christmas

ahh christmas has come and gone. this was a diffeent christmas this year. my entire family was off island. that alone is enough to cause sadness with some people but i am grateful that i have many friends. i spent time with a friend here and a friend there so i am never actually alone, unless i want to be.

overalll i did like this years christmas experience and i hope my friends did as well.

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at best i am here at sporadic moments. i will try to be more consistent. anyway, lets see whats happened since last i posted.


- i got into it a few weeks back. a girl is using one of my photos and did not ask me what more, didn't credit me. some of my friends think it really isn't such a big deal because its just a "picture". anyone who says that, i dare them to go out there and shoot the same kind of pictures and lets see if you can get the same quality.
she finally asked if she could use it and i didn't bother replying because i'm stiill pissed off *sigh*.

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here's a christmas card i made fr my friends and family online. i like this. i like the warm tones. the sisters on the foreground i think add flavor to it as well.

Merry Christmas to all of you i might've missed.




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last week wednesday(dec 21 05) i went to the weekl night market at the Chamorro Village. my goal is usually just to capture the dancegroups performing. since there are usually so many people watching, my view is usually obstructed but i do what i can with what i have. thank God my camera is pretty capable.

here are some

to view more of my photos please visit photo site. 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bert671/sets

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yesterday, dec. 26 05.
it was a nice day. no rain in sight. i decided to drive around around the island. it was a very nice experience. the island is beautiful. i don't think i ever will get bored of it. driving the southern end of the island reminds of living in the province in the philippines. the quiet simple life where it seems like time just slows down.

to view more of my photos please visit photo site. 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bert671/sets

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recently, i have been getting into black and whites. honing a technique and sticking to it. photoshop surely is a wonder tool.
this marks a major step in my never ending quest to creating better images.

thoughts

i suppose since i get pretty lazy that i should play catch up. its been a month since i posted on here. but, by nature, my life in itself is about catching up so this would be normal.

random thought...
i truly belive that the great mind lies in those who learns to utilize his environment to benefit his needs and wants. its a great mind because he understands the basic psychology of the people around him and the way his environment proacts and reacts.
i think Mitnick, the great hacker calls it, "social engineering". to be a great hacker one must not only be good with decoding codes but understanding the people who runs it or protects it. bend their thinking or rules to get what information he wants.
everyone, has this ability. its just that some people use it at a greater scope and some for lesser intent.

as for myself and falling in which category. i will only admit that i strive to understand the things around me that for me is enough to makes difference.


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i was bored one night and i was looking for stuff to shoot. i went to the fridge and saw my alcohol stash. remnants from my friends visit a night ago. i never drink alone. to me its symbolizes me running out of options to keep myself busy. i would rather drink when friends are over here visiting.

ANYWAY-
i arranged them together-somewhat randomly and came up with this. taking this photo was kind of difficult considering the light around me. the photo that came from the camera must be edited to punch up the colors and composition. i added this frame to it. the message is corny but maybe someone will find it amusing.
this is the final result.

sept 27 05 sunset

i was at the beach behind nana's cafe(ex sail's restaurant). i am usually walking along the span of tumon bay which back and forth is equivalent to about 4miles.
tonight i was feeling lazy so i decided to hang at the beach and wait for the sunset instead.
Guam has EXCELLENT sunsets!! take that from me. i have captured it in photos many a times and the scene is always different and never boring.

i never take nature's beauty for granted. its there to compliment us as Human beings to be more human. to be more aware that there is more to life than the usual passages in our lives.

tarza waterpark

so sunday, my friend Anita decides to invite me out to Brunch with her and her family. her gift for me for my bday(its good to have great friends!). lunch was great! especially with good company. no drama, just fun like a family should be.
in a way it means a lot because my parents and sisters have "flown the coupe" so to speak. my brother and i who lives in the same house hardly see each other, so yes, any semblance of family life is a good thing for me.




after lunch, we headed to Tarza waterpark. i have never been there so i didn't know what to expect.
it turned out to be a pretty nice place. with lots of photo opportunities. so you know, i had to break out the camera :)
here are some photos i thought turned out pretty nice. it totally complimented the day.

sept 22 to sept 24

its a pretty significant couple of day so i thought i should mention it.

sept 22. as some friends know. i am not one to make a hoolabaloo when it comes to things regarding myself.
it was a thursday and my good friends Lori and Trisha decided they would cook me dinner instead of taking me out.(i wouldn't have minded a simple, happy bday coffee get together).
Lori decided we'd have it at her new condo. i get there 7ish and i see all of them in the kitchen working feverishly to get the food all prepared just for moi. wow!
to make a long story short. the night couldn'thave turned out any better. i had fun and i am grateful for having such great friends who go to great lenghts to make me happy and vice versa.










so that was that. a totally enjoyable night with totally enjoyable friends.

