Water Lily and a Man-made Stream

Water Lily (Nympheae sp.) Still taken at Singapore Botanic Gardens, with a little tweaking to make it look more artistic. Lovely place, good for nature shots. Some fast facts about water lily. It is a water plant with leaves that float on the surface. It is the national flower of Bangladesh. It is the birth flower of July. In Singapore, these are commonly cultivated in parks. It is a water plant with leaves that float on the surface.

Since I haven't been regularly, I've decided to add this photo also. It's a man-made stream found at the botanic garden. Took this at ISO-100, 1s exposure, f/22, 95mm. It was hard doing it without a tripod. I had to put my camera on top of a bench, but to no avail, it is still quite blurred though.

Leaf

Leaf. Last Saturday, I went to my first day of Basic Photography Seminar-Workshop conducted by the Federation of Philippine Photographers' Foundation held at Fort Santiago at Intramuros, Manila. The introduction was held by Mr. Lito Beltran and the lectures were facilitated by a reknowned photographer Mr. Ador Pamintuan. This is one of my shots when they asked as for a field work. They asked as to shoot photos showing the use of shutter and aperture. Instead of shooting the usual scenes in Fort Santiago, I tried shooting at the less noticeable objects there. I had a lot of fun, especially for the field part. Wow, my first actual seminar. Shot this by: 50mm, f/5.6, 1/125s, ISO-500. I feel its a little bit underexposed though, I could've slowed the shutter more. Anyway, although, it's a holiday, I'm looking forward to this Saturday's class. Can't wait what else they're gonna teach me.

Trees

Trees (under Baguio's blue skies). Shot this at Baguio Botanical Garden. I love the shadows, the light and most of all the color of the sky. Very relaxing scene actually. I wish I could go back there soon. I wasn't able to go to their Panagbenga Festival. Figured there were probably too many people. Maybe next year. Anyway, just a little story of our experience at the garden. We went there on our last day in Baguio, just a few hours before leaving. Outside the garden, there was a sign saying Baguio Botanical Gardens. Naturally, we wanted our picture taken with the sign, for remembrance. But to our surprise, some old Ifugao natives quickly ran to where we wanted to take our picture. They said they will be charging us 10 pesos for every native who stood there with our picture. There were probably 8 or 9 of them. They just wouldn't go away. We tried moving but they kept on following us. I was like, hey, I just want my picture taken with the sign and nobody else. Besides, why would I pay 80 or 90 pesos taking my own picture and with my own camera? But, alas, we wanted to have a shot so bad that we were just forced to take one shot with two of the natives and paid them 10 pesos each. That's just wicked. One of the weirdest experiences in Baguio.

March Madness

March Madness. Summer is approaching, well at least here in the Philippines. A time for me and my family to go the beach, sun bathe, relax and just have a vacation away from the city and stress. I chose this picture, because, flowers blooming is usually a symbol for spring, but since we don't have spring, we usually associate it with summer instead. Anyway, by this time, it's supposed to be hot and sunny here; but, the funny thing is the whole month of February has been rainy up until now. The weather is even colder than usual. It's just the most unusual thing. It never rains in February and March, except for this year; well, at least as far as I can remember. Meteorologists explain that there is a La Nina phenomenon affecting the country; bringing more rain and flash floods expecially in the provinces. I say it's climate change. Global warming is showing its effects and bringing unusual weather conditions. I wouldn't say I'm not happy with a cold weather. I love cool places. I would pick La Nina over El Nino anyday. But who would want to be going to the beach when it's raining, right?

Bottlebrush (Red Inflorescence)

A macro image of a red inflorescence that I happen to notice while strolling at Camp John Hay, Baguio. I'm guessing its a spike or a catkin type of inflorescence. An inflorescence is a group of flowers arranged on a stem composed of a main branch. Technically its part of the stem where the flowers grow, simply think of it as modified form of a flower.

UPDATE! Thanks to a very smart friend of mine (jraymags), he was able to identify the flower. It's called a bottlebrush (Callistemon sp.), which prompted me to also update the entry title.

Jungle Trail

This is a photo I took way back last May 2007, again at the beautiful island of Palawan. We took a hike at a forest in an island before going to Sabang River. It's a little off-beat since it was at an awkward angle. I guess I was trying to make it more abstract with emphasis on the winding trail. Don't know if I accomplished it fully though, but I guess it turned out well.

Purple Flower

I was in Baguio City, Philippines last November and I took a picture of this flower at the Baguio Botanical Garden.