Chef Popit

After our first 2 attempts at food blogging, the first at S.O.C.O (which we absolutely loved) and the second at The Goose Station (which left us a little underwhelmed), we excitedly leaped at the chance to feast on our third multi-course dinner, this time with Chef Popit.  Unlike in the previous restaurants, Chef Popit had a lot of sets to choose from.  Me and my friends had to do a votation to decide on just one set, and we ended up with the Amelita set.

We were supposed to have this dinner a good month ago, but last minute it was postponed because Chef Popit had to be hospitalized.  Thank goodness he’s back in good health and so we finally pushed through.  The dinner was going to be in his mom’s condo, where the set-up was done in a room that looked like a former library.

We had just one waiter, since the deal is, Chef Popit only serves one group per day.  So it doesn’t matter whether you’re just a couple or a big group, he only serves one group at a time.  So as soon as we were settled, the parade of flavors began:

Fried Tomatoes With Polenta Crust Topped With Tapenade

Our appetizer was an interesting crunchy little number.  It was completely new, yet there was something familiar about the whole thing.  It was funny because I was finishing up the last piece before I realized I was eating tomatoes.  It was a nice start, and it gave a peek at how unique this little culinary journey was going to be for us.

Turmeric Lentil Soup With Popcorn Shrimp

This was an easy sell for me, because it tastes very similar to my all-time favorite soup, lobster bisque.  My untrained palate doesn’t really know what the difference between the soups are, but same or different, I love both.  The soup was served in a tiny rectangular dish which would normally be a too-small serving, but knowing that this was an 8-course dinner, the amount turned out to be just right.

Cheese Soufflé On Salad Greens With Balsamic Vinaigrette

Again, the salad was perfect for me because I don’t like creamy dressing.  It just had balsamic vinaigrette (which is my usual dressing of choice), and it was basically regular salad, but with a twist.  The pièce de résistance of this dish was the cheese soufflé on top.  The closest I could think of describing the taste is a cross between a muffin and scrambled eggs.  I love eggs, so it was a hit with me.  It mixed well with the leafy taste of the greens and the tartness of the vinegar.

Tuna Carpaccio With Lemon-Sesame Oil Dressing

My experience with carpaccio is limited at best.  It’s basically maguro sashimi, pero maarte.  Carpaccio is usually raw meat or fish, so I was glad the chef chose fish because I’m not big on raw flesh of any type of animal, so fish is the least of the evils.  And although I don’t even eat maguro sushi, I must say, I enjoyed this dish, maybe because of the dressing or the preparation, because I didn’t get the usual gummy texture I usually get from raw fish (which I hate).

Spinach Gnocci With Pomodoro Sauce

The dishes that had come out have been bundles of surprises, and the next one was no exception.  It’s basically like taro, or radish cake, with spaghetti sauce.  The gnocci itself has a very mild flavor and that starchy texture that perfectly balances out the full flavor of the pommodoro sauce.  The dance of the different textures and flavors was delightful!  It was a fun dish to explore and it was something I actually wanted a second serving of.

Seared Mahi Fillet With Mustard Béchamel Sauce

This was basically a fish fillet over some raw beets and with a cream sauce.  I don’t like beets at all, but I decided to eat all of it anyway to experience the dish the way the chef wanted us to.  It was quite unique, because I’ve never eaten raw beets before and never sliced this way.  It’s like singkamas but less sweet.  I still don’t like beets, but at least it wasn”t so bad.  My least favorite of the dishes, not because it was bad, but only because the other dishes were exceptional.

Beetroot Roulade

Easily the most unique, the most bizarre, the most unfamiliar of all the dishes presented.  And to my surprise, it also was my most favorite of them all.  It’s so hard to describe, mainly because I’ve never tasted anything quite like it; nothing comes close.  It’s not exactly delicious, but it’s delightfully interesting!  It’s not tasty in the conventional way, in fact the flavors are downright odd, but for some reason my taste buds were quivering with enjoyment.  And after you swallow a portion, a swift spiciness suddenly darts through your mouth then disappears as quickly as it came.  I never tasted the spiciness while I chewed, only after I swallow.  Fascinating!

