Petalpusher's Lair

Holy Work, Holy Week!

2008-03-21T12:22:00.002+08:00

It's holy friday right now and im at work! hahaha :D Well i've accepted this 2 years ago pa so no worries :D When you sign up for an IT kind of job it comes with it :D Here in our client's office in Net 3 building Fort global city. All alone in the office with 4 work stations. Im actually enjoying a site called imeem. Imeem is a big community site where users share their music online. on sample is this

Cool no? hehehe :D

It's about time

2008-03-15T11:10:00.002+08:00

I had my health issues way back 6 years ago when i was diagnosed with Diabetes. It sucks, Now, i also have a complicated case of Gastroenteritis. In short Gastroenteritis, is sort of a digestive disease. I'm only 26 and suffering from theses 2 cases really sucks. Its about time i fix my lifestyle and took more care of my health. The 25-35 age is the age bracket where you are on your peak. Career wise and marriage speaking. This is the time you work hard for yourself and your future family (If you want one). Right now I am still an engineer in Fujitsu Philippines and waiting for my big break. I also fell in love with 2 elements which i think i could not live without. Kaye and Photography.

It's kind of self explanatory when you fall in love with a person right? It's a feeling that everyone should experience :D Frankly speaking, Kaye change my life. From a guy with out direction to a career driven bastard. Hehehe, the reason behind this is, i do everything for my future and of course also hers. I learned to appreciate things i took for granted like my family and my health. Now i can shout to the world that the best things in life is for free!

Photography, for 25 years of my life i haven't took the advantage of one of our family's assets. My uncle and the greatest photographer in the whole world! Bien Bautista :D I wish i would be like him someday! You can view his website here

Black Hole

2008-03-03T15:25:00.002+08:00

Black hole -- An object whose gravitational pull inside a certain radius is so strong that nothing, not even light can escape it. A black hole forms when the amount of matter in the core of a star undergoing a supernova is great enough to cause a runaway gravitational collapse.

Source

Well, i titled my blog that way cause metaphorically speaking I'm in one! Fuck, work man! This ain't the normal day you go to work and enjoy. Sometimes it really sucks that you couldn't escape. I've been in a black hole for quite sometime now, say 3 weeks? I wouldn't really mind if the compensation is good, or even when your boss covers you up 24/7. I'm not a wuss on this kind of situations but fuck man, I'm a vendor not a fucking client! Every thing's fucked up right now. Well at least my ass feels better now, I'm talking litelary. OH Fuck! thats all i can say! Fuck Off!!! you know who you are!

Happy 2008!

2008-01-18T01:09:00.000+08:00

As posted in my year ender entry, i sold off my whole photo arsenal. Here are the updates of my new battle gear.

December 23, 2007

Went to Mayer's Photo in Hidalgo Quiapo to get my new DSLR kit, a CDSC Nikon D40. Prefered to go entry level because i want to start all over again with the basics. Also, my prefered body (Nikon D80) costs 46K which can buy 2 Nikon D40 Kits.

December 31, 2007 - January 1, 2008 and January 5, 2008
Tested my new Nikon D40 during a short village shoot around, our family reunion and trip to Global Carnival with friends. I really like the performance of Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 kit lens. Really sharp and handy lens.

January 12, 2008

Sold my trusty Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 kit lens from a guy who came all the way from Valenzuela. I really didn't understand the guy because he only saved 700 bucks with my item knowing that the distance of my place to mine is like the other end of the universe. He's reason was, i had nice feedbacks in TIPIDPC which convinced him i had a great and nice item for sale. Well, the truth did prevail. Nice dealing and meeting with you Jun! Shoot tayo minsan!

January 16, 2008

Aquired a Nikkor 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 lens. Tested it on my Nikon D40. Hell yeah, it has great range, sharpness and the conveinience of not changing lenses. Kind of heavy to the point it out balances the body. Actually it made me crazy and wanting a grip for my DSLR body. Searched for battery grips the whole night and found cheap ones in ebay. $81.00 for a phottix battery grip, 2 phottix ENEL-9 replacement batteries and airmail shipping.

