Digital View Finder

It’s frustrating to read the news recently about the calamity that hit our neighboring country Myanmar. Not with the toll of cyclone victims that escalates every single day but with its country’s ingratiate response to aid and relief operations.

Notice the irony of freedom in comparison to my beloved country, the Philippines. Between people who have always been controlled/forced to keep silent and people who have all the rights to voice out their concerns. Bubble thought– “in excess/too much of anything could be dangerous.” Too much oppression or too much freedom.

So what can I do now? First, pray (for the victims of cyclone and recent earthquake in China and their leaders). Second, donate (in whatever means I can). Lastly, encourage others to do the same.
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Photo Assignment #3 for Freezing Seasons
Theme: Season of giving
Title: Donate
Photo taken: AIT (relief operation organized by Burmese students)
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Many thanks to A. Siroy for organizing our photo club activity.
Other assignments could be viewed on CREATIVELENS.

empty cicada nymph shell

What about cicada for freezing seasons? I’ve been tempted to feature this weird looking and high-pitched droning insects that echoes my coughing at night. It is getting the end of the summer season here in Thailand and our well-veined winged friends has finally come out of their shells. They normally have large eyes wide apart on the head. I mistakenly called them crickets before but later I found out that they’re not.

More information can be found in wikipedia, such as-

There are about 2,500 species of cicada around the globe, and many remain unclassified. Cicadas live in temperate to tropical climates where they are among the most widely recognized of all insects, mainly due to their large size and remarkable acoustic talents. Cicadas are sometimes colloquially called “locusts”, although they are unrelated to true locusts, which are a kind of grasshopper. They are also known as “jar flies”. Cicadas are related to leafhoppers and spittlebugs.

Cicadas do not bite or sting, are benign to humans, and are not considered a pest. Many people around the world regularly eat cicadas: the female is prized as it is meatier. Cicadas have been (or are still) eaten in Ancient Greece, China, Malaysia, Burma, Latin America and the Congo. Cicadas are employed in the traditional medicines of China.

In Thailand a total of 152 species with 5 additional varieties and one undescribed species from 35 genera have been identified. Records for eight species are reported for the first time in addition to the first specimens of the genus Muda and fifteen new species adding to the diversity of the cicada fauna of Thailand. (The Cicadas of Thailand; Hemiptera:Cicadidae)

In relation to culture - Cicadas are commonly found in mainland China, Taiwan, and Japan. They had religious significance in ancient China, and symbolized reincarnation or immortality, as the Chinese compared the cicada’s periodic molting of its shell with a person’s leaving the physical body behind at the time of death. Bronze vessels as old as 1500 B.C. ornamented with cicadas have been found in Chinese tombs, along with white pottery and jewelry featuring cicada designs. During the Han dynasty (202 B.C. to A.D.) 220, the Chinese carved small cicadas out of precious jade and placed them in the mouths of the dead.

To enumerate some of its medicinal uses, it is used for treatment of fever and associated seizures; skin rashes; and such eye disorders as conjunctivitis, cataracts, and blurred vision. Also effective in relieving itchy rashes and eczema. Its special use is for the treatment of rashes or skin eruptions that occur in the early stages of measles or chicken pox. According to traditional Chinese medicine, the sooner the rashes appear, the shorter and less severe these diseases will be. Cicada is said to prevent or reduce muscle spasms by reducing the tension of the striated muscles.

Question- do people swallow them alive?
Answer- Cicada may be prepared as a decoction, which means that the insect shells are boiled down to a concentrated broth or tea to be taken internally. Other forms of cicada preparations include ground powder and water and alcohol extracts.

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Photo Assignment #2 for Freezing Seasons
Theme: Insects in season
Title: Cicada
Photo taken: AIT (outside our home)

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Many thanks to A. Siroy for organizing our photo club activity.
Other assignments could be viewed on CREATIVELENS.

Call me fickle minded, as this sudden twist in decision have delayed my submission of this first photo assignment for “Freezing Seasons” category. My mind was soaring into heights upon connecting the fruits that are in season with photography. It was a bit challenging to do this as I don’t have a Pro studio but only shooting with minimal equipment at home. Or simply working at the comfort of my home.

For those of you who are also new to Still-Life Photography, it is basically making picture rather than taking them. To tell you a bit of story, I clipped the background cloth on our clothesline. Then I set up the table and cover it with white cloth. Next I laid out the fruits on top and started trying several shots as I was holding the lampshade on my left hand to position the correct shadow. With the use of a tripod, my right hand was busy focusing the small group of objects and clicking the shutter as soon as I find the right angle. Murag true. LOL. Plus the squatting position that made it more harder to manage. Everytime I loose balance a disaster always follows. Whew! Finally my homework is done.