Baked Fillet Of Chicken Breast On Spaghetti With Pesto Sauce

Everyone had chicken breast, but because I don’t eat chicken, Chef Popit did the same dish for me, only with fish.  This was an okay dish, nothing fancy, plus I’m not so hot on pesto.  Those are the 2 pasta sauces I like the least: pesto and carbonara.  But to be fair, the pesto was really good, I just don’t like pesto in general.  Plus. I guess it suffered in comparison to the dish right before it, the show-stopping beetroot roulade.  And we were reaching the limit of our stomach’s capacity as well, reaching the end of the meal.

Crème Brulee

There were 5 of us who partook of the dinner, and it was unanimous: this was the BEST crème brulee we have ever tasted in our crème brulee-filled lives!  We couldn’t believe how incredibly creamy that little concoction was!  It was sooo good, verging on orgasmic.  This is what I’m talking about, if I’m going against doctor’s orders and eat sugar, this is the dish I will cheat for!

Summary:

This was what I was referring to when I was discussing what I felt was lacking when we ate at The Goose Station. With this 8-course dinner, I felt like I took a journey, a culinary one, where I was taken to places I’ve never been to before.  I felt excited with each new course, to see if I’d get to taste something new, like the beetroot roulade, or be wowed by a delicious version of something familiar, like the crème brulee.  I also appreciated the hands-on approach that Chef Popit took, by coming into the dining area every now and then to see how we were doing, entertaining questions we might have with the different dishes, and generally making us feel at home.  There’s something to be said about chefs who take time out to fraternize with the clients who patronize his craft.  It’s personal and it’s effective.  But in the end, no matter how gregarious a chef may be, it all boils down to the taste of the food.  And in this aspect, Chef Popit did not disappoint.  If I were shelling out good money on food, I would definitely splurge for a dinner like this.  The only reason I chose a least favorite dish is because the other dishes were stellar.  Overall, highly recommended for taste buds craving for something different.  If you’re looking for new gourmet explorations, I wouldn’t think twice pointing the way to Chef Popit’s condo.  Money well-spent, and taste buds that are happy for it.

CATS In Manila

The whole Cats saga began when my photo buddies and I decided to watch Cats in Manila way after the run started, in fact we bought our tickets right after the final extension was announced.  It was a harrowing experience to say the least. I’ll try to condense this in a few sentences.  First when we got to Ticketworld in GB1 at around 7:30pm, we found out that they close at 7pm.  Then, we rushed to the branch at G5, which closes at 8pm.  We got in the car and started driving to G5 when a cop flagged us down for a broken headlight. By the time we were done, we drove in heavy traffic inside Makati and got to the parking with barely 10 minutes to go.  We had no choice but to make a run for it, and let Greg’s pregnant wife Sharon park the car as we ran to G5 with less than 5 minutes before it closed.  Then, 3 credit cards fail to transact until we pooled enough cash to pay for the 6 tickets we needed.

On the day of the show, we decided that we would be extra early to avoid the rush and avoid a repeat of that exhausting day.  We got to CCP with a good 30 minutes to spare.  Even as we entered the theatre, we were amazed at how the stage looked.  By then I was really excited.  I was never really a big fan of the musical. My favorites were Jesus Christ Superstar and Hair, which are of a different funkier mold as far as musicals go.  When the video came out in 1998, I remember watching the VHS tape and fell asleep, and thereby never touching the tape ever again.  So I wasn’t really planning to watch until we all decided to, mainly for the reason that Lea Salonga was appearing as Grizabella.

