Rough Groove

The historic Oslob church and convent burned yesterday!

I just got news that the 160 year old stone church in the town proper of Oslob including its convent were burned to the ground yesterday! What a great loss and I am very much saddened that this beautiful church suffered this preventable loss. Investigators say that it was caused by a short circuit. Unfortunately, it cannot be returned even if the townspeople planned to erect another one.

Lamentable! This is not the first time that it burned. In the 1950s, the fire was smaller compared to the one yesterday. Now, I’m am more fired up in fastracking my church documentation before we lose another one. By next week, I should visit this site.

Series 56: Busuanga aerials

Series 56: Busuanga aerials now starting at Binary Silver. Eleven photos of Busuanga Island in the Calamianes group of northern Palawan as viewed from the plane.

urbanMANILA

urbanMANILA is the website that I developed, gratis et amore, for the projects made during the workshop conducted by World Press Photo 05 awardee Peter Bialobrzesky, a program of the Goethe Institut, Manila. This was held from 31 January - 26 February 08 at the Silverlens Gallery. From the original 10 participants, eight of us finished the month long collaboration.

The workshop was free. In return, we accompanied and assisted Peter, one on one, for his current work. The learnings and new insights gained ranging from technique, approach to photography as an art, business and as a career were really priceless. I have always wanted to do urban photography and Peter’s inputs really is spot on.

I never regretted joining the workshop. Now, I can just smile and look back when I almost didn’t make it. When I first learned about it from Dennis Rito early January, it was already too late as the selection was concluded December. But when I saw that only 8 out of 10 slots were filled, I immediately contacted Paula Guevarra of Goethe Institut but was told that it was already too late. Seeing that this will be important for me, I sent an email to Jimmy Domingo of ACFJ as well as to Peter. They discussed it and luckily, the selection was reopened just a few days before the start of the workshop. And from there, it was history. It pays to be persistent!

The website is just a simple HTML and CSS based project. I was tempted to do it in flash or integrate flash elements in it but decided not to. The design is uncluttered and I opted for a black background so that the photos will look better. I also tried out a new design where the content is organized in such a way that it floats against the dark backdrop. I did not follow a top-left placement of the site name but instead, positioned it at level with the photo. The main content only holds the site name as well as the images. As for the footer, I utilized this area to hold the thumbnails, navigation and other information. One of the photographers, Tammy David requested not to include her images while I’m still awaiting the text for the About page.

The entire project was done in one sitting. Overnight.

Visita Iglesia at simbahan.net

Currently being featured at simbahan.net is a series of posts devoted to churches that are found in Cebu, Bulacan and pre-war Manila in time for the Semana Santa or Holy Week visita iglesia tradition. This practice goes back to the early Roman times when Christians visited 7 major churches in Rome. In the Philippines, it was introduced by the Spanish colonizers.

The series starts with a short introduction of the visita iglesia. It is then followed with 13 colonial era churches founded and built by the Augustinians in the city of Cebu and going down to the southeastern part of the province. Colonial era churches in Bulacan then follows. Paying homage to Intramuros, I have included a pre-war visita iglesia in the walled city with its now long lost major religious order churches.

Watched films of Alfonso Cuaron, Feb 08

What a month! 27 movies and 3 shorts watched: 12 and 2 shorts from various directors from various countries but generally from the US, 5 plus a short are works of Alfonso Cuaron and 10 by the great Spanish director, Pedro Almodovar. Movies from the Philippines were really lean that I contented myself with offerings from Indiesine in Robinson’s Galleria since what was available mainstream was not to my liking.

Next month, I’ll be tackling at least 15 of Krzysztof Kieslowski and films produced in the UK.

Say Alfonso Cuaron, and Y Tu Mama Tambien comes to mind. This movie, a provocative and controversial sexual road comedy was quite successful internationally and was a hit with critics. But beyond this, he is also known for directing one of the Harry Potter movie series which the author, JK Rowling personally liked, screen adaptations, and his first feature film, Solo Con Tu Pareja, which was a big hit in Mexico. This was also the film that started his international career when acclaimed director, Sydney Pollack, so impressed with it, got him to do one of the episodes of Fallen Angels. While his filmography isn’t that long, he has won admiration for his work and received various wins and nominations.

Of his major film works, I only missed A Little Princess.

Solo Con Tu Pareja (Only with Your Partner), 1991 (Mexico)
Y Tu Mama Tambien (And Your Mother Too), 2001 (Mexico)
Children of Men, 2006 (US)
Great Expectations, 1998 (US)
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, 2004 (UK)

Shorts
Cuarteto para el Fin del Tiempo (Quartet for the End of Time), 1983 (Mexico, Short, no poster)