Photography – Page 3 – The Skytreader

Photograph of the Month: Futsal

Why am I a photoblog all of a sudden? Read about it here.

And for my last PE class I took up Futsal, a.k.a, futbol de salon (not futbol sa loob), or, in plain English, indoor footbal. Incidentally, this is also my only PE which is a team sport or a ball game, my other three being Archery, Fencing, and Taekwondo, taken in that order.

Some trivia: When some people hear the word Football what comes to mind are players like this,

football_zombie — From http://images.wikia.com/plantsvszombies/images/1/1a/FOOTBALL.jpg

save that they are most likely college-age, with a muscular build, and hungers for burgers and not brains. Well people, that is American Football. America, to avoid confusion, calls that sport in which Spain prevailed in last year’s World Cup Soccer. Elsewhere it is Football and…uh…Handegg?

Because I really can’t make a ball out of that egg-shaped pork-skin, I’ll be with the rest of the world in this matter and say Spain won in the Football World Cup.

For as long as I can remember, I wanted to play Football. I remember kicking softdrink tin cans with friends way back in elementary, being that we had no Football equipment and that softdrink tin cans were just perfect in weight if not in shape. Even as relatives and teachers thought I’d be playing Basketball due to my growth spurt when I was young, I kept dreaming of green fields and goals.

My elementary school had no varsity teams. So, when I moved to a new school for high school, I really looked forward to playing a sport. But alas, the high school I moved to had varsity teams, alright, but not Football. Our space was pretty cramped, you see, that sometimes even the Basketball team had to practice half-court since the other half was being shared between two other sports (giving them a quarter-court’s share each).

And I thought I’d end up in Basketball finally, and make my teachers and relatives happy for a prediction-turned-right. But then, my high school had Taekwondo. I trained for the whole four years of my high school.

Those four years weren’t exactly the most injury-free but they were definitely character-forming. It’s thanks to Taekwondo that I developed a habit for sports and working out. It also taught me how to push-through with what I want to achieve and to give my 110% in the things I do.

Come college, I knew that I wouldn’t have enough time to practice a sport regularly. I had to stop at 2nd grade brown belt. My need for some physical action was filled in by trying out various sports (as outlined by the PEs I took) and other activities (remember rappel?).

And now, Futsal. It isn’t exactly played on green fields but hey it’s got goals and play is football-like enough.

What about you, played any sport recently? *wink*

Photograph(s) of the Month: Roses

Why am I a photoblog all of a sudden? Read about it here.

And for my first “Photograph of the Month” blog I give you roses.

They’re my mom’s. I think she acquired them around mid-month. Of course, my first instinct was to jump in and take pictures. Yay.

I know that roses—like books, butterflies, and hearts—are fragile things but I never knew that they are that delicate that it is quite a task keeping them alive. I don’t know much about gardening but my mom said something along the lines of, “I hope I can make them last”. That just gave me an idea on how fragile they can be.

Why are fragile things often beautiful? Or is it the other way around, that those which are beautiful are fragile? Roses, books, butterflies, hearts—or why I’m so sure the world is beautiful.

For next month, I guess I’ll find something moving, throw in a person or two in the frame maybe. If you head over to my DeviantArt you’ll see lot’s of flower pics in there. I find flowers that beautiful that I can’t stop myself from taking pictures when I see some interesting ones—which scares me a bit. I guess it’s every artist’s fear that he has ran out of new ideas to try, that his recurring themes are no more than reused cliche. Where do you draw the line between recurring themes and loss of fresh ideas?

But hey this post is supposed to be happy. In other news, I’m no longer doing my thesis/special problem alone. I’m with two ladies and we’re working on Porites a genus of corals. More about the problem as we progress. Yee-ha.

(According to Sir Pros, our adviser, thesis is, by definition, something you do alone. But for all intents and purposes, our special problem, usually done in pairs or in threes even in other labs, can be considered a thesis.)

‘Till next month! ~The Chad Estioco

Year Three

So, Lantern Parade again. It wasn’t as funtastic as expected, I’m afraid, nor does it stand in comparison with my previous two. It rained before the parade started. Maybe there’s something with the water that broke down part of the spirit.

The Parade went as usual for the early part, with people crowding over this lantern and that. But as it wore the lantern lines broke in segments and it wasn’t very exciting anymore. And there was too much ideology involved. Not that you can wash that entirely away from something so UP. But, again, too much compared to my previous two.