But boy was I glad I watched.  What we experienced was a far cry from watching the video from a beanbag.  From the very first minute to the very last, it was amazing!  It might not be as great watched on TV, but the live experience was something else.  I heard some reviews were not glowing, but maybe because I’m no expert, but to me the whole spectacle was worth every single centavo we spent for the tickets (that was another reason we were quibbling about, because the ticket prices were pretty steep).  We weren’t very familiar with all the songs, but it was really fun to watch whether you knew the songs or not.  I think basically they got dancers who can sing, because the play was heavy on dance, with really difficult choreography reminiscent of SYTYCD performances.  But don’t get me wrong, the leads like Munkustrap, Old Deuteronomy and Grizabella all had incredible pipes.  What’s also nice was, every now and then, the cats would come down from the stage and “play” with the audience.  And to our delight, they did so extensively during the intermission.  About 5 cats came out and went into the audience.  Two cats even came to us and got Delle’s bag and started playing with it.  Here are some pics courtesy of Fritzie Lee:

Of course the highlight of the musical was the bravura performance of Lea Salonga singing the banner song of the play, Memory.  Wow, what a voice.  We all know how good she is, but every single time I hear her sing live, only then do I get an idea of just how good she really is.  From the gravelly low notes to the show-stopping high notes, the lady delivers.  It was just cute to note that at one point, the cast sings a version of Memory and one cat sang a few lines in Tagalog!  It was quite disconcerting to hear the incongruous lines that got everyone clapping.

By the end of the show, we were all hooked!  We were all humming along to lines from the songs, no matter how much we were inventing the lyrics.  And kudos to the rest of the cast, it wasn’t just about Lea Salonga, everyone else of the mostly Australian and British cast were incredible!  The audience can tell they were giving it their all whether they were dancing or singing and applauded them generously for it.  Theatre isn’t as popular in the country as movies and concerts are, but it’s really quite an experience.  It’s something that most Pinoys should explore because it’s a shame if you never get the thrill of watching actors and singers and dancers on stage performing right in front of you.  It’s the ultimate in 3D, if you think about it.  It’s just sad that yesterday was the last performance for this run.  Although I’m not much of a theatre-goer myself, watching Cats whetted my appetite once again to see more shows.

(Thanks again to Fritzie for the photos!)

The Goose Station

Ever since we had our 5-course dinner at SOCO in Pasig (which I blogged about) my photogroup Fourground decided we would try as many of those as we can.  It’s really fun, because it’s like taking a trip down a culinary road; you never quite know where the experience will take you.  It’s also a chance to practice our food photography and our fledgling food critique hobby.  We were supposed to try Chef Popit’s 5-course dinner, but 2 days before our dinner, he had to beg off because he was hospitalized.  So we had to look for another set to try and we chose to go with Chef Rob Pengson’s The Goose Station in W Tower in Bonifacio Global City.  They have a menu for the 5-course meal, but for each course, you have choices to pick from.  So each of us ended up with different dishes for our individual meals.  So here goes my set:

Snacks: Foie Cone, Potato Glass, Truffle Puff, Savory Macaroon

Of the four appetizers, I liked the Foie Cone the best.  In the words of Delle, it had the most “conviction”.  Maybe I just didn’t get what the others were trying to go for?  They were interesting, but didn’t really hit the right notes.  My least favorite was the Truffle Puff.  There was a certain taste among the melange of flavors that I particularly didn’t like.  Not being a true gourmet, I cannot isolate and correctly identify the offending flavor.  But the Foie Cone was an explosion of goodness.  I also loved the gelatinous texture.

Beet Garden Salad: Beets, Orange, Davao Goat’s Cheese, Walnut Soil, Garden Garnish

For me, the best dish in the whole set.  Not only is it magnificently pretty in terms of presentation, but it’s refreshingly delicious as well.  That beet gelatin tube in the center, filled with goat’s cheese, was absolutely divine.  And the other stuff littering the plate were such an interesting motley of flavors.  It was designed to look like a real garden, but I just found that snail shell in one corner of the plate a bit gross.  I don’t like the idea of a mollusk sliming about in my salad.  Not very appetizing to me.  The rest though, was absolutely gorgeous to the senses.

