Muvela's Place Rizal | 2/19/15

Last week's shoot was amazing. This is my second attempt in off-cam flash outside my area. We scheduled a shoot with Jo Anne, one of my long-time friends, which was supposed to be somewhere in Ortigas Pasig. However, two days before the shoot she suggested a beautiful place just a few blocks away from her house. My former bandmate Rica had her car with her so me, Rj, and Mike all jumped in and drove all the way to Cainta, Rizal where we found this awesome place called Muvela's. It was a hidden place, almost like a private place. where you and your friends can relax and have fun by singing in the KTV rooms, eating, or even drinking all night! What I like about this place is the ambience and the lights and the sounds (which made me relaxed the whole time I was shooting). The price is surprising too! For I was expecting the price to be a bit higher due to the setting of the place, but was actually lower than my expectation - perfect for friends and families who want to have a bonding!

I used my Nikon D7000, Nikkor 50mm f/1.4D, Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8, Nikon SB 900, light stand with reflective umbrella and triggered flash with a pair of Yong Nuo RF603.

Taken: Thursday 2/19/15, Muvela's Place Cainta Rizal Philippines

I'll try to make a separate thread for Muvela's pictures. But for now, let me fall asleep. :)

Riverbanks Marikina | 2/12/15

This is one of my first official off-cam flash attempts outside the convenience of my area. Two weeks ago I asked my long time friend Chris, who was a former classmate and bandmate in high school, to model for me since I'm trying out my new sticks (light stands) and haven't had a chance to shoot off-cam on location. As expected (let's just say that he's one hell of a selfie-addict, right Chris?) he enthusiastically accepted my invite and was eager to know when and where it will happen. So I setup a day where I have no work and where the place is close and familiar so we won't waste time figuring things out. I decided that the place most familiar to us is the place where we have known each other, which is also our childhood place, in Marikina. Together with another former bandmate Mike who assisted me on this shoot, we went to RiverBanks Marikina and took the east bank, where it isn't too crowded, and setup there. After setting up my umbrella (ella, ella, e, e..) a security officer appeared from nowhere and suddenly asked me questions like, "what is that for, sir?", "Do you have a permit to shoot here?". Of course, of course I (politely) said that I was just trying to practice my photography skills and said that I didn't have any permit. I knew I had to have one if I were to shoot on the other (crowded) side of Riverbanks but I didn't know we still needed to secure a permit at this place (and in every place which Riverbanks covers) before the shoot (3 days before the shoot, apparently). Luckily, Ms. Zaine, the events coordinator of Riverbanks, was too kind and gave me a pass to shoot just for that day. We shot from around 5pm to 7pm. Just a few warning, it gets a bit mosquito-y after sunset so you might want to bring some mosquito repellent lotion or cover yourself with a kulambo.

In these pictures I used my Nikon D7000, Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8, Nikkor 80-200mm ED f/2.8, Nikon SB 900, 1 light stand with reflective umbrella triggered by Nikon CLS. 

Taken: Thursday, 2/12/15, RiverBanks Marikina, Philippines.

Getting back to off-cam flash

It was 2009 when I was first introduced to off-cam flash photography. At that time, I was using a Nikon D70s, Nikkor 50mm f/1.8D, and Nissin Di622. I stumbled upon David Hobby's site about off-cam flashes and got excited with the whole new idea of controlling the light. I bought an affordable light stand and umbrella from Tayhua and got myself a basic strobist kit for a little less than $60.

I tried it and I was able to come up with some photos, most of which were already deleted. I found two photos though, which I shot sometime in 2009-2010 using one flash only (Nissin Di662, D70s, and 18-55mm).

And just this year, after having sold my photography stuff years ago, I bought a myself a new 40" umbrella and 2 pieces of 9 ft light stand. Took some shots last January 23rd with my friends while they were drinking.

Uncle Raul with my former bandmates Rica and Mike. Shot using Nikon D7000, Tamron 17-50mm with Nikon SB-900 and Yong Nuo 560II on 9 ft sticks.

Later on, I asked my sister to help me do some test shots:

Abby. Shot using D7000, Nikkor 50mm f/1.4D, SB 900 Reflective umbrella 45 degrees left and YN 560II bare 30 degrees placed right side behind the subject.

I'm amazed at the beauty of what off-cam light can produce. I know I'm back to square one because I stopped doing this for about 6 years (wow! can't believe it was that long!) and I have a lot to cover but I'm excited and I can't wait to shoot again!

I'll be posting new projects as I continue to explore and run with lights!

In the meantime, here are some shots I took last week on the 7th of February.

