30-year-old 50mm Nikon lens mounted on a GF1 camera
Photoshoot By Chance
My wife and I were invited to become sponsors in a wedding in Cagayan de Oro for a couple whom we have known since they were little kids. Both parents of this couple on both sides are my friends. We lived in Don Carlos, Bukidnon for one year and then in Cagayan de Oro during the late 80s and early 90s for about five years so I got to know both families and their children and we became close friends. And as usual, wherever I go, I usually bring my camera for an opportunity to photoshoot.
Just before the wedding, I had the chance to have a photoshoot with a really pretty girl. I also happen to have known this pretty girl since she was a baby and even before she was born in her mother’s womb. She happens to be the daughter of a couple who also became my close friends through the years as we lived in Mindanao.
30-year-old 50mm Nikon lens mounted on a GF1 camera
Photoshoot Using a Mirrorless Camera
So, just a few minutes before the wedding started, I asked her if she would be willing for me to take some quick shots of her and she gladly obliged. As usual, I used my micro 4/3 GF1 Lumix camera with a 14-45mm kit lens. I also used my more than 30-year old 50mm Nikon lens attached to my GF1 camera which somehow still fascinates me that it still gives really sharp photos. That is, if you get it right as you focus manually. It has no modern electronic parts. All for the love of photography as an art expression haha!
GF1 camera with 14-45mm micro 4/3 kit lens.
Well, although the photoshoot was hurriedly done — the wedding was about to start — but I’m happy that I was able to get some pretty good shots of her. I would say, that I need to learn more how to take better shots but nonetheless, I’m enjoying my hobby and I’m having fun along the way. Thanks to Aya!
My wife and I had just attended a wedding ceremony for a couple whose parents—on both sides—have been our close friends for many decades now. It was a wonderful occasion and my wife and I were glad to have been invited as sponsors along with other friends.
Weddings are wonderful occasions where love between a bride and a groom is expressed publicly and their union as husband and wife are formally recognized and acknowledged by the community. Contrary to what some may say, marriage is a divine institution ordained of God and is not something that man just made up out of the blue. Marriage is God-ordained and not to be entered into lightly.
But where does love come from? Where did the bride’s love for her groom come from and vice versa? Why do we love our mates? Why do parents love their kids and kids love their parents? Did it just happen to be that way? Why does love make us happy? Are we humans just accidents in time and space?
Well, love comes from God. In fact, God is love (1 John 4:8). It did not originate from you and me. It comes from God and he shares it with us. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit have decided from before the beginning of time to share their life and love with us and to include us into their inner community. The reason why we enjoy family time, group outings, community activities, weddings and parties is because God is interested in giving us joy within the community where love—God’s love—can be shared. God is a God who loves weddings and banquets! Through his Son, Jesus Christ, he is inviting us to participate and join the fun! You are loved, included and invited! Come and join the fun!
So close and yet so far away. My wife and I watched planes take off as we were stuck in traffic.
To make sure we won’t miss our 10:55 a.m. flight, we left home very early in the morning but though we tried, my wife and I didn’t make it. Just when we were already so close to the airport, we were stuck in traffic somewhere at C-5. This was my first time to miss a flight since my college days. I should have left home even earlier. At the check-in counter, we were told that we had already forfeited our tickets since we did not show up on time.
So we took our chances and booked ourselves for the next flight at 2:00 p.m. We were wait-listed and told to come back at 1:40 p.m. There were more than 20 chance passengers and my wife and I were the last ones. Thankfully we made it and went quickly straight to the boarding gate after paying for the new tickets.
When we reached the boarding gate though, we were told that boarding time was moved to 2:55 p.m. Whew! That was some “brisk walking exercise” from the check-in counter to the boarding gate. I had plenty of exercise the whole day inside the airport haha! My wife and I were glad to be that last two passengers who made it.
This passenger fell asleep as we waited for our plane to take off but only to be told we had to go back to the terminal building. The flight was cancelled. Poor fellow haha!
Then we finally boarded the plane and when the doors were shut, the captain said we had to wait for some 15 minutes as there was too much air traffic. So we waited again. I did have some experience before where our plane just circled around the Manila airport for about an hour because we could not land right away. So I understood what “air traffic” was all about and I did not mind the 15-minute wait.
