Simple Joys

My Dad had a reunion with his high school classmates last August 7, 2010 in our house.



Seeing them together after several years, as if nothing changed, as if time didn't separate them, sharing wonderful stories of their past and present, made life’s happiness seem so simple.

Most often than not, we find ourselves wanting joy from the complicated things in our life. This kind of friendship serves as a reminder that life is plain and simple. We have to find pleasure in the company of the people close to us, nothing more and nothing less.



Last weekend was all about friendship for me, friendship in all its levels. Happy to know genuine relationships exist.

-Nik

Black and White

5dmk2/16-35L

5dmk2/16-35L

I love how i frame both of this photos. the only problem is. i wish it was a sunset. then i could've shown color.
I think i did justice on processing my photos to black and white

-DIK

Lightning Crashes

I tried to capture a decent lightning storm last week. after 100 or so tries. I got one that is good enough. Good enough meaning i got a lightning in my shot.

While waiting for this shot. I was singing this song.


"Lightning Crashes" LIVE

lightning crashes, a new mother cries
her placenta falls to the floor
the angel opens her eyes
the confusion sets in
before the doctor can even close the door

lightning crashes, an old mother dies
her intentions fall to the floor
the angel closes her eyes
the confusion that was hers
belongs now, to the baby down the hall

oh now feel it comin' back again
like a rollin' thunder chasing the wind
forces pullin' from the center of the earth again
I can feel it.

lightning crashes, a new mother cries
this moment she's been waiting for
the angel opens her eyes
pale blue colored iris,
presents the circle
and puts the glory out to hide, hide



I try to understand this song. The same crash of lightning that sees new life also sees death, or that while all this life and death goes on, mother nature continues unknowingly.
-DIK

Welcome Back!

After 2 weeks of hiatus, we're back.

After all the things said,

Decisions made,

Actions done,

Feelings let out,

There are just some things meant to remain.

The best part in life is getting a second chance at it. No matter where it leads us, we always find ourselves back to our "home." No matter how tough it would get, there are just some people meant for us to go back to.

I'm definitely happy and grateful to have my own. It's a comfort to have a constant.

-Nik

40DAYS

It was Tatay's(Nik's Grandfather) 40days death anniversary yesterday(Aug11) and we celebrated it by having mass and dinner for the family and friends of the Fransisco's at 1618 Park.


Nanay Conching


Mass





Choir



Dinner










Random Shots:





Nik





I knew a man who once said, "death smiles at us all; all a man can do is smile back."
From the movie Gladiator

-DIK

Cannot Think of a Title

I'm just one of those people who choose to make a day extraordinarily special. Because, for all the things I'm grateful for, and for all the things worth celebrating, a day is never enough. Not everyone's like me, or us. After all, what's the hassle with just one day? Even though simply or ordinarily spent, it's the thought that counts.

Happy! To us and to everyone!

-Nik

Sideview / Nik in mono

EXIF Summary: 1/320s f/3.2 ISO320 35mm
5dmk2 / 35L

-DIK

Cryptic much?

I am generally a good person, I think. I prefer to give people the benefit of the doubt, and I prefer to focus on how things can become rather than on how terrible they may be now. I prefer to try to understand where someone is coming from and their motivations, talking with them one-on-one rather than publicly calling them out for their blatant hypocrisy.


But for a while now, I have been fighting a bitterness that tries to creep in as I've learned things about people I once trusted, or at least wanted to, or how deceived most people are about where someone really is at, and how that can affect people's perceptions and understanding of integrity in general. I'm floored at how compartmentalized so many keep their lives, how bent on maintaining images they are. I've lost respect for people I once respected because I see them consistently making decisions that are clearly not leading to what they claim to want or believe, and I see them deceiving themselves as well as others. It's sad, but I have to stop caring for my own sanity.


And then there's the recognition that others may have thought the same of me at some point, and I've been grateful for those who kept an arm extended for me when I eventually realized my own fault. And I may be wrong to be upset. I may be ignoring the colors and shades in my own eye. I'm defensively caught up in how their actions may threaten my well-being and the significant people's perceptions of me or others. I'm easily bothered by false information and perceptions, so that certainly comes into play. But then, isn't it fair to be upset about most of this?

-DIK

A Good Monday

I just had one of the most laid-back Mondays ever, just lounging on my bed. I had a great time. 3 things that I love most about today:

1. Mcdo
2. How I Met Your Mother
3. Dik

All three have one thing in common. I just can't get enough!

Thanks Dik for sharing with me all your shows and for being there.
Thanks Barney for a good laugh. Now the purple dinosaur has a face to it.
Thanks cheeseburger, for being so... good.

Hope tomorrow's another Monday.

-Nik

perSONA

It’s amazing how one decision can take so much from us, one choice that changes everything.

All of a sudden, things are beginning to shift from a very normal, doesn’t-require-thinking life, to a life full of sudden twists, where all you’re holding on to is your mindset. When in a breeze, everything is taken away from you, things that matter. When you’ve already committed, you find yourself deprived of all the other ordinary people have. And, when the person who went ahead of you has devoured what was supposedly yours. When these happen, what else is there to do?


When you’re in a commitment and you’re given responsibility over a thing, a task or a person, you have to do it, not for other’s sake, but for your own. How can you live knowing you didn’t stand by your words? How can you go against your integrity and still sleep at night? If you’re a sane person, you have to face the truth and live with it.

There’s a huge difference between people who mind other people’s business, and those who choose to take part. The former include those who always find fault in everything and complain endlessly, while the latter are those who choose to make change, and take part in the solutions. They don’t stop in words, they move on by acting on their words. After all, how far can anyone go without doing anything? What’s important is no matter how down we are, we choose to be the solution, not the problem.

