d.A. photographs

Cherry Blossoms

2009-10-25T21:07:00.000+08:00

"Cherry Blossoms"
Nikon D40 with kit lens and generic IR72 Filter
© 2009 Don Abrigo

Kiwalan Cove

2009-10-24T11:32:00.001+08:00

"Kiwalan Cove"
Nikon D40 | AF Nikkor 18-70 f/3.5-4.5
© 2009 Don Abrigo

unseen light

2009-10-18T16:34:00.001+08:00

"Unseen Light"
Nikon D40 | Nikkor 18-70 f3.5-4.5 | IR72 Filter
© 2009 Don Abrigo

I've been curious about capturing this unseen light around and the effects it shows. I got myself a generic IR Filter from ExtremeDeals to try this out and kill the curiousity. All I can say is that it's too much reliant on post processing but I liked it somehow..

The Other Side

2009-10-07T21:06:00.001+08:00

"The Other Side"
Pentax Spotmatic | Vivitar 2.5/28mm | Fuji Neopan
© 2009 Don Abrigo

While most people are celebrating the Feast of Our Lady of Penafrancia during Her fluvial procession, I've spotted a small group near Magsaysay Bridge having their "silent protest" and stressing their beliefs. They have slogans, some of which were taken from the bible, as for the devotees but taking less attention from the people who were all going to the Basilica for the arrival of Ina. The foreign national on the left even selected one of the slogans and gave it to the guy in front of him before he took some pictures.

Technorati Tags: Penafrancia, Our Lady of Penafrancia, Naga City, Bicol, Basilica, Magsaysay, Pentax Spotmatic, Vivitar 28mm f/2.5, Fuji Neopan 400, Neopan 400

Vivitar 2.5/28 Kiron

2009-10-03T16:53:00.004+08:00

"Vivitar 2.5/28 Kiron"
Nikon D40 | AF Nikkor 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5
© 2009 Don Abrigo

Penafrancia 2009

2009-09-26T11:41:00.003+08:00

After a couple of years I was able to visit Naga and celebrate the Penafrancia Festival. And for the first time, I was able to take photos of some events during the festivities.

There was not much with Friday's events as the sky was crying most of the time and clear at times. I was able to take some pictures of the CWC, though, thanks to Brod Areiz.

Friday night was much better. I was able to take some pictures of the last dawn procession of Ina where the ladies are the ones carrying Ina during the procession. Procession starts at 3 in the morning. My mother would usually go to the Naga City Cathedral at 8PM, the last available jeep from our hometown to the City, and would stay until 3 AM for the procession.

Fluvial Procession was scheduled to start at 4PM, Saturday. I was able to get some of the events at the Naga City Cathedral, where Ina stayed for a week. Ina is brought to the Cathedral, an event called the Traslacion Procession, on a Friday a week before the Fiesta. She stays there for a week and is brought back to the Basilica on a Saturday Fluvial Procession.

Voyadores waiting for Ina to come out of the Cathedral.

Divino Rostro comes out of the Cathedral.

Ina comes out of the Cathedral.

Just like Nazareno, there would be some known personalities joining the voyadores.

Here's Naga City Mayor Jess Robredo and Rep Satur Ocampo.

I was fortunate enough to get hold of one of the better vantage points and had a good view. Hope I did justice to the location given to me. Next year, I hope to do better.. after all, Ina's 300th year will come once in a lifetime...

Next year, I hope I could also take pictures of Ina during the Fluvial Procession and as She arrives to Her home in Basilica.. Keeping my fingers crossed...

Technorati Tags: Bicolandia, Bicol, Naga City, Penafrancia, Penafrancia Fiesta, 2009 Penafrancia Fiesta, Mayor Jessie Robredo, Rep Satur Ocampo, Divino Rostro, Voyadores, NAga City Cathedral, Fluvial Procession

Divino Rostro

2009-09-26T08:51:00.000+08:00

"Divino Rostro"
Pentax Spotmatic | Vivitar 28mm f/2.5 | Centuria 400
© 2009 Don Abrigo

Technorati Tags: penafrancia 2009, naga city, divino rostro, pentax spotmatic, vivitar 28mm f/2.5, konika centuria 400, bicol, fiesta, festivities, bicolandia

Pentax Spotmatic

2009-09-05T19:49:00.001+08:00

"Pentax Spotmatic"
Nikon D40 | AF Nikkor 50mm f/1.4
© 2009 Don Abrigo

Technorati Tags: honeywell, pentax spotmatic, spotmatic, Nikon D40, home based studio, mini studio, study lamp lighting

Dragonfly

2009-08-23T16:08:00.001+08:00

Technorati Tags: medium format, TLR, twin lens reflex, TLRBus, Yashica Mat-124, 6x6, roll film, 120, Kodak Pro 160

Madonna and Child

2009-08-06T11:48:00.001+08:00

Passed through this woman nursing her child in one of our street shooting in Manila near the Manila Post Office along the Pasig River.

