Chillin w/ the Masters

Myself and THE Xander Angeles 

w/ Sir X is Pau, a photographer friend and  co-editor @ Today's Carolinian.

           Chillin with the Masters is a Phottix -sponsored photography event that I had the opportunity to be a part of during the summer break -April 28,2012  at the Water Front Hotel. :))) We had the honor to be in the presence of renowned fashion and commercial shooters, Xander Angeles, Niko Villegas and Ricky Ladia :D They gave us a free crash course on studio lighting ang strobe hehe.  Also we got to shoot one of the Philippines hottest women and proud to be cebuana, Ms. Ellen Adarna. ;) 

t'was fun and I really got lucky because my name was picked during the raffle draw and I won a digital photoframe and an issue of Philippine Digital Photography! haha-the frame is now laying in the corner in my room, it's not a very practical gadget I  must say. XD 

I apologize for the crappy quality of these photos.hehe. I was situated really far from the subject and there was absolutely no way to get closer to her because there were ALOT of photographers. I zoomed in as far as I could and tried to elbow my way to get these  noisy shots. XD

La Belle Dame Sans Merci

model: Marcelo Chua Santos

O WHAT can ail thee, knight-at-arms,
Alone and palely loitering?
The sedge has wither’d from the lake,
And no birds sing.
O what can ail thee, knight-at-arms!
So haggard and so woe-begone?

  -John Keats

strength in vulnerability

 

Ushabelle S. Bongo Photography
Models: Sunshine Barz (left) and Sarah Pepito (right)
MUA: Vien Cabilin


.
yes, there is power in being powerless. 
Nothing is wrong with being vulnerable or in letting all worries and anxieties out into the open  every once in awhile.  Harboring  hard or heavy feelings have been proven unhealthy, from my experience, unexpressed anxieties can bring you down more than when they are verbally expressed.  So loosen yourself up by confiding your fears and whatever worries you have to someone you can trust (or you can write it all down and be done with it-that's what I do sometimes hehe). I say that there is strength in vulnerability, because by simply admitting your fears and pain, you exercise humility. And it takes ALOT of courage and moral strength to put aside our pride. By admitting, you assert that you will not be the victim and that you will not let the hardships that are troubling you  it thwart your resolve. Let it all out in one blow, donot linger but move on!


In photography, I say that there is strength in vulnerabilities... hmm, let me put it this way...
As cold as this may sound, it is nevertheless true that tragedy is attractive. It attracts human interest and it draws in a lot of audience, thus making it a good subject for photographs, or in journalism for that matter , a good story to air. In photography, this attraction is the power, it is what gives strength to an image. A tragic subject  is a strong subject. A  photo of a tragedy if wise-fully presented and channeled  can influence or provoke certain emotions. It can change one's perspective and even catalyze actions. An example would be the iconic photo of Kevin Carter  that won the  Pulitzer Award. An image of a starving dying child crouched in the ground with a vulture lurking behind him.  The image provokes an emotion- pity, then come the personal realizations, reflections (example: I'm so lucky to have everything I need, unlike this poor child), then the resolve and the action (ex. From now on, I'll not waste nor take anything for granted). See? 


Anyway, I'm talking about vulnerability and tragedy because, my intended mood for the two photos above are precisely that-being vulnerable. So hopefully, you caught that feel with the model's gesture, facial expression-which I must say is well executed, the styling-being almost naked, bare and easy to hurt and very vulnerable to the elements, and the post-processing I did to add a feeling of being lost and scared. XD


so there you go!

my first venture into semi-sensual photography

Ushabelle S. Bongo Photography

Models: Sunshine Barz and Sarah Pepito

MUA: Vien Cabilin

This photo is from one of  the latest and best practice-shoots I've had. I am so very grateful to my models for daring to bare it for the shoot :) Brave souls, haha.

Anyways,  I've always wanted to try out something like this, a lot of skin and just raw beautust light make-up and with minimal post-processing. 

