I haven’t been taking loads of pictures, so imagine how gravely disappointed I was when I found out that the black-and-white roll I tried came out of the developers as a long, black strip. Apparently, the ‘X’ meant that it was “exposed” and not “expired.” Lesson learned, I guess.

What I’m about to share with you right now is a chronicling of my first foray into Lomography. My cousin, Nicole, was the first person I knew who had a really cool camera that shot multi-framed stories instead of capturing single stills.

I was intensely attracted to the idea and so I got my own—a Supersampler! I loved pulling the string and hearing the four clicks when I pressed the button. The results were always surprising and fun, too.

I brought that thing with me everywhere. And it was nice how my dad indulged this obviously non-cerebral, anti-art—at least in the way that it’s supposed to evoke deep meanings and underlying themes—kind of photography. I mean, it was really nice of him, because look at what I have now! A bunch of memories from a really fun time in my life. I had no idea how expensive film and lab fees were. Now, I do, so I appreciate it all the more.

It’s just funny how photos from this camera represent to me things that I miss, as well as some of my oldest dreams. I miss being silly, and I miss feeling big enough to actually maybe live in New York City someday. In high school, I always thought I would be there by the time I was in my mid-twenties. Now that the date is nearing, I kind of doubt anything will come of that dream, but it’s still nice to have a reminder of who I was, precisely, when I fell in love with that city.

Here are some more photos of New York and me coercing my classmates to make silly faces:

Bangkok, Thailand

Sophomore Year

I’ve gotten really cool stuff in the mail the past few days! First up is a 7″ and a postcard from one of my favorite friends from far away, Zet! It’s really sweet of her to do this, because it was totally unexpected.

I’m glad she included a return address because I still owe her a package from when she was in LA for school. She sent me a couple of postcards, some pinback buttons and this! I’m really the worst at mailing stuff out at first, but when I get the hang of it, I promise you, I’m the funnest.

And then today, I woke up to this! I can’t believe it—a package from Visual Editions, one of my favorite publishers. They might be a bit newer than most people in the book business—they only have four books out—but their work is amazing. It’s really a visual understanding and representation of stories and words, especially in relation to the actual, physical space where these stories “happen”.

Anyway, the contents of the package I got were wrapped in discarded spreads of what looks to be their edition of The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman. Because of the gorgeous neon pantone and the creamy-smooth paper, and also because I am a packrat, I’m keeping this, heh.

Inside: an advanced copy of their fourth book, Kapow! by Adam Thirlwell. I can’t believe it! I’m so excited to read it; I’ll probably put down Chad Harbach’s “The Art of Fielding” momentarily just so I can get into this right away. For more on the story, visit this VE blog post. For more photos of this truly gorgeous book, visit this other blog post.

You can pre-order the book here. I cannot recommend the quality of their products enough. If you recall, I raved about Jonathan Safran Foer’s Tree of Codes a while back.

I got a postcard from them, too. Two lovely ladies who sought to make “great looking stories.” How about that? :)

A few snapshots from April. I have lost all focus-knowledge of my LC-A+. I don’t know what happened, but I hope it just has to do with the ASA of the film. I need to stop overestimating the capacity of 100 ASA film. Anyway, here’s a bit of my April for you.

Sarie, looking at Charles Buenconsejo’s exhibit.

Isabel.

Summer Madeline.

Tito Simon, Iniko Matteo, papa.

Bono, the pug.

MRT, women’s compartment.

Nolita, Bonifacio High Street.

Church.

Carabao skull, on loan from Tita Emmy.

I don’t remember cross-processed Provia being so green! I don’t think I’ll be using this again unless I go on sunny trips to the beach or a different (bright!) city.

I’m tired of the blurriness of my LC-A+. I don’t know why I can’t get the hang of it. I think I need to have real practice. Or else, I just miss the manual SLRs that I used to use. I loaded the LC-A+ with an expired roll of black-and-white film that I’d been saving since high school. Hopefully they turn out okay.

