7th FPC Tambayan @ Kiko's Restaurant

Flickers Photo Club's (FPC) regular Tambayan now on it's 7th time. This night we introduce a relevant and important twist to our eat, dine, and talk gathering. Now we have a model shoot. This is possible at Kiko's 2nd floor where there are no customers eating and a lot of layouts can be shot at the stairs, the orange wall, the door to the kitchen, the restrooms, and the movable panel dividers. Kiko's is at the PureGold ground floor, E. Rodriguez cor Araneta, beside the Quezon Institute.

These are the outtake photos of the event. Other outtakes and the model photos are HERE:

FPC peeps enjoy the delicious food at Kikos Restaurant.
For P200, whet your appetite to a variety of sumptuous meals
to your heart's content.


Kiko's is ideal for Tambayan. Spacious, nice ambience,
delicious food, and most of all, you can shoot upstairs!

Sidney tries his "signature shot" with two babes.
But Abby screams "Bitoy!" and his arms went flying
away from the sisters! Haha

Chit chat before the shoot-shoot.
The models at the left are Breezely and Cecil,
the ones on the right, across Lenard, are Arianne (in gray)
and her sister Abby.


Where are your hands Sidney?!
"Bitoooooy!"


Ronald (k.i.f. as Basti) and Eric.
Ronald and I shoot at weddings together already.
Eric is a regular event shooter.
He arrives from an Incubus Press Con shoot.


Setting up the gears on the 2nd floor "studio."
The stairs, restroom and the kitchen
become part of the studio too!


Readying the gears while the models make themselves up.
Sidney comes in full battle gear, with his old Canon 350D
and new Nikon D300 (Wooo-hooo!)


Robinson and Marvin. Abby and Lenard.
Robinson is an acquaintance of Ian Ong,
but they come along with Rick Li.
Ian Ong comes along with a "Tentative" somebody else! Haha


Surveying the "studio" for layout while the models ready themselves.
A flash unit inside behind the door will highlight the fake leaves
and the glass very nicely, I thought. But we only shot on the leafy facade.


Sidney tots his small and big guns.
A 350D on his right hand and the Nikon D300! on his left.


Eric does his "crazy" thing! LOL
Testing the lights.

- end -

FPC PoW!s -- Week 10, 2008

The 5th leg of the Vigan expeditions came and went by swiftly. FPC contingents had a hard time finding the Sand Dunes of La Paz. We traveled through Laoag City, pass the rurals. We asked directions along the way and the locals gave conflicting directions. One resident said "Turn right after this straight road" and another, "When you get to the peak of this hill, turn left!" Yet another misheard our word and told us "That's in Ilocos Sur!" We realized she was talking about "Candon," a municipality of Ilocos Sur! Haha

We hit a dead end, backtracked and asked for more directions. We finally find the place--a dirt track with empty gravelly earth and sand on both our left and right, stick fences with barbed wires, and thorny bushes along the wayside. After about 5 minutes of inroad, we see huge hills of sand with dirt tracks, apparently made by dune buggies. Three of us got off and surveyed the place. Garry captures a scene of the place.

Before that episode we shot Nina Caldona and Given Teves, models who came with us on this expedition, at Mindoro beach. By the time we got there it was getting dark and the stars are starting to be seen. After shooting them at the beach hut, I wondered if we can get a decent photo of a model and the sky with long exposure. Sidney's photo is a testimony to the success of our effort.

While we were at Pagudpud, Rolan was in Baguio shooting the Panagbenga Festival, where he shot his PoW! this week. He texted he can not follow us anymore in Vigan and intimated that it was cold up there. He had no idea we were are the north tip of Luzon also battered by rain! We drove back from that brink of Philippines, and the sky cleared again.

