Yesterday, I once again used my old 50mm Nikon lens attached to a Lumix GF1 camera body. I continue to be amazed at how good this old lens can capture photos but once again, I found it difficult to focus manually by just looking at the LCD screen at the back of a modern digital camera. My camera doesn’t have a lens viewfinder. And the old lens doesn’t have an electronic connection to the digital camera body. Oh well… I still am pleased with the result of the photo I took of the sunset yesterday. It really is a challenge to use manual settings. But it was fun.
Monthly Archives: January 2014
Durians in Davao
My family and I once lived in Davao City for some seven years and there are so many good things I love about the place. For one, I really love the many varieties of durians in Davao that are available almost the whole year round. My wife and I loved to eat this fruit which for some “smells like hell” haha! Not for us. In so far as my wife and I are concerned, this fruit “tastes like heaven” haha!
In this photo, my lovely wife and I dropped by at Calinan to buy some sweet pomelos and durians. Calinan is known to produce some of the best durians in Davao. And the pomelos are really great too. Davao’s pomelos are the best I’ve tasted so far. We were on our way to Cagayan de Oro from Davao City on this trip sometime in 2003.
Missions at the Foot of Mt. Apo
Back in November 2003 (if I remember the date correctly), I was invited to be one of the facilitators of a missions training program organized by the Asian Center for Missions (ACM) in partnership with the Living Springs International (LSI). It was held high up in the mountains in Baracatan, Toril, Davao City. It was actually at the foot of Mt. Apo, the highest mountain (or stratovolcano) in the Philippines.
In this first photo above, there were two local boys playing in the stream water flowing down from high up in the mountain. The atmosphere was cold out there. A nice place for solitude and contemplation. For this shot, I was using a point-and-shoot camera with unknown brand called Mercury. But it took good shots nonetheless!
In this second photo, this was the retreat house and training center and the fog shows how cold it can be out there! Brrr….
And oh by the way, your car has to be in top shape and you have to be a good driver to be able to climb quite a steep slope on an uphill drive as you approach the camp. Quite an experience.
Sunset and Arch Photos
Since it’s really cold in the morning these past few weeks, my wife and I decided to do our regular exercise in the afternoon. We normally brisk walk from our home to a nearby memorial park. It’s about 1.5 kilometers all in all from home to the park and back. And as usual, I also bring along my camera. I was able to take a good shot of the sunset at the memorial park. It looked like a huge fireball about to hit the earth from right to left because of the cloud formation. What a fantastic sunset view!
I also was able to take a good shot of an arch at the park. Natural lighting was perfect for photography during that afternoon.
My Mothers
Although there was no typhoon, the heavy rains which poured in Mindanao these past few days caused some flooding in some parts of Mindanao. It also caused many flight cancellations. My mom was one of those affected. Last Saturday morning her flight from Butuan to Manila was cancelled. She came back the following day, Sunday, only to be told the flight was cancelled again. Thankfully on the third day, Monday, after all the stress that she went through, she was relieved to be able to fly from Butuan to Manila. She would have missed her international flight which was scheduled on a Tuesday, early morning.
In the photo above is my mom greatly relieved to see me at the airport. She was finally able to take her international flight the following day. In the other photo, my two mothers — that is, my mother-in-law and my own mom spend some time together after not having seen each other for a good number of years. They had a great time and were glad to see each other again.