Change is possible. We can dream again. Simply because, we can do something about it. We have so much to look forward to, so much to hold on to, in spite of all the lost things. Those of the past are stuck where they are until we call it upon ourselves to carry them over to the present. It’s all about the mind. It’s all about choosing to move on. After all the mistakes, we cannot choose to make some more. We cannot hurt again, especially when there is barely enough left to hurt. We should choose to be better.

If you understand this, you’ve taken the first step forward. Be aware.

-Nik



*A long overdue post!

Weekend Lesson

If there’s one thing I learned about myself this weekend, it’s that I value integrity of a person more than anything else.

Most people choose other values, or sometimes even the physical features, to “weigh” the value of another person for oneself. I choose to look at people and value them depending on their integrity. My personal definition of it would be how much a person can walk his/her talk, and be completely sincere and honest down to the smallest details. I realized that I take words seriously. I believe that whatever comes out of your mouth should be lived up to, never just for the benefit of being said. What you say, and what you choose to do about it measure how much courage you have to face whatever consequences your words or your actions might entail and how much values and principles you have as a person. It defines your strength and your ability to commit.

Integrity is something that I have to work on. And I’m sure a lot of people also do. Because it doesn’t come with only the big things, it actually grows from the small ones.

-Nik

Smirk / Nik in mono

This was taken early this year. Another black and white conversion.
Im quite satisfied with the toning and shades that I've created on my new workflow in processing my photos to black and white.




-DIK

Dulce in Mono

Taken with my old 50D.
Trying to improve my black and white conversion.

Inputs anyone?






-DIK

Solo in mono

I saw some photos of me taken by Nik with her macro lens.
Converted to Black and White.





-DIK

MACRO SERIES 9 -Lotus and friends

DIK's shots
5DMK2 / 100L / 580EXII


EXIF Summary: 1/160s f/7.1 ISO100 100mm



EXIF Summary: 1/160s f/7.1 ISO100 100mm



EXIF Summary: 1/200s f/13.0 ISO100 100mm



EXIF Summary: 1/160s f/7.1 ISO100 100mm



EXIF Summary: 1/160s f/7.1 ISO100 100mm



EXIF Summary: 1/160s f/11.0 ISO100 100mm


NIK's shots
500D/ 100 Macro/ MR 14EX


EXIF Summary: 1/200s f/16.0 ISO100 100mm


EXIF Summary: 1/160s f/9.0 ISO200 100mm

MACRO SERIES 8 - Art, Ant and Spider

Here are a couple of shots which are totally unrelated except I took this on the same day and at Nik's garden


EXIF Summary: 1/160s f/11.0 ISO100 100mm
5DMK2/100L/580EXII


EXIF Summary: 1/125s f/11.0 ISO100 100mm
5DMK2/100L/580EXII


EXIF Summary: 1/200s f/7.1 ISO100 100mm
500D/100Macro/MR 14EX

-DIK

Manila Ocean Park

We like to go out and bring our DSLRs out on an adventure, so last July 24, we decided to go to Manila Ocean Park. Typical of these kinds of parks is that visitors are not allowed to do FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY. Most, if not all, were not following this simple rule. I guess they don't know how to read or they just don't want to follow rules or they don't know how to manipulate their cameras. Whatever it is. Poor fish! Blinded by light.

The place was so dark that we're forced to bump up the ISO's of our DSLRs. STRUGGLE!
(I must say 100MACRO is my most fun lens-DIK)(I must say, I love macro- Nik)


Our Ayasib Shots First
(By the way, Dik, you didn't include our tunnel shots. Too humiliating ba? Chicken. Gobble gobble gobble. Ay iba pala yun-Nik)







DIK's shots
(this was originally tilted and i have to clone some parts of the aquarium.)
"School"

EXIF Summary: 1/250s f/2.8 ISO6400 100mm
5DMK2/100L macro

Solo Flight

EXIF Summary: 1/160s f/2.8 ISO6400 100mm
5DMK2/100L macro

(since Nik made some side comments on her photos. I'm doing it as well.)
"Hide and Seek"

EXIF Summary: 1/100s f/4.0 ISO3200 100mm
5DMK2/100L macro

"Kiss, If you disagree! You are not me! Who made you king of anything!"

EXIF Summary: 1/160s f/2.8 ISO6400 100mm
5DMK2/100L macro

"Look out"

EXIF Summary: 1/200s f/2.8 ISO6400 100mm
5DMK2 / 100L macro

"Nik in action"

EXIF Summary: 1/250s f/2.8 ISO6400 35mm
5DMK2 / 35L


NIK's shots

Beware Jolie, beware.

EXIF Summary: 1/50s f/3.5 ISO 6400 100mm
500D/100 Macro

this is the shot where Nemo is screaming "Please don't eat me face!" (Go Figure!)

EXIF Summary: 1/320s f/3.5 ISO 6400 100mm
500D/100 Macro

I experimented on this shot, made it monochrome.

EXIF Summary: 1/125s f/3.5 ISO 6400 100mm
500D/100 Macro

Answer to Dik's fish shot above, "I disagree. Let me eat you."

EXIF Summary: 1/250s f/2.8 ISO 6400 100mm
500D/100 Macro

"Need a hand?"

EXIF Summary: 1/125s f/2.8 ISO 6400 100mm
500D/100 Macro

Fish says "I'm the rock!"

EXIF Summary: 1/160s f/2.8 ISO 6400 100mm
500D/ 100 Macro