Other FPC members contribute outstanding photos this week. Edwin makes it again with an unusual fowl photo, and Nilo shoots the Bangkok Skyline bathed in interesting points of light. We chose five PoW!s this week from among great images tagged for March selection; there's just simply many superb photos to showcase and we have space for them all :D

This is NOT IN ANY WAY A PHOTO CONTEST. We just want to honor Photographic creativity :D

Here now are our PoW!s for this week in the order of date taken:

February 21

"Bangkok Skyline"
by Nilo Miranda
Shooting Information:
Camera: Olympus E-500
Exposure: 3.2 sec (16/5)
Aperture: f/4
Focal Length: 17 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Exposure Bias: 0/10 EV
Flash: 88
Exposure Program: Aperture priority
Metering Mode: Pattern

February 22

"Waiting for a Falling Star"
by Sidney Chua
Shooting Information:
Camera: Canon EOS 350D Digital
Exposure: 10 sec (10)
Aperture: f/2.8
Focal Length: 24 mm
ISO Speed: 1600
Exposure Bias: 0/2 EV
Flash: Flash fired, red-eye reduction
Exposure Program: Manual
Metering Mode: Partial

February 23

"Sand Dunes"
by Garry Cruz
Shooting Information:
Camera: Nikon D80
Exposure: 0.0025 sec (1/400)
Aperture: f/11
Focal Length: 18 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: Flash did not fire
Exposure Program: Manual
Metering Mode: Spot

February 24

"People Power at Panagbenga Festival"
by Rolan Garcia
Shooting Information:
Camera: Canon EOS 400D Digital
Exposure: 0.005 sec (1/200)
Aperture: f/13
Focal Length: 46 mm
ISO Speed: 1600
Exposure Bias: 0/3 EV
Flash: Flash did not fire
Exposure Program: Shutter priority
Metering Mode: Pattern

March 09

"Look... No Hands!"
by Edwin Calica Cacayorin Jr.
Shooting Information:
Camera: Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi
Exposure: 0.004 sec (1/250)
Aperture: f/5.6
Focal Length: 300 mm
ISO Speed: 800
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: Flash did not fire
Exposure Program: Shutter priority
Metering Mode: Average

-end-

FPC PoW!s -- Week 09, 2008

Wawa is the birthplace of Flickers Photo Club (FPC). In May 23, 2006, 6 original members had a photoshoot con meeting over lunch at a local "turo-turo" (eatery). My wife and I, at the trail of our 10th wedding anniversary, are back to this place nearly two years after to find the politics of the local government unit stupendously ridiculous. Nevertheless, we had a great day shooting with fellow FPC photographers, "new" breeds of photogs, so to speak, doing Remote Lighting System (RLS).

Once you're into RLS, it is hard to go back shooting models in available or direct flat light from one onboard flash. And it becomes a habit to shoot with creative lighting even when you are not shooting models. I find my macro shooting in Pagudpud using two lights or one in remote. Even with one light, you can get a boom and you can shoot in butterfly setup and still get a dramatic images. If there's one single advise we can give to photographers who want to nurture creativity, it's "Get that light off your camera!"

This week's picks showcases the RLS shooting of Eric with one light source in Wawa, and Sidney with multiple lights in UP Diliman (a great way to start the month of March, by the way). Edwin pitches in his F/32 shot of lilies in the pond of La Mesa Ecopark, with big droplets of water, in available light and slow shutter (1/4) and ISO 200.

This is NOT IN ANY WAY A PHOTO CONTEST. We just want to honor Photographic creativity :D

Here are the PoW!s for this week in the order of date taken:

February 02

"Liquify"
by Eric Fernandez
No Shooting Info available

February 26

"Lilies in a Pond"
by Edwin Calica Cacayorin, Jr.
Shooting Information:
Camera: Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi
Exposure: 0.25 sec (1/4)
Aperture: f/32
Focal Length: 300 mm
ISO Speed: 200
Exposure Bias: 0/3 EV
Flash: Flash did not fire
Exposure Program: Shutter priority
Metering Mode: Average

March 01

"Lost"
by Sidney Chua
Shooting Information:
Camera: Nikon D300
Exposure: 0.006 sec (1/160)
Aperture: f/20
Focal Length: 50 mm
ISO Speed: 200
Exposure Bias: 0/6 EV
Flash: Flash fired
Exposure Program: Manual
Metering Mode: Spot

- end -

FPC PoW!s -- Week 08, 2008

With the hubbub of the 12th Hot Air Balloon Festival dying down and the blog nearing completion and sealing its culmination, we turn our attention once more to learning how to light. "Light is a verb," so says the slogan of the Strobists blog site. We agree. The quality of the image all depends upon how light is controlled. Or uncontrolled.

