One thing I love about this set was the numerous amount of interesting stuff. I get to play around shapes, the light, lines, shadows, reflections and textures.

I’m disappointed that a couple of shots I really like didn’t work out well, exposure-wise. I haven’t been doing my “assignment” (light metering) so I’ve been lagging behind.

Medium format has always been a dream. I love my TLR.

I saw this ad and I begged to differ. Sometimes, we need to let go people in our lives, especially if the connection does not work anymore. I think what prevents us from doing so is the idea of letting go and losing someone, regardless if they cease to be important. We are social beings after all, and for us there is a constant need to connect, to socialize.

With the advent of social media we get to connect with old friends. Such a weird term, “old friends.” Sometimes I wonder, how long do we have to hold on to these “old friends”? Not that I find them bothersome. We need to connect to people from our past, but do we set boundaries? How? With Facebook we filter things and at the same time over-share to people, leading to misunderstanding and arguments. Funny how it happens to “old friends”. I guess we grow up and suddenly we realize that the “connection” is not there anymore. It’s just the history that binds us together. But is that enough?

I have enough of dealing with changes in my life (in addition to the daily things I need to do) that I have no patience to “old friends” whose obviously behaviour and personality changed. Especially in my case wherein I have been living away from the Philippines for the past 8-9 years. My personality, behaviour and views changed as well. I look at my timeline and some people whom I used to spend a lot of time with just annoy me. Is it worth it to “keep” them? I don’t know. I am afraid to be rude, or be labeled as someone arrogant “just because I don’t live there anymore.”

Honestly, we need to walk away. Be fond of the memories from the past, but if the connection is starting to hurt the present then we need to severe it, no matter how hard it is.

So I found a new interest in scented candles. I used to collect them when I was in the PH but gradually lost interest along the way.

I bought a couple of big anti-stress, aromatherapy candles last Friday and a couple of small scented ones and I am hooked. They make my bedroom more relaxing and invites me to rest and to de-stress.

Aside from candles, photography is another one of my stress-relievers (although you have to agree that it gets stressful preparing for a shoot).

What’s your preferred way to de-stress?

Next day, we all headed to Navy Pier.

I definitely love this place. In a camera lover’s perspective this reminded me of La Sardina. The place is very colorful and, well, navy-ish.

My cousin scheduled a lunch aboard the Spirit of Chicago. A huge cruise ship, as you can see here.

While we were waiting, Ate Kim and I had Italian Ice. I think it’s a fancy snow kone.

Kuya, Ate and Uncle.

The view when we boarded!

Lunch was served buffet and kuya and I were starving. |Did I mention good food? North American buffet should always taste good like this.

Unfortunately, it was very foggy that day so there wasn’t much to see at Lake Michigan. Majority of the guests entertained themselves by singing and dancing (on-board entertainment is provided by the singing/dancing staff).

The whole concept just reminded me of the local Singing Cooks and Waiters in Manila. Heh.

After that my cousins, my sister and I headed for a ride to the huge Ferris Wheel.

The trip was short. Meh. Only took it one revolution. Soli bayad!

My friend drove me home this evening after I bail out early (I’m not feeling well) and she mentioned how busy I am. I have my full-time job, three organizations (one allows me to do volunteer work), side job (photography), then I have to work out (meh, I’m skipping as of late) and a hobby (again, photography). She asked me where I get my time to do these things.

I initially answered her question by stating that I don’t know either. But now that I finally got a quiet, solitary Saturday night, I think the answer is that I don’t have the time. I’m making things work, I think I’m successful with some of my attempts but for the most part I’m struggling. I badly need my sleep, and I’ll do so after finishing this entry.

I’m in the middle of doing my weekly backlog but as mentioned I’m really sleepy and didn’t get to sleep well (again!) last night and had to wake up this morning for my volunteer work. I’m still out of the loop with all the things I have to juggle, but I’m getting there, wherever that might be.

MAY 9, 2011 – I mentioned in one of my videos about the Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day and my interest in celebrating it. I haven’t done pinhole before so here’s my take on that. Maybe I’ll try to get myself to do it more often and then I’ll submit next year’s.

All photos were taken using my Diana F+, no lens, pinhole mode. You can notice the frame overlaps and I think the reason why is because I did not use any masks in the camera, although when I think about it, that shouldn’t make any difference.

I brought two cameras with me — my FS7 which is my everyday camera and my Diana Mini, loaded with my Agfa Centuria film, Diana F+ flash and my color gel filters. I was playing around with my cameras while I was in the good company of my friends when I decided to try using the gel filters with my point and shoot`s flash. So here`s what happened.

I ended up experimenting more (because the photos turned out flat — as expected of digital p&s) by adding film filters to the photos. So now it looks crazier but the photos pop up even more, which I really like.

The result of this quick post-processing experiment left me wanting to see my film. Won`t get it till next week.