January 17, 2008

After debating to buy a battery grip online, which i concluded that warranty is a big issue for me, i decided to purchase a third party battery grip from a local seller. It amounted to 5 grand without batteries. Well, at least i have support!

January 18, 2008

The grip was delivered to my office. Opened the package and tried it immediately on my D40. Haha i found out that it didn't had an even mount on my camera :D Hahaha, thats where the money i spent came in! Local support! I called up the seller and told him about the uneven mount. He told me that he would replace the grip next week. Now I'm contented spending the extra 2k for the support hehehe.

On the same day, i sent an sms to this guy inquiring a pre-owned Sigma 530 DG ST flash gun.
Purchased it for the Sunday Shoot @ UP with my fellow PODtogs and Sharla O' Hara

January 20, 2008

Before i went to UP Diliman for the shoot, i went to Columbia Megamall to use my 1000 GC to purchase an extra battery so i could use it for my third party grip. When, i asked the lady on the counter if i could claim my GC, she told me that i should have it inside the box and not with the paper that Mang Ramon of Mayers gave me. Hahaha, I've been had! Fuck it! I don't care I'm happy with my camera anyways :D Had a fun day with the PODtographers and Sharla O' Hara.

Here are some Pictures

More here

January 26, 2008

I've been tripping out with Photoshop the past few days with Agwe. We ended up mastering the Orton Effect

Here is the digital workflow i followed

Open your image (Image 1)
Duplicate the background layer (Right click on the background layer and choose duplicate) and name that layer Sharp
Create another duplicate of the background layer.
Change the Blending mode of the Sharp Copy to screen
With the Sharp Copy layer selected, right click and choose Merge Down (Image 2)
Right click on the Sharp layer, choose Duplicate and name this layer Out of Focus
On the Filter Menu, choose Blur - Gaussian Blur (Image 3)
Depending on the resolution of the image you are using, the amount of blue needed will change. Use enough that the shapes are still visible, but detail is not. For this 6.1 Megapixel image, a value of 15.9 was sufficient.
Change the blending mode of the Out Of Focus layer to Multiply. (Image 4)

Reference site

Agwe's Version

Imagination

2007-12-26T23:45:00.000+08:00

Its been over a month since i wrote my last entry. Plenty of stuff happened again. Had 2 shoots in between the last and this current entry. Had a model shoot last December 8, 2007 with my fellow PODtogs and new photog friends. Check it out here, i also had a photo op (shoot and run, actually tour) in UPLB Mt. Makiling 2 weeks ago. Haha to tell you the truth landscape photography really bores me. I just enjoy the company of my fellow photographers and friends when we do shoot and runs. But sometimes i end up with great flower photographs though :D

Actually its a mixed emotion day for me. I sold my whole photo arsenal to a good friend and officemate of mine. I was sad because that was the 1st official DSLR i owned to begin with. I really enjoyed, love and cherished that baby from the time i got it to the time i had to turn it over to my friend. Happy because i'm moving forward in upgrading my gear and having the lens of my choice. I'm having a hard time in choosing on what DSLR body to get. Also, I'm torn between 2 lenses, a Tamron 17-50 f/2.8 or a Sigma 17-80 f/2.8-4.5. I'll leave the decision behind me 1st and enjoy the holidays :D

So much for the adrenalin reading lens and body reviews that i forgot to mention why i tagged this blog entry as "imagination". The main reason is, I thank you Lord all mighty that you have blessed me with a great gift. The gift of imagination to express myself, help out others and gain new friends and acquaintances. Thank you Lord for a great year.

Photog Arsenal

2007-11-19T13:06:00.000+08:00

Well, I've established my camera body last month. Now I'm beefing up complimentary gear. I traded my EF 50mm f/1.8 II

(which came from my pre owned 400D package) for an EF 28-80mm f/3.5-5.6 V USM

Which i think is a good walk around lens. Had fun with this lens when my group had a photo shoot in UP (Pictures posted on my previous post.