FPC has been in the forefront of the advocacy of Remote Lighting System or RLS, as we like it better-put. The main reasons why we do so are:

(1) RLS packs a good amount of desirable light (although outdoor studio lights are still preferred). You can step up the aperture to F/11 and still capture a good amount of it falling on the subject, when set to manual mode;

(2) Flash guns are more versatile than studio lights and requires less accessories. You can pull out the wide angle panel for broad lighting or zoom it to 105mm for spot/snoot lighting; and

(3) RLS equipments are lightweight and small, and thus, very portable, adding to its versatility. You can put it on rocks or crevices, mount it on tripods or monopods or put them on the ground.

Armed with just Nikon SBs and Canon EXs, we head off to the Sea Breeze Resort in Brgy Hagonoy, Taguig City, Philippines (same location where we shot the "Butterfly in the Rain" concept) for an afternoon-to-evening of RLS shooting with two models. To add a fresh touch to our concept, we enjoined the local construction workers to pose with their equipments and the model. We've toyed with the idea in Vigan and also in Wawa, and we think that it's a great idea. We definitely will do such concept in future location shoots.

And now our PoW!s from the Sea Breeze shoot from Eric and Garry. Others, like Ryuji's and Sidney's are noteworthy posts too, but of course we can't show them all here. We add a touch of photojournalism from the stream of Marvin, with one of his Boracay photos.

This is NOT IN ANY WAY A PHOTO CONTEST. We just want to honor Photographic creativity :D

Here they are in order of date and time shot:

February 15

"Bora Trip [day 3]"
by Marvin Maning
Shooting Info:
Camera: Sony DSC-R1
Exposure: 0.001 sec (1/2000)
Aperture: f/6.3
Focal Length: 14.3 mm
ISO Speed: 160
Exposure Bias: -7/10 EV
Flash: Flash fired
Exposure Program: Portrait mode
Metering Mode: Center Weighted Average

February 16

"Need Help Boys?"
by Garry Cruz
Shooting Info not available.
Garry's Photo Description:
Model: April Sevilla
Make-up: Egay Dacanay
Strobist info: 3 SB800s were used
1&2 at the left and right of the model about 45degrees from center
3 at top right side


"Hard Hat Area"
by Eric Fernandez
Shooting Info not available.
Eric's Photo Description:
10 FPC photogs.. 2 models.. 1 makeup artist.. 1 great location.. 2 groups doing remote lighting system.. 1 helluva shoot.....
Model: April Sevilla
Hair & Makeup: Egay Dacanay
Location: Sea Breeze Resort, Taguig


- end -

FPC PoW!s -- Week 07, 2008

Photojournals from the recently held protest rally in Makati City last Feb 15, 2008 would have been great to feature this week, as well as photos from the second FPC Sea Breeze photo adventure. Unfortunately, there was none of these photos in the pool yet. But that doesn't mean we don't have other great photos from able and respected FPC members. This week, two of them are from Pinoy photogs based outside of the Philippines.

Ronald makes it this week with one of his photos from our wedding shoot last January 26. The bride had been hiding her real emotions, covering it up with humor. But the sight of the altar may have broken down her defenses and beneath the veil, she lets out her true feelings. Alex takes us 133.30 meters up the Platinum (Al Bida) Tower in Doha, Qatar and melts our knees with his perspective, adding a fellow photog for the total vertigo effect. Joel shows us how to photograph cars in a way that makes you want to buy them (assuming you have the money).

