Water color in my Photos

I shot these at around 6-7 pm, when I went to Anilao, Batangas. I wanted to see how slide film will handle long exposures. I was surprised with what I got. I did not have a tripod and had to put my camera on top of a flat surface. I still managed to shake a bit. Surprisingly, it turned out better than what I expected.

30 secs @ f/4.5

2 mins @ f/4.5

Check out this set - http://www.flickr.com/photos/franciscogmm/sets/72157624140811218/

Check out more of my photos in my flickr site - http://www.flickr.com/photos/franciscogmm/

Beaches through the lens

                                       WELCOME TO SUMMER VACATION

For the past two weekends, I've been going out of town. Two weeks ago, I went to Anilao, Batangas with some friends. We stayed in this wonderful resort, which, apart from not having a white sand beachfront, was perfect. It was very peaceful and the breeze was refreshing. Inhaling the sea breeze with my eyes closed reminded me that I was far from the hustle and bustle of city life, from the stress of work and social relationships. I was with the people who I wanted to be with.

We went snorkeling, and saw many many long things. lol. I also got a lot of scratches from the corals around. I forgot to say that Anilao is famous worldwide for its diving spots. There were some foreigners in the resort - some were relaxing, some were on boats, ready to dive.

Anyway, here are a few photos from my two day one night trip. :) Thanks friends for inviting me, and thanks Gela for the big ass kubo. :) I was using my 35mm film camera and a fuji slide film, c/o my girlfriend. :)

Check out this set - http://www.flickr.com/photos/franciscogmm/sets/72157624140811218/

Last week, I went to Bataan with my family and some family friends. We also stayed in a resort. The only difference was this was on top of a mountain. We had to go down the mountain to go to the beach. At first glance, the beach was flawless. It was really a cove to dream about. The water seemed serene and peaceful that you would wish to just float aimlessly on it and let your natural buoyancy take over. Up close, the sand was white although there were a lot of small stingy jelly fishes, which discouraged me from swimming longer. I got stung a few times but it was ok. The water was warm, with a cool underwater current where our feet floated.

Here are a few photos of my trip to Bataan. I was using my Mamiya RB 67 Pro SD and a colored 120 fuji film.

There might be a chance that I will be going to some where in Batangas in the following weeks so watch out. :)

Check out more of my photos in my flickr site - http://www.flickr.com/photos/franciscogmm/

War Photography - Pain through the Glass

"I have been a witness, and these pictures are

my testimony. The events I have recorded should

not be forgotten and must not be repeated."

-James Nachtwey-

Okay, so right now, I have started watching War Photographer the Documentary which features James Nachtwey. There has always been a question that would always run on my mind when every war photography would come up. "How do they keep themselves sane?" With all the death, blood, and pain, how can they?

My friend Hannah Reyes, who's currently an intern in European Press Photo Agency, a photography/photo journalist company here in the Philippines, told me that her talks with various war photographers have yielded a very unexpected answer.

They dance to ringtones, and do silly things to keep focused and remove the shock that they get on the spot. I can't remember the exact words but it was something on the lines of what I said. 

One dream, I'm not sure if you can even call it a dream, is to be a war photographer, to drop everything and risk life and limb to be able to put in film what most of us can only see on tv, or hear from stories.

It's putting your life on the line to show the truth behind the gruesome event in our world called war. 

Although I'm scared that I might not be able to handle the scene that's happening right infront of my eyes.

Anyway, I haven't finished watching it yet. I will add to this later, or tomorrow.

For now, I wanna say that James Nachtwey is indeed a mystery.

***Update 5/26/2010
Okay, I was able to watch until the 60th minute. I can't write that much now so I'll just sum it up. I realized that for one to be a successful War Photographer, one must really sacrifice a lot... his social life, his 'sanity', his life, in order to be able to take that one photo which can tell the world what is really happening, and hopefully, open their eyes. 


One guy there said, there are two kinds of people who die during assignments, the ones on their first assignment, and the ones who've been in the business for so long that they think they are bullet proof. He continued by saying that James was already part of the second category.. Hopefully he doesn't cross over any time soon.


Watch out for the next update.

Check out Hannah Reyes' Tumblr for more photos, or click her name up top.
Check out James Nachtwey's photos in his website - http://www.jamesnachtwey.com/

Two models are sometimes better than one!

Last Saturday, my girlfriend traveled to my home town in Bulacan. We watched a movie, ate food and basically hung out. Although by 5 PM, I was taking her photo near the basketball court and the front lawn of my grand parents' house. My sister also put down her books to join us for an impromptu shoot.

For this shoot, all I used were my canon slr, my mamiya rb67 pro sd, 1 BnW 35mm film, 8/36 Kodak Ultima35mm film, and a Fuji Pro 400h 120 film, and of course, Mr. Sunlight.

Here are some of the photos from the shoot.

One lesson I learned from using my RB67 with shutter speeds of 1/20 and below - Get a tripod. I should've gotten some great shots but for some reason, maybe my hands were shaking, or the mirror inside the cam was too strong, they ended up as somewhat blurry.

Anyway, first two pics were from my mamiya, and the last one was from my canon. BnW photos to follow. My friend is still processing it.

Also, update on the rechargeable batteries all the way from china. I got them already. I hope their life is better than what I'm expecting. More strobist photos next time!

Check out more of my photos in my flickr site - http://www.flickr.com/photos/franciscogmm/
Check out the whole set - http://www.flickr.com/photos/franciscogmm/sets/72157623895803291/

P.S.
Check out my friend's bnw photos here - http://www.flickr.com/photos/buuucs/
He uses range finders, tlrs, etc. and processes his own BnW film.