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This photo was taken September this year from my trip to the Philippines on calmer times. There I experienced one of the worst floods in the history of the city of Olongapo, but that is nothing compared to the destruction of one of the strongest storm that ever hit the planet in 30 years. Haiyan, hit the island of bohol with 320km/h wind gusts, displacing thousands of residents and killing more than 10 000 people.  It is a full blown humanitarian crises. It hit close to home too as one of the Australian’s killed was a former priest at my parish. He leaves a baby girl, a wife and two kids. That really shook me. I was not that close with him, but I felt a real sense of loss. Life can really just change in an instant. I cannot imagine how his family and friends are feeling.

Lots of aide is thankfully coming through but I hope they are mindful of the corrupt snakes in the Philippine government that would not think twice to pocket $$ from the victims if given the chance.

Roll 14: Lucky Super 200

Large Mother Mary Statue.. Bad toilet facility

Whilst in Tagaytay we visited a large mother mary statue. It was 4-5 storeys high, a pretty awesome sight. Inside there is a small shrine where people can pray and offer donations. Just stay away from the toilet. They ask for 10pesos for maintenance, which I find ironic as it is a blatant lie. The toilet’s condition is horrendous, there is no light, terribly dirty and smells like you know what.

The development academy of the Philippines is just opposite the large statue.  Just a bit of striding street photography  🙂

Bee Farm

We also visited a beautiful bee farm. They sold lots of bee products, from shampoos to vinegar. It was quite a bumpy ride to get there but what was most interesting  was that it was  two way, one lane road! Luckily we did not encounter anyone half way otherwise it would have been a funny game of chicken.

Bee Houses amongst the greenery.

Bee Homes with chickens 🙂

Employees sorting out the bee products. They spoke a different dialect which I am not familiar with.

Aint no rest for the wicked..

A quick nap for these men parked at Mcdonalds in the Philippines.  I found the humidity of the place made me sleepy as soon as I sat or lied down.

Meanwhile job hunt continues aka 9 – 5 zombification of self.

Wish

Taken during the birthday celebration of Mother Mary in the Philippines. Each year balloons with prayers and wishes are set free in hopes the message reaches above. During my primary school years we would tie the balloons in a shape of a rosary with the messages inside the balloons. I heard stories that some messages reached as far as Europe. It was quite a memorable event. These days I often wish for simpler times and more so that $ wasn’t so central to everything.

Roll 13: Lucky Super 200

More beach images on this new roll. The local beaches in Olongapo City where I grew up used to be so beautiful when I was a kid, now they are polluted with garbage.  It is quite disheartening. I wish things turned around in the Philippines but sadly things will just get worse. The recent floods deemed the worse in Olongapo’s history is now claiming more lives because of leptospirosis, a water bourne disease caused by the urine of rats. It wouldn’t be so bad however the hospitals cannot handle the influx of people. Serious aide needs to be done by the Filipino government before a full outbreak occurs.

Mother and child strolls by the water. A piece of metal lies on the shore.

Boat tracks.

A stroller contemplates.

Shark fin looking things by the water

San Miguel Pale Pilsen.

Caution

Typhoon Season here in the Philippines. Supposedly three are expected to hit this month! Might dampen the photography. Fingers crossed it does not get so bad.

Image: Luckily nothing fell during the walk of the father and son 🙂 Construction practices here has not changed here since I was a child.

Roll 11: Lucky Super 200

I got my test roll developed at the only place processing film out of the whole region. Sadly film enthusiast are reducing here too. It was no surprise that most of the exposures were damaged, probably from the non use of the machine. Luckily this was my test roll. The images were about over exposed even with the meter. I am not sure if the camera was the reason for this or the processing itself. As always lightroom saves the day 🙂 Brought out the contrast and decreased the highlights.

The Philippines has so much texture in their materials and life so I thought I’d shoot them for this test.

Character in textures and materials.

Peeling paints are always a winner.

Old school filipino slide with an interesting curve.

A street image of course. The black rip and dots are on most of the exposures.  Wont be getting my film processed there anytime soon.

White Steel door and some circular marks on the concrete wall.

Film Camera Acquisition!

Walking around the philippines coming across an Asahi Pentax K1000 so I bought it. Lucky film for $2.00 too. Images coming soon 😀

Roll 10: Kodak Tri-X 400 Light Leakage!!

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Flying off tomorrow morning. Thought I’d fit in my last roll before I went. This tri-x roll was my first mishap with film. I rewinded up the roll but it did not fully go through 😦 As a result i got some light leaks and lost 7 exposures. I decided to get it developed first then scan what was recoverable thinking I would save some $$. The developing cost $11.95 from Fotoriesel in Sydney and $16.95 for develop and scan. Once I got the rolls back, I scanned the exposures using Camerahouse at my local suburb. It ended up costing $15.00!!! Almost the price of another roll scanned and developed 😦 I should really just start saving up for some chemicals to develop myself.

 

Anyways sorry about the rant. Here’s some of the exposures 🙂

Image 1 (Above):

A pressing issue in Australian politics. Boat people (asylum seekers) and how to handle them. Christianity’s view on the matter not reflected by the two major political parties PM candidates. Interestingly enough they are both Christian.

Image 2:

Dog waiting for owner.

Image 3:

Mobile Friends. I often wonder how the future will see us today just staring at our phones. The photographs of the other decades seems so much more connected.

Image 4:

Boy waiting at train station

Image 5:

Fitting in a quick nap by some tourist at Circular Quay, Sydney.

Image 6:

Duck for dinner

Image 7:

Circular Quay Station with the harbour bridge View.

Image 8:

An empty eatery. This would have been better in colour.

 

 

Roll 7: Expired Kodak 125PX

This particular roll of film came bonus with my Canonet rangefinder. The seller was kind enough to give me some rolls to try out with the camera purchase. Like the Tri-X it has been stored away for 6 months whilst I was doing my masters. Surprise at how much grain it has but I am not sure if that is due to expiration.

Above Image: “Cliche”

As I was out for a photowalk I came across a chicken crossing the road! What are the chances of that? Its in the middle of suburbia! One of the images I hoped turn out well.

“Whats the fuss?”

Boy resting at the blue mountains look out in NSW.

A structure which is seemingly inspired by War of the Worlds. Windsor NSW, Australia

Three sisters at Blue Mountains NSW.