This is NOT IN ANY WAY A PHOTO CONTEST. We just want to honor Photographic creativity :D

Now, our PoW!s in order of date taken:

January 26

Untitled
(reco: "Beneath the Veil")
by Ronald Bolante
Exif Metadata:
Camera: Canon EOS 30D
Exposure: 0.025 sec (1/40)
Aperture: f/4
Focal Length: 191 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Exposure Bias: 0/3 EV
Flash: Flash did not fire
Exposure Program: Manual
Metering Mode: Spot

February 9

"A View to a Kill"
by Alex Atienza
Exif Metadata:
Camera: Canon EOS 20D
Exposure: 0.005 sec (1/200)
Aperture: f/5.6
Focal Length: 17 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Exposure Bias: 0/2 EV
Flash: Flash fired, red-eye reduction
Exposure Program: Aperture priority
Metering Mode: Partial

Alex's Description: Model: TABS; Location: Platinum (Al Bida) Tower, Doha, Qatar; Lighting Setup - Strong afternoon sunlight from the right and 1 Canon Speedlight fired in E-TTL mode with a Speedlight ST-E2 trigger.

February 15

"Ferrari Enzo"
by Joel Monsalud
No Exif Metadata available.

Joel's lighting information: Two lights: AB800 with 20-degree honeycomb on top of the subject. Another AB800 with snoot for background.

- end -

FPC PoW! -- Week 06, 2008

The 1st day of the 12th Philippine International Hot Air Balloon Festival was a great day for FPC members who went there. The sky was blue and had puffs of clouds--for the perfect sky photo. Most of all, the balloons went up and soared! Imagine that!

Majority of FPC members, however, came to the festival on the 3rd day, when the wind was stiff, disabling even inflation of the balloon. Even the night glow did not materialize. Fortunately, we had a side trip to Candaba where, although we had a rough time on the road, we had a great time shooting, NOT birds, but Isai, our model :D

This is NOT IN ANY WAY A PHOTO CONTEST. We just want to honor Photographic creativity :D

Now, in the order of date taken, our PoW!s for this week!

"Taking Off"
by Rey Nocum
No exif metadata available.

"Pinwheel"
by Eric Fernandez
No exit metadata available.

"Macro"
by Richard Santillan
Exif Metadata
Camera: Nikon D200
Exposure: 0.006 sec (1/160)
Aperture: f/8
Focal Length: 105 mm
ISO Speed: 320
Exposure Bias: -1/3 EV
Exposure Program: Manual
Metering Mode: Spot

Richard's Description: Found this diminutive bugger in our garden and thought i'd give the Nikkor 105mm 2.8VR Micro a test. It was a cloudy day so i had to pop in my SB-800 on my D200's Hot Shoe to illuminate the scene. Took around 10 frames of this spider and i was quite lucky to get this shot. Shot handheld with VR turned on =)

- end -

FPC PoW! -- Week 05, 2008

January is over. February offers a full-packed schedule of FPC Photo Events starting with the 12th Hot Air Balloon Festival. Meanwhile, let us look at some great photos we, otherwise, would have missed. This week's picks manifest the nature-loving, intrepid and brazenly creative spirit of 3 of FPC members--Zek, Perry, and Marvin :D

"Butterfly3"
by: iankino2007
No exif Metadate available.

"Katamaran"
by: PowerPee
Exif Metadata:
Camera: Nikon D2Xs
Exposure: 0.04 sec (1/25)
Aperture: f/8
Focal Length: 17 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Exposure Bias: 0/6 EV
Exposure Program: Manual
Metering Mode: Pattern
PowerPee's Description: "This is a trademark here in the Philippines. This 'banca' carries several passengers and acts like a bicycle with balancers. A lot of locals use this as a means of livelihood."

Untitled
by: [2]rokbot[2]y
Exif Metadata:
Camera: Sony DSC-R1
Exposure: 0.125 sec (1/8)
Aperture: f/3.5
Focal Length: 26.2 mm
ISO Speed: 400
Exposure Bias: -7/10 EV
Flash: Flash did not fire
Exposure Program: Portrait mode
Metering Mode: Pattern

- end -

FPC PoW! -- Week 4, 2008

Our first set of Photos of the Week for 2008, in order of date taken! Keep shooting and sharing great photos! :D

"In Awe"
by: Ian Ong
No exif Metadate available.

