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.

run

i made another experiment and this time it's all about time-lapse photography.

time-lapse photography is a cinematography technique whereby each film frame is captured at a rate much slower than it will be played back. when replayed at normal speed, time appears to be moving faster and thus lapsing. - wikipedia

we started from al barsha (near mall of the emirates) and went to bur dubai via sheikh zayed road and back to jebel ali gardens (also thru sheikh zayed road). it took us almost an hour drive with 300+ shots (with flashes), 10-sec intervals for each shot and three sets of drained batteries. it was controlled by nikon capture from lillian (my laptop) and connected via usb and mounted on a tripod.

"run" is performed by collective soul.

special thanks to ryan and benet for being the lab rats :P

you can see it on my multiply, youtube or download it here.

discoursed by jeff @ 11:57 AM | 3 comment(s) | permalink

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

50 first reactions

i stole this from mariyah while backing up and reinstalling my other workstation due to stupidity. hehe.

the rules are simple. type what comes to your mind first whenever you hear these 50 words. dont think and dont go back and change. doesnt matter how random just type it!

here it goes:

1. beer: indulgence.

2. food: indulgence.

3. relationships: season, reason and a lifetime

4. crush: yiheeee.

5. power rangers: dorks.

6. life: inevitable.

7. the president: devil.

8. yummy: yummy.

9. cars: convenience.

10. movie: indulgence.

11. halloween: fancy.

12. sex: indulgence.

14. hate: emotion.

15. fear: inevitable

16. marriage: mistake.

17. blondes: god's balancing factor

18. slippers: convenience.

19. shoes: convenience.

20. asians: race?

21. pass time: this meme.

22. one night stand:

23. cell phone: convenience.

24. smoke: unecessary.

25. fantasy: i like.

26. college: sucks.

27. highschool: the best.

28. pajamas: hindrance.

29. stars: enlightenment.

30. fitness center: laziness.

31. alcohol: indulgence.

32. the word love: bullshit.

33. friends: another god's greatest invention.

34. money: sin.

35. heartache: it hurts of course.

36. time: which i dont have much.

37. divorce: wishing.

38. dogs: pets.

39. undies: hindrance.

40. parents: guidance.

41. babies: happiness.

42. ex: done and over with.

43. song: indulgence.

44. color: flavor.

45. weddings: income.

46. pizza: indulgence.

47. hangout: relaxation.

48. resto: indulgence.

49. goal: inspiration.

50. inspiration: goal.

discoursed by jeff @ 3:07 PM | 4 comment(s) | permalink

Monday, September 24, 2007

portraits - vii

busy, busy, busy, busy organizing the grand eb, meetings, and other work. just want to share candid portraits i did for the past week.

now, back to work :D

discoursed by jeff @ 2:22 PM | 4 comment(s) | permalink

Saturday, September 15, 2007

self-portrait

september issue

f1.4, 1/40secs, 50mm, iso200

i asked a friend to turn on her camera on her phone and hold to its position. after doing that, i recomposed the frame by also including her and clicked the shutter.

two in one shot. :)

discoursed by jeff @ 10:05 PM | 4 comment(s) | permalink

Friday, September 14, 2007

"blessing"

photo assignment no. 1

f14, 1/340secs, 95mm, iso200, wb: daylight

"Humor is mankind's greatest blessing." - Mark Twain

last week, my photobuddies and i started to boot up our creative juices. we agreed to take a photo based on a theme that we chose. the photo should've been taken within the theme's time period and it can be post-processed whenever it may seem fit and by the photographer's discretion. later on, each of the participating photographer's will post their work and shall undergo relentless and brutal critiques by each. that way we can learn from each other as we progress each week.

now, the first photo assignment's theme is called "blessing"

it was taken this morning during the supposedly meeting with co-photographers. while waiting for the car to cool its airconditioning unit, we saw this grocery trolley scattered in the parking. feeling uninteresting for just a cart, i asked ryan to hop in and pose. unconsciously, it became a match to the ad sign in front of the trolley.

i did some major post-processing since the lighting was flat and harsh. first was correcting the tilt to align. next, i had to boost up the contrast, added some "dragan" effect for grungy feel, resized to frame and signature.

tet bautista's photo assignment
orly arcelao's photo assignment

discoursed by jeff @ 6:27 PM | 2 comment(s) | permalink

Thursday, September 13, 2007

ramadan kareem

read more about the month of ramadan at wikipedia.

discoursed by jeff @ 11:08 AM | 2 comment(s) | permalink

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

desserts and aftermath

dessert galore

the sweets look good when they prepared it in the buffet during our conference in dusit dubai hotel. i had to list the names so i wouldnt forget. let's start in the front which looked like a messed-up pudding, chocolate date cake. the yellow stuff on the left is creme brulee. raspberry and mango mousse is on the right of creme brulee (the one with two pieces of choco strips). finally, peach tart is behind these goodies.

after weeks of pigging out and a gluttonious feast (check the previous posts), here's the effect of the workout...