I got a good deal with another EF 50mm f/1.8 II yesterday! This is for preparation for Saturday's model shoot. Anyways, Here is my current and "Planning to buy" gear list

Camera Body - Canon EOS 400D

Lens/es

Bag - Crumpler 5 Million Dollar Home

Memory Cards

512 IBM Travelstar CF card
1GB Ridata 150x (I do believe this shit when transferring photo's to the PC)
2GB Kingston CF Card

Portable - Macbook Core 2 Duo 2.0 2GB DDR2 667 80GB HDD Superdrive

Leopard

2007-11-12T22:55:00.000+08:00

I was unconsciously getting ready for my MAC OS upgrade leopard last weekend. Bought a pre-owned apple wired mighty mouse (Now I'm lusting for a wireless one) and maxed out my ram to 2GB.

Had a hard time doing the installation itself because i had to chop down the installation file from 7.1 GB to 4.4 GB or less to burn it into a single layer DVD because it had issues if burned to a dual layer DVD. Kudos to this guy for the step by step tutorial.

Here is a sample screen shot of my 6 hour installation :)

Project Wipe out

2007-11-09T09:52:00.001+08:00

First phase of project wipe out "clean and secure". I have just applied it to my macbook and E61i (as for my last post). My next target is my workstation at home. For the past year my working area looks like a dump site!

PICTURE

Im looking for a new computer table to match my machine. I've been searching the net for the past 2 weeks and i havent found any of my taste. Well this at least, but i want a bigger one :)

I'll update the blog later :)

Gmask

2007-11-08T16:11:00.000+08:00

Im here in the AZ's new home in fort (Net Cube). Been here since the movement so i have an active internet connection. Well, im returning to Fujitsu HQ next week, so im savoring every internet moment here hehe.

Im planning to gmask my phone since i had a really bad experience last saturday! When i was eating in rodricks (PODtographers shoot meet in UP) somebody called my and had a 3 minute conversation, when the call ended usually i wipe my phone of sweat to clean the LCD. I noticed the paint on the left side of the screen bubbling up so i kind of pressed it to see if something is wrong with it. Alas!, the paint chipped off and left a hairline crack on the paint of my beloved E61i which i was protecting like a father to a son (hahaha drama no?). Becoming slave to my beloved swiss knife phone i feel very iritated seeing it like this! Im actually debating if i get a metal case or just get it gmasked.

Currently i have a capdase case (Which i think i got ripped off) which exposes the aluminum part of the phone and some parts of the side:

1st option, buying a metal case. I read somwhere in the net that aluminum create signal loss for phones. Well, there aint no theory about it so what the hell. Another negative thing i see on an aluminum case is, the same problem i have with my leather case. Its damn bulky! Last and the most important, i lost the number of the chick who's selling cases for my phone! (Damn it!)

2nd option, having my phone gmasked. Well i have a sample gallery gmasked E61/i's. My choice of design is a 2 toned white and silver gmask.

I'll update this blog once decided. Cheers people.

Updated: 7:24PM

Im here now in coffee bean and tea leaf GB3 waiting for my phone to be gmasked. just chose the clear coating to be practical and simple. Will update again with pictures once i get my phone and hit the sack :) Cheers

Updated: 11:09 PM

It was hell going thorugh gmask! I picked up my phone at 8:00 PM knowing that it was clear coated. When i got to the gmask stall, the gmask person told me that we had a problem. When i looked at the phone, the small chip became large as if the phone had a disease ready for quarantine. I was histerical and shock at 1st and realized that it wasn't the gmask persons fault why the phone looked like that. I sticked with my original white/silver design. Here it is:

Well it costed 1.3k and a lot of stress. Satisfied and happy customer here :)

Long Weekend

2007-11-05T16:08:00.000+08:00

Well had a long weekend last week. I only went to work like 2 days, Tuesday and Halloween Wednesday. Vacation started on October 27 - October 29 (local elections) and November 1 - November 4. I went to Net cube (new home of my client AstraZeneca) November 27 and November 29 for the movement. So no vacation for me hehehe!