"Unlock"
by: Edcsk
Exif Metadata:
Camera: Canon EOS 350D Digital
Exposure: 0.033 sec (1/30)
Aperture: f/4
Focal Length: 65 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Exposure Bias: 0/2 EV
Flash: Flash did not fire
Exposure Program: Manual
Metering Mode: Partial

"Festival Queen 2008"
by: Ravemastershun
Exif Metadata:
Camera: Canon EOS 400D Digital
Exposure: 0.006 sec (1/160)
Aperture: f/5.6
Focal Length: 55 mm
ISO Speed: 400
Exposure Bias: 0/3 EV
Flash: Flash fired, auto mode
Exposure Program: Portrait mode
Metering Mode: Evaluative

- end -

BEST VIEWED LARGE

Impressions on Samsung SyncMaster 205BW 20” LCD Monitor

FOREWORD

Until November of this year, I thought that a 17” monitor with a resolution of 1024 x 768 pixels is already very good. That 19” monitors are just plain excessive. But in November of this year, I was relieved from my site works and have been returned to our design office. Our office has undergone some renovations since the last time I was there and so my old work station is gone and so is my old computer.

Nevertheless, our administration has provided me with a new cube (it’s considerably more spacious than my old cubicle so I’m calling it that) and then our IT department made arrangements for a computer that I can use. Part of the renovation works (and effectively re-branding) included upgrading our computers so I got one of the new computers with 19” Samsung SyncMaster 920NW LCD monitors. For some reason, I got one of the wide screen 16:10 aspect ration instead of the usual 4:3. (Majority of the new monitors delivered to our office were 4:3’s.) I’ve always preferred the wide screen monitors. I’ll explain this later on in this article.

Anyway, I was glad to find out that it’s resolution is also much higher than what I got used to (1024 x 768 pixels). Sure my laptop’s monitor resolution is 1280 x 800 but with a screen size of 12.1” it looks basically the same as the old CRT. I did not fully appreciated the extra pixels. I mean, the old one was good so this one looked good to me too. Good but not better. Not a major leap forward.

But my new office monitor – wow! That was the first word that came out of my mouth when I first turned it on. At 19”, 16:10 aspect ratio, a whooping 1440 x 900 resolution, and an effective viewing angle of 160 degrees, I thought it looked pretty amazing. I tried it with the usual software we use in the office – AutoCAD, and again – WOW! Even with all those icons in there I still have plenty of space to work on my drawings. And the 16:10 ratio was most effective because it makes working with multiple viewports really very convenient. I also found myself zooming in and out a lot less. Then I tried it with Excel and again it was so fantastic to be able to view more rows at a convenient size. And because it’s wide screen, more columns too.

And then, it occurred to me – how will my pictures look on this? Electronically, I’ve seen my pictures large with multi-media projectors. They looked nice but I’ve always thought that the rendition of colors were a little different from what I see on my old CRT (or laptop). So the next day, I brought some of my photos – unprocessed jpg’s – from my Philippines and Brunei vacation last October and viewed it on my office monitor. I was dumbfounded by the clarity of the details the monitor has revealed. I spent my entire lunch break looking at hundreds of pictures testing especially those photos that looked good in my laptop and also those that looked bad. Those that looked bad turned out to be not so bad at all and the good ones looked even better. It’s probably important to note at this point that it does not do a good job of making any picture look good. What it does really well is reveal the fine details. Because as good as it is in showing the clarity of your pictures, it’s also very good at revealing noise and compression artifacts that I don’t normally see on monitors with lower resolution.

Suddenly, my laptop’s monitor looked terrible. I love my new office monitor! I loved it so much that I decided to get one for myself at home – with my laptop, of course, as my CPU. Their prices have considerably gone down and have vastly improved since they were first introduced into the market.

Looking around what’s available in the market the following day, I found out that there are even better ones out there. There’s a 20” and a 22” versions at a much higher resolution of 1680 x 1050 pixels. The 20”, while not that much bigger than my office monitor I figured that they would look better because of the much higher resolution. The difference in quality would probably be more obvious with 22” and perhaps that resolution is more suited to it but for its price, I could buy two 19” models. I think the 20” offered more bang for the buck so I went for it. At this point all these were just speculations because I couldn’t test it in the shop with my own stuff. Sure they look good but they were running sample photos and videos that were, of course, made for demonstration, designed to make the product look really, really good.

