Fun And Sand Under The Monochrome Sky

When one says the beach, people often imagine the blue seas, the white, brown or multi-colored sand, white clouds and cerulean skies above; Green palm trees and the different colors on people's faces... But what if there's none of that?


All the beauty of the beaches but without the vivid colors. That is exactly what happened here...

Came Across The Fuji Acros

Excuse the bad pun. Today I'm sharing something different, definitely a first. This is the first monochrome film I ever used - The Fujifilm Neopan Acros. For starters, it's interesting.

Walking The Dog. Monochrome images remain timeless for me.

But how was it? Well...

Gotta Catch Them All

It was early August. the worldwide phenomenon of a mobile game known as Pokémon Go has just been released in the Philippines. The Pokémon franchise has proven to be immensely influential. This comes as no surprise that a lot of people anticipated and clamored for the game. Back in the old days video games meant people staying indoors. Mobile gaming change that. And for the first time, at a global scale, people stepped out of their houses and went outdoors- because a game tells them to- I find that kind of amazing.

I had a chance to catch a glimpse of this one night, and here are the sights from that time.

Monochrome Terminal

"Monochrome" and "Terminal" paints a different picture that comes to mind to IT folks. It reminds us of green/gray text on black computer screens from days of old. It's also rather similar to Photography. Before pictures came in color, a lot were in monochrome (black and white commonly, but it also came in sepia, among others). The difference is, though, monochrome persisted.

Monochrome has always been a fascination of mine. In this age of overwhelming bleeding edge technology where newer technologies lead to more vibrant colors, I tend to step back every now and then to regress to basic black and white, and all of the two hundred fifty-four shades in between that my camera can muster. Though I imagine it'll be much fewer shades than that due to the mixing I do for contrast.

I had the chance to play with it when we traveled to Hong Kong. I had the time and luxury to experiment so I rendered some images in monochrome. More of the tones and textures here...

Going Home - Taxi Ride To the Airport

Time surely is fleeting when you're having fun. While not everyone may agree considering that we didn't exactly go to the usual tourist attractions, I still think it was awesome that we got to see a piece of Hong Kong. Just like that it was time to go home. We checked out at the hotel and grabbed a ride to the airport.

Short but sweet, here are some sights we saw along the way...

Strolling To Harbour City - Through The Subway

Second day in Hong Kong. Yesterday we had a long hot day, and today was no different. What is different though, is we know better now. Today we had the whole day to ourselves.

We're off to a long stroll today. Lots of sights to see, coffee to drink, food to eat, pictures to take... Did I mention food?

Afternoon Hong Kong Tour 2 - Lights In The Sky

This is a continuation of our tour that started here.

After a few turns on the Observation Wheel, we hopped on a bus to be showed around places in Hong Kong.

Just being in Hong Kong give a look and feel of being in the Asian Movies. It's as every bit awesome as it was in the films.

A portion of this story was updated as it happened on Instagram, but a lot of the sights can also be found here. Captions can be found on the Flickr page if you're interested to read them. Just click on the image and you'll be redirected there.

Afternoon Hong Kong Tour 1 - Fresh Off The Boat

This is a continuation of the previous entry.

Hong Kong is amazing. After lunch and shopping, we had a chance to take some rest. At four in the afternoon we got ready and went on to an adventure I'd not forget- An afternoon tour of Hong Kong. 

With Hong Kong being a vast place though, we picked the least stressful tour. We didn't want to spend the afternoon running a marathon playing catch up with time and the tour guide.

A portion of this story was updated as it happened on Instagram, but a lot of the sights can also be found here. Captions can be found on the Flickr page if you're interested to read them. Just click on the image and you'll be redirected there.

Hello Hong Kong

Every once in a long while, I get the chance to travel. This year, I won a trip for two to Hong Kong. I reckoned it's a good idea to spend some time with dad traveling. Coincidentally, my auntie also won a ticket. However, she didn't have the the availability at the time, so she gave it to my uncle instead. That's how it happened.

Here's what we've seen during our stay there, among other things. 

A portion of this story was updated as it happened on Instagram, but a lot of the sights can also be found here. Captions can be found on the Flickr page if you're interested to read them. Just click on the image and you'll be redirected there.

Rainy Day Roadtrip

It was a weekend, I had plans to attend a birthday celebration. Attending a birthday in Tagaytay was potentially jeopardized by inclement weather, but by some fortune, the weather seems to have cleared up enough for me to go there. Going there was relatively uneventful (Which for me, means not too many things went awry), but the view was breathtaking, even surreal as it was in a different weather condition.

