The Onshore Pictorial

I was at the memorial shrine along Wacker drive one Friday morning. I had my tripod with me and my 2 cameras – one with the wide angle and the other with the zoom lens. I wasn’t sure I’d even touch the zoom lens since it wasn’t the right one for this photo shoot but I brought it along just ib case.

A few days ago, John, the Chicago site lead contacted me and asked me to hold a photo shoot for all onshore people. Since the picture will be used in a postcard memo which will be sent to all Manila personnel, he wanted this to look good and so he contacted me. With that I think he meant he wanted this to look good but they probably can’t afford a professional photographer and so they used the cheapest alternative. :P

I was at the location early to scope and frame the place. John arrived and we discussed the shots they needed and what I had in mind while waiting for our “models” to arrive. The weather was great in terms of lighting as it was a bright and sunny day (Thanks to my honey who prayed for a beautiful day :D). In terms of temperature, well, it was freezing and so everyone was bundled up and given that the location was directly beside the Chicago River, the winds didn’t help at all. No wonder out of the 150+ people invited, only 15 showed up (mainly because they lived nearby and they didn’t have much work to do).

Like what I do with studio shoots, I took some pretty basic classroom type photos first just to warm everyone up. After the first two poses, my hand was starting to freeze since I couldn’t operate the camera with my thick gloves on. We took the usual classroom shot, a happy shot, a serious shot, a jumping shot and a wacky shot while moving the group here and there to get different angles and different backgrounds.

This one’s my favorite:

I love holding pictorials like these. Hey, they get their pictures, I gain experience and believe me, I learn a lot more through hour long shoots like these than by reading books all day.

It started with a can of New England Clam Chowder

I was in the grocery where I picked up a can of soup - there’s nothing like a bowl of hot New England clam chowder with croutons on a cold day while watching TV.

I passed by the rack with all the croutons which weren’t on sale and so I decided to just make them myself to avoid unnecessary purchases (Never buy what you can make right?).

Back home, I prepared the croutons, preheated the oven but then I remembered I don’t have a baking sheet so again I had to improvise. I took a big sheet of aluminum foil and placed the croutons on top.

Next challenge: how to place the flimsy foil and all the croutons on it into the oven. I took the cover of our rice bin and used it as a tray so I can slide the foil into the oven. It worked at first but then half the foil was not properly centered on the oven grills. While holding one side of it with the tongs in my right hand, I had to move the foil with my free left hand. Since I didn’t have any oven mitts, I had to stick my left hand inside the oven, push the foil further inside then take my hand out IN ONE FLUID MOTION.

After doing some practice strokes, I stuck my left hand in, pushed the foil and took my hand out. While taking my hand out though, my right hand (the one holding the tongs) went up a little and my pinkie was pressed against one of the hot grills.

The tong fell to the ground.

Croutons went flying around.

There was a very loud shout that could be heard all throughout the 23rd floor but only Filipinos could have understood.

Li’l pinkie was burned. =(

I scrambled to my laptop to search for quick burn remedies. I dipped my hand on some ice water while scrambling to find my wallet, my keys and my jacket so I can run downstairs and pick up some burn cream. Minutes later, the pain started to become unbearable. Jaye told me to put toothpaste on it to soothe the pain so I did. I was wondering why it wasn’t working until I realized I didn’t have toothpaste… I had one of those gel toothpaste so I ran to Mags’ place and covered my pinkie with white Colgate.

You know what’s funny?

Colgate was a lot more effective than the burn cream.

I opened my drawer and found oven mitts.

While removing the charred croutons from the oven, I discovered that the oven had a hidden drawer and contained 4 different baking sheets.

Croutons went on sale the next day.

Jeremy

RULES:

1. Put your music player on shuffle.
2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer.
3. You must write that song name down no matter how silly it sounds!

1. If someone says "Is this okay?" you say?
“Losing my Religion” - REM

2. What would best describe your personality?
“Spolarium” - Eraserheads

3. What do you like in a girl?
“Bubbly” – Colbie Caillat; Makes sense…

4. How do you feel today?
“With a Smile” – Eraserheads; Somewhat true :)

5. What is your life's purpose?
“One Step Closer” – Linkin Park; Again, somewhat true…

6. What is your motto?
“Torete” – Moonstar 88

7. What do your friends think of you?
"Kahit Kailan" – South Border; Wha?

8. What do you think of your parents?
“You and I” – Jason Mraz

9. What do you think about very often?
“Pare Ko” – Eraserheads

10. What do you think of your bestfriend?
“Without You” – Rent OST

11. What do you think of the person you like?
“Do my Baby” – Prince; Wha?!? (by the way, that’s the song Chris Tucker was singing in the opening sequence in Rush Hour 3)

12. What is your life story?
“She will be loved” – Maroon 5

13. What do you want to be when you grow up?
“Coffee Shop” – Landon Pigg; To be a barista?

14. What do you think when you see the person you like?
“Rockstar” - Nickelback

15. What do your parents think of you?
“You’ll be safe here” – Rivermaya

16. What will you dance to at your wedding?
“How Did You know” – U Turn; Awww… galing!

17. What is your favorite hobby/interest?
“The Day You Said Goodnight” – Hale; My hobby is saying good night?

18. What is your biggest fear?
“Maybe” – King; Hmmm, was… but di na… turns out love na love pala niya ako :D

19. What is your biggest secret?
“Awit ng Barkada” – Itchyworms

20. What song will be the title when you repost this?
“Jeremy” – Pearl Jam

The Chicago Skyline

One of the weirdest days in Chicago (in terms of weather) turned out to be the day I shoot my first landscape photo for the year.

