Manila cathedral

Manila Cathedral in the walled city of Intramuros began as a simple nipa hut parish in 1571. It was elevated to Cathedral status in 1581 when the archdiocese separated from Mexico. In 1583 this upgraded nipa structure burned to the ground.

Archbishop Trinidad seeing the delapidated condition in 1747 began inquiries.  It was in 1760 that a conventional cathedral was constucted, designed by Florentine architect Juan De Uguccioni who modelled the facade to resemble a church in Italy.

The cathedral was destroyed several more times. Seriously damaged  by earthquake in 1621 then destroyed by a series of earthquakes in 1645, and destroyed again in the earthquake of 1863. It was bombed and reduced to rubble in 1945 in the battle for Manila where all that remained was it's facade. The rebuilding was  completed 1958, designed by architect Fernando H. Ocampo.

eclipse-not

There's always a prediction of some kind during these events, even a new special flavor of ice cream. 

Getting back to my roots and my personal Truths.

Been enjoying the zeitgeist of Post-postmodernist-hyper-realist-blade-runner-matrix-esque-zen-maya-wu-wei-freak-outed-ness-poser-tripster-teeniebopper-punk-pseudo, extravaganza galore.

SFO, Millbrae, D610 tests

March 6, 2024 Testing the 70-300mm VR Nikkor original model, mkI, on Nikon D610. I would have preferred to have tripod mounted and stopped down on the Landscape to see the true qualities of this lens. It was just a quick casual handheld shot.However I was able to get a sense of the versatilty of a fullframe file in GIMP while doing the postproduction. I used cruves selectively over specifice values.

Nikon D610 first test shots

I bought an ex+ rated from KEH and began testing on February 24, 2024 at the Chinese New Years Parade in San Francisco, California. 24-85mm VR 3.5-4.5

View from Mt Harap & The Tatlong Krus

January 26, 2024 My first hike up to Mt. Harap to the Tatlong Krus just behind the small town of Paete, Laguna Province, Philippines. Mt Harap is part of the Sierra Madre that flanks the west side of Luzon. From the summit the small town sits nestled between the Sierra Madre and Lake Laguna. Lake Laguna is the largest lake in the Philippines and the Sierra Madre is the longest continuous mountain range. A few other images from the short Hike. Olympus Pen ep5, MZ 17mm f1.8 and 45mm f1.8:

Carlo Gabuco portrait

From Paete I visited an old friend in Manila. It was a 3 hours-plus bus ride and I wanted to travel light so I just brought my Olympus Pen EP5 and the MZ 17mm f1.8. I was trying to use the on camera flash but it wouldn't fire on this particular shot and was significantly under exposed. So I did my GIMP post production work to bring it back. I think the result was rather unique. Carlo Gabuco is an amazing painter and photographer. He is also one of the recipiants of the Thirtteen Artists Awards, TAA at the Culture Center of the Philippines, CCP in Manila.

D610 popup flash

March 27, 2024, Holy Week, Paete, Laguna Province Philippines I used the onboard popup flash on the Nikon D610 with a 24-85mm. ,