Technorati Tags: madonna and child, Mamiya C3, Rollei Retro 400, Medium Format, TLR, Twin Lens Reflex, Manila, Pasig River

Teresa

2009-08-05T14:20:00.004+08:00

Technorati Tags: Lafarge Semento, Lafarge Cement, Republic Cement Teresa Plant, Teresa Plant, Cement, Contruction, Industries, Rolleiflex 2.8 Xenotar, Rolleiflex K7C, Rolleiflex, Fuji Neopan Acros 100, Neopan Acros 100, Black and White, paRodinal, paRodinal 1+100, stand development

A Horse with No Name

2009-07-26T17:41:00.002+08:00

Technorati Tags: Nikon FM2n, AF Nikkor 24mm 2.8, Kodak Tri-X 400, paRodinal, paRodinal 1+100, stand developing, 400TX, Kodak 400TX, Horse, Black and White

Tree

2009-07-19T20:38:00.002+08:00

"Tree"
Yashica Mat 124G | Kodak Tmax 400 | paRodinal 1+50; 10 minutes
© 2009 Don Abrigo

Batangas Plant

2009-07-19T19:37:00.003+08:00

"Republic Cement Batangas Plant"
Rolleiflex K7C | Fuji Neopan Acros 100 | paRodinal 1+50; 13 minutes
© 2009 Don Abrigo

crying lady

2009-07-17T20:03:00.001+08:00

"Crying Lady"
Rolleiflex K7C | Ilford HP5+ 400 | paRodinal 1+50; 11 minutes
© 2009 Don Abrigo

I never really noticed the figure on the righ side.. This was actually a picture of two goats at our playground. I, however, made a lot of mistakes in my development of the film roll, having lesser developing time and not placing the locks on the reel, the developer and fixer had not consistently reached the right portion of the film, hence, being inconsistently developed, aside from the entire roll being underdeveloped.

I tried to rescue and recover some of the shots through picasa's contrast enhancements (shadows and highlights) and posted this one on another social website only to be called by one of my buddy about the "womanly figure" on the right side.. creepy..

Invisible

2009-07-03T09:35:00.003+08:00

"Invisible"
Pentax Spotmatic | Super Takumar 55mm f/1.8 | Agfa Pro 200
© 2009 Don Abrigo

The Lionfish's Story

2009-06-29T09:08:00.007+08:00

"The Lionfish's Story"
Yashica Electro 35 GS | Agfa CT Precisa 100
© 2009 Don Abrigo
A few days before I went to KL, I used my Yashica GS to shoot the streets of Manila and Intramuros with Atty. Areiz using Kodak BW400CN, a 400 ISO C41 Black and White film. Full of excitement, and after finishing the roll, I loaded the camera with Agfa CT Precisa 100 ISO slide film. I shot some frames with it at home and carried it along with me to KL. I was my only better camera at that time, along with the Diana, which I first got.

Shoot all the Precisa films I had in KL including this Lionfish shot. The only difference for this and the rest of the Aquaria shots is that I have "compensated" for the dim lighting inside the Aquaria. Seeing that my Yashica was set at 400, I tried to fool it by using ISO 100 for the Aquaria shots, and returned it back to 400.

After the films were processed, all frames in all of the films used were wasted, underexposed by 2 stops and a slide film at that. I just remembered, after all is lost, that I was using a 100 ISO slide film and shootign it at 400 all along... crap...

Lessons learned:Yashica's are great cameras and their meter, when working, delivers great results even at challenging lighting situations. Good thing I "compensated" and "fooled" the camera to shoot at ISO 100 for the Lionfish shot... how foolish!!

Green Thumb

2009-06-26T15:36:00.002+08:00

"Green Thumb"

Rolleiflex 2.8C | Ilford XP2 Super 400
© 2009 Don Abrigo

Grandma

2009-06-13T08:19:00.005+08:00

"Grandma"
Yashica Mat 124G | Rollei Retro 400 | D76
© 2009 Don Abrigoo

Took this picture when i went to our hometown after almost a year.

This is the first photo of my grandma i took since i had my own camera.

Back at home, elderly woman are very pious. They would go around house to house and pray on schedules. They are the ones being asked to pray for their dead loved ones without any fee. I think it has become part of the lives of the people in our hometown

wall-e eyes

2009-05-30T13:47:00.000+08:00

"wall-e eyes"
Nikon D40 + Nikkor 50mm 1.4
© 2009 Don Abrigo

Brod Areiz' Rolleiflex 2.8C.

another year...

