Pink Flowers

I used to love walking and jogging around Colinas Verdes, a housing project a few kilometers away from our place, but now that they have opened the Clubhouse, I was told that the place now opens at a specific time, thus not allowing fitness buffs to do their very early morning routine around the place. This might mean I have to walk around my own neighborhood from now on, or go to the nearby gym to use the treadmill and/or other equipments.


What I loved the most about doing my morning walk and jogging around the area was the abundance of subjects to take pictures of. Every time I was there, I always take my camera (either the digital camera or the cell phone, sometimes I carry both) and come home with at least 10 interesting images. Third quarter of last year, I noticed some trees around the clubhouse with pink blooms, and I didn't second guess taking some pictures.


I don't know the name of the tree, but the flowers look a lot like orchids. Such a pretty one, right? I just am not sure if I was able to capture its real beauty... I always have a difficult time photographing orchids and this one was no different.


To veer away from the usual colored flower, I changed an image into black and white, giving more emphasis on the water drops. It didn't rain the night before and that morning...those are dew drops. Amazing! Well, I find it real amazing because I don't get to see dewdrops that often. {Linking this image to Weekend in Black and White}

I hope the administration of Colinas Verdes will allow people to enter the place as early as 6am, but if they think it's for the best to open the gates at 8am, then I'd say I will miss photographing nature around the area.

Spread Your Wings and Prepare to Fly...

...for you have become a butterfly.

Yeah, that's a line from a Mariah Carey song, I just finished watching tonight's episode of American Idol and since it's still quite early, might as well make a quick post before calling it a night.

It's my first time to join Nature Footstep's "Winged" meme, a small meme (for now) for everything that has wings (wait, does that include angels?) and is something I am thankful of seeing (thank you, Gemma Wiseman for providing a long list of memes) - now I have a home for the winged creatures I have photographed during my travels and everyday adventures.

It was April last year when I last traveled to Vigan City in the province of Ilocos Sur, and whenever possible, I do visit Baluarte, a haven for different animals. One of the places I love visiting there is the Butterfly Sanctuary (for all the obvious reasons) and this particular trip has been a blessing to me because I was able to take pictures of butterflies. I am using a "bigger" camera now, still point and shoot, but the lens was bigger than the old one I used, so it was slightly more difficult to take pictures of the butterflies as close as possible without scaring and/or distracting them. Still, having a few pictures worthy of keeping is something to treasure.

This was originally taken in color; I edited the image using GIMP using two steps: desaturate (I chose "luminosity") and an action called "Soft Effect Lite." It's the first time I used that action, another yey for me as far as using GIMP is concerned. It gives me such joy discovering new things, as well as reminiscing past memories.

Biggest joy? Updating this blog again.

Pop!

How I miss updating this blog!

I admit, 2012 wasn't a good year for me (in general), and not only did I neglect taking care of myself (I gained back half of the weight I lost in 2011), I also didn't use my camera that much. I truly miss joining photography link up parties as these memes allow me to explore and learn more about photography, so this year, I am making a resolution to learn more about photography and editing pictures.

Before I share my comeback image, I would like to say that I initially intend for this image to be shared on my other blog (which I co-author with my sister Jessie). My plan was to let her write about our whole day adventure at Quezon Memorial Circle and I would just insert a paragraph, but when she told me she already finished writing it, I didn't know where to place my paragraph, so I decided to just share it here instead. That being said, I apologize if the watermark of the image bears the other blog URL.


*please mouse over to see the sooc shot*
This week's prompt on Texture Tuesdays is "Pop!" I decided to share this picture because the white flower did stand out from the sea of green leaves, and to make it pop even more, I edited the image using these steps:

• Made a selection around the flower and its stem using the Path Tool.
• Used the Feather Tool set to default.
• Made an Inverted Selection, then used the Mute Colors tool set to Desaturated Overlay.
• Blurred the selection (Gaussian Blur at 18%).
• Added a layer of Kim Klassen's "Lilly" texture, set to Burn at 48%.
• Flattened the image and proceeded to the usual steps I do in editing images - a pass of National Geographic script (set to my own preference), followed by a pass of the Burn Tool.
• Added watermark then flatten the image.

I am also going to link this image to Tina's PicStory. This week's prompt is "L," and this is going to be a stretch of the prompt, because the flower is located near the left side of the image, and that the flower looks a lot like lotus. :)

I won't be promising anything...but I will surely try to update this blog as much as I can. 

"No Spring Skips its Turn."

Whenever the word "spring" is spoken, the first image in mind would be "flowers." We don't have spring here in the Philippines, but I notice that the very cold weather from November til February of the next year would make some trees and plants shed its leaves and come March, the leaves return and the flowers bloom... just like winter and spring.


With that in mind, I decided to just choose an image I took from this time of the year last year. One of the crops in season are Mung Beans, and this is a picture of the plant's flower I took while vacationing in my paternal hometown. I paid my aunt a visit and they planted quite a lot of mung beans, which I helped them harvest.

Winter can be compared to a person's cold and somewhat dark time; but just like each year... winter will end and spring will come. If you're in a dark moment, just hang on there - something great will happen sooner or later.

On the Water

I truly have neglected this blog... could it be I am losing interest with photography? I admit my focus took a little turn - that I am more into taking random pictures instead of really focusing on the art of photography, but I do miss taking pictures using my camera... lately I have been relying on my cell phone's camera to capture moments.

Anyway, I still love photography, which is why I am gathering all remaining flame in me and rekindle it...by making sure I post something here even at least four posts a week.


This week's prompt on Foto Friday is "On the Water." When I read the prompt, I knew I'd use an image I took during my last trip to Bohol, and among the pictures, I chose this.

A trip to Bohol will never be complete without doing the Loboc River Cruise. Usually, tourists make this their itinerary for lunch because the cruise includes a buffet... but some tourists go for the dinner cruise because the Loboc River lights up come night time - making it romantic and somewhat magical.

Still, if you ask me, I'd still do the cruise during the daytime as I love to see the water, the lush greens and be in awe of nature's beauty.