But then I over speak. A post about the Lantern Parade is a post of pictures, of course. So here they are.

An early drizzle, which soaked the grounds as well as the AS steps, the effect being that those who opted to watch at the AS steps spent the night standing (or so my sister tells me). Which makes me wonder why…

…are they sitting down, here at the Engineering steps? Sure some of them had monoblocks and other what-have-you’s for dry sitting-down but most of them had none. And they sat down, monoblock or no monoblock.

Anyway, this was CSSP’s lantern/float before it rained. I don’t know what’s up with CSSP this year but they seem to be in a particularly celebratory mood; they even had sportsfests and pageants (a la Miss Eng’g, in my opinion) this year. Whatever the celebration may be, cheers to them.

See those crayons? They melted thanks to the rain, so unlike real crayons which melts with fire, not water.

Aside: This zebra is so cute. There were other balloons of this kind there, from SpongeBob to Dora, but I only managed to take the picture of this zebra. I’m not very fine with the lighting for this one but according to my sister, this shot is the cutest. Here are some more shots (whose lighting I like but are not very favored with my sister in terms of the cuteness factor).

An early show stealer is our very own Pep Squad. I can’t do their awesomeness justice just by telling you what. And no picture, even one worth a million words, can tell you what poetry their motion wrote. So here’s a video instead.

Another early show stealer is Architecture, with blocky costumes of architectural masterpieces.

This girl needs an award for the mere effort of standing through the whole length of the parade, keeping balance (with some help, I’ve been told) in face of road bumps.

It’s all white but with detail as fine as that, this, too, deserves mention.

None of the next handful of lanterns struck me in particular. I think some of them was more driven by ideology than by art.

Engineering—my college—was a big let down, I’m afraid. It started with a particularly crowd-whoa-drawing contraption which looked like a horse’s skeleton with a rider too small for it at the top. Then the rider pedals the bike and the contraption moves and the crowd is amazed. It was followed by electronic (read: Earth-friendly) jeepneys. And then a long march of Engineering organizations which didn’t display anything much aside from orange shirts courtesy of Meralco and org banners.

Upon entering UP, our Dean then told us the story behind our College’s Lantern Parade performance. There was a time when no one gave much damn on our lantern. Then she gave the ultimatum that, if our Lantern Parade performance remains lackluster, Eng’g Week* won’t be held next year. And the rest is, as they say, history. I don’t know how true this story is, me being unaffliated, but I think it is time to amend that order to something that will require the orgs to show something worth watching. Just my two cents.

Anyway, we jump to the show stealers of always, the ever-awesome College of Fine Arts.

I can’t help but feel that their parade is shorter than usual this year. I didn’t see any of the people I know in Fine Arts. But still, they’re awesome.

It’s not much of a shot on my part but this style of lantern is something I find so nice.

King Blastoise you’re so awesome and you’re waving at me!

I’ll tell you a secret and please make sure that King Blastoise here won’t know ’cause he’s so freaking awesome I wouldn’t want to anger him. Back in those days when I spent the day beeping on my high-tech Tamagochi that is Pokemon in the GameBoy Color, I’m not really a very huge Blastoise (or, for that matter, water-type) fan. I’m more the fire type kind of trainer. When Oak/Elm asks me to choose, I always chose Charmander/Cyndaquil which eventually evolves to Charizard/Typhloshion. And then my rival will choose the water-type, Squirtle/Totodile, which grows to Blastoise/Feraligatr. And you know what? I always beat my rival despite the type advantage. I always hard-boiled Squirtle/Wartortle/Blastoise in his shell. Even if he beats me, I’d turn the GameBoy off without saving so that my loss is technically non-existent. Then I’d turn it back on and train some more before having another go at cooking some hard-boiled pokemon. Now you know why I wouldn’t like King Blastoise to know.

You didn’t tell King Blastoise? Great! Hey who’s that Pokemon? What did you say? YOU TOLD GYARADOS?! That explains why he’s rushing towards me!

Close…

…Open

So far I’ve shown you my shots in more or less sequential order. However, I just had to save this one for last, as this is probably the loveliest sight this Lantern Parade. They actually appeared somewhere between King Blastoise and Little Mermaid in a Shell. Kudos to AV Com (which, I’ll take to be Audio Visual Communication?) for this fantastic piece.

