

monkeying around

when the skies are turning orange, we went on different directions and made our own "stuffs" like living in our own worlds.

self portrait on a long exposure setting

real deal. the sunset

this was one of the best moments of the trek i have experienced. it gave me peace of mind thru the warmth of the skies and the calmness of the seas. after were done, we headed back home for tomorrow's itinerary of little spelunking and mountain trekking.

discoursed by jeff @ 2:03 PM | 2 comment(s) | permalink

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

zambales: beachwalk

due to slow internet, i was able to continue the adventure just today. my apologies.

feeling uncontented from the island hop, we went back to bolitoc beach and continued our hunt for precious moments along the shore. as we walked here are some of the stuffs we've done (including my forsaken - xi).

jewels and veil

having a good time @ the beach

rest day

sweet manong labs manang

another (un)traditional group hug (photo courtesy of orly arcelao - middle guy)

we went back to orly's place to replenish and recharge ourselves for the afternoon's adventure to potipot island. more...

discoursed by jeff @ 5:13 PM | 3 comment(s) | permalink

Sunday, January 07, 2007

zambales: island hopping

the desert foxes were out once again and this time we went to orly's hometown province of zambales. cris and i met at the bus station and took off at 10pm for a 6-hour drive via victory liner. the trip was planned but it is unfortunate that we're the only ones could go because other friends of ours were either busy or m.i.a.

we arrived at dawn and was given a warm welcome (and hefty breakfast too) by orly and his family. after the breakfast, we headed off to adventure.

en route to hermana minor island

the first ordeal of the day was to go on island hopping. buying gallons of fuel for the boat he arranged, we took off to hermana minor island. when we're almost nearby the shoreline, we were advised that we're not allowed to land since the owner of the island (a provincial bus company owner) is around that we had to keep ourselves at bay. we had no choice but to stay in the boat...

disappointment... we cannot land

we only see rocks

...and more rocks

making most of the travel... these feet have stabilizers for clear images

much to our disappointment, it has been my first time taking a small boat crossing the seas. :) next stop, the beach of bolitoc.

discoursed by jeff @ 6:50 PM | 1 comment(s) | permalink

Saturday, January 06, 2007

celebrations

last night, it was my first visit to mall of asia and watched pyro olympics 2007 with fellow photographers. the place was packed and it had me a hard time to go home and rest for my best friend's wedding in the morning...

after the event, i finally able to relax... gotta sleep.

discoursed by jeff @ 4:17 PM | 0 comment(s) | permalink

Friday, January 05, 2007

f o r s a k e n - x i

shutter speed: 1/500 sec, aperture: f/11, iso: 200, focal length: 20mm, wb: auto, sigma 10-20mm dc ex, timed remote, tripod mount

the atonement.

"o LORD, thou knowest: remember me, and visit me, and revenge me of my persecutors; take me not away in thy long suffering: know that for thy sake I have suffered rebuke."

taken at the bolitoc beach in zambales. the sun was not that harsh and the tide was low as seen in the image that the sand was immense. i did a couple of tries jumping and posing till i am satisfied with it. the shot was done thru a timed remote mounted on a tripod.

the only pp treatment done was adding a vignette, resizing the image, and converting the image to bw.

discoursed by jeff @ 9:54 AM | 1 comment(s) | permalink

Thursday, January 04, 2007

stuffs, stuffs and more stuffs

ok, i was suppose to post our zambales adventures but a lot of things got in the way. one of my closest friends is getting married in a few days and asked me to cover his wedding. i've been researching and looking for a suitable software for the upcoming on-the-spot audio-video presentation (avp) which covers the pre-wedding and ceremony.

i also launched a project called dsc 365. dsc stands for digital still camera and 365 connotes the days of a year. it is just another photo-a-day project similar to the ones done by some photographers and bloggers. this time, i used wordpress just to get the hang of it. i have a lot of accounts on photo sites and community boards but i prefer to discipline myself of taking shots with very less post-processing and usually straight from the cam photos thru this site.

speaking of photo sites, i finally signed up to flickr. curiosity got out of hand and signed up... you can check my gallery there. starting with 2007, my "her nineties" photo got in to flickr explore as one of the most interesting photos around. cool huh?

i had a spa and aromatherapy yesterday at the mall. the treatment was only a gift from my mom. it was really relaxing and nice stress remover.

then finally, i have decided to go back to dubai by the end of this month. don't ask me why but i just felt i really need to go away.

until then...

discoursed by jeff @ 3:53 AM | 2 comment(s) | permalink

Monday, January 01, 2007

new year, new life

i just got back from my children's visit at their mother's place. it's a good thing that the first day of the year started good. she and i were in good terms and civil enough to spend time with the kids and her relatives. hard to accept the fact to what happened, i guess it's really time to bury it and move on and let the time pass by. she wants her own space and i'm giving it.

the kids enjoyed during my stay. i brought lunch and gifts to them, played ps2 with my son and little photoshoot with my daughter. later in the evening, i spent a garden dinner with her and her relatives with most of them were surprised of me for being there. i guess there's nothing to hide anymore, just facing the reality.

going back last year, it has been a roller coaster ride with a lot of highs and lows. it may bore you out but i'm just doing the recap to what happened in 2006.

career. although the job kept me stressed most of the time, i felt that i grew and learned a lot from it. it was this year that i got compensated accordingly to my job (with the exception of some things of course) and able to climb up the ladder of success... with the exception of next topic of course.

marriage. it has been on the rocks when i noticed in the early part of the year and finally found out before the end of 2006. i never been successful in love life.

photography. it entered the golden age wherein i improved, got myself a gear of my own and equipments. first time experiences of different assignments and projects which i learned a lot (and earned as well), met old and new faces and got myself a chance to perceive my emotions and visions thru photographs.

travel. of course photography would be fun if you travel a lot. i finally reached well-known and uncommon places that i enjoyed visiting especially when i took my vacation since december.

self. aside from the irreversible age, my life became matured. i learned how to fall, how to control and how to accept failures and praises.

now, what to expect for this coming year? resolutions and aspirations? i did a couple of stuffs which i hope i can achieve this 2007.

- learn more in photography. it's a never-ending learning experience.
- get myself a new set of equipment especially studio lighting and few camera bodies. :)
- update my blog and portfolio
- travel more and meet more people
- be physically and mentally fit
- settle down once again
- get myself a car
- and a lot more...

happy new year everyone! all the best for 2007!

discoursed by jeff @ 10:10 PM | 3 comment(s) | permalink

The Dubai Chronicles