Went to Jo Avila‘s Annual Student and VA (Volunteer Assistant which is a term Jo coined) Party last night. The party supposedly roughly coincides with his birthday but I’m not sure exactly when that day is. It was a big affair. A lot of students and VAs came, there was a lot of food (including a whole lechon!) there were booty bags, and lots of giveaways. Izza and Mike showed up which was good since I didn’t see any of my own classmates (actually, Bunso dropped by but then left early). I did get to get to know some students and VAs and we had some interesting conversations. Pretty glad I went.
Fenris FTX
This morning, I went to UP Diliman to join my airsoft buddies for the Field Training Exercise (FTX) of Team Fenris’ new recruits. I first went to the regular playing field but there was nobody there. I messaged them asking where they were. There was no response so I walked around and did an impromptu photo shoot while waiting.
After some time, Bishop finally answered. He, Half-Pint, and the recruits are at the Palma Hall Parking Area. I quickly scooted over and linked up with them. After a while, Ish arrived and joined us. We basically just chatted while waiting for the recruits to finish their tasks. After a bit of a delay due to clues being taken by passer-bys as well as problems with the clues themselves (200m error, hehe, peace Half-Pint), they finally finished.
We then had a quick lunch before proceeding to the next stage which will be at Area 51, a vast and popular playing field. Unfortunately, I had chores to do so I wasn’t able to join them anymore. I was told it’s going to be a scenario where the recruits would attempt to purchase “weapons”, the deal sours, and there will be a firefight. Would have been fun to watch.
The day wasn’t exactly the return to airsoft I had in mind. But hey, it’s a start! Maybe next time I’ll actually be able to play.
2007 May 27 La Mesa Ecopark, Quezon City, Metro Manila
Went with some officemates to the La Mesa Ecopark in Quezon City. It’s supposed to be a photo shoot but either cameras are unavailable or the photographers aren’t so it became more of a picnic with a bit of photo shooting thrown in.
La Mesa Ecopark is a project of ABS-CBN‘s Bantay Kalikasan, an environment advocacy group who essentially created the park from jungle. The resulting park is an oasis of vegetation in the midst of the sprawling city. It has a saltwater pool, a flower terrace, an amphitheater, a butterfly trail, an orchidarium, a fishing area, a big picnic area, a biking area, and a boating area among others.
The park is well organized and managed. There was just a bit of a hassle getting our DSLRs inside (but not point-and-shoots wth?!?). It was also a bit crowded when we went but otherwise it was nice. We strolled through the various areas taking pictures. We were done by late afternoon. The place is not that big and a day is about sufficient.
Basic Photography Workshop
I finally completed a 5-day basic photography workshop conducted by Jo Avila. The workshop covers the basics of theories, principles, composition, studio lighting, PhotoShop, color management, and guerilla shooting. The workshop was good. Definitely recommended for beginners. Some of the things I already knew but still I learned quite a lot.
Of course nothing really beats experience: familiarizing yourself with your gear and taking lots and lots of pictures. And that’s exactly what I intend to do next.
And The Winner Is… The Pentax K100D!
After much deliberation, I finally made my decision and got the Pentax K100D. There are two major reasons why I chose it over the Nikon D40.
The first reason is the feature set: it has just too many higher-end DSLR features to pass up. In fact, you could mistake it for a higher-end camera if not for the 6 megapixel resolution.
This approach of putting higher-end features to a lower-end camera also applies to its bigger brother, the Pentax K10D, which I almost considered. Unfortunately, though it is a bargain by itself, it was just too pricey for my intended use.
The second reason is I was turned off by the local Nikon distributor’s representative who was all impatient and arrogant when I made inquiries. They may have their reasons and they may be makings tons of money selling Nikons but they sure won’t be making it from yours truly.
I’ve been playing around with my K100D for the past few days and I must say I’m quite happy so far. It’s very intuitive: I figured out most of the functions without reading the manual. And, of course, it takes great pictures. They could be a lot better in terms of composition, lighting, etc but in terms of image capture it’s pretty much spot on. More here as I get to know the camera better.