King and Queen of the Sea lords over this year’s parade (and I like my shot too).

They’re such a lovely pair don’t you think?

And of course, fireworks…

We started the day with water rain and end with fire rain? Hmmmmm…

I actualy have some footage of this year’s fireworks display. The thing is, I haven’t much time to upload them as internet speeds here in the Philippines isn’t very fast. That’s also another reason why I’m two days late posting this, instead of the usual one (The Parade happened December 17). We’ll see.

Be like Fine Arts. Know how to stay awesome even if it rains.
~Your Skymeister 😉

*Eng’g Week, and here I lift from the Engineering Survival Guide, ay ang “pinakamasayang at pinakanakakapagod na parte ng taon!” I’m aware of the error in the construction of that phrase but it isn’t mine. I’m just quoting my trusty Guide.

Meeting Maria

I spent last weekend in the wild, being dirty and sleeping inside cramped messy tents whose temperature fluctuates between cold and scorching hot, depending on what time of the day it is. I brought some mosquito repellent with me, only to find out that I should’ve feared the ants as well. The only way I could’ve cleaned myself (even partially) entailed going through the cold caress of mountain water. This is adventure indeed, the kind catterpillars sadly forget as they become butterflies.

My muscles are aching as I type like I worked out for a whole month straight without even a few seconds of water break anywhere in between. But the ache reminds me of a good two nights and two days spent in the cradle of Maria Makiling. Clearly, this is the welcome kind of muscle ache, one that is the sign not of deteriorating health but of a life lived in two-days’ worth of adventure. I’m both glad and sad that they’d be gone in a few days. How I’d miss this feeling and the kind of joy the experience brought me. I feel that I’ve lived life, for two nights and two days, as the experience took my breath away.

Before I delve into the fun of reliving the adventure allow me first to wish my left shoe a very solemn “Rest In Peace”. You have been loyal to me for the past two years or so my dear friend, going through mud and shine, opening your mouth that protects the fingertips of my left foot eventually but not making a single sound of complaint. Your twin, right shoe, will have to rest as well, now that you are gone. I regret that he won’t be able to do it in the house though, as we are pretty crowded already.

My left shoe died an honorable death, in the midst of adventure, as I spent the good part of last weekend jumping through rocks and grabbing various plants for dear life, double checking in a hurried fashion beforehand that it is without thorns and that it is not actually some camouflaging fauna. It died last Saturday but I had to abuse it further by using it again for the same purposes the next day after last Saturday which is last Sunday. My vocal chords nearly died as well, as I screamed cheers and whoa’s in flow with my group’s collective effervescence.

And as I know that general allusions to the experience will do the adventure no justice, allow me to compress about two days’ worth of story in a single web page, as I try to set the record for the longest blog post ever. Right. Let the stories start.

Table of Contents
Laying Down Ground | The Trek | Running Again, Some Swimming, and Goodbye Finally

Laying Down Ground
Friday, February 5, 2010, Deep Evening

Tired and exhausted from last night’s academic cramming as well as from the day that passed, I stepped off the bus and was readily greeted by Orion. Arr hunter, I say. Thanks for the greeting as I am here not to choose the events that will happen but to let the adventure choose me. Be my guide.

For the good part of the night we tried to make the provided tents as cozy as possible. Evidently, a man’s idea of “cozy” is way different from a woman’s. A tent is capable of holding six people but seven of us had to share, plus a few battalion of ants. I brought some mosquito repellent but I’m totally unprepared for these warriors, biting us violently for entering the critical zone of their territory. And we had our luggage with us too, taking up a generous part of our already-cramped tent. I remember being told once that pretty men travel light. If that is true, then Maria Makiling won’t be dating any of us by default.

We were briefed of what awaits us. I didn’t hear anything save for the word “exciting”. After about an hour of planning we embark for slumber land and I felt the rough contours of the earth against my back. Adventure here we go!

The Trek
Saturday, February 6, 2010, Morning to Mid-Afternoon, and then whole day

We rose before the sun to prepare for what lies in store for the day. This is the first time we’ll be actually cooking and, incidentally, my stomach’s been lucky enough to have a choice between two culinary sets so that if something goes wrong here, I always have the other group for back-up. It’s a long and complicated story of how come there were two groups but in any case, the two groups merged into one later on, forming what can be considered as our main class, plus a few additions.