It was 66F outside and so I decided to head out to the Adler Planetarium to take a picture of the Chicago Skyline. I was already there some time ago with Gea and Pat but it was too cold for me and basically I chickened out. I brought my trust tripod with me and set it up just beside a busted up lamp post. No lamp post light = better skyline picture.

Somehow I ended up with this. Not bad right? There's a bigger version of the picture here



Of course, the Filipino that I am, I decided to shoot one with me in it :P It was blurry though since I was basically focusing this blindly. :P Arrrgghhh! My haaaaiiirrrrr!!!

The Year 2007

Probably one of the best years I’ve had hands down as it was full of accomplishments, excitement, love, and most importantly, progress. I’ll admit there were bloopers and blunders along the way but overall it was truly a great year for me.

My 2007 Summary:

In one word, why 2007 was a happy year. “Jaye”

Still my excuse why I didn’t lose weight this year. “Lose weight” was NOT one of my resolutions for 2007.

2007 Resolution that had no chance since day 1. Learn to play the guitar.

Just proves how geeky I am. I received 2 certifications this year – one for database design and another for database administration using Microsoft SQL Server.

Proves that geekiness is contagious. Jaye received her certification for design with me.

Where most of my money went from January to June. Expensive car repairs.

Like a pawn promoted to queen. I got promoted to team lead. Anything would have been better compared to last year when they “increased” my salary just enough to put me into the next tax bracket (which means I actually lost more money).

At least I didn’t hurt my knee. I badly sprained my right foot and developed a defect on my right eye. My foot still hurts but my eye problem is permanent (the problem helps a lot though in photography)

Most lopsided loss. Jaye beat me 137 – 82 in bowling.

Not that it matters. I beat her in our next game 108 – 102.

Enjoying long hair. 2007 was the year of my monthly haircuts (it used to be every 2-3 weeks) until June 13, when I had my last haircut.

I wouldn’t feed this to my enemy. I cooked chicken adobo with Coke.

Why I’m such an evil roommate. I let my roommate taste it without telling him about its dark little secret.

Best Conversation of the Year. With Mike, my American friend:

Mike: “Hey Arn! How’s it going?”
Arn: “It’s…going… on...”
Mike: “Huh? What’s going on?”
Arn: “You know… life…”

(Weeks later I learned that the response should "I'm doing well, how about you?")

Why my friends from Ateneo didn’t talk to me for a month. De La Salle University won the UAAP crown in men’s basketball.

Why my friends who were die hard New York Yankees fans didn’t talk to me for a month. The Boston Red Sox won the World Series.

Most important technology I learned. Torrent

Most expensive Purchase. My Nikon 70-200mm lens.

Most expensive thing I sold. My Nikon 70-200mm lens.

Happiest Day. December 12, 2007.

Movie of the year. Shrek 3

Based on my iTunes play count stat, my song of the year. Alapaap by 6CycleMind by a hair over Rivermaya’s Balisong and You’ll Be Safe Here.

Stupidest Thing Done. I woke up one day and saw my water jug in the medicine cabinet.

Which means…? I opened my fridge and saw my GNC multivitamins inside.

My trump recipe card and the only thing I’ll bring during potluck, my best dish. Arn’s famous wet beef tapa.

The whole year I tried using this as an explanation as to why these things happen and for some reason it always make sense. “Kung gusto maraming paraan, kung ayaw maraming dahilan.”

Split in half down the middle. I spent the first half of the year in Manila and the second half in Chicago. I left Manila on June 15.

He doesn’t look like he belonged to this store. When I bought my Wii from Toys R Us, the guy who punched in my order was a big muscular man.

That’s not even the funny part. His name was “Jaye”.

I should have been an action star. While taking pictures of the flags during one windy night (the picture is entitled “Wind” in my Chicago at Night gallery), the wind blew my camera and my tripod. I dived and caught the camera before it fell into the ground. I scratched my elbows but the camera was fine.

Most important lesson learned. There are people who are just plain jerks. Learn to see through them or else you'll only know about this when they stab you in the back.

Chicago’s onshore next top model - most viewed model from my gallery. Leah Rebosa

Most viewed landscape picture from my gallery. Chicago at Night.

Cooking with Arnold

Fish and Veggies

Start the year right with a healthy meal as I cooked my first fish dish in Chicago. The curse of being a better cook – no more bloopers or kitchen disasters.

Nothing much to this dish though as it's just catfish fried in butter then placed on top of stir-fried vegetables. I didn't even think if the two went well together but they sure looked good picture-wise. I guess I'm a photographer first, chef second.