Back during my younger days, I loved photography but the cost of film, camera lenses and other camera accessories prevented me from making it a full-time hobby. I enjoyed my Nikon EM film camera (a gift from my sister) while it lasted. Then I shifted to ordinary point-and-shoot cameras which was what I can afford to buy. We used to call it as instamatic cameras — now it’s point-and-shoot (P & S). I did enjoy several P & S cameras over a span of many years and I was happy shooting photos of just about anything that interested me. I still enjoy shooting up to now.

But a year or so ago, my daughter gave me a second hand Panasonic Lumix GF1 camera. That sparked my interest again to study further about camera settings and all that stuff. The GF1 is a mirrorless camera different from a DSLR camera. It’s smaller and lighter—a compact camera. It’s technically called a micro four thirds camera. It is not a P & S camera too.

Photoshoot for a Cause

In the photo above, I took a shot of my wife when she was still in college back in 1978. She was my favorite photo subject back then and up to now haha! We were still singles back then. I used my Nikon EM film camera with a 50mm lens. In the second photo, I used my GF1 digital camera but I attached the same old 50mm Nikon lens to it to take a shot of my wife during a “Photoshoot for a Cause” recently at the Ninoy Aquino Parks and Wildlife Center in Quezon City. Without planning to, she became an instant model haha!

Joining that “Photoshoot for a Cause: Yolanda Project” has caused me to study again photography and learn some more about photo post processing. In the first photo above, I tried to revive the old photo and remove scratches and blemishes. It’s kind of tough to edit a scanned photo I realize. I still need to learn a lot. I’m kind of enjoying my hobby right now.

It used to be that photos were made using film. And this film needs to be developed using chemicals and is done by those who know the tricks inside a dark room. That was how pictures were “post processed” or “developed” back then. Gone are those days. Today, it’s all digital photography. Post processing and tweaking, improving, deleting, adding, photo editing or enhancing photos are done by those who know certain programs like Photoshop or Lightroom.

The first photoshoot that I ever joined encouraged me to get back once again and learn more about a built-in program in my laptop which at first I did not really took notice of. Now, I’m trying to learn more about photography and photo editing once again. It’s called Photoshop Elements 9. In this photo above (right), the model’s face is in full color while the rest of the photo is in black and white. The second photo is the original one and is in full color which I also tweaked increasing its color’s intensity. How about that? The marvels of digital photography!

Responding to a call to help raise funds for the Typhoon Yolanda victims, my wife and I joined a “photoshoot for a cause” organized by a friend at the Ninoy Aquino Parks and Wildlife Center in Quezon City. We spent the whole afternoon learning from professional photographers who freely shared their knowledge and skills in photography. There were several models and professional hair and make-up artists who were there too. I did enjoy observing what was going on eager to learn. This was my first time ever to join a photoshoot event where I was also involved as a newby “photog”—I learned that term, “photog” (short for photographer) yesterday haha!

I brought along my Panasonic Lumix GF-1 camera (a micro four-thirds camera) with my three lenses: an old 50mm Nikon lens which I had since the 80s, a 14-45mm Panasonic zoom lens and a 30mm Sigma fixed lens. I kept on changing lenses trying to figure out which was the best lens to use in each situation and I’m glad to see that one of the pros kept on changing lenses too. He gave me some tips about which lens to use in each situation. It was a time of fun and learning. The sad part is that after looking at all my shots at home, I can only select a very few which I feel are really good shots. Oh dear haha! The whole afternoon and nothing to show for it. I need to learn more on how to really take good shots. Oh well, until the next photoshoot.

I did have a hard time focusing the old Nikon lens since it had no auto-focus capability—an old camera lens. It was not a waste of time though. We gained new friends who are also lovers of photography as an art expression just like me. I did learn new things about photography, about models and about make-up artists. And we were able to join a worthy cause to help victims of the Typhoon Yolanda calamity. It was a great day!