Photographing Corregidor : Oct 29-30

Me against the clear blue sky :-) Photo courtesy of Olga

The Eternal Flame Monument against a purplish sunrise (one of my submitted photos)

.. a late, late post. I vowed to post this first before posting about Mumbai - now that resulted into TWO delayed posts. Tsk. Work really gets in the way of the good stuff...

Several reasons why Corregidor seemed like a good idea last weekend:

1. Had to try out Try, our new DSLR (Nikon DSLR)
2. As "huling hirit"for bonding with one of my colleagues at work ( Milan, who'll be leaving the country soon after 2 years of living here) who has grown to be a great, cool friend.

What I forgot to consider was that it's a Halloween weekend! With all the creepy stories surrounding Corregidor, this time of the year makes it more eerie, at least psychologically.

I wanted to do something nice for Milan before he left the country - he didn't like Manila that much, so I hoped be able to make him bring better memories of the Philippines with him. Knowing that he also dabbles with photography , I thought a photo trip would be a good idea. After considering options from Travel Factor (Bataan - Day trip, didn't jive with our schedules ; Ilocos - 3 days! too long) , I found the Photographing Corregidor trip organized by the Filipinas Heritage Library. So off we went :-)

Our photographer-speaker was Jay Alonzo, coincidentally also my teacher for Photography 101 way back in 2004 (I was still using a Canon film SLR). I liked his style a lot - I feel like his photos has so much emotion in it. And this is what he also hoped we would do : refrain from cliche shots, tell stories, think before you shoot (versus shooting a lot and hoping that something good will come out of it).

I won't be talking much about the history of Corregidor, since you can read about that anywhere in the web. The tour that goes around the island was, in my opinion, one of the most organized ones in the Philippines (similar to National Parks tours in the USA). Our group stayed overnight -- and I highly recommend staying over!

I do like to share with you that it was such a mystical place for me - there is a certain "depth" to the place - as if you are getting so much more than what your eyes can see. It was very similar to the feeling I got when I visited Sagada a few years ago. I did not realize that a place as rich and relaxing as this island is only a 45-minute boat ride away from Manila. There is still much more to be discovered in Corregidor and I am definitely coming back.

Takeaways from the shoot:
(1) I only mess with the settings on Aperture priority. I can never get my shutter speed right. Thanks also to Jay for opening my eyes to white balance manipulation ;-) I love vivid colors and now I know how to get them really POP
(2) Remember your settings! I am guilty with shooting without thinking. I need to devote more patience to composing my shot and knowing my settings so I can tell a story (and be able to achieve similar effects next time.)
(3) Good photos should be able to tell a story even after a long time. How many times have you come across old photos that are quite meaningless? Ah, I look forward to shooting good ones that "speak" ;-)

Sharing with you some of my favorite shots. There will be an exhibit at the Alcove at the Filipinas Heritage Library sometime in December. I wish at least one of my submitted photos can make the cut.

The other Hannah , same sunrise

Early morning, the Cinema

Our team of photographers , speaker Jay Alonzo at far left.


Learn more about The Alcove and the Filipinas Heritage Library
http://www.filipinaslibrary.org.ph/

They have a lot of photography and writing workshops. Highly recommended.