37/365 - Philipp and Joan

06 February 2010

Nearly two years ago, our neighbors and close family friends (the Ramas) welcomed the first baby in the household, Pau-Pau. She's the daughter of the Rama's eldest son Philipp and his girlfriend Joan, but the two didn't get married right away, because their families didn't want them to get married because of the pregnancy. At that time, they were newly college graduates, and their parents wanted them to explore life and test their wings first. Even if they didn't get married right away, they remained to be in the relationship, devoting their attention to become good parents to their daughter.

But of course, all's well that ends well. After testing their wings and exploring life, they proved to be each other's match, and they exchanged vows. It was a simple church ceremony, attended by family and close friends. Mom was one of their godmothers, and as much as I wanted to take much pictures, I just can't because I am just an attendee. This picture was taken during the opening part of the celebration.. since I sat by the end of the bench near a pot of flowers, I decided to take a quick shot of the flowers showing the couple at the background.

I am still in the process of resizing some pictures, more images from the wedding will follow in my personal blog.

*** Jenn ***

36/365 - Jump!

05 February 2010

My jampacked weekend started on Day 36, when my friend Dandy and I attended the first day of the 5th Backdoor Ventures Arts and Music Festival. We were there early, and although we weren't able to enjoy the day because there weren't too much activities, but we were happy we were able to watch the students of Halili-Cruz School of Dance perform. I love their performances, especially these guys. I am in awe of their talent. I am happy, too, that I was able to get a shot of them as they jumped.

And I am thankful that Dandy came with me.

*** Jenn ***

35/365 - Float

04 February 2010

Next to ants, I also love taking pictures of spiders. Whatever they look like, whenever I see one, I can't help not to take a picture of it. This one I saw in our neighbor's garden, while I was trying to find a subject for my photo for today. I was set to take flower pictures that time, but I saw their plant with lots of spider webs, so I decided to just find a spider. Taking their pictures was tough - it was getting dark, and there were a lot of webs, I actually had to break in their home just so my camera lens could get close enough for a picture. I am not sure if I have already taken a picture of this kind of spider, but for what's it worth, I am happy.

*** Jenn ***

34/365 - In High Heels

03 February 2010

In the past month, my self portraits were all about showing my face (or its features), so for this week I decided to do something else. I saw this picture in Flickr "I, Me, Mine" group that I really liked, and thought of lifting it into my own. I used the light of the candle and wore my sister's high heeled shoes for the picture (the original had the woman in bare feet and used a lamp as a source of light).

Where to take the picture was a bit tough for me, and seeing our wooden wall in our living room, I set up the wooden divan seat and the tripod. I am 200+ lbs, and putting my weight on the shoes was tough, considering that the shoes were actually a half size smaller than my shoe size. Not only do I have to balance myself, I had to curl my toes a little as well. And, I had to be on the shoes as I stand on our divan seat. I was chanting a prayer for me to keep my balance, or else I might injure myself.

With the aid of the camera's self timer, I did several poses. After two shots, I would go down to check the picture, and adjust the camera before posing again. It was agony for me (well, for my legs and feet basically), but in the end it was all worth it.

Just so you know.. the skirt was actually short. If I would wear it, it's length would reach just above my knees, but because I have very big legs that would take up all the frame of the picture if I would wear the skirt like I'm supposed to, I decided to pull it down so part of it will be part of the picture. This was a very brave self portrait on my part as I don't have good skin - I actually had a lot of scars on my legs, but it's time to embrace myself - its flaws and all. I think this picture was a good step in doing just that.

*** Jenn ***

33/365 - Purple Daisies

02 February 2010

The flowers from Sunday hasn't wilted yet, so I took more pictures of it. I concentrated on the daisies the most, because the mums were difficult to take pictures of. I have been using the flash whenever I take flower pictures indoors, but for this I used the aid of the desk lamp to illuminate the flowers.

Some of my shots seemed to be over exposed, some had weird petal colors because of the light. In the end I chose this. It's not normal to take pictures of flowers from below - we are used to take pictures from the top to show the details of the flowers... with this picture I just wanted to convey that flowers are still beautiful even if it was taken from below.

*** Jenn ***

32/365 - Banaba Tea

01 February 2010

Oh wow... entering the second month now. :)

Mojo was on a low level on Day 32, I tried taking pictures of flowers in the garden but I wasn't satisfied; I took pictures of my dinner, but wasn't satisfied either. While taking my tea before bedtime, I took a picture of my cup, and thought I already had my picture for today.

It was my sister who introduced the Banaba Tea in our house, when she was diagnosed with Urinary Tract Infection. The leaves of banaba has been one of the popular medicinal plants here in the Philippines. Upon reading in the box that it also helps in lowering blood sugar and it helps in losing weight, I decided to drink it, too. After sometime, I stopped drinking it, but now that I am taking steps in another attempt in losing weight, I decided to eat no rice during dinner and take a cup of Banaba Tea before bedtime.

*** Jenn ***

31/365 - Baby's Breath

31 January 2010

On Day 31, members of the Legion of Mary came to our house to pass on the image of the Our Lady of the Rosary. Every Sunday, the image is passed on to different houses, where it will take shelter for the week. The purpose is to promote praying of the rosary.

Aside from the image, the family who sheltered the image also offered some flowers and was sent off here as well. I loved the mix of daisies and yellow mums in the vases, but as I took pictures of the flowers, these itty bitty white flowers caught my attention more.

I am not sure, but I think these flowers were called baby's breath. Typically used as an add-on to bouquets, the flower wasn't really the "star of the show," yet without it, the bouquet seemed incomplete. This picture was a tribute to little flower.

*** Jenn ***