Flowers From Aunt Julie's Garden

When I was still doing my Project 365 and I am vacationing in La Union, I would often go to my Aunt Julie's garden to take flower pictures so I won't skip taking pictures during a lax day (at times I do take a day of just staying at home instead of roaming around checking tourist spots). This practice seemed to have become a nature for me, because even if I am not doing a photo Project 365 anymore, I still take pictures from my Aunt's garden whenever I am there.


I don't know the name of this flower, but I love the little clusters of flowers forming a bouquet. Initially, I took a picture of this with the flower on the right side, but the wind kept blowing and when I hit the shutter it was already leaning towards the left side.

textured with Kim Klassen's Happy Heart at hard light 30% and Rural Journal's Laundry Day Skies at divide 65%

About a few years ago, most of the plants in her collection included different kinds of Euphorbia. These plants are very easy to take care of because it doesn't need constant watering, but they do have thorns. I don't know why Aunt Julie stopped collecting this plant, and why the very few left in her collection were placed near the very old outhouse, but because they still produce pretty flowers, I continued photographing them.


Nowadays, she's collecting all sorts of hibiscus plants. She has so many plants in her garden now, though not all produces flowers just yet. I was lucky during this visit because two plants had flowers - this and the white one (same kind). By the way, the two bottom stigma pads were touching my lens as I took this shot. Very impressive for this camera to produce great macro shots even if the lens is already way too close to the subject.

These three images above were taken January this year, before I traveled back home after my cousin's wedding.


This one was taken last 04 March before we left the house going to the cemetery. That scary, big mosquito caught my attention, so I grabbed FiFi (my Cherry Mobile Flare cell phone) and tested its ability to take macro shots. I am very impressed. :)

I am not sure when I will travel back to La Union, but hopefully when I return, Aunt Julie's garden will have lots of flowers for me to take pictures of.

Scavenger Hunt Sunday | 032413

I wasn't able to join last weekend because the prompts proved to be difficult for me to hunt (as we don't celebrate St. Patrick's Day), but I am back this week. :)


Asian
{Canon Powershot SX130is}
23 March 2013

This should be an easy prompt for me because I am Asian... but it would be difficult to explain if I take a picture of myself, my family and/or my surroundings. We do have some Chinese vases here at home, but showing Chinese related pictures might be too typical, so I just took a picture of this.

I was already in college when McDonald's introduced the Happy Meal (as far as I can remember), and one of its toy collection that got the family hooked was this set of Snoopy toys in traditional costumes. My dad, my brother, and I would hop to different McDonald's outlets just to buy these toys, and because this comes with the meal (at that time they only offer the burger and a regular cup of drink), it would mean eating as much as 5 burgers in one day. I practically had to give away the burgers when I purchased 5 toys at once.

All in all, there are 28 toys, and these are just 5 of the many Snoopy figures wearing Asian costumes. From left to right - the Philippines (my country), Japan, Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan.


Wavy
{Canon Powershot SX130is}
21 March 2013 

Last Thursday, my brother and I went to the Manila Diamond Hotel to attend the launch of Mega Creations Premium Sardines. Held at the Pisces Hall, located at the 27th floor of the hotel, I was able to see awesome view from the window (check my last post) including this. Nice to see a curvy/wavy designed pool rather than the usual rectangle ones...and the tiles on the floor of the pool provide a wavy effect on the water.


Draw
{Sony Ericsson K800i}
07 July 2012

This is from the archives, as I wasn't able to hunt one within the week. I took this while walking along the streets of Colinas Verdes, and the one who drew this used a stone. Quite impressive, I must say... I just hope in time it will be washed away because no one would want to have any kind of graffiti on their side of the road.


Soft
{Canon Powershot SX130is}
21 March 2013

Wasn't able to eat anything soft... wasn't able to photograph any soft object, so I will go for this, taken at the Manila Diamond Hotel (again). When I was still using the old point and shoot camera, I love freezing the water by photographing it using a forced flash. Over time, I got to see images taken by many photo hobbyists and was amazed at how they turn water as if they were soft clouds. I learned that one should go for 1/4 of a second to produce such effect, but going for this in the middle of the afternoon when the sun was super bright and shiny was very difficult. For me to produce this, not only did I go for 1/4 of a second, I also lowered the ISO and set the exposure to -2. I think it made the water soft... how I wish I can try this on a real waterfalls next time.


Texture
{Canon Powershot SX130is}
21 March 2013

The pollens of this Stargazer did provide textures. :)

Remembering Dumaguete City

Part of my personal home project this week is to print pictures taken during travels and everyday adventures to spruce up my room's very boring wall as well as to replace the pictures I posted on my closet's doors. Checking old pictures can be unexplainable - my heart is filled with happiness that I was able to visit these places, as well as longing to get back there (praying to have a chance).

In 2008, I was able to set foot in Dumaguete City. At that time, K and I were on our first holiday, and from Bohol, we took the fast craft boat to the placed dubbed as "The City of Gentle People." We arrived late afternoon, and we had two full days in the city before flying back to Manila.

The city was just small, and one can roam around in one day. We have heard and read of other beautiful places near Dumaguete, but we weren't able to check any of it, because an ex boyfriend promised to tour us around, but wasn't able to. It was the last place on our holiday (we parted ways upon arrival in Manila), making us feeling a little tired, so there weren't pictures taken.


The very first thing we visited was the Dumaguete Church, and of course, we also took time to check the belfry as well.


At the base of the belfry, there's an image of the Virgin Mary.


The following morning, K and I walked to the Rizal Boulevard (also known as the boardwalk) to have our morning walk as well as to watch the sunrise. Up until now, this is still one of my favorite sunrise pictures, and I once used this as this blog's header.


Walking back to the hotel, we passed by the park where I took this picture. Then, I thought this was photographed nicely... and I like to believe so (until now), although I admit I made quite a poor composition on this one, because of the leaf on the lower left corner.


We were lucky to enter the Silliman University. I was able to get in without any problems (makes me think I still look like a student), but because K is a foreigner, the guards asked him what his business is. Technically, anyone can enter any university, provided you leave your ID at the guard, which you can claim as you exit. Good thing K brought along his passport, so we were able to see some areas in the university. The structure in this picture is the chapel, which belongs to the Protestant church.


K and I loved seeing a lot of people at the boardwalk, so later in the afternoon, we made a stroll back there. I saw this statue somewhere along the boardwalk, and although I loved how crisp this image is, another poor composition I made for not incorporating the surrounding - maybe letting the viewers a peek of the sea.

I started taking pictures in 2007. From then 'til now, I have used a point and shoot camera, which allowed me to be a little stagnant as far as learning more knowledge and having practice is concerned. Still, comparing old pictures to the new ones, I'd like to say I have made a little improvement.