Eggs Benedict: Poached Egg, Hollandaise Foam, Truffle Oil, Bacon Tuile

My least favorite dish.  I like eggs, but this threw me off.  You’re supposed to mix the whole thing up and scoop it spoon by spoon into your mouth.  It looks yummy, but the whole raw egg feel to it turned me off.  I was not a big fan of the slimy texture, and it had a lot of half-cooked egg whites, so the feel of that phlegmy texture in my mouth was not a pleasant experience.  I like poached eggs, but I’m not a big fan of soft-boiled eggs, which this dish reminded me more of.

Lamb Ribs: Mushroom Gnocchi, Red Wine Sauce, Pistachio

This hefty slab of lamb was pretty good.  The meat was practically melting off the bones and it had none of that lamb taste that turns off most people from this type of meat.  It was mostly a delicious meal…until the end.  I don’t know quite how to explain it, but it had a weird aftertaste.  Not the maanggo taste often associated with lamb, but a different weird taste left on the tongue.  My friend Lennie had the same comment; she said it’s as if a coating was left on her tongue.  It was good while you were eating it, but it left an odd aftertaste.

Yogurt Parfait: Foam, Mixed Berries, Mango, Granola, Mint

Like true yogurt, this dessert was more tart than sweet.  Most of it was foam, which I ask coffee shops not to add whenever I buy designer coffee because I’m not fond of it, and it wasn’t the type of dessert I’d break my sugar fast for.  If I were eating sugar for the first time in 6 months, this would not be the dessert I’d be saving it for.  Not bad, but not great either.  I preferred Lennie’s dessert more, the Chocolate Candy Bar.

Summary:

Just to qualify my credentials, I am neither a chef nor a gourmet, so my opinion is purely on a foodie level.  I just like eating a lot and so it’s very possible that my opinion is mostly from a layman’s point of view and should be treated as such. On that defensive note, I must say, in general, I was pretty much disappointed.  The presentation is A plus plus, but taste-wise, except for the salad, it was mostly a dud.  Just comparing it with our dining experience with the cheaper-priced SOCO dinner, the 5 courses didn’t take us on a journey; it felt more like going around in circles.  Many of the dishes had similarly tasting components.  And with some, the ingredients didn’t seem to gel with each other to form a single whole.  It’s almost as if you can taste each ingredient, as separate from each other, instead of working together to form a unified flavor.  And strangely, after the dinner, we all felt light-headed, and Fritzie felt outright dizzy.  At first Lennie thought it was the wine in our lamb, but Greg had the Duck Confit and he too was woozy.  But the biggest disappointment of all, I guess, was the lack of that satisfied feeling you have after a particularly good meal.  We had it at the SOCO dinner, also our lunch in Ugo Bigyan’s place in Laguna.  With this dinner, our bellies were full, but our taste buds were left wanting.  Of course I leave space that maybe I just didn’t get it.  Maybe some other more sophisticated palates would appreciate the complex flavors and ingredients that went over my pedestrian taste buds.  Many flavors to me tasted queer, if not all-out unpleasant.  So as far as form is concerned, it was fantastic, we had a field day shooting the photogenic presentations.  But as far as substance is concerned, or to be specific, taste, it wasn’t bad, but it definitely was far from great.  Would I come back?  Maybe someday, but not anytime soon.  For now, I’d rather try first what other chefs have to offer.  But this is just me, you might want to try out their dishes for yourself, you might have a totally different call on their cuisine and enjoy it much more than we did.  Peace!

Sisiman Bay, Bataan

Of all our photo trips since we started with the hobby in 2008, this trip to Bataan was the most unique.  Mainly because it posed the challenge of coming up with different shots using the same subject.  Usually, when we go out and do travel or landscape shoots, we go around taking as many pictures of as many subjects as we can.  But this time, we only had the sole subject, the lighthouse in Sisiman Bay, in Mariveles, Bataan.  So it was like a portrait shoot with just one person, and the challenge was to take as many different ways to present the subject — happy, sad, angry, etc.  Well, thank goodness the area cooperated.  We went twice, one in the late afternoon, and one during sunrise.  So the lighthouse gave us very different moods, like a talented model, and it turned out a productive shoot, despite the string of injuries I had to struggle through.