2009-05-29T17:50:00.000+08:00

another year...

yes... another year has passed...

now the playing fied is about to change...

SOON!!!

Easter Sunday

2009-04-12T19:44:00.002+08:00

"Easter Sunday"
Nikon D40 + 18-70 3.5-4.5
© 2009 Don Abrigo

Easter Sunday was spent with a road trip to Tagaytay. It was also the first out of town trip of Richard Frederic, after his first swimming in Laguna. We were supposed to take Pink Sisters first but it seemed that the mass has just ended so all people are going out that we were forced to go to RSM and have our early lunch.

After the sumptous meal and some moments taken on the D40, we went back to the Pink Sisters to pay a visit before finally heading home. Will post in the comments the link to the frozen memories.

To all Fathers

2009-02-25T15:25:00.004+08:00
I got this from the yahoo group in my organization. I just find it very much worth sharing to everyone.

Hi Fellow Dad,

A dad in Texas shared an amazing story that recently happened at the company where he works. His story makes a very strong case about our priorities...

~~~

We all know how the economy is going nowadays, and probably most of us, if not all, are concerned about the near
future, our jobs, and praying hard about it.

Yesterday at church I saw a good buddy of mine, and he was not looking good. So I took him aside and asked him what was going on. (We are accountability partners, and we often go straight to the point, no "how are you ?" between us.)

He told me that at his workplace "pink slips" were flying all around him, personnel reduction was the "word of the month," and he was very worried about his job. He works in IT and was studying madly to get a very hard IT certification to make his position harder to get rid of. I understood, since I share his same concern, and I am in the 'same boat' so to speak.

That made me think, and I told him the story I want to share with you all, that happened in my workplace last week.

Last Monday, as soon as we got to the office, we were told that one of the oldest executive managers in the company, "James" had passed on the night before, in his bed.

James was the General Manager of our most lucrative sales market, he had been the company VP and CFO in different times, and was one of the oldest employees of the company. The guy was working 12-14 hours a day, taking very little care of himself, and work was his life. You all see where this is going, right?

A few days after the funeral, I was in the car with our VP, going to Dallas , for business. In the car we started to talk almost immediately about James and what had happened. After a few casual comments of sorrow about his death, the VP made a comment that gave me the chills...

She said "You know, James "passing away" is going to save the company a lot of money, his salary was quite good, and all in all, we were considering "letting him go" anyway, for we still have to cut salaries and personnel... "

My heart sunk, for I realized how little "James" the man, the individual, had mattered to the company.

Technically, the comment was right. Under the moral and "human" perspective, it was chilling.

Today, a week after the event, "James " is nearly forgotten. Gone, merely a faint memory. His position will not be replaced, the company will save money, and that is the end of a 17 years old career.

Guys, put your time, heart and effort in your family and in God.

I still remember the stories my grandfather used to tell me, and he passed away 25 years ago. My children still laugh and cherish the stories I tell them about my mother's grandfather...

It's just money, folks... rust and moths. What really matters is in the hearts of people you live with, share laughs, experience life and faith with. You (we all) are not what your job says. We are fathers, husbands, a brother, a friend, a son of a wonderful God.

Your company will erase the memory of you in a few days, if you drop dead tomorrow. Your family will remember you forever -- put your sweat and effort where it will bear good fruits.

Sorry for the story, it's probably depressing, but I felt the urgent need to vent...

God Bless you all, brothers.

~~~

I pray this story has been a clear reminder to all of us dads of what and who to truly prioritize in 2009.

International Pilgrim of Our Lady of Fatima

2009-02-14T22:16:00.000+08:00

"International Pilgrim of Our Lady of Fatima"
Nikon D40 + Nikon 50mm f1.8
© 2009 Don Abrigo

Our parish, the Parish of the Last Supper of our Lord Jesus Christ, was fortunate to have been selected as one of the 20 churches nationwide scheduled to be visited by Our Lady of Fatima International Pilgrim Image. The Lady of Fatima will be staying at the parish from February 14 to 15, 2009.

Untitled

2009-02-10T14:05:00.001+08:00

"Untitled"
Nikon D40 + kit lens
© 2009 Don Abrigo

I just can't find the right words to name this captured moment. Baby Richard Frederic barely knows what a kiss is like, or what it stands for, or how it feels. For him, it's just another one of those playtime gestures, peek-a-boos, and bonding moments.

For whatever it is, for whatever reasons he does that, we are just so much grateful to God for giving us this bundle of joy in the house. For his good health and great physique (unlike other babies who are really cute and cuddly, Derek has his own charm behind those strong limbs, not much of a baby fat).

It's 2:07 PM, I'm at work and I can't wait to go home!!

PS: This image was edited using the Free Photoshop action from CoffeeShop and the
soft focus effect from Picasa 3.