RJ. SB 900 reflective umbrella closed down to produce a "poorman's softbox", using D7000 17-50mm.

Mike. SB 900 can't remember if it was a shoot-through or reflective though. 

Lenses and Flashes for rent

Hello guys! I'm having my equipment rented!

Prices are fixed and good for one whole (loooooong) day, or 24 hours!
All lenses have Think Tank Cases.

If you get all three lenses or two lens and one flash combo, I'll throw in the Think Tank set with a Vanguard belt!



Nikkor ED 80-200mm f/2.8D (push-pull version) - Php 800.00

  

Nikkor 50mm f/1.4D - Php 700.00

Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 XR DiII SP - Php 600.00

Nikkor SB-900 (with 4 pcs eneloop batt) - Php 500.00

 Yongnuo YN-560II (with 4pcs eneloop batt and case) - 400

 t

Think Tank lens cases with Vanguard Belt - free when you get three lenses or two lens and a flash combo!

Happiness and what we are missing to get it.

We only have one life. At least here on earth. And if we do what others want for us, if we do what others think about what's best for us, then we let our own life become theirs.

We might have thought of how we wanted to live our life before when we were still young and dreamers - become an actor, a musician, a teacher, a chef, a singer, a dancer, a basketball player- but our parents, friends, enemies, and even teachers have brainwashed us and told us their own scripts. Scripts that have been passed by from generations to the next, from their grandfathers down to you.

Be aware of this script for it defines what they want (or sometimes what they think they want), but not really what YOU want in life. Some of them maybe:

"Get a degree, finish it, and work till you get rich"

"Forget your passion; you won't get rich by doing that"

"Don't let anyone get what you are supposed to have, if you need to step on someone to achieve something, do it",

"Grab all you can while you can, you only have one life"

If you're familiar with these lines, then be careful. Maybe the reason why you aren't happy or you forgot what it is that makes you happy is because you've been so brainwashed by these scripts, these "traditional mainstream" scripts that you define your happiness BASED on how they define theirs.

Money is important and we all know that. But there is a certain point where once we get the money that we need, that's enough for us to live, we become satisfied and everything that adds won't add up to our satisfaction. Let me illustrate it to you.

If you were in a desert, tired, hungry, and most especially thirsty, wouldn't you want a glass of water? Now if I give you one, your level of happiness will go up from -1 to 1. But because you're still thirsty, you still want another one. Now, if I give you 1 litre of ice cold water, definitely your level of happiness will go up from 1 to 10. Once your thirst is quenched, your level of happiness is now at its peak. Even if I give you 1 gallon, or even 1 drum of water, you won't be happier. You might still want to drink it but your body won't allow you to. Because that's the work of nature. Nature only gets what it needs to survive.

Now, if I give you 10 gallons of water, we both know that you can't drink anymore and thus won't be happy about it, what will you do? If you have been brainwashed by our fathers, I tell you what you might do. You might save those gallons of water so that when you become thirsty again you will have something to drink. But what if I were with you in that desert and I am also thirsty, what will you do?

Here's where the confusion starts.

Your self, your conscience, the real you, will tell you to give me water to drink. And when you do, when you tap into that not-so-often-used subconscious mind, you will feel happier even if your happiness is already at its peak. It is because this happiness is not physically, it’s spiritually. And spiritual happiness is contentment, it is joy.

But our fathers tell us that if we do that "we won't have anything for us anymore", "we won't be successful", "we won't have water for us in the future", so instead of giving, we keep the water for ourselves or for our families because our fathers told us that "that's the right thing to do". This is where the confusion hits us. When you’re up there, sitting on millions of gallons of water, people looking at you, admiring you, telling their kids "You should be like him, he's rich and successful, he doesn't worry about a thing anymore", handing down their scripts to their sons and daughters, you might think that you’re done and satisfied - that you've done the things your fathers want you to do. You are now what your fathers define as a successful - a very successful person. But in the back of your head, you  feel there's something missing, you become confused because success is not what it looks like up there. In fact, it felt pretty lonely up there - alone.

Our fathers tell us that we WILL be happy - heck everyone else tells us that we actually WILL be happy about it. But we don't feel like it. In fact, we were happier when we were drinking that 1 litre of ice cold water than sitting on gallons of water while looking down at people who are so thirsty and desperate just to have one glass of it. The confusion is that we are told that we WILL be happy but the reality strikes when we are already there.

What we missed is the act of giving. Not just giving to our families and loved ones (we were brainwashed to help people but only our families and loved ones) but giving to people in general. We were taught to store and not give, but that's not how it works.