The low tide gave us very rich colors from the rocks that were already exposed but still wet enough to reveal a rich brown color that the lenses love.  I was fortunate enough to catch a couple who were lounging lovingly on top of the biggest rock there, watching the lighthouse from their romantic perch.

The moody weather gave us dramatic cloud formations which complemented the bedraggled lighthouse, long abandoned but still standing…barely.  The whole scene looked very Mordor-ish, and the derelict tower, with it’s missing handrails along the winding staircase makes for a compelling image that we were all hoping to capture.  We did have to stop sooner than we hoped because the rain started to pour and it was a long walk back to the van.

The next morning, we woke up at 3am in our hotel in Balanga, to be able to get to Sisiman Bay by 5am to catch the sunrise.  It was an hour-long trip to Mariveles, so we thought of leaving earlier than usual.  We got there a bit too early, so the moon was still out, and we were able to catch that exact moment when it wasn’t quite sunrise yet, but not evening any longer.  The moon and the brightening sky was wonderful to behold.

The rising sun infused the landscape with an explosion of colors, and we were scrambling to get our filters out to balance the different exposures.  We’ve seen more spectacular sunrises, but it was more than enough to give us some splashes of yellow and orange to satisfy our craving for color, as opposed to the previous day’s gloominess.

When the sun was already out full blast, I was able to take a couple of infrared shots.  But a few minutes of that with the sun beating down on us, I had to throw in the towel early because I was drained, and starving because we haven’t had breakfast yet.

So all in all, we were very satisfied with the photo shoot.  Despite the many setbacks, and almost NOT finding our sole subject, it was nice to have found the lighthouse that we had grown to love.  We hope for more shoots like this (minus the injuries), and we can’t wait for our next photo trip destination.

Kahit Ilang Tinik Ay Kaya Kong Tapakan…

Before I post the pictures from our landscape shoot in Bataan, let me just share my seemingly improbable string of accidents, one after another.  After a long drive from Manila to Balanga, Bataan, my Fourground photo buddies just checked in at the hotel then had lunch, then proceeded to the one hour drive to Sisiman Bay in Mariveles, Bataan.  We got lost looking for the elusive lighthouse, the directions to which we had zero information on, other than it was generally situated somewhere in Sisiman Bay.  As we kept driving back and forth, our van had a flat tire.  It didn’t bode well for what was to come.  Finally, after many wrong turns and conflicting directions from different locals, we finally found the lighthouse, hidden well in a small cove, surrounded by rocks of all sizes, from as small as pebbles to as large as boulders the size of a small hut.

We were so excited to finally find our shy subject, that we were stomping mindlessly on the rocks to get to the lighthouse.  I was more concerned with getting a firm foothold so I don’t slip or twist my ankles on the uneven orgy of rocks, than I was with looking at what I was stepping on.  No more than a few minutes on the rocks, I take a huge step, my full weight on my descending right foot…and CRUNCH.  It felt like someone punched the sole of my foot.  Then a sharp pain shot straight up from the arch of my foot all the way to my knee and even my thigh.  I lifted my foot and found an acacia thorn tree branch stuck to the bottom of my shoe:

Then I realized that one thorn went straight through my shoe, and impaled the sole of my right foot.  I almost passed out at the realization.  I had no choice but to pull the branch out quickly, and almost instantly I could feel lots of blood gushing inside my shoe.  I didn’t want to look at how bad it was, because I might faint at the sight of all that blood, so I quickly hobbled to the shore and plunged my bleeding foot into the cool sea water.  The moment I dipped my foot in, the water turned red.  It wasn’t as painful as you’d expect, I was more worried at the thought of losing a lot of blood.  But thankfully, the bleeding stopped within 5 minutes.  I was able to shake off the pain, and was even able to finish our shoot unhampered.  Of course thoughts of infection and tetanus would run across my mind every now and then, but the task at hand demanded my full attention.  It wasn’t until after the sun had set, and we were in our van heading back to the hotel, when I realized I was in pain.  The entry point started throbbing and when I went down I had to limp because it was a bit painful to stand on.  I put anti-bacterial ointment, bandaged it, then within hours I was fine.