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sat. night came along and i had a party at my house with some friends to celebrate mine and my friends allan and clay's bday.

it turned out to be a success with great friends showing up. talked, laughed, ate and drank the night away.

friday!!

its 11:35am friday morning and it hasn't rained so far. thats a good thing. a change from all the rain we've been having lately.

yesterday was still a murky day. i decided to get some pictures of nature and also to scout out a place for a shoot i want to do of a friend.
i went to Hilton Hotel. its backside with an open field and a GREAT view of the ocean. took some photos of the waves crashing against the reef. it rained again so had an opportunity to capture some moody photos which i thrive for.

happy thursday!

not much to report today. family is well, i'm still alive and functioning.

these days i never step out of the house without a fully charged camera. i've become, not addicted but interested in the beauty of nature and people in general. i must, i must capture everything that amuses me and captures my eyes.


this was captured on a rainy and muggy day. it was getting dark so i had to have a steady hand at capturing this without shaking the camera.
i like it because of its simplicity. its angle, which i reason is its way of reaching for the sun gives it an interesting shape, nontypical.

wedding july 2 05

Congratulations to my friends Shante and Josh on their Wedding!
they asked me to shoot their wedding and i agreed.



shooting was pretty bad since the lighting was very messed up. relying too much on nature's light which can be unpredictable, buti think i did okay.

auto show 4th of july

also from the auto show held onthe same day.




lush green celica. these cars have all been color processed in photoshop. i was trying out the lomo effect everyone seems to be raving about but i found it too have too many instructions. i i expiremented here and there and i think i found a balance.
basic process. image- levels- create duplicate- gausian blur- overlay. the end picture usually comes out okay but it darkens or blows away some parts of the photos. you can use the eraser tool to recover portions lost.
play with the process to your liking.


red Celica with color boosting. same concept as above but toned down to 20%. only needed to accentuate the car a little to make it stand out.




my friend larry(glasses). with his Honda Accord. i don't have the exact numbers but i know he's spent thousands of dollars getting his car to look like this. the suicide doors alone is pretty expensive. i like it.


the White BMW with "Chanel" chair covers. very sweet! i played with this a little to see what it would look like in diff colors. which do you prefer?

orange	original white
cherry red	yellow-blue-green-red

4th of JULY!! 05

here are some photos from yesterdays 4th of July celebration. we had a BIGblock party to celebrate.

these fireworks were shot from an almost 45degrees tilt plus i used one of those $5 tripods from Kmart.   overall, not as easy to shoot as it looks. its mostly technique but once its acquired. its a no brainer.

chalupa ala taco bell

ahh sunday night dinner ala casa de bert.

pink with yellow center jun18-b 05

this was actually taken a while ago but i thought i would post it anyway. its just too beautiful to be left in the hard drive.

have a good week everyone!

blue afternoon- jun 18 05

shot this at matapang beach. this is an afternoon shot i chose as a pseudo-night time photo. since its very difficult to shoot a night scene. VERY VERY!
i can do it but the end result isn't all that great.

its early wednesday morning and as usual i'm still awake. the life of the insomniac for me.
usually, i should be working on editing some of my photos for uploading into my photo site. i always feel good when a friend from off island see's my photos. some wish they could be here and some wish they could come back. either way, i win. they inspire me to try more and more.

wednesday is usually the Night market at the chamorro village. lots of food and lots of people selling island related items. what's nice also is a couple of the island dance groups perform. i usually go there just to practice my techniques. shooting with the most minimum of light to try to capture the best possible image i can. its harder than just pressing a button, any monkey can do that. what it really entails is understanding the current environment, assesing the technical values to get the best photo, light sensitivity, framing, determining average distance of camera to subject, etc... there's taking a photo which usually comes out mediocre and there's the well thought out photo that seems to come out at you and draws you in. thats the main difference.

here are two photos from the night market. i hope some of you who haven'thad a chance to visit there will check it out.

i was walking Tumon one afternoon and came upon this coconut tree. i think this was a pretty nice composition.

part2, same Chuukese group. i like this photo personally. it captures the warmth and the fun they are having. yeah i think i did a pretty good job on this one.

this was taken at the Micronesian fair today. held at Ypao Beach.