And yes, pictures…

As you see, it was still pretty dark when we started cooking that I cannot rely on natural lighting and I had to resort to flash. This is one of the two groups I’ve been talking about. Though not really a part of the group in the strict sense of the word, pictured here are our two rappel instructors.

Left to Right: Stephanie Peralta, Ariel Jan Sadural, Cherielyn Cariso, Dyan Canlas. All of them major in Chemical Engineering. All of them are in the group with me even in the strictest sense. And all of them are fun to be with.

I’m pretty fond of these people. For one, AJ has been my highschool classmate from year two to year four. Then again, they’re just plain fun to be with. And also, they are the second cooking group I’ve been talking about.

And oh, yes, just to give you an idea, this is where we’ve been sleeping:

Being the celestial body lover that I am, I made sure that I know what time will the sun rise and set for the whole time we’ve been there, as part of my preparations. Unfortunately, sunrise and sunset isn’t as pronounced as I expected here. But that is not to say that I did not shoot some scenery.

Saturday morning sunrise at camp…

Saturday was scheduled for trek, an activity which I thought will have me clicking through shots and feeling the cool mountain breeze. I was wrong. The trek found me with my shirt glued wet by perspiration on my back. I found myself finally appreciating Gatorade and thanking AJ for lending me a cap. The trail was beautiful, green and overflowing with flora, ripe for some shots. Unfortunately, my hands had been busy looking for firm features to hold on to and breaking the momentum I gain as my feet followed the dictates of the natural laws of inclined planes, too tired to resist. This is where my left shoe died, in service, ever loyal.

That all said, I still managed to take some pictures while trekking.

Dyan and Che, with a flower they find pretty

Don’t faeries bathe in here?

Taken just before we stopped to eat packed lunch live at the trail.

Ging and Baki. Not taken by me, most probably taken by Dyan.

Dyan and me. If you stop for a moment and think, it will become clear to you that I obviously did not take this picture. Taken by either Ging or Baki.

Chilling out live at the trail. Taken by Dyan.

Returning to camp, I found myself slumped dead near the entrance of our tent, not minding the heat, nor the flies buzzing around, nor the ants who seem addicted to my shirtless torso. I know not how many miles we walked nor how high a height we reached. I did not take a bath immediately which was lucky because our group had someone to sprawl on the ground when we were taught how to rescue someone down in a cliff with a possible spine injury.

Darkness bit the skies again and soon we were cooking and eating by flashlight. It’s such a shame we were not able to light a bonfire because all the firewood around can only be found along the trail, and our own legs might just kick ourselves in protest if ever we plan to return there just to gather some firewood.

Running Again, Some Swimming, and Goodbye Finally
Sunday, February 7, 2010, Morning to Mid-Afternoon

AJ and me woke up at around 4AM. Being one of the two group leaders, AJ spent sometime going around the tents of our group, retrieving their consciousness from slumber. A few minutes into the activity and we were entertained by someone’s semi-consciousness and made-up terms courtesy of the spirit that is alcohol: “Lutuin na yang mga AJ na yan!” (Cook those AJ’s now!), and, “Lagyan ng isang metrong wetness yung shroup” (Add a meter of wetness to the shroup), she’s been saying (yes she’s a she). We laughed our heads off from that episode for about a couple of hours, until the person concerned regained full control of her consciousness and…you should’ve seen her face.

I spent two hours doing nothing but walking around and eating breakfast, breathing fresh mountain air. It feels and sounds so bummer to relate that I ate instant noodles on a moment as fresh as that. Instant noodles is the only junk food that remains in my system after all. I’ve kicked my addiction to soft drinks and cheesy potato chips but not to instant noodles. Note, however, that I suggested, before Saturday’s adventure, that we hunt for snakes along the trail so that we’ll have something to cook in camp–a suggestion that was met with yeah-right faces from my groupmates.

Sunday morning breakfast at camp.