After dinner, I felt how tired I was.  I took a warm bath, and I felt so weak that I practically collapsed on my folding bed to rest my weary body.  As my head was about to hit the pillow, we suddenly heard a crash, and next thing I knew, the back of my head smashed into the concrete wall behind me, and I had this ringing in my head like someone hit me on the head with a large gong.  Apparently, the legs of one end of my folding bed, folded the other way, making the part where my head was fall straight to the floor.  My buddy Greg was able to catch the actual moment mere seconds after it happened:

I had a huge bukol at the back of my head.  What a day, I was injured from head to foot.  I tweeted about it and people were saying stuff like maybe I upset an elemental to account for my ill luck and that I should “apologize” for whatever unintentional affront I may have caused to them.  It was just weird.

The next day, we went back to the lighthouse for a sunrise shoot, so we woke up at 3:30am, left the hotel at 4:30am, then was at the lighthouse by 5:30am.  We did our shoot until the sun came out, and when the heat was beginning to beat down on us, even at the early hour of about 7:30am, we called it quits.  We sat down under the shade to rest for a bit, then when it was time to go, I stood up, and as I pushed up from a seated position, I felt a sharp jab near my heel, and I saw that another thorn went through my shoe grazing the skin of my heel, thankfully, not enough to draw blood.

I quickly apologized in my head for whatever offense I may have caused, then gingerly tiptoed out of there making sure I watched every single step I made, avoiding the many acacia branches that littered the area.  I’ve been impaled on time too many for one photoshoot.  Thank goodness it was a productive landscape shoot, making all the injuries worth literally, the blood, sweat and tears.  I’ll try to post the photos any time this week.

SOCO (6-Course Dinner)

As I type, I’m dripping with sweat because I started brisk-walking around the village as part of my new fitness regimen.  My doctor insisted that although diet is the primary concern, lack of exercise is just as dangerous as eating bad.  Why am I sharing this?  Because this is a long-delayed post, this dinner happened March 26, 2010, when my friends and I decided to try this 6-course dinner by SOCO: Private Dining By Reservation (it’s in San Antonio Village in Pasig).

I hardly get to indulge in dinners like this.  The last time I think was when we did an 8-course dinner in Chef Laudico’s house way back in 2004.  The reason I brought up my fitness regimen is that just when I fell in love with dinners like this, suddenly, everything is bawal.  So I don’t know when I’ll get to partake of such a banquet again.  I guess I’d have to get used to my usual plateful of tears instead.  Anyway, we chose the SOCO Tasting Menu #1.

Cocktails

Baked Brie in Phyllo with Raspberries

This was DEEELICIOUS.  I felt a bit guilty because it was on the sweet side of the spectrum.  If not for the equal amount of saltiness, I would have mistaken this for dessert.

Dinner Proper

Tuscan Mushroom Salad: Pan-Seared Foie Gras on Carpaccio of Tuscan Mushrooms topped with Raclette Cheese and served with Chive Cream Dressing, Chopped Tomatoes and Edible Flowers.

Hands-down my favorite of the 6 courses.  Absolutely scrumptious!  The combination of the Foie Gras and Raclette had my toes curling.  It was hard to top this one.

Roasted Pumpkin Soup with Goat Cheese Whipped Cream

I’m not a big fan of pumpkin soup, so I’m not the best person to judge this.  My niece makes a killer pumpkin soup, but I’m really just not into it.  But based on the other pumpkin soups I’ve tasted, this one’s definitely one of the better ones.

Tiger Prawns on a pool of Squid Ink Sauce topped with Chorizo Fritto and Paella-flavored Risotto

Being a big seafood eater, I gobbled this up with much regret, because I was so patay-gutom that I think I didn’t give it the proper respect by eating it slowly, appreciating the fine flavors that went into it.  My mind just saw: “FOOD!” and ate every last morsel.  The squid ink on the side was a nice touch.  I’d slide my prawn over it before popping it into my mouth and it gave the dish a nice twist.