I was originally aiming to have a  completely nude shoot. Unfortunately, I couldn't find a girl willing to fully strip off for me (haha, that sounds so perveted XD) for free. So I settled with the next best thing: semi-nudity. Thus the term, semi-sensual photography. Semi-sensual photography is similar to pseudo-nudity. Semi, as in partly sensual-cause it's not really full-blown sensual.;P Pseudo-nude, because the models aren't really nude. I just made them appear nude in the photos by having them wear tube tops and framing the shots above the hemline of their tops. XD

 I decided to pursue this area for 3 reasons. 1st, because I've always been aesthetically-oriented,I am  particularly fascinated by the human figure.  I am very into shapes, figures, beauty and oddity-and the human body has a plethora of that.  I recognize beauty easily even in the smallest and simplest of things. I am greatly appreciative of how a thing, a place or a person looks-its aesthetic. Some would say that I am "mubu ug kalipay".  haha. In English  that would roughly mean,that  I get interested,impressed and fascinated easily.  Others see this as being shallow. From how I see it, it's quite au contraire, because appreciation roots from awareness. I easily appreciate things, because I am aware of their whats and hows. Oh well, as I always say, prejudice is only ignorance.  

2nd reason:  I wanted to try this because I'm all about experimenting at this stage-as I have yet to determine my photography philosophy and trademark style.  So I'm tryingto venture into different genres and post-processing procedures to find out how I really want my images to look and what would be the coherent factors to all my future works. Which is why despite, time constraints and parental restrictions, I really pushed to make this shoot possibl e. And good that I did, because this shoot made me realize that I actually like and very much enjoy  taking portraits (Initially, I had trouble framing the subject, choosing  from what angle to shoot, how to manipulate the light to my liking, how to direct poses and all) and it also challenged me and pushed me to find ways to get the photo right-composition-wise, lighting-wise. It gave me solutions to my past dilemmas. In the end, it was a fun learning experience and it was definitely worth it. I received good reception for my  photos not just from friends but also from people in photography whom I look up to. yey!

3rd reason: I wanted to make images that are compelling to look at and has a compelling story to tell. And I think the two almost naked women is visually compelling and conveys an equally compelling story. But,  I do hope you get the story in this image though. The devil is in the details they say, so check their eyes-what are they telling you? the body language-what message is it trying to mediate? The background- how does it support the overall mood of the image? and shit like that. ;)

So yeah there go. I'm glad I explored this area. I'm planning to have another one with hopefully more skin. :)

note to readers: the above-mentioned fancy terms (semi-sensual and pseudo-nude) may not be genuine photography terms. XD I just made them up , or atleast I  think they aren't really real, since I haven't heard of 'em. XD

the journey that was, the journey that is, the journey that will be

 Even before I even held or owned a camera, I've always known photography is what I want to be doing with my life. National Geographic Channel has always been my inspiration ever since. My dream is to be a wildlife photographer and/or travel writer for their magazine someday :) It's still a working progress of course, gotta get a degree first before running off to Washington  (where NG's headquarter is) XD

There is barely any wildlife where I live, so I just make do with flies, spiders, cats etc.

 

 

 

 

As of the moment, I shoot events and fashion for friends and clients.

I've had basic workshops and am planning to take  advanced lessons some time soon. I've just acquired my Nikon D3100 this January 2012 and I still only have a kit lens. 

But before all that, I've been exploring  the field with my compact digital  camera and my NatGeo ebooks XD. I worked my poor ass off to get my DSLR and am now working it off again to better myself. 

Of course I make sure to  have the time of my life every time I shoot. 

I love to shoot and I live for it

back to blog

so I've finally decided to get back to blogging! Hurrah!
This time around though, it's going to be about my photography and a little bit of my gigs as a writer, as opposed to my previous "just-about-everything blog" in Tumblr  XD

I'll probably be posting my journey as an aspiring photographer, from digital compact to digital single lens reflex, soon. :) Also, I'll be showing off my images from my latest shoots and the  products of my experimentations and all  ;) of course, together with 'em I shall post the stories behind the photos, because that's where the fun is-in the process : D and perhaps I could also share some photography  tips and tricks for folks like me . I'll try to refrain from whining about how life sucks during the duration of my stay here too : P

Oh, wait. You may notice this soon but I do usually end my sentences with emoticons haha, i dunno why I just do. XD


anyways, I'll just cut this short and leave a photo for now.
I hope you'll enjoylooking it as much as I enjoyed making it :)

Jatropha pandurifolia

I shot this within the school premises one  morning (@ around 6:30 am) earlier this year. :)
it's one of my favorites XD and one of my best if I may say so haha