For size comparison, here it is next to my laptop (to which it is connected to) with a 12" screen and a resolution of 1280 x 800.

SO HOW IS IT?

Upon arriving home I wasted no time in connecting my laptop and making the necessary adjustments to the desktop display, the difference in resolution became instantly apparent. I made my laptop wallpaper to fit exactly to its set resolution of 1280 x 900 pixels and so when it was displayed in my new monitor, the empty spaces around it is big enough to contain 3 columns each of icons at the right and left side of the screen without overlapping with the wallpaper picture. Texts were just the right size and very comfortable to read.

DIGITAL PHOTOS

The pictures? In one word, brilliant! The best photos looked even better but the not so good ones revealed their weaknesses. I saw some compression artifacts in some of the JPGs straight of the camera with medium quality setting. Now I’ve set my camera to shoot RAW + best quality JPGs. Watching slideshows in this monitor is such a joy. And I’m very happy about it.

VIDEOS

HDTV’s are at least 720p and Full HD’s are 1080p. At 1680 x 1050 pixels, this monitor is nearly Full HD and it’s actually equipped with an HDCP port and supplied with the respective cable. I’m sure that Blu-Ray movies would also look really good here. Sadly my laptop is not that equipped and I only have regular DVD’s. My best quality movie (“King Kong”) did not looked so good. Colors looked dull and the images soft. Adjusting to a lower resolution to match that of the DVD did not help and actually made it worse. I guess, that’s any LCD’s “weakness” – they look good at their native resolutions (resolution for which they were designed for) but look terrible when adjusted to a different one.

Wide screen format allows working on applications side by side. At a resolution this high, it's even more wonderful.

WEB BROWSING

The high resolution and 16:10 wide format allows me to browse two windows side by side without overlapping on top of each other and without having to pan left and right on either window. Well – flickr, Yahoo! Mail, and most blogs at least.

OTHER APPLICATIONS

As mentioned above, working with Spreadsheets and AutoCAD is very nice on the 19”. It’s even better here. I just wasn’t able to test AutoCAD because Autodesk has not yet made a version that is complatible with Windows Vista (my laptop’s operating system).

LIKES

- Design – despite the screen size, it’s a space-saver. It has a thin bezel which helps in minimizing the overall dimensions while maximizing screen size. It’s also provided with a stand that allows you to swivel the monitor up and down or left and right – and the height is adjustable. The stand has a circular footprint of just 19.5 centimeters.
- HDCP port – Hopefully I could afford to buy a computer with Blu-Ray drive and HDCP connection in the future. That makes it future-proof enough for me.
- Comprehensive adjustment buttons. Other than the usual brightness and contrast controls, it’s also equipped with Samsung’s proprietary MagicBright button which allows you to choose preset settings for text, internet, games, sports, movies or your own custom settings. The menu controls even allows you to adjust sharpness, fineness and coarseness of the display. If all of those sounds complicated, you can just press the “Auto” button.

DISLIKES

- Nothing major really. It’s just that my slightly smaller, slightly lower resolution and slightly cheaper office monitor has a wider viewing angle of 178 degrees while mine is “only” 160 degrees. That’s not so bad, is it?

Here's the difference between a 1280 x 800 and 1680 x 1050 resolution monitor. Note that the sizes of the icons are identical yet the difference in physical size is very compelling.

CONCLUSION

For its price (around PHP 11,650) I think it’s a really good monitor. I have yet to find a major fault to not recommend it to anyone looking for a big monitor.

Watching normal video (full screen) is probably the only disadvantage here so YouTube addicts, be warned. Incidentally, my wife told me that when she tried to use this monitor, she felt a little dizzy. Apparently it felt like watching a movie from the front row seat inside a cinema. Perfect for me – it’s just the way I like to watch movies.

Wide screen / high res combination is great for virtually any application. It may be excessive for simple word processing but in this case, I’d say too much of a good thing is a good thing.

Cheers,

alexdpx

FPC November Photo Contest Winners

Here are the entries and winners of the FPC November "BOO" Theme Photo Contest.