Snake River Farms’ US Wagyu Flat Iron Steaks with Garlic Potato Puree and Bacon-wrapped Asparagus

Again, I’m not a big fan of steaks in general.  Even as a kid, I wasn’t really into slabs of beef on my plate.  I’m not a big chewer (I know, unhealthy), so unless the meat is EXTRA tender, I tend to chew a bit, then gag on the juice-less meat.  But this one was definitely tender, and I enjoyed it a lot.  I loved the prawns more, but this wasn’t bad at all.  And to think we’ve gone through 4 courses before this, and yet I ate every last bit.

Chocolate Souffle topped with White Chocolate Shavings served with Vanilla Bean Sauce

I was SUPPOSED to skip the dessert.  But when it came out, how could I not venture even a little taste?  Well, the “litlle taste” translated to eating half of this blissful experience.  It was so sinfully good.  I was glad we had coffee to balance out the sweetness.  Of course a flood of guilt ensued once I put the chocolate-stained teaspoon down…

Overall, we were so happy that we swore to make this a regular hobby.  My friend Lennie is such a Foodie that she has a couple more Private Dining restos lined up already.  The price range is a bit steep though.  But I felt that it was money well-spent.  It’s such a luxurious gastronomic experience.  It’s like being spoiled rotten through food.  Good luck to me given my new stringent diet, but I guess I can treat myself every now and then to nights like these filled with good food, great company, and some food photography.

Zambales 3 (B & W/Infrared)

The first time we went to Anawangin, there were hardly any people there. There was just one other group there, and aside from them, we were all alone.  I guess that’s why we always had a magical memory of how Anawangin looked like, or at least how it was supposed to look like.  That was barely 2 years ago.  When we went there last weekend, you can see what 2 years of tourism can do to ravage a once pristine pocket of nature.  I remember taking a shot of the shore from the boat: it was a shot of the water-sand-pines-mountains  progression, one in front of the other.  Now you can’t get a clear shot without the scene littered with fences, signs, huts, nets, etc.  Tourism is truly a double-edged sword.  On one hand, the locals are thrilled with the influx of tourists because it means more income for them.  But on the other hand, more tourists mean more garbage, more destruction, more misuse of natural resources.  We were surprised at how much garbage there is now on the sand, as opposed to the last time we were there.

Anawangin used to be a cult haunt for mountaineers who would visit the virgin cove, and to enjoy the meeting of the river and the sea.  But mountaineers were mostly a more environmentally conscious bunch, who would pick up after themselves, making sure they don’t leave garbage behind.  The multitudes of weekend warriors that now throng there however, are unfortunately not as tuned in to the fragile ecosystem of the area.  Many treat it as a private playground, they frolic, they eat, then leave their plastic wrappers and styrofoam containers wherever they last needed them.  I really hope this place doesn’t end up like Boracay, where nature suffers just so us city-dwellers can enjoy our weekends regardless of the effect we impose on the ecosystem.

And back in Pundaquit, each resort has their own karaoke system, each one positioned in their respective common areas (in our case, it was situated right under our 2nd floor room window).  So at night, you can literally hear maybe 3-5 karaoke systems blaring different songs at the same time (from Fra Lippo Lippi to Journey to Evanescence to Aegis) with their accompanying banshees, atonally wailing their hearts out even if fellow resort occupants are trying to get some shut-eye after a long tiring day.  And apparently, in this culture, there is NOTHING wrong with that.  So, not wanting to impose what is normal to us, which is respecting the noise threshold of your fellow human beings, we kept our peace, regarding the lack of.