no more food pics! :P

discoursed by jeff @ 8:31 AM | 5 comment(s) | permalink

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

munggo

munggo guisado, another filipino favorite cuisine wherein mung beans are sauteed with various types of meat usually pork, seafood such as shrimp or fish and veggies. chicharon or pork rind was added as a topping and chilis to taste.

last of the series, sweet (and diabetic trigger) dessert and aftermath. :D

discoursed by jeff @ 11:10 AM | 7 comment(s) | permalink

Monday, September 10, 2007

mega breakfast

we had a friday breakfast at cocos in sheikh zayed road with yoyen and friends. it was her birthday bash that decided to take a morning spin instead. since i did not have my dinner at all, and so i ordered a mega breakfast.

it contained two slices of beef bacon and another two beef sausages, triple eggs (the yolks are four and the waiter told me that it was a bonus since im their usual customer ...hehe) cooked sunny-side-up, potatoes, two wedges of fresh oranges, and two pieces of pancakes. it cost dhs30.

the only downside is that the coffee or juice is not included (which would cost you another dhs10 if you want for cappuccino).

up next, uric acid detonator. :D

discoursed by jeff @ 10:04 AM | 11 comment(s) | permalink

Sunday, September 09, 2007

kare-kare

another filipino cuisine, the kare-kare is made from peanut sauce with a variety of veggies, stew beef oxtail, sometimes offal or tripe. the meat may vary from beef, pork, chicken or mutton. in this photo, we used oxtail. bagoong or shrimp paste can be eaten side by side with kare-kare.

just to remind you that this is not a food blog. i feel like pigging out in the past few days so that i posted these yummy treats.

up next, greasy and flab-loving breakfast! :P

discoursed by jeff @ 12:03 PM | 8 comment(s) | permalink

Saturday, September 08, 2007

barbecue

barbecue is a method of cooking the food using either with hot gases of heat, smoking wood or using hot coals of charcoal. the meat was a pork spare-ribs and marinated the previous morning and cooked at noon.

barbecuing in some areas are limited. it's either you can do it on your own backyard villas (flats not allowed), isolated beaches and wadis, or at the pre-designated barbecue areas in parks. you have to be discreet when cooking pork products in public places so that it will not offend the muslim brethren.

the cook

many thanks to eugene for preparing the delicious, fat-loving cuisines which you've seen in the previous posts. i'll be there in your place for the kare-kare tonight! :P

discoursed by jeff @ 11:09 AM | 6 comment(s) | permalink

Thursday, September 06, 2007

bulalo

bulalo, a cholesterol-packed main dish of the filipinos, is a beef stew with vegetables. it is best eaten when the soup is still hot. the most prized in the meal is the utak or the bone marrow. the marrow is usually a misconception for the brain due to filipino translation.

you came to think that this is a food blog, it's not. lol. just sharing our previous voracity during weekends. :P

discoursed by jeff @ 8:49 AM | 7 comment(s) | permalink

Tuesday, September 04, 2007

pulutan

f5, 1/30secs, iso1600, 31mm (nikon d80, kit lens)

pulutan, is a tagalog term for beer snack which makes them ideal for consumption along with beer (or other liquors), as it can be used to quench the thirst induced by such dry or savory snacks.

the pulutan of the weekend was lechon kawali which are pieces of pork belly being boiled first then deep fried with salt and pepper matched with fish sauce and chili plus beer as drink.

one thing i liked here is the availability of some products to expatriates which they miss from their homeland. although pork cannot be served in restos, some groceries like spinneys and choithram offer pork products to non-muslims. alcohol can be consumed thru hotels, clubs and bars but they can also be purchased thru duty free or licensed liquor stores (you need a license to purchase one).

discoursed by jeff @ 2:17 PM | 12 comment(s) | permalink

Monday, September 03, 2007

portraits - vi (d'fence)

from the previous post, the shots were done indoors using strobes or studio lighting. this time, another portraiture set taken outdoors using available light.

the photos were separate sessions on the same location. note that i've used only one background type. using props (in this case, the fence) to be a background in portraiture can be more interesting. from top to bottom, we experimented on different type of subjects and poses.

ariane

benet

joshua

my comment on previous post (portraits - v):

thank you all for the visits and appreciation to my works. though the definition of nude is quite vague, i have never exposed vital parts on this blog or site. i stand being an artist, and somehow i don't see any malice or dirty showing some skin (or a lot of it) else you can tear down the billboards, blacken out beauty and fashion mags, barbwire the beaches, and cancel the fashion shows. i even bought a photography mag here which related to nude photography.

i am aware of these laws and culture of this country and there's no need to remind me. if i have offended someone and felt that this is wrong, i apologize. else there's nothing to be sorry about because my conscience is clean and i dedicate my works thru art and not for carnal satisfaction.

thanks for your visits.

discoursed by jeff @ 8:17 AM | 12 comment(s) | permalink

The Dubai Chronicles