If you don't believe in me, try it for yourself.

Inhale all you want for 10 seconds, just take all that oxygen in and don't breathe out.

Eat all you want for 3 days and don't visit the toilet to relieve yourself after that.

What do you think will happen?

Not letting your riches flow in and out will soon take its toll on you. Giving is the important part of the script that our fathers missed.

How many of those people who pushed you to pursue a degree (that you don't want) actually finished theirs, became rich, and are happy and contented?

How many of those people who told you to marry a rich guy/girl so you will be financially stable and won't have worries anymore actually married one and aren't regretting his/her life and aren't cheating on his/her spouse?

Find your passion. Find the things that you want to do in your life without the influence of our fathers. Jesus found his passion and died for it without any REGRETS. That’s what will happen to you too. In fact, you won’t find death as scary as it is when you find your true happiness – when you do what you truly wanted to do in life.

Find what makes you happy, pursue it with all your heart and most importantly SHARE it with others. Let the blessings flow in and out of you.

“Nature only takes what it needs. The giant redwood doesn't take all the nutrients from the soil, only what it needs. The lion doesn't kill every gazelle, only what it needs. There is a term in our society that we use when we take more than what we need, it’s called cancer.” – Tom Shadyac

What is wrong with the world and what can I do about it?

In searching for truths in life I've realized that the more I eat the apple of knowledge - the recorded products of the observations and experiements of men - the more I have dived into the pool of self-growth. As far as I'm concerned, the understanding of life and its problems and misconceptions have been more helpful and more practical than the basic system of education (academically) that our society offers. Indeed it is fulfilling and I'm truly grateful for the opportunities that I've been given to acquire and study these basic truths in life. Yet (I’m ashamed to admit) I lack the most important ingredient - action, which is truly what the purpose of education is - to do it.

I've stopped pursuing my degree (for the third time) last year after a series of realizations. One of the reasons why I stopped going to school (not stopped studying, as what people think of it) is because I realized that I was trying to find out the solutions to the "problems" in the future that I "may not even have" while neglecting or totally disregarding the more important issues that needed to be taken care of - my present problems. These problems are the effects why we continue to have bent principles and false beliefs. We grow physically because we cannot stop ourselves from doing so and these false beliefs that we get from the (sick) society tell us that physically growing is enough to reach maturity. However, there is a more important growth that we brush aside every single day that brings us to our sickness and deathbeds with a frown that we forget and it is the spiritual (mental) growth.

I believe that our self-growth is the most important growth of all. Your family, friends, and even the television may tell you that "this is the right way" and they could be right. If they are then you are lucky, if they aren't (which leads us to false beliefs and principles) then you're one of us. The problem is "how do we know" who's (and what's) right? That's exactly the root of the problems of the (sick) society. How are we contributing to the sickness of our society? Our lack of awareness or rather our laziness to explore and to understand and to find the solutions to these problems - these present problems - contribute to the sickness much more than what we thought. We might, in fact, think that we are helping the world out of the actions that we do, not knowing that we silently yet rapidly destroy the own world we thought we were enriching.

I owe it to the mystics, to the scientists, to the poets, and to the people who have courage for documenting (writing books, making movies/documentaries, making audiobooks) their observations and realizations for the future people to read and understand. I also owe it to the people who have unconsciously given me problems, painful problems, for they provided me practical applications or let's say the "work book" to compensate what the textbooks lack. And lastly I owe it to God for making all things connect and reflect. Since I am a product of my experiences, in response to these people who have influenced me more than anything else, I pay it forward. I believe that it is a sin to be greedy. The lamp that provides me the light would be better used if I share it than keep it to myself.

I therefore, in my desire to help others (and also be helped by others), want to contribute to the society by twisting the corkscrew and opening our "bottle of awareness" so we could drink the wine of growth and be drunk in celebrating our birthday - our birth to maturity - with our friends. I encourage you to help me by helping you. I also encourage you to help yourself by helping others in any way that you can.

What's on my mind is what Eldridge Cleaver said in the sixties "If you are not a part of the solution, then you are a part of the problem".

Why we are financially poor.

Do you think rich or poor?

