Photography as a Career

Is it possible to become wealthy through Photography? This coming 2014 I'm pushing the limits of our flagship show, "Camerageek TV" by following two special friends of ours as they reach their aspirations and goals in life by engaging in the Photography business. Meet Bernard, a hunter by day, a photographer by night. Find out if he can become a high-end photographer at the end of the 13-episodes special. Marvin on the other hand has been a freelance photographer for almost 7 years and intends to acquire high-end equipments to materialize his ambition to become a better photographer and entrepreneur. Join me as I unravel the secrets of their failures and successes only in our show, "Camerageek TV" airing every Saturday night at the People's Television Network. Here's a glimpse of Bernard and Marvin.

Surviving Yolanda

Yolanda left us with stories of courage and how mental health is important in surviving a catastrophe. After we get a go signal from our producer, Boss JB, we'll be releasing the exclusive video of Erlend Johannesen (pronounced as, "Allen") - a norwegian based in Tacloban who spearheads Streetlight Foundation. It's fascinating to hear first-hand accounts of surviving the world's most strongest typhoon... The interview with Erlend this morning lasted more than an hour, and our crew was struck in awe by what all of us heard. Coming soon...

The L Series Printers

The best lighting always come from natural sources. This video was done months ago demonstrating the capabilities of the Sony a77 DSLR camera under low light conditions. I used a 35mm 1.8 and a single Aperture Led light from Aperture Trading.

And now the slideshow

Iphoto create slideshows in a snap, i mean literally in two clicks. Here's the slideshow of Bryan and Kat. Make sure to turn on the HD option to fully appreciate this video.

Bryan and Kat - A pre-wedding photoshoot

Many question my ability to do photography and that makes each of my photography project quite challenging since I've been known in the industry as a videographer. There is an excemption, especially, if my partner in crime, Jen, requests me to shoot her couple's pre-wedding pictorial or fondly called,"Prenuptial shoot." I want photographs that are candid, fresh, and just plainly simple without any articulated poses that somewhat forces a couple to become models. I believe a pre-wedding photograph must show the couple at their natural yet beautiful state :-) Here's some of the photos I took for Bryan and Kat, without photoshop yet, no liquify, clone, healing brush, etc, so you have an idea how I light and incorporate shadows into my photograph. Assisting me were Bernard and Marvin.

Data: Canon 60D ISO 1600 Sigma 30mm 1.4 (All photos shot at full open) utilizing one single Apeture LED Light. White-balance set to daylight.

Note: I don't get rid of the shadows since they add depth to the image. I go as natural (lighting) as I can go. Bry and Kat did a very great job in selecting their location in Eastwood Libis, darn I forgot the name of the Italian restaurant... :-(

The beauty of natural light.

Kat's simple pose.

Candids are better.

Add a bit of foreground makes your subject stand-out.

More foregrounds.

"Behind" a success of a man is a woman.

Just love that pose.

Blur shots are intimate.

No need to style.

"Hold that pose."

Curve.

Be at the lower left thirds of the frame.

Just close.

Look through the shelf.

Kiss and...

Stare.

Marvin shot this with the 11-16 2.8 mm Tokina then applied an on-camera creative filter (Canon 60D)

Simple and Elegant.

Let the shadows do the talking.

Timelapse (The Traditional Way)

Recording at 6 minutes, this video clip was colorized in Final Cut Pro X, time-stretched to 10 sec. Feel free to download the file using youtube downloader.

Great places are actually in our backyard

Yesterday I saw a magestic view from a familiar place I pass by often on a day to day basis. Using my AEE SD Magicam 21, I took this snapshot and edited the image on Lightroom 4 adding up a "Direct Positive" effect plus lowering the highlights and whites, then adding little blacks / shadows to the photo.

Feel free to use this photo. It looks great for a smartphone backdrop ;-)

My newest lens, the 42mm - 4 Halloween lens

To make things more interesting, I created my newest arsenal for my Canon cams. I call it, the 42mm Halloween Lens. It's made from damaged minolta 35 to 70mm glass, then a Canon mount cap!

Here are some sample images.

The Minolta MD to Sony Alpha Mount

It's hard to find a MD Minolta to Sony A mount adaptor ring here in the Philippines, so I decided to bring out the "Makeshifter" in me. So here's what I came up with to create a 50mm 1.7 macro lens for my Sony A mount series cameras.

I created a hole on the Minolta MD cap using a soldering iron, and bonded the lens mount ring of my irrepairable Minolta SLR. Videos using this lens will come up soon...