Back in April 2004, I had the opportunity to get involved in a youth summer camp that was held at Initao, Misamis Oriental. And one of the adventures that all the youth campers and staff enjoyed was the visit to an underground cave at the Initao National Park. It’s a well-preserved, densely forested area with really huge and tall trees all over a wide stretch of land in-between Cagayan de Oro and Iligan City. If I’m not mistaken, this park has been intentionally preserved by the government—which is good. I’m not sure though if it is still being well-maintained after the passing of many years.
Click to zoom.
All of us—campers and staff—descended into a small, dark hole or opening on the ground and once inside, it was a big surprise to know that there was such a big cavern underneath! And then the challenge began for all of us. We had to crawl and pass through a small hole just enough for one person to pass through one at a time in the dark. But surprisingly, “at the end of the tunnel,” you get up looking gladly at the deep blue sea. What a wonderful experience it was!
A nipa hut — Pinoy folk architecture — just near the dam high up in the mountains. (Click to zoom)
Back in May 2007, I was invited as one of the staff in a youth summer camp that was held in Cebu. I didn’t realize that it was near Kawasan Falls, a beautiful resort area where tourists visit. From the camp site beside the beach, we had to hike about 45 minutes or so to reach Kawasan Falls with its many falls along the way as you go up higher. Yes, that’s right! It’s all going up—high up in the mountains! Whew! That was tough for me haha! I was not expecting the hike to take that long with my old heavy laptop in my backpack! Anyway, I survived haha!
Here are the shots I took using my point-and-shoot Mercury digital camera. In the photo above, I took that shot because I thought that it’s an example of Philippine folk architecture. The rest are shots I took along the way.
I’ve been dreaming to have a professional camera ever since but since I could not afford it, I used whatever was available to me back then. I happened to have been given a cell phone called, Vodaphone V902T made by Toshiba and I used it too to take photographs. Cell phone photos are just great for me too haha! Here are three snapshots from this phone which I took when I was at Kawasan Falls, in Cebu sometime in 2007.
I also took more photos at Kawasan Falls using my Mercury digital camera. Click here.
During my stay in Davao City for some seven years, I traveled a lot to Cagayan de Oro City and back and I did all my driving through the Bukidnon-Davao Road (BUDA, they call it). Along the way, I did enjoy taking snapshots of the wonderful view all around me especially the mountain ranges — the Bukidnon and Davao mountains — which are beautiful and breathtaking all the time. For these photos here, I used a point-and-shoot digital camera with an unknown brand called Mercury. The featured photo above and the first two photos are scenes from Bukidnon. The last three photos are majestic scenes from the Marilog District in Davao City.
Back in April 2005, my daughter was able to capture a really wonderful afternoon scene at the Ardent Hot Springs in Camiguin Island. It was during a youth summer camp and my whole family was there too. As I was busy inside the cottage where we stayed, my daughter suddenly rushed in from the outside asking quickly for my camera. So I gave it to her. What came out was a really wonderful scenic view. Nope, there were no photographic gadgets used. It was just a simple point-and-shoot 3.1 megapixel Mercury digital camera—an unheard of camera brand. She took a really good shot!
Great Photo Using Simple Digital Camera
What produced the effect was the smoke produced by the burning leaves gathered by the resort personnel of Ardent Hot Springs as they cleaned up the surroundings. A great photo out of a simple digital camera!
And of course, the eye of an artist made the difference. Anybody can shoot. My daughter is an art lover and an art teacher. The simple camera was just a tool. God created a beautiful and wonderful world and we’re all blessed to live in it, enjoy it and delight on it.