"The Entries"

and here are the Top 3 Winners for the month of November:

3rd Place Winner

"Deadwood"
by: papdoligosa

2nd Place Winner

by: Lenard Po

1st Place Winner

by: [2]rokbot[2]y

Congratulations to the Winners!

Watch out for our FPC December "Red & Green" Theme Photo Contest.
Thanks for dropping by.

FPC October Photo Contest Winners

Here are the entries and winners of the FPC October "Delicious" Theme Photo Contest.

"2nd Place Winner"

by: "akire - Erika Serrano"

"1st Place Winner"

by: Karen Ilagan

Congratulations to the Winners!

Watch out for our FPC November "Boo" Theme Photo Contest.
Thanks for dropping by.

Awe-inspiring Beauty

Scenic Falls
Originally uploaded by john edward

This is my third visit to Wawa Dam, Montalban and Im still amazed at the place’s natural and historical richness. The deep gorge below the main falls where large boulders split the stream, the thundering noise of white water crashing down to the bottom from the top of the dam, the river lined with hills on both sides and of course the friendly local folks living along the trail going up to the dam are some of the splendors only Wawa can bestow to its guests. The main attractions of course are the Spanish era 1800s (best guess) structures: the roughly 100 foot stone brick dam, the dam control stone brick tower and the man made tunnels bored at the sides of the hills to allow folks to access the dam by foot. These are some of its gems but every visitor will surely find their own to add to the list.

One can only go so far to paint a picture of Wawa using words. You have to be there to capture and experience it! These pictures somehow try to capture some visual gems of the place but they are merely made for seeing. Traveling per se is so popular because of its a multi-dimension sensory experience. Going to Wawa is no exception; it will not disappoint.










All About Fish-ball Sticks

One of Wawa’s striking features are its people. Although the dam was built with considerable technology during its time the people of Wawa seem to have stagnated in terms of development. The place is still rural community than anything else. Its locals lack most if not all of today’s conveniences. I doubt if they have sufficient plumbing, sewerage and electricity; they live in shanties after all.

As you navigate the trail to the Dam what captures your interest is its people. They are friendly and yet will look at you with curiosity. What struck me however are the local working folks. I admit that I’ve only really noticed them beginning with my second trip to the place. As you ascend the narrow rocky and uneven trail you inevitably cross paths with young adults, the elderly and children carrying sacks on their backs that look like a mountaineer’s full sized back pack. Instead of carrying the load on their shoulders however, its carried on their backs, head and balanced against a band on the top of their head (see inset).


I've seen some carry sacks loaded with coal. On my last visit they were carrying cut bamboo pieces in very large sacks. I tried to carry them by lifting it with one arm and the sack hardly budged. I used to be able to bench 200+ pounds back in the day. Sacks (inset) are packed with cut bamboo pieces and are soaked in water hence their heavy weight. The 6 inch planks will further be cut into sticks to be used as “fish ball” or barbeque skewers/ sticks.

Those who move them transport them by raft from 2-3 mountains away via a bamboo boat that operates like a gondola. They are then off-loaded to a riverbank and loaded to the backs of the young men, elderly and children. They get paid for each pack they deliver from pick-up to the delivery point . I reckon they don’t get paid a lot judging from the type demographic of the workers. As I photographed them I’ve watched them flex their whole body with their veins on their necks and arms stretching as if they were about to burst. They seem to be mildly amused by my presence but choose not to be distracted because it was already 4:00pm then and they still needed to fetch and deliver about 4 boatloads of sacks before nightfall about 6:00pm.


I followed them to document how they mount, carry and move the packs. I just shook my head how the littlest of them manage to even carry those sacks and travel even a minute on very rough terrain. Travel by foot to the delivery point is about 15 minutes away.

One of them asked in Filipino: “what will happen to the pictures?” I presumed they wanted to see themselves in prints so I told them I'll leave copies to the neighborhood tourism office for them get copies.

He wasn’t interested. He remarked instead: “Send them to Gloria (Philippine president) instead so that she may know our (dire) condition here.”

If anyone can forward this to the right agency local or foreign who may be able to HELP (perhaps through technology grants and livelihood programs but at the same time not disrupt their way of life in a sense) please do.