Scavenger Hunt Sunday - 022811

Long time no post here in my photo blog, sorry about that... life is quite busy at the moment. :) I am currently here in my paternal hometown taking vacation with my sister as we wait for dad's death anniversary. It was very good that I brought my netbook with me because the soonest time we got here, sister said her cell phone can grasp free WiFi, which is also the same connection I am using. I don't know until when the connection is available, so might as well share with you my take for this week's hunt while I can:


01 - Capture the Sky
Colinas Verdes - San Jose del Monte, Bulacan
22 February 2011
{Sony Ericsson K800i}

Something I took where my sister and I do our morning jogs. I realized taking my camera with me made me stop more often, so for this day I just brought my cell phone. Even if I know my cell phone wasn't as powerful as my camera, somehow seeing interesting scenery and subjects still made me stop for a while to take pictures.


02 - Everyday
24 February 2011
{Sony Ericsson K800i}

Well... eating is something I do everyday, LOL. Also, photographing foods is also a thing I do everyday, because I decided to do my Project 365 this year featuring foods.


03 - Furry
Colinas Verdes - San Jose del Monte, Bulacan
20 February 2011
{Canon Powershot SX130is}

A grass that took my interest while jogging at a new route in Colinas Verdes. Anybody know what's it called?


04 - Life
Pebble Beach - Luna, La Union
28 February 2011
{Canon Powershot SX130is}

Sister wanted to see the old watchtower at the Pebble Beach in the town of Luna, so I took here there this morning. From afar, I already noticed this old man collecting stones, and as I approached him to talk a bit, he told me he was grateful to the Lord for allowing all sorts of rocks be taken ashore by the waves of the sea. He also told me he was grateful that even at his old age, he can still continue living life by earning from picking stones. I consider him my angel for the day - my short conversation with him was quite meaningful.


05 - Blurred
Sta. Cruz Plaza, Manila
23 February 2011
{Canon Powershot SX130is}

My sister was just supposed to purchase tickets for our trip, but upon knowing she would also visit the Quiapo Church, I asked her if I can come, too. Initially, we planned to go to Binondo Church after Quiapo Church, but I have already visited it, so I asked if we could just visit Sta. Cruz and Tondo Churches, to which my sister agreed. Before entering Sta. Cruz Church, we went to the plaza fronting the church to take pictures of the fountain. Seeing the kids dip their hands in the pool of water made me want to capture their image using the stream of the fountain as the frame, but my camera wasn't able to freeze the water that good... and it looked blurred. In the end, I just used my cell phone to freeze the water. :)


So.. there's my take for the hunt. Thanks for hopping by here - everyone is encouraged to comment and give their constructive criticisms, but since I am just using free WiFi, I apologize if I cannot hop back to your blogs that quick.

Have a great week everyone!

*** Jenn ***

F - Ferris Wheel

I was out whole day yesterday, and it was quite late when we got home, so it was just now that I am able to share my "F" word for ABC Wednesday.


This was taken sometime in 2009... I was on my way to meet my friends when I saw that there was a fair. At that time, our old camera was with my sister, but since I had my cell phone with me, I decided to take some pictures. The Ferris Wheel wasn't moving that fast.... but since it was moving and I didn't turn on the image stabilizers of my cell phone the image came out like this when I clicked the shutter.




This one was taken the same year, a few months after the first picture. This was the Wheel of Fate, the oh-so-big Ferris Wheel in Enchanted Kingdom. It may be big, but it was such a fun experience taking a ride, especially when it stops for a while, allowing riders to get a great look of the view from above.

*** Jenn ***

With a Critter on the Side

My share for Phonography was something I took last Friday. When my sister and I jogged around Colinas Verdes that day, I only took my cell phone with me, and us taking a different route made me see different wildflowers, including this picture. I couldn't help but to stop and take a picture, and I am happy about how my cell phone cooperated with me. Well, my cell phone does take great pictures, especially if there is a lot of light.

This image is pretty much SOOC; I didn't mess with any of its settings, though I admit I did crop this - the original image had the flowers in the dead center, I just resized and cropped it putting the flowers in the bottom right corner.

While resizing the picture, I noticed there was a little bug in the flower. The flower is actually smaller than my pinkie finger, and seeing an even smaller critter made me a happy jogger/photographer. Hahaha.