This one's taken from the place. I've never been here while it was heavily raining. I think it's really surreal. I stayed mostly indoors, but I still had a really good view.

2012 San Mateo, CA - Revisited

Back in 2012, I was given the good fortune of being assigned for training for our work in the USA. I was working in San Mateo, it's a not-so-often-heard place that I haven't heard from any Hollywood movie. It's located around 20 miles south of San Francisco. Unlike the crowded 'Frisco though, it's actually very peaceful and quiet. It is by far among the best surprises I ever had. The town is very upscale and folks are friendly. This is one of the few places that I'll definitely remember. 

I got a good chance to take evening walks and a nice camera at the time. Here are some of the pictures I've taken around town. There are a lot of parks here, this one in particular is in the residential area. 

Ola Taal Vista!

It was my cousin's wedding. My family and I had the opportunity to go to Tagaytay. It's been over a year since I've gone to the place and I somewhat missed the scenic view. Driving there was a bit challenging for me and the car. Mostly for the car, traveling uphill while carrying three overweight adults and their bags. 

We arrived at the hotel the day before the wedding, with all our fancy clothes in tow. But no, this isn't about the wedding. This is about the interesting place I've found with a lovely view.

Grainy And Gritty

Maybe it's some petty fear of missing out, but despite the appeal of black and white, I still take pictures in color. Black and white, however, appeals to me enough for me to bother converting and tweaking in post.

I had the chance to have lunch with family, and had the chance to bring along my Penny mounted with this amazing yet relatively cheap bodycap lens. It's fairly ideal for going light, and for taking monochromes. I always had a soft spot for monochromes, I got to indulge in it on this set.

More Baritas

This would be the sequel I think. The previous set can be found here. I love drinking decent coffee so much that I made friends with quite a number of these warm, hard working and patient folks. Being a Barista is a bit of both mastery of coffee and good public relations I think. Mind you it can get stressful. Especially on days when customers like me tend to get extra annoying. The next time you enjoy your cup of coffee, spare a thought for these hardworking yet still cheerful folks. 

Unwinding Back Home

Not too long ago, I had the chance to take a short vacation and spent some time back home at Bacolod City. Then again it was really due to some errands. I got to spend the weekend with the family though, so it wasn't too bad despite the nasty humidity and heat that makes one feel like being baked when stepping out of air conditioned rooms. Not too many photos though. Terrible heat and some creeping sick feeling means not too much action. I still managed to take some random pictures though.

The Way Back - Narita Layover

While Nashville was fun, warm and welcoming, we inevitably had to leave. On one chilly Friday morning, we met up at the hotel lobby and embarked on our journey back to Manila. We flew to Atlanta, and almost missed our flight to Japan. The flight to Japan has been long and unforgiving. We've had some respite when we touched down in Narita. From there, we had some time to unwind a bit before our flight to Manila. I thought it'd be an opportunity to look around the airport.

Around California

We came here for work. I managed to somehow steal some snaps along the way especially outside work. I tend to forget my photographic side when at the office due to immense tasks we tackle day in and day out. This album has some shots I have taken outside the office, during the weekend before work, or on some nights after working.

Last Leg: LAX to SFO

At last we're back in USA. But we can't settle down just yet. We're not where we want to be. We landed in LAX (LA International Airport) and gone through customs. Predictably, I don't have pictures of those. Folks are pretty paranoid about it for "security reasons". Personally I like SFO better than LAX. Need to have a short break first. And lunch as well. After that, we hit the flight to where we want to be: SFO (San Francisco International Airport). It takes us the better part of the day.
Please excuse the captions, they take a bit of time to load. You can view the complete slide show at the end of the entry.

2016 Flight To USA

I left my heart in San Francisco. Now I'm coming back... To leave other parts of me on other places I guess. Yes this is my first big adventure for some time. Make no mistake, this journey is for work. But I still enjoy being in a foreign and friendlier country. This album shows the beginning of my big journey. On a side note, I changed the settings in Flickr to ensure it shows the comments. Try clicking on the images if they don't show up upon loading.

On this entry I'll be geeking out. A lot. Growing up I've been a fan of airplanes, and aviation in general. So yes, I know my Boeing 747 from my Airbus A380 and I can tell apart the A320 from the 737. Please excuse the geek.

December Weekend Walks

December weekends I had the time to walk some more and explore the area near the office. I was on call, since the office was more conducive for work, I decided to just set up there and in the event I’m called I’m just a few minutes away. Better than staying at home I think.

Glowing Lanterns. These lanterns are among the numerous light sources providing illumination at a local Japanese restaurant I frequent in.