Silang

Sino sila? Paano sila isinilang, at ano ang mga kuwentong kanilang sinilangan?

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Pahinga muna mula sa Fashion Photography. Kinunan mula sa kotse namin, habang nag-iikot sa lungsod upang mag-asikaso ng mga bagay-bagay.

Chasing Lights, Catching Shadows

Where there is much light,

The shadow is deep.

~Goethe

Leonard Co

Styling by Seph Bagasao. 

Taken at DPI

Learning From Brandon Boyd

I suggest we

learn to love ourselves

before it's made illegal

I remember I was in High School when I first heard his awesomeness, Brandon Boyd, giving us this warning through, well, their song Warning (Morning View is a freaking classic). The song made a permanent dent in me, and have become some sort of credo for me since then (along with other Incubus songs; have I mentioned Boyd is awesome?).

Taking it literally, which I think isn't all that bad, I strategically placed 2 lamps in front of my mirror this morning for glam lighting. Haha, yes, vanity (hey admit it, you take self-portraits in front of your mirror with the onboard flash making flares in your reflection. Why not do it with better lighting? Haha). I think we should all learn to love what we see in front of the mirror, despite the seasonal fat *grunt*, the scars, the imperfect teeth, and all our other flaws that are more often that not visibile only to us.

I keep repeating it, but I seriously believe 2010 will be epic -- and it's up to us to make it so, be it through better lighting, or better decisions.

EDIT: 

Wandered around the internet and looked for Boyd's books. Stumbled upon an article posted last year, on Brandon going back to art school. 

"Boyd will focus on painting and sculpture. Although Boyd’s artwork has appeared in Incubus videos and he has published two art books, the singer says he has 'a need to humble myself in the presence of other artists who are younger, better and hungrier than I am. I think it will do good things for my ego.' "

Totally awesome.

Everything In Its Time

more in my flickr

Everything In Its Time 

Songs and Stories of Hope from Hangad 

October 3 & 4, 7:00PM

Tanghalang Onofre Pagsanghan (Dulaang Sibol) Tickets Php100 

Contact me or mail@hangad.com for ticket reservations!

The Concrete Rose, The Wild Treasure and The Night Chameleon

Concrete Rose

Wild Treasure

Night Chameleon

Three looks Nikki and I did with Rubie last August 22, in our old house in Cubao (the same house as the shoot with Leonard). I'd have to say it was difficult exposing and focusing correctly for makeup's purposes, using ambient light and a lone continuous lightsource. The white balance was difficult to adjust as the ambient light had a different tone with the bulb. Had to do some color correction post-prod.

I have an art itch I need to scratch. Hitting the drawing board while trying to cheer my immune system on. I hate being sick *achoo*

I wish life can be just a string of personal art projects. I wanna go back to school. Hmm. I still want to go to Art School. Sigh. 

Why can't money grow on trees?

 

Tonight the Bedroom, Tomorrow the World

It's the witchcraft of rain;

a deep familiar craving, a hunger,

a longing for the damp earth of fields in the future

in exchange of the gray mold in the corners

of this room.

My sleep and wakefulness is shrouded in metaphors and pictographs:

Words and colors and words and colors and words--

They are merciless and hold me by the neck,

and I submit with fear, but without question.

Tonight, my bedroom is a battlefield of dreams;

Tomorrow, the world is my prize.

Your Name Shall Live On

Stella Magazine, September-October 2009

More details in my flickr

This is for you Tito Dougs -- and I swear this won't be the last. I hope that when people read my name on the pages of books and magazines in the future, they will remember you and the many great things you've done for everybody. You will never be forgotten, and this is my way of thanking you for inspiring me with your independence, your talent, your love for art, your generosity. This is for always being there for us.

I know you don't like the drama; I'm sorry if I still find it hard to accept the reality of it all, but I really miss you terribly and I love you. 

Playing With Light

The Cunning Evening

The In-Between

The Innocent Sunset

I love shooting for fun; random shoots with strange concepts in my head, practicing how to sculpt with light. 

The past few days I have been a whirlwind of creativity that dragged a couple of friends (thankfully!) into a frenzy of my randomness. This shoot features a dress made by Seph Bagasao, makeup and styling by Nikki Blanco and model Pauline Lim. After the shoot, I was seriously a fan of all three.

I initially intended the theme to be something urban and cold. Thought of using cool colors and the concrete structures of Riverfront Condos; however, the shoot ended up giving birth to three different looks instead haha. I couldn't help it! We ended up playing with three ideas - started shooting around 5PM, with the lovely golden light, and with Seph's wonderful blue dress and Nikki's nude/smokey-eyed makeup on Pauline's soft gaze (The Innocent Sunset), then played around with the afterglow and some drama and harsh shadows (The In-Between), then ended the night with contortion in Riverfront's rooftop laundry area (The Cunning Evening).