*** Jenn ***

Happy Monday (Yellow)

My share for this week was something I took from our neighbor's front yard... I just love their big yellow hibiscus, that I always find myself taking pictures of it every now and then. One time, my sister scolded me for doing it, so I stopped taking pictures because I do agree, the image files were eating my netbook's memory. Come to think of it, I have taken similar pictures every now and then, so I guess I should just photograph other subjects.

However, I wanted to take a fresh photograph for the Happy Monday Challenge, so before eating my lunch, I went out to take a photo of the yellow hibiscus again. The plant had so many flowers, but since it was high noon, some were wilted, some were still closed, and some were like this - half open and half closed.

The hibiscus flowers were actually huge when it's fully opened (about the size of a small saucer), as much as it is beautiful like that, the photographer in me loves it just like this, because I can get to photograph the petals and the pistils.

I am also linking this up to Mellow Yellow Monday and Today's Flowers.

*** Jenn ***

Scavenger Hunt Sunday - 022011

My take for this week's prompts:


01 - Chocolate
18 February 2011
{Canon Powershot SX130is}

Sister bought herself two Boston Creme donuts from Dunkin' Donuts before going home from an all-night party with friends, but she wasn't feeling well the whole day after she got home, so she just gave her donuts to brother and I.

I found the chocolate topping a bit sweet, so after a bite (and taking this picture), I scraped off all the chocolate before eating it again.



02 - Numbers
20 February 2011
{Canon Powershot SX130is}

My cell phone Cysho (read: See-Show, a Sony Ericsson K8ooi cell phone) has been with me for three and a half years now. It wasn't my first choice of cell phone (I wanted a Motorola V3x that time - similar to what my sister used to own), but when I saw this at a store having an NTC (National Telecommunication Commission) seal, I decided to buy it as it was within the same price range. When I first learned how to use the macro function of its camera, I then realized I made a good decision of buying it... and I still am amazed at how great it is in capturing images. Cysho and I have come a long way, and I am looking forward to many more years of capturing life moments together.

I took this one using the "Miniature Effect" on camera.


03 - Canned Food
20 February 2011
{Canon Powershot SX130is}

Not a good picture, I know... I guess I am not inspired to take a picture of canned food this week. :)


04 - Music
07 February 2011
{Canon Powershot SX130is}

This iPod Nano (which I named Zoe) was something I won from a Coke Zero contest in Facebook. This was awarded to me 26 February last year, but believe it or not, it was just this month that I decided to use it. Of all the gadgets that came out, the MP3 player was something I never got interested with, which is why I am also asking myself why I joined the contest, but when I got it, I thought of selling it... but my sister was discouraging me again and again. Realizing this has been in my closet for nearly one year, I decided to take it out and pollute it with MP3 files I have in my netbook.

My sister and I are traveling north this coming Friday (we won't be home 'til March 06), and I guess I can count on Zoe to entertain me during long land travels. Song on play when I took this picture was "Thinking 'Bout Something," from my favorite band, Hanson.


05 - Stack
16 February 2011
{Canon Powershot SX130is}

When I received an invitation for the Max's Corner Bakery blog event, I tagged my sister with me and we took home lots of baked goodies, including a box of macaroons. I know most people are familiar with the circular shaped multi-colored macaroons, but here in the Philippines, we also call this pastry macaroons - made with dessicated coconuts, flour, sugar, and milk. It's a habit of mine to take pictures of each of the food items before we eat it, and my way of photographing these macaroons was to stack some of them just to break away from the usual way of photographing foods. My family did wait patiently for me to finish with the shoot before I let them eat it, but yes, I did hear some complaints here and there while photographing the macaroons.


All of these pictures were SOOC - I am bit lazy to play with their colors this time, so I am linking these to SOOC Sunday, too.

*** Jenn ***

Exercise 7 - Focal Points

Something I took just now... our garden was a bit bare at the moment; with our plans of curing the soil with pesticides (for the termites), we didn't water the plants that much anymore, and some plants were already dying. Good thing there is still a plant that is very generous with flowers. I don't know the name of the flower, but my mom likes it a lot because it's color purple.

The exercise is about "Focal Points," so I didn't place my focal point in the center of the image. The flowers of this plant looks a lot like a bouquet, and my focal point are the little buds. I don't know if it shows, but all the rest in the image are a part of one bouquet. By focusing on the buds, all rest are blurred.

*** Jenn ***