Had a stressful shoot last Saturday at UP Diliman. It was fun because it was a start of a new photography group called "PODtographers" We were all from the same forum (podcental.ph) ipod and photography lovers :) Here are some pictures from last saturdays shoot.

Cameras, cameras, cameras!!!

2007-10-29T23:27:00.000+08:00

Its been a month since i posted my last entry. So much for my "blog a day" motive. Anyways, purchased my 1st and 2nd DSLR last month.

Nikon D50 w/ 28-85mm f/3.5-5.6 Nikkor Lens

Canon EOS 400D w/ 50mm f/1.8, 28-80mm f/3.5-5.6 USM and 80-200mm f/3.5-5.6

Well, the D50 did the job but i feel its kind of an entry level type of camera and Master Bien's Fujifim S2 Pro still kicks ass over the Nikon D50 so its not worth the money i spent :) Of course every one wants the best out of hard earned money right? Thats the reason why i bought the Canon 400D. It does kicks ass! Even bought accessories for it. It came with a Ridata 150x CF card, complimenting my Kingston 2GB CF card, CD-R king card reader and my cute and cuddly Crumpler 5 million dollar home camera bag.

No Drama

2007-09-27T22:41:00.001+08:00

It's been days since my last entry. Actually i have a quota of 1 blog a day, this is a test of will power actually. This is to motivate me to stop spending on short term wanted stuff like earphones for my pod and stone, a variety of cases for my E61i and my never ending quest for macbook accessories!

Anyways, I've realized plenty of stuff this week. Its more of "It should have been this way from the start". Lets start with my previous entry

"Photography"

It was my 1st ever studio shoot last Saturday. That was the 1st time i ever saw a woman's beauty in a sensual and artistic way. It was so exiting actually. The intensity and adrenaline of having a studio shoot is like the feeling of having your 1st ever strike in a bowling game, your 1st basket on a school basketball league, your 1st successful day at work, and having your 1st crush in high school.

"Music"

After like a 8 months, i got my original ipod back. A 4th gen 20GB ipod click wheel. Can't stop listening to it again. I'm kind of motivate to play the guitar again! Well, to cut the long story short, Anything or anyone with sentimental value or importance can never be replaced with a newer, more sophisticated, prettier and more expensive or elite thing or person because of the happy and sad times you been with it, him or her.

1st Studio Shoot

2007-09-23T23:05:00.000+08:00

It was a great weekend for me. Had my 1st studio photo shoot with my newly acquainted Friend JP Culang (System's Engineer Fujitsu Philippines) who is also a photo newbie. Surprisingly, the shoot pushed through even we had so little preparation. I was accompanied by my friend,mentor and fellow podcentral member Chris Perez. It was really fun and the learning curve really kicked in!

We started like 8:00 PM and ended 11:00 PM. Didn't know that taking photographs of models is tiring, which proved that i ain't physically fit! Really liked the model's appearance. Really sweet looking and emotional. Here are sample Shots

Pink in Black

Yellow Feathers

Smile

Really proud of these photos because i really didn't expect that the out come would be like these. Well, more shoots to come!

I'm planning to purchase a nice camera before Christmas (Gift to my hardworking self, hehehe). I'm still deciding what to get though.

A Nikon D40x

Canon 400D

Well, i prefer the D40x though, cause it was just released this year. The 400D was released 1 1/2 years ago. The CON of the D40X is, it has no local support here in the PH!

One of those days

2007-09-21T01:35:00.000+08:00

I started my day yesterday at the wrong side of the bed. I slept at 2am which i think I've been doing for the past 3 days. I always wake up with a headache and rushing to work. I don't even enjoy my breakfast anymore. Anyways, I slept at 2am and woke up 7am (5 hours of sleep is crap to me, and i still don't understand why the hell Im still doing it!) and remembered that it was Thursday (Color coding day), so i had to hitch a ride with KL who usually leaves between 7:30 - 7:45am. Luckily, i sent him an SMS earlier that i would hitch a ride to the office.

