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. :)

Scavenger Hunt Sunday 031013

When I started posting here again, I was very eager to hunt pictures once more. However, I always tend to forget the prompts until Saturday of each week, and I found it was too late to hunt for pictures. Last week, I was able to hunt all images, but I got home Wednesday, so even if I posted my entry, the linky wasn't open anymore. :) This week, I am pleased to be back.

Before I share my images, I was surprised to know that the last Scavenger Hunt Sunday post I made was 23 October 2011. Whoa, more than a year ago?!? Seriously?!?

My pictures this week:


#5
05 March 2013
Canon Powershot SX130is

Day #5 of March is a day of mourning and celebration for us in the family. Mourning the loss of the family's main man (dad), but also celebrating the day he finally broke free from pain and struggles by re-joining the Lord. This year, the whole family was there to light a candle on his grave as well as say some prayers.


Word of the Day
08 March 2013
Canon Powershot SX130is

I was thinking hard how to interpret this prompt... should I go and open the bible to read today's word, should I go out and look for some inspirational quotes and statements? My questions were answered when awesome, nice people from Jollibee came to our house to deliver a bucket of Tuna Pie last Friday. Word for the day was "Lent," and this delivery reminded me that I always forget to go meat-less (no pork, chicken, or beef) during Fridays while it is Lent.


Sharing
04 March 2013
Canon Powershot SX130is

It was still early to check the sunset from the boardwalk of Thunderbird Resorts, so we decided to enter Olives Restaurant for some snacks. The menu offers "appetizer" and "full" servings of pasta, and thinking we were just there for snacks as we also planned to eat dinner elsewhere, we went for the "appetizer" sizes. Telling the wait staff our orders, she even asked us to confirm if we would want the "good for one" sizes. When the food was served, we were surprised to see it wasn't good for one at all, but good enough for sharing. Mom gave brother half her pasta serving (as brother only went for a slice of chocolate cake for his snacks), but all of us were quite full after that, that we decided not to eat dinner anymore.

In case you wanna know, I had the Seafood Alfredo, which has scallops, salmon, cream dory, and shrimps. Muy delicioso!


Wiggle
03 March 2013
Cherry Mobile Flare

Whenever I am in Baguio City and I'd travel along Leonard Wood Road, this white house never fail to capture my attention. Later I found out that this is the ever famous haunted house in Baguio City, which has been closed for quite a long time. When Lucio Tan bought it, it became open to the public, and there was even an exhibition inside (Bamboo Crafts). Thinking it would our chance to finally enter the house, the family decided to pay it a visit. We didn't see any ghosts or hear unnecessary noises (thank God), but there was this scary, big picture that truly made us wiggle in fear and laughter. Initial reaction was fear, but after the screams and the sweat beading up on the forehead, we couldn't help but laugh about how we reacted. I wanted to take a picture of that scary image, but decided not to because if I share it here or on Facebook, it would defeat the purpose of having that image inside the house. Besides, I truly couldn't give it a second glance as it might stick in my mind. 


Cookies
10 March 2013
Canon Powershot SX130is

When I covered an event in SM City Baguio last 20 February, part of the goodies given to us was a tin of Danish Cookies. I took home quite a lot of food items from Baguio that time so I told the family not to open the tin of Danish Cookies and wait until we finish eating the other goodies I bought first. Well, this prompt made me open the tin, and it was just a perfect timing because we have already consumed the other pastries and cookies.

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.