Caliraya (In Color)

The Caliraya photoshoot was quite a challenge for us, mainly because there was no wide range of choices of subjects.  On the first day, we went to a resthouse out on the lake, and we weren’t really able to get a lot of subjects to choose from.  At least we were able to catch the sunset on the “island”; it’s not really an island, but it feels like we’re on one.  We saw the beautiful huge sun, like an orange globe, slowly setting in the distance.  It was the perfect photo-op, so we ran from one side of the island to the other.  We were out of breath as we got to the best vantage point, only to be seconds too late, catching the last few seconds of a missed golden opportunity.  Oh well, we got some sunset shots, even if the sky gave us such pale colors to work with.

We did also see some bear cats in a cage.  Huge wolverine-like creatures that stare at you weird.  Striking.

Then the next day, we woke up at 4am, just so we can do a sunrise shoot.  we were on the road before 5am, in the dark, missing our destination because we couldn’t see anything on the road. I swear, times that those, we realize we really must love photography to go through that on a Sunday!

We went back to the resort, ate breakfast, took a short nap, then packed up by lunchtime to check out.  We returned to the Japanese cemetery where we first discovered infrared photography and it was nice to be back there.  We took a lot of IR shots mainly because the sun was so high and it would be so hard taking pictures without using any filters.

(Photo courtesy of Greg Galang)

We were sweating like pigs in a blanket, under the scorching summer sun, taking long exposures armed with filters galore!  The cameras were hot to the touch, our scalps felt like lechon skin, but we kept on shooting like the adiks that we were.

After a couple of hours, we had a late lunch, late enough to proceed to a sunset shoot after, back at that lighthouse-looking structure we went to that same morning for our sunrise shoot.  Same challenge: lots of photographers, one subject.  At least for us we got to shoot the subject with the sunlight in opposite sides.  The 2nd day’s sunset was a little more colorful that the previous day’s.

By the time we were done, we were pooped.  All 4 of us feel asleep the moment we got on the van, about to leave Laguna.  The next time we came to, we were in Ortigas.  We slept through the whole trip like logs.  We were completely spent, but it was worth it.  It was way cool to be joining our teacher again, and we got to indulge in our passion once again, landscape photography.

But one last. I’m especially happy about this trip because we got to practice something that we’ve always wanted to try: star trails!  It’s one of the trickiest things to shoot because there are so many conditions that it requires before you can be successful at it.  Of course it should be a clear, cloudless sky, it should be far from the city so there wouldn’t be too much ambient light, there shouldn’t be nearby sources of light, there shouldn’t be a too-bright moon, etc.  Everything was going well until dew started forming on our lenses! There was too much hamog that we had to quit before we could do further exposures.  We were sooo stressed out because our equipment got so wet!  So although we were only able to shoot about 16 minutes worth, it still came out pretty amusing!  So here comes my first attempt at shooting the elusive star trails: ta-dah!

Can’t wait for our next shoot!

Advertisement