After enduring a long walk from Amorsolo St. to Benavides St. I smoked 2 cigarettes which made my lungs breathe harder. The day went on normally with no to much client calls. Lunch time i went out to meet the buyer if of my stock Creative earphones in Mc Donalds Greenbelt. I skipped lunch because i had a late breakfast. I went on earphone hunting again in GB 1 and went back to the office empty handed because there were no earphones of my standards available in the shops within GB.

I waited for Allan to get back from BSP to the office because i was helping him out to buy a new PC for her aunt. He got there about 6PM and accompanied me to Glorietta Parksquare for another earphone hunting spree. I ended up buying a crappy pair of earphones that i've never heard of and read about.

JVC HA-F75V

I dont even want to talk about what happened, but if you want to find out, feel free to read my post about the piece of shit i was referfing to here.

Understanding your music era

2007-09-19T22:19:00.000+08:00

I'm kind of puzzled my dad when he listens to his music over and over again :) Since the day i was born (I think!) till present, he still listens to his same old "Baby Boomer Era" music. I remember when i was a kind, he had a huge amount of cassette tapes of the Ventures, Shadows and RJ Jacinto. He always tunes his car radio to 100.3 (RJ FM) even when he uses my car. Well, i think i found the the last piece of the puzzle just last Sunday.

I was reading reviews of the ipod shuffle last week because i wanted a small portable MP3 player. I'm kind of scared brining my 30 GB ipod video around because most of the time I'm commuting to and from the office. Its also bulky and i prefer not to bring excess luggage if my macbook isn't around. Saturday night i decided to purchase a player. I called up my fellow org (podcentral) member Carlo "Actungbaby" Carillio and asked about the Creative Zen Stone since i've been reading a lot of material on one of Carlo's posts in podcentral.

I went to Electro world in SM Bicutan (I think Electro World is beginning to have competitive prices or is it I'm earning already for my gadget needs?) to browse and compare the 2nd and 3rd gen ipod shuffle, Creative Zen Stone and the Creative Zen Stone Plus. The 1st thing that came to my mind is, what do i really need? How much am i willing to spend? Well, different kind of answers popped to my head but yes, it was quite clear. I needed a cheap (2k above is too much hehe), decent sounding (So it means CD-R King Players are out of the question) and good looking (Metro-Sexuial looking is a plus), portable light weight MP3 player.

I ended up with this one

Priced at Php 1,999 its a steal, Very decent sounding (cannot be compared to those cheap CD-R King players sound quality), Very sexy and slim looking (It's Metro-Sexuial since its white) and its very portable and light weight (I see this a VPN token (RSA)i use to carry around with my ID laced to my lanyard)

Now, the question is, what songs should i upload? It all came back to me. When i was on the 5th grade i learned to play the guitar because of the influence of Nirvana, STP, GNR, Def leopard, ETC. Actually Nirvana was the stand out of all the bands i listen to. Kurt Cobain at that time was a music god to me. Time passed by and i shifted to world music (reggae, zen, christian rock, ETC) but still grunge still was my 1st choice. I even played guitar for some school formed bands. Year 2002 came and i got sick of alternative and grunge music. I was introduced to house music by a friend. I started collecting MP3's again and bought my 1st ipod, a 20GB 4th gen click wheel ipod for massive storage.

50GB of house music ain't enough? From the record labels, hed kandi, MOS, naked music, defected, ETC i was popular among my friends because i had the biggest house music collection. Getting back to my new toy, what songs did i upload? The songs i missed and kept on listening through the years...

Alternative and grunge. The era i grew up with. With all the happy and sad times when i was in high school, the time i had crushes and dedicated songs to them, motivation of doing something or forgetting something while i was listening to the sweet strums of a guitar. Basically, this is the missing piece of the puzzle. You can never leave something you grew up with. Happy, sad, angry, frustrated, confused and over joyed you can never go wrong with the songs you heard feeling all those emotions.