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Photo Assignment #1 for Freezing Seasons
Theme: Thai fruits in season
Title: Still-life with Fruits
Photo taken: at home

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Many thanks to A. Siroy for organizing our photo club activity.
Other assignments could be viewed on CREATIVELENS.

Sign up and once you’re done, then you are ready to do simple editing techniques without the purchasing the packaged software for advance revisions. What you can expect when you sign up are the tools which are more likely similar in photobucket. Please don’t get me wrong. Not all of my photos here are enhanced. Most of the time I use Photoshop to create the watermark image for copyright purposes.

To continue, Photoshop Express allows you to do the 1.) basics (like cropping, rotate, red-eye removal), 2.) tuning (i.e. adjust white balance and sharpness), 3.) apply effects (such as turning photos into black & white or pop color).

Adobe Photoshop Express is a free site where members can upload images and edit them. Try using it now and tell me what can you say about it.

I am currently experimenting scrapbook softwares that would fit my preference of designs and user friendly menus for a dummy like me. This one was made out of Scrapbook Factory Deluxe 3.0. It got several templates to choose from not only for scrapbooks but also for cards, cd labels, shirt designs and more. Scrap wise, this software is not my type due to its limited embellishments. I really thought it has huge variety of designs as it eats up 2 GB of my disk space upon installation. Well, overall I’ll rate it for 3 stars.

I took this photo last year. It was right after I submitted my photo assignment for Siroy project on “buildings” theme. Around November 2007, in time of the Loy Krathong feast here in Thailand. Significantly with that full moon showing on top of the images of the buildings. For Thais it marks the end of the rainy season, anticipating December and January’s cold climate.

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Photo taken: Bangkok

I saw this little girl in our church that day. She got 3 flowers from the altar after the mass and ran around with other playmates who were carrying flowers as well. I called her attention and asked if she could stop for a second so I can take a picture.

My grin wasn’t just ordinary upon noticing her natural pose and with a model-like expression. I immediately showed it to her mom and dad and both praised their daughter’s photogenic character.

After uploading the file to my external drive, I sent a copy to her mom’s email. I know it is as important for parents to capture their child’s personal journey that will be treasured forever. Images are powerful, timeless and beautiful.

AIT or Asian Institute of Technology is a post-graduate institute located north of Bangkok. If you are planning to go here for a workshop/conference, study or simply visit a family/friend you can find a detailed instruction on how to go to AIT below.

Suvarnabhumi International Airport

The trip to or from Suvarnabhumi International Airport takes at least an hour, and the cost of transportation is substantially higher than the short trip from Bangkok’s old Don Muang International Airport. Upon arrival at the main gate of AIT, guests can inform the guard where to go so they can show the way or accompany the taxi driver.

Below is the information about the arrival trip from the airport. As many taxi and limousine drivers will be unfamiliar with AIT’s location, maps in Thai and in English are available to print and hand to the driver.

Taxi services

Public taxi service is available at the ground level of Suvarnabhumi International Airport, below the terminal building itself.

Tell the taxi driver you would like to go to the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) beside Thammasat University Rangsit. Not all drivers on queue at the transportation center may easily recognize AIT but then when you mention Thammasat Rangsit, they can recognize your direction.

A taxi meter flag down is at 35 baht and adds up 1 baht for every 2 kilometers. In the airport taxi counter they normally ask for the fixed price of 600 Baht going to AIT. This price is already fair enough.  It is widely practiced that when a taxi passes through an expressway or motorway, the passenger carries the toll expense. Tolls between the airport and AIT total are 105 baht.

Same applies when you want to go to the International Airport.  You just have to dial 6300 or 6000 to get a taxi and immediately they will ask for 600 Baht fixed price to bring you to Suvarnabhumi excluding toll fees.

Limousine services

Passengers should contact limousine / car rental counters located at the Arrival Hall, level 2 of the Suvarnabhumi International Airport passenger terminal building to get the service. Providers will call a limousine to pick up the passenger at limousine parking lots in front of the passenger terminal building.

Airport limousines drivers are usually trained certified and know the road and traffic. A limousine service from Suvarnabhumi International Airport to AIT will cost approximately 1,500 baht inclusive of toll way or motorway fees.

Do you also feel eerie when you are in sacred places? Or perhaps rejuvenated.

There’s a certain force that attracts people either by curiosity or solitude as you look at the temples. Everytime I visit ruins or heavily worshiped stupas, I learn to set aside my true belief. Instead respect and common longing for peace are what matters most at the moment.

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Photo take: Ayuttaya Province, Thailand
–A little revision has been made to create a canvass like effect.

People of different religions and cultures live side by side in almost every part of the world, and most of us have overlapping identities which unite us with very different groups. We can love what we are, without hating what – and who – we are not. We can thrive in our own tradition, even as we learn from others, and come to respect their teachings.

—Kofi Annan, Secretary-General of the United Nations