Then finally the plane taxied and stopped then we waited again for quite a long while. More air traffic we were told. Finally when it was getting late in the afternoon we were told we had to go back to the terminal building as the plane could not land after sunset at the new Laguindingan airport. There was an uproar inside the plane and more complaints and hot tempers flared up at the passenger information booth.
Hmm… Looks like it’s a bad day to fly. We were told to check-in at 2:00 a.m. for the 5:30 a.m. flight the next day. Hopefully, tomorrow is a good day to fly.
Note:
April 28, 2014 — It was my first time to write a blog—this blog above—using my small smartphone and it was really hard to type the letters. I’m now back home. We were able to take the 5:30 a.m. flight and reached Cagayan de Oro just in time for me and my wife to be able to attend a wonderful afternoon wedding. It was an interesting flight.
It was our first time to land and take off at the new Laguindingan airport and I heard good and bad reports from the passengers and others about the airport. As it is right now, the airport doesn’t have lights yet and therefore planes could not land after sunset. Interestingly, the new airport tower is not functioning yet as well and the old tower at the Lumbia airport is still being used. I thought it was odd that an airport doesn’t have its own control tower haha! “Is that really an international airport?” Some are wondering. Some people say the airport opening was rushed for political reasons. Hmm… interesting comments from the local folks.
Anyway, it was some experience. We enjoyed our visit to this place where we once lived for some 5 years. It was good to see friends back again and to attend a very fun-filled wedding.
Yesterday, I had my first stress test. That is, a treadmill stress test for those with hypertension or heart concerns. It was not stressful though. The hospital staff were nice and friendly and I enjoyed the time with the doctor and the nurse. They even allowed my wife to watch and take some snapshots as they tried to wear me out on the treadmill haha! It was actually a test on my heart condition. I also had an ECG and 2D Echo. These were all requested by my cardiologist when she found out that my last visit to her was last January of last year.
And just this morning, I had another blood test. I hope to get all the results tomorrow and hopefully present all these data for my cardiologist’s analysis. I actually feel good at this time but I just thought that I just need to have a checkup after the passing of some time. It was a good opportunity to have my heart checked since I was already in the hospital anyway when I had my nose checked.
Oh well, I’ve never been hospitalized in my life. But as I become a senior citizen in a few months, I guess physical checkups are becoming a more important thing to do which during my younger days I hated to do. But I’m always thankful that the Lord has given us life and love to enjoy with him, with our families and friends and with everybody. Enjoy life for as long as God has given us life to enjoy. In Christ, we live and move and have our being.
Several days ago, I had my first ever CT scan done on my head. I never expected to have one but that was what the doctor recommended. My wife actually had her first ever CT scan done on her head as well when she slipped on the floor and the back of her head hit the edge of the first stair tread. Thankfully, the result was good. She had 5 stitches. That was about a year or so ago I guess.
For some two months now, I somehow lost my sense of smell and taste. It developed gradually until I can no longer smell even the strongest of odors. That was my complaint when I went to the doctor.
The EENT doctor checked deep inside my nose with a long instrument that can see inside my nostrils. He probed both nostrils. He called the procedure as endoscopy. It was my first time to experience having an instrument inserted into my nose. The doctor was good at it. I did not feel any pain at all. Just a bit of annoyance knowing that something foreign was deep inside my nose. After that, he showed me in his computer what he saw. It was like a movie getting inside both my nostrils haha!
The doctor said things seemed to look good but he wanted to be sure. He recommended a CT scan. He wanted to eliminate his suspicion that I may have suffered a stroke. Before the CT scan, I had a blood test and some liquid was inserted into my veins which was needed for the CT scan I was told. That liquid made me feel bad after about 8 hours. To make a long story short, the results showed that I did not have a stroke.
I still can’t smell nor taste and I’m taking a lot of medications to hopefully clear my sinus of whatever is blocking my sense of smell. The doctor said I now have sinusitis and it’s my first time to have this kind of sickness. Hopefully, I’ll get well soon. I’m getting old—a reminder that in Christ we live and move and have our being. Thank you Lord for the life and love you allow us to enjoy now and in the future.