Lovely day. More shots here: http://flickr.com/photos/mikhailquijano

Another shoot upload to follow soon!

check out seph bagasao's work at http://sephb.carbonmade.com

and nikki's blog at http://makeupinmanila.blogspot.com

(Wow this post was terribly written, reading it again!)

Playing with Shadows and The Economy of Life

Had a shoot with Leonard around a month ago -- we've been planning to have a shoot for the longest time, and couldn't get around to planning it because I was a bit too busy with a lot of stuff. After the shoot, I realized how much I've forgotten that I loved shooting for personal projects. You've entire creative freedom with what you want to do, and having yourself as the toughest critique ever pushes you out of your own comfort zone. Really, if I couldn't please myself with my work then everything else is futile.

I've so much to improve on -- and this shoot made me realize that. I haven't been playing much with light and shadows, but I think this is something that I really truly enjoy and love. Hard light is so raw and gritty, and though it doesn't work with everyone, I love how it shapes and changes the structure of a face so evidently. I love how it makes everything look mysterious.

I noticed that the number of photos I take have changed drastically. Having been born in the digital age, I noticed this strange propensity of DSLR users to just shoot and shoot and shoot and shoot and shoot, and then select which one happens to be beautiful. It's like a sad game of chance. 1,000 frames of the same setup does not make you a fantastic photographer.

If there's one thing I learned from my dad, who was trained in film and still asks me what ASA I use while shooting, it's economy of shots -- much like economy of words in poetry. It's all about taking the best photograph in a single shot; it's all about setting things up with attention to detail and waiting for that moment before you take the shot. Besides, who would you trust with your dear life and hire to protect you? A sharp shooter, or a crazy trigger-happy gunman who will fire round after round in the hopes of hitting his target with his wall of ammunition?

I've so much room for growth. I haven't fully learned how to harness light and shadow, or contort bodies into shapes and faces into masterpieces that will convey an entire story with a single frame, without props and only their hair, eyes, nose, lips, skin and sweatbeads. I still have this fear of being technically inept, too.

Until then, I'm ready and set to grow with one single photograph at a time.

Life in Monochrome

Turbo Goth in SaGuijo

Life has been a grayscale photograph lately; grainy, gritty, raw. The strong contrast of the shadows and the highlights are, to be honest, hard to understand, but strangely beautiful perhaps on another level.

So I turned 24. Leaving behind 23 was lost in the blur of alcohol, meetings, shoots, corporate stress, deaths, breakthroughs, new folks, old friends, family. I'm no longer a kid fresh out of college; I'm quickly running out of balance to charge more mistakes and miscalculations to experience.

With everything that's happened in the past year; especially in the past months, I really just have to keep moving forward and pick myself up. It's time to pull the negatives out of the camera, take the chemicals out of the shelves and develop what's to become my next great photograph.

Click.

Art Kid, Corporate Playground

Ariana Barouk, for Krizia's SM Department store collaterals. This is not what you will see there, though - they apparently have very strict aesthetic preferences, and they want just simple catalogue shots. Could've been easier if it was done in a studio, but the challenge was a good experience. Ari's really great to work with too! (Thanks to everyone who helped! Kuya Reggie, Da, Jason and the rest of the Tan/Alandy-Dy family, Kai). Anyway, decided to play around with the photos that weren't chosen from the shoot.

I wish I could shoot more conceptual stuff like editorials and do fine art photography and stuff. Or at least had the time and resources to actually plan and produce them myself. And then maybe have a gallery of sorts. Or an exhibit. Or a book.

Oh dreams.

In any case, here I am in my office desk, supposedly typing my brain out for the big corporations that make our world go round. Not that I'm ungrateful - I'm really learning a lot and enjoying playing in this different playground. I probably have never used this side of my brain as much as I have before.

It's just that sometimes, when caught in the frazzle-dazzle of this hyperpaced corporate sandbox, you wonder how much you need to fill your shoes with sand before you can stand up and say with conviction that it's time to hit the beach.

Back to work.

Have Fun

While in our car speeding to Malabon more than a year ago, I saw this boy sitting in front of this huge sign and took a picture, thinking that the image was beautifully ironic.

Looking at it now I realize that I often feel like him - back turned against the single most important reminder of his life.

We deserve to have fun :) I have to remind myself that being serious about things and, well, life in general, doesn't mean literally being serious.