There has been an influx of babies in my family for the last year or so. I’ve had only one nephew, Jaime Alfonso, for five years before the other babies started pouring in. There was Iniko Matteo born last April, Summer Madeline born at the very end of December, and Ethan Joseph just this February. I had my last full roll developed, and in between random photos at the grocery, I found pictures of some of my favorite people to see these days.

Most are blurry—my estimation has regressed once again—but I think I’d like to keep these special moments, anyway. All photos taken with Lomography CN 100, which I imagine would look better with a lot of light.

Iniko Matteo in his new Audi~

When I got to my brother’s room, I found Jaime reclining on the bed—a usual spot for him when he’s not in school. We got him to be still enough for a few shots.

Summer Madeline with blur!Papa.

The trouble with shooting with film is that it has enormous room for error. I haven’t touched a digital camera in months (I’m looking to buy a Canon S100 in May, though) so I’ve been shooting mainly in film. Funny how that sounds so uppity and snobby—it only means that I have been taking photos in film. Anyway, before I get to my gigantic (probably series-ed) Marinduque posts, a.k.a. the reason why I have been away, here are some examples of my photo fumbles.

I loaded my camera with Fuji Reala 100 and accidentally set the ASA to 400, so the photos came out darker than they are supposed to—and they are blurrier than usual. Sad. I like taking photos of everyday life and seeing them “come to life,” though. For some reason, it’s almost a foreign thing when I see photoshoots up online.

Sarie & me, waiting for our cheese steaks. This was on a lunch break during an Aaron Thomas workshop. On this day, we learned the difference between a character-driven and procedural television show.

Here’s Jaime’s face. He’s my godson (although I don’t think he actually knows that) and he’s six. We live in a compound and he’s up in our “house” a lot.

Beng’s graduation dinner. Steak at Mamou (!) and a stop to Gelatissimo and Jamba Juice. I’m sure my parents are thrilled that they are done sending kids to school.

Room buggering. In case you didn’t know, I share a room with my sister. Sometimes I bug her to the point of extreme irritation, but it does well to remember that I only do it out of love.

Lunch, a movie, and coffee with Barby and Isa! I missed these two and it was quite nice seeing them both. Funny thought, but I saw Isa twice that month—a rarity if I ever saw one.

Dragged Pau to have lunch in Ganso-Shabuway, which is my favorite restaurant, I have decided. This is unfortunate because it’s ask-pensive, but I’m just hoping that the cravings go away, else I’ll be poor and fat.

On the way home, I saw a jeepney unloading a variety of produce on the Greenbelt 3 driveway.

Before I forget to mention: these photos were taken with an LC-A+ with a wide-lens attachment. Makes me really, really want to get an LC-Wide. Maybe in the future.

March whizzed by so fast, I haven’t even had a chance to get grounded and settled in before April decides to slam into my face. I mean, tomorrow is already the last day of March. Funnily enough, I’ve found time to keep on writing on Nothing Spaces. As of 5 entries ago, March 2012 has seen the most updates from me.

At this point, it’s kind of pointless to even do my monthly goals, seeing as the only things I’ve accomplished this March is not even from my March list. And this is coming from a wholly disappointing February. Still, though, I think I did pretty well for myself this month, in terms of certain life experiences. Possibly silly to evaluate things like that in a public place, but I don’t know; it’s just what I do.

Anyway, here is a bunch of randoms my 2012 Film Diary. I have four to-be-shot rolls in four different cameras—LC-A+, Sprocket Rocket, Olympus Pen EE, Nikon FE—so I decided to post these a little early. March was so busy, that some of them feel like I took them so much longer ago.

Examination of the Self, Lomography CN 800

To humor everyone: TPOBPAH shirt, Uniqlo chinos, handmade necklace, Bag from Singapore, Keds sneakers

I had lunch and coffee with Isa. It was supposed to just be a lunch date, but she offered to drive me to Greenbelt so we can meet up with Tim because I hoarded bought film from him.