How do people really get rich? Yes, rich as in Financially Independent which means whether you work or not, you will always have money to spend. How? This question has been asked for thousands of times and there are even more answers to the questions themselves but have you ever wondered why only a few people are able to become rich? I wish I knew. I’ve got a lot of solutions but I know it might or might not work for you because the truth is we both have different ways to solve it. Most people think that education (academic) can make you become rich and well, it really depends. Now I’m not saying that I don’t believe that education couldn’t make you one and this topic is arguable (I might create a different article for this). Of course it can make you rich but only in the right field. Education about a specific field will make you rich in that specific field. If you are studying (or being educated) about how to wash the dishes then certainly you will become a good or better dish-washer, but not financially rich. Surely it can lead you somewhere between the lines dividing the rich and the poor but if you are not financially literate, I’m pretty sure you’ll be back to square one. How do I know? Simply because I’ve experienced it. There were times in my life where I’ve acquired great fortune then a few days after I’m back to my usual budgeting method (which doesn’t work anyway). You and I both know that your allowance for 2 days can last for a week or two before the payday while your pay (salary) can last for only 1 or 2 days after you received it. It doesn’t matter how big your paycheck is, it might be ranging from 4 up to 7 digits- it’s all the same. The problem lies not on your job, but on your mentality and how you handle money.

Many people define rich as being able to earn (or acquire) great amount of money. Some people define rich as having the most expensive clothes, being updated with the most popular gadgets, eating in a fancy restaurant, owning a car (or even two), having a large house with swimming pool, billiard hall, basketball court, tennis court, and all the possible courts combined. On the other hand, some people define rich as being able to run multiple businesses, having more assets and fewer liabilities, going to work not because they needed to but because they wanted to – they can work or not work and still have money for them to spend. How about you, how do you define rich?

I asked you this because just by defining it can change how you look at it and determine how you can achieve it. As for me, rich is a state. It’s like your knowledge of the basic elementary Mathematics - addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. These things won’t be erased from your brain until you die (or until your brain ceased from functioning). For me, being rich is a state where you have the knowledge and you know by heart how to get to the point where you can be financially independent. Being rich starts by thinking rich.

Do you think rich or poor? Have you ever noticed why a lot of people are poor? It's simply because they think poor.

Let me give you an example.

Jowaskakrevush Babalush is a call center agent whose salary is around $900 a month. Now Jowa (for short) likes drinking a lot and partying with the rich people. He spends $400-600 a month buying suits, expensive clothes, hot kicks, different gadgets, clubbing, drinking, bar-hopping, and even hotel-hopping. In return he knows a lot of rich people and has pictures of different actors and actresses and athletes with him. He’s quite popular in Facebook and other social media sites and always has friends who are envious of his achievements or shall we say “popularity”. Of course this is because he constantly posts pictures of everything he does. Jowa is almost quite happy with his life. However there are just some things that worry him every night when he comes home. He has bills to pay and on top of that he isn’t getting any younger.

Now there’s this taxi driver, Canor Menyakuenta, who earns around $400 a month. Canor likes eating noodles and drinking coffee (keeps him awake during working hours), talking to people, and reading the business section of the newspaper and almost anything financially related. He doesn’t buy expensive clothes because he knows that the moment you wore them you lose almost half its price. He also doesn’t have the newest gadgets because he knows there’s always something new coming up every month. Also because he doesn’t have all these appliances and gadgets, his bills are always low because he doesn’t need to buy blu-ray discs because he doesn’t have a blu-ray player, and he doesn’t have a player because he doesn’t have an HD-TV, and he doesn’t have an HD-TV because he doesn’t want to pay for the HD-channels he’s not interested in watching so he doesn’t have a cable as well. This makes his electricity bills below the average consumption. He is interested in something though; something where he puts the $300 that’s left after he paid the $100-house bills. He likes paying for his financial security (insurance etc. saves money in the bank only for emergency) and financial growth (buying stocks, expanding his house-rental business, and funding for another business). On top of that, Canor works 8-12 hours a day but in anytime of the day even at night giving him chances to speak to the customers in all walks of life, even people like Jowa and his rich friends thus giving him opportunities to talk about business while working, with pay.

Now, after 10 years, who do you think became rich? Is it Jowa or Canor? We both know the answer. After 10 years, Canor became a successful businessman owning three 5-door apartments and one taxi, with a passive income of $1900 for the apartments and $400 for the taxi giving him $2300 passive income. He still drives his taxi whenever he wanted to because he loves talking to people while making sure they get to where they want to go. Jowa on the other hand, is still a call center agent working at different schedules, hating his job everyday and looking for ways to relax – hanging out with his rich friends and spending money. He also acquired a new hobby, taking care of his cute little baby boy.

So, why are we poor? It’s not so much about the conditions that we have nor our lack of education, it is because of how we think. We are poor because we want to look rich. Little did we know that those rich people that we look up to are actually poor people too (they just have more money and they have someone to supply them with it). Poor people become poor because they think poor by trying to “look rich” - they only want to “look rich” instead of “become rich”.