A pile of bamboo to show repetition. :D (click photo to enlarge)

The Animates

In this post, I am going to talk about my band - The Animates. We were all students of TSU-LS back then. Jem, Daniel and I were first year students. I formed a band with my classmates, Daniel formed a band with his older brothers who are in the 3rd year class and Jem was an officer of the school's glee club. Daniel and I competed against each other. Neither of us won. During our sophomore year, it was the same scenario. Only this time, Daniel's band was at the winning end, and my band lost. Rose, Edward, Zeke were first year students back then and they were in the audience except for Zeke. He and his band also joined the competition and if I'm not mistaken, his band grabbed third place. Third year, same setting but this time, my band won. Edward played drums for the fourth year boy scout students. Rose and Zeke joined the Acoustic battle.

Senior year came and the university organized an inter-college battle of the bands. Daniel and I decided to form a band together with Edward and Zeke. We recruited Daniel's younger brother Kevin and his friend whom we shall call Dats. Kevin and Dats played rhythm and lead guitars respectively. Zeke played the bass, Edward on drums, Daniel on keyboards and backup vocals and I was the front man. We were called "The Tumblebugs"

A week after our performance, Jem - President of the Glee Club talked to me about forming a band to represent the school in a competition. Mr. Douglas Ferrer, the school's performing arts adviser called us up. But he left Kev and Dats behind. He included Jem and Rose. So the lineup of the band was now Jem on rhythm guitar, Rose on lead vocals, Edward on percussion, Zeke on bass and backup vocals, Daniel on keyboards and vocals and Heintje on lead guitars and backup vocals.

January  2011. We are having trouble with our name. The first name we thought of was "HEX" and it was a damn bad name hahahaha. One week later, The Animates was formed. "anim - 6 in filipino" and "mates - for bandmates" So basically we are 6 bandmates. We went on to win the competition and we were crowned Youthfest 2k11 Champions. We also won The TSU-LS Musicfest 2011 beating Dats' band. We now play gigs at different events with different lineups. We have plenty of reserves with the likes of Kev, Dats, Henry, Inah.

Daniel, Edward, Zeke and I also formed an all-male band to compete on several battles. We were known as HYDE. Still, there's nothing like playing good music with the original members of The Animates.

L-R: Daniel Mallari, Rose Del Rosario, Heintje Mendoza, Jem Galeon, Zeke Alagano, Edward Quiben

A broken sidewalk

An monochrome image of a broken sidewalk in Moncada, Tarlac. Does this also qualify as repetition? (click the photo for a larger view)

Jingle Balls

This was taken in front of the Moncada Town Hall. These white "lightballs" sitting atop bamboo sticks serve as a fence for their Belen. (click the photo for a larger view)

The Mini Photocontest

Repetitions, Leading Lines, Rule of Thirds. Those three factors of composition were to be combined as the theme of our mini photocontest. Unfortunately for me, I didn't hear "Repetition". So I move on to shoot photos with the given factors. An hour after, inside the lecture hall, one by one the participants submit their entries. My entry was this statue. I chose this because it contained the rule of thirds and it has a leading line. Plus, the rule of triangles. But it didn't have repetitions. So, long story short I didn't get any place. The winner was a Moncada local and a high school student with very nice shots. But I received some consolations from our speaker because when they viewed my photo, some of his remarks were, "good exposure and very nice photo" which tickled me a little inside. hahaha.

Basic Photography Seminar

So, recently I attended a basic photography seminar organized by MSC (Moncada Shutters Club) supported by the PCT (Photographers' Club of Tarlac).

It was a whole-day seminar. Unfortunately, I was late. 5 hours late. The discussion they had during the morning session was all about how to use the manual settings of the camera. (ISO sensitivity, shutter speed, aperture value etc...) The discussion during the afternoon was all about composition - the field I hope to improve. The topic discussed a variety of lessons. There was a piece of paper and a pen on my table. So I decided to jot down notes. The speaker was Mr. Brian Briones (the guy in red, 4th from the left), a young and very talented photographer whom I look up to. He discussed the rule of thirds - the most common rule in composition, leading lines which are lines in the photo that leads the eye to the subject itself. Rule of triangles which are imaginary triangles in the photo.
The 2nd speaker was Mr. Anderson Bayani, one of the founding members of PCT. Before his speech, he told us that "Sometimes it is okay to break the rules to explore more grounds in photography. But since we are still learning the basics, we must follow them rules first." 
His discussion was about Repetition where the subject of the photo is seen in multitude, and rule of odds. In the rule of odds, there must be an odd number of subjects in a photo (3, 5, 7, 9 etc...) for balance. Then he showed some of his works which are just breathtaking. After his lecture, they organized a mini-photocontest where all of us participants will go outside for an hour and come back to submit a photo that must follow the Rule of Thirds, Repetition and Leading Lines. It was then that I had a mini heart attack for I have no idea what am I supposed to shoot. Haha. After an hour, we all gathered at the side of Moncada Plazuela to take a group shot before heading back to the Lecture hall where we will continue with the seminar.

PS. I am the guy sitting 2nd from the left. (beside the lady) (click the photo for a larger view)