Sunday lunch with my mom and dad. My sister met up with a friend and my brother slept in, so it was an opportunity for Thai food, obviously. I missed you so much, crispy catfish salad.

Henry Royales

Henry Royales

Jacob Lindo

A show at West Gallery. Here I am, inside an elevator, with doors closing upon a creepy little scene. While I’m not afraid of the dark, in itself, with nothing to look at, scenarios start playing in my head. Anyway, I don’t know if I’d be more afraid of a real ghost or a real live psychopath. Both are people I don’t want to be stuck in the dark with, equally.

Our stove broke. Mercury retrograde hit our kitchen the hardest. We had to get a new microwave, refrigerator and a stove repair.

The Strangeness

The last Meiday ever! At B-side, where thieves roam free. There were a few incidents of thievery that night, which really just solidifies why I hate going to that place. Funnily enough, the place was brighter than usual/the other times I go there, which gave me a false sense of security, probably.

In any case, what we saw of the show was great! The 80′s theme was thoroughly entertaining, as the bands came up with stuff to cover. Outerhope even covered “More To Lose” by Ricky Gervais’ 80s band, Seona Dancing, a portion of which you can hear here:

The Strangeness

Purple Chickens

Manuel Ocampo, Finale. Talk on Kippenberger

Poetry on trains

Happy birthday to my mom, who was born on the 22nd. And also to my papa, who was born on the 17th (but I don’t have photos from his birthday). For ze birthday dinner, we ate in Chelsea. It was pretty underwhelming, reportedly. My maple cider glazed pork chop was pretty good; everyone else didn’t seem to enjoy their dishes.

:D

In other news, I think I’m getting better at focusing with the LC-A+!

Sprocket Rocket, Fuji Provia 100

I’m no photographer; I just do it for fun. Frankly, at this point, I would not trust myself with a commercial or editorial shoot. Thankfully, my friend Bia (a photographer and filmmaker) invited me to go to a shoot she was doing with Jacq Yu. This was done way back in September, but I’d been apprehensive about posting them for several reasons. Anyway, I’m posting them now, and I hope you enjoy them.

It was nice seeing what happens at these shoots and how people my age manage to shoot them. For some reason, I still feel really young (despite being 23) so it’s always a jolt of surprise to me when people my age pull off complicated things with more grace and know-how than I could ever.

Bia, doing her thing. See Bia’s photos here.

Chiara did the make-up (see her work here), and Kimmy did her hair and styling.

Chiara’s brushes and my favorite model.

Sarie.

My mom had an old Olympus Pen from her dad, and I wanted to use it, but when we went to have it cleaned, we were told that it didn’t work anymore. In pursuit of a nice half-frame camera, I browsed through online sellers but Sarie got me a surprise second-hand Pen EE from Hidalgo!

Here are a few of shots from the test roll. It was loaded with an unexpired Kodak Pro Image 100 roll, and I overestimated its ability to capture images in low light since my LC-A+ does pretty good with 100 ASA film. It’s a single focus camera as well, so a lot of my other shots were well-lit but quite blurry. I’ll try to remember this next time! It was a good test run. Mostly, I was just shooting random things to get the roll developed because I was so anxious to see how they turned out!

As you can see from this combination, it works wonderful in enough sunlight. Registers colors really well, too. I think I just need to remember that it’s not an LC-A+ so I need to be careful.

I was going through old pictures that I took in high school with my FM2 and Super Sampler (my weapons of choice in those days) because I wanted to post a few memories. I like these photos of two beautiful people that I’ve known for almost ten years.

We took a photography class when Petra and I were juniors, Nash a senior. That’s why we were bringing around cameras a lot, I think. Anyway, enjoy. It’s nice to have these reminders once in a while.