These are the photos I took where I rendered them in black & white or at least keeping the color to a minimum. Most were taken using the infrared filter, which is usually a love it or hate it kind of thing, depending on your taste.  It gives the scene a gloomier, spookier, more otherworldly feel.  Although many of these look like they were taken at night, all of them were actually taken in very harsh sunlight (you can’t take infrared photos w/o bright sunlight).  For every photo shoot, I try to have a couple of shots using infrared, it’s a personal favorite of mine.

The more I travel, the more I realize just how much impact we humans have on our environment.  It’s no joke.  We really need to be more conscious of how much “footprints” we leave behind when we visit a place.  With Earth Hour happening this Saturday, where we do a show of force by simply turning off the lights for one hour, the same can be done when we visit tourist spots like beaches.  Little things like pocketing trash instead of throwing it on the sand or the water, or keeping garbage you’ve generated until you find a trash bin, these little token acts can go a long way if we do it often enough.  No matter that everyone else is tossing garbage here and there, do right by yourself.  At the very least, your didn’t contribute to the ruin.  At best, you can actually make a difference.

Zambales 3 (Colored)

We have a little group of photo buddies we’ve christened Fourground, mainly due to our love of landscape photography.  We even ventured (some say dared) to hold an exhibit of our landscape and travel pictures in January of 2008.  But 2009 wasn’t a very productive year for us, photo-wise, and so we skipped the idea of having a follow-up exhibit last year.  One  of us, Greg, was preparing for his wedding (yihee!). While a vicious typhoon season dampened any hopes of a prolific season, as well as another one of us, Lennie, was affected by typhoon Ondoy.  Fritzie went to Canada for a long vacation, and I was too busy with work and other stuff.

Plus, as a group, we went into some sort of creative crisis, the details of which I will leave out, since it involves other “factors”.  So we put photography in the dustbin for most of last year, almost like an LQ with the hobby.  We were almost allergic to the idea of picking up our cameras and going on a photoshoot.  The only “real” shoot we had was in San Pablo, and only because we were also shooting Greg’s prenup.  Personally, the only travel photography I did was in conjunction with my vacations, as opposed to traveling specifically to shoot photos.  Also, I limited most of my photography to documenting my family during our gatherings.  For an entire year, we stayed away.

This year, we told ourselves that it is time to pick ourselves up and collectively shake ourselves awake from this creative stupor and there’s no better way to do that than to go out there and start shooting again.  We decided to go back to where we first had our landscape lessons, Zambales.  We were all grappling with a year’s worth of rustiness.  Our cameras felt alien in our hands (I was shooting a lot with my point and shoot last year), and we were struggling with finding the right composition.  We didn’t know which filters to use, and generally unsure of our skills.

By the end of the shoot, we were drained physically (the sun was punishing!) and creatively.  We felt beaten and downtrodden by the creative struggle but we chose to treat this photoshoot as getting our feet wet again and re-learning the craft.  We’re always too hard on ourselves, so we decided to cut ourselves some slack and just enjoy the hobby again like we used to.  So although we’re still looking for that elusive “kick-ass” photo, we’re just glad to be back in the game.

I brought my trusty first camera, my Nikon D40X, since it’s got better colors as my other camera, the D90.  That’s why for landscape photography, I always stick to my D40X  paired of course with the Sigma 10-20mm ultra-wide lens.  I’ve decided to split the pictures into 2 sets.  For this one, I’m posting the colored photos, with some using the ND400 filter for that vintage 70’s look.  I’ll post the black & white photos/infrared photos in another set.

We decided to shoot in the areas of Zambales that we haven’t been to before, opting for rocky nooks and coves, far from the usual areas where tourists flock to swim.  We didn’t want to shoot the same stuff we’ve already covered the other two times we’ve been to Zambales.

It’s still stunning as ever.  That whole area is just so photogenic, and the weather was cooperative, and the sights, simply gorgeous.  It was a nice place to rediscover the joy of photography.  I really just hope it’s a successful jumpstart to get back into the hobby.  A creative block is no fun, and it would be  nice to do this  again regularly.  With so many vexations to the spirit, a weekend photoshoot is a wonderful stressbuster for frayed nerves.

(next: my black & white and infrared photos)