Sunday’s most anticipated activity is map navigation, an activity very similar to trekking sans the almost-vertical slopes, packed lunch, and instructor guides but with a lot of competition, a lot of tasks and a single compass. I cannot decide what is more memorable between the trek and map nav. They’ll most probably tie. The trek is memorable because of the ooh’s and wow’s generated by nature’s beauty; map nav, on the other hand, is memorable due to all the adrenaline and willpower involved. We were so competitive in map nav that I really wasn’t able to take any pictures.

We were misguided and so we were lost for about a good half an hour. Nonetheless, we returned first in camp and you can only imagine with what euphoria did we tread around the still-empty tents, willpower being replaced by effervescence and cheers. Unfortunately, we didn’t win Best in Navigation because start times are not the same for all groups and so there are some chronological translation involved.

After lunch, some refreshments, and a few hours’ rest, we proceeded to the pool to cross about 100 meters, with an optional break after meter 50. Not the most anticipated activity because swimming isn’t really something you’d learn in a few meetings. At this point, I would like to thank one instructor who gave me some last-moment pointers on how to conquer water. It’s thanks to him I crossed 50 at my first try and almost made it to 100 at the second one. I am most grateful.

And what did our group get after this whole adventure? Aside from bonding moments, we got also got this,

Best in Navigation went to the group who made their way past all the tasks and points fastest; it does not necessarily mean that they did the tasks best. Best Group, on the other hand, went to the group who did everything best; since they are best in everything, it also means that they have the best time in navigation (it need not be stated since it is already implied). Quod Erat Demonstrandum. That I want to show.

It’s been fun and I am thankful for this adventure, this opportunity to bond with nature and other people. I didn’t travel light but I guess Maria Makiling still dated me. I saw her beauty and I hope I’ve been the gentleman Nature deserves. In about two days I’ve seen cliffs, walked a forest and drank mountain water–lived all my boyhood dreams, in short. After such an experience, it feels so bummer to say “Damn! I have a Calculus exam this Saturday and a Data Structures exam this Monday”.

I shall not forget, the day I met Maria.

Colophon: I keep on saying that the adventure lasted for about two days when my story is divided into three chapters. The explanation is this: we only spent one whole day (Saturday), as Friday and Sunday was arrival day and departure day respectively. Hence, about two days.

Awesome Things

December 18 went to the Parade, to the Lanterns, to the Fine Artistry of amazing talents. I saw a lot of people whom I haven’t seen for quite sometime now. It’s nice to meet people, especially if by chance. They catch you off guard with a greeting or a smile and the next thing you know you’d be having conversations again and laughing. Then, their lantern moves, the parade goes on…

Not that it’s not nice to meet people in a planned manner. Much like adrenaline, they keep you standing. Later on, you sit in front of your computer and blog about the whole running-to-and-fro-to-get-pictures business and realize that it was such a tiring experience if not for the people-adrenaline that kept you up. People will never cease to amaze you, indeed. Surround yourself with them, in their own terms.

Digicams are also nice and amazing. In an age of instant things, this is one of the few that really piqued my interest. Fortunately, unlike last year, I did not forget to bring my camera along with me. And so words relinquish control on to pictures. See what beauty I caught of UP Lantern Parade 2009.

This picture is equivalent to 3.14159265358979323846… and so on and so forth

Peeking through, stepping through

Fine Arts, as usual, as expected, took the show. This guy is just one of the many. Fine Arts makes me drool with envy. You got talent I can only dream of.

Ever since I was kid I wanted to draw. I remember, back in the days when both my parents worked, they’d leave me with a sheet of bond paper and an 8-piece pack of crayons before going to work. I’d spend all those material resources drawing. I always ended up drawing circles, although in circumspect, with all my geometric/mathematical training, they were more oblongs than circles. Everyday I’d resolve to do something not so circly, to no avail. I think it’s hardcoded in my genes, drawing circles. My whole childhood art (self-)education ran in circles, with me drawing oblongs.

Eventually, I’d exchange pencils, colors and papers for computers and digicams. The photograph below looks so Dave McKean to me and it is posted here straight from my camera.

Even in the Latern Parade, I seem to be still carrying what I learned from lessons in abstraction eh?

And of course, the Lantern Parade won’t be complete without fireworks…

Enmeshed in green…

BOOM!

An Electrifying Shower

Awed by awesome things, I feel grateful. An awesome way to end an awesome year, I say. This Christmas is clearly to the awesome things…

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. It’s my mantra for the day. Have an awesome merry Christmas!