Just a re-post from another blog. I guess it's just apt for the occassion. Without a sense of who you are how can you possibly take any pride in who you are. May we always take pride in our beloved country. May we never lose hope. I have also included a full speech of Carlos P. Romulo, I AM FILIPINO former Secretary-General of the United Nations and first Asian to win a Pulitzer Prize. Read it on and get inspired !
     
      Happy 110th Independence Day!!!
 
 

My decision to move to       Manila was not a precipitous one.  I used to work in    New York as an outside agent of Philippines Air Line, and have been coming to the     Philippines  since August, 1982.   I was so impressed with the country, and with the interesting people I met, some of whom have become very close friends to this day, that I asked for and was granted a year's sabbatical from my teaching job in order to live in the Philippines
 
  I arrived here on August 21, 1983, several hours after Ninoy Aquino was shot, and remained here until June of 1984.  During that year I visited many parts of the country, from as far north as Laoag to as far south as Zamboanga, and including    Palawan.   I became deeply immersed in the history and culture of the archipelago, and an avid collector of tribal antiquities from both northern Luzon and     Mindanao.
 
  In subsequent years I visited the     Philippines  in 1985, 1987, and 1991, before deciding to move here permanently in 1998.  I love this country, but not uncritically, and that is the purpose of this article.   First, however, I will say that I would not consider living anywhere else in     Asia, no matter how attractive certain aspects of other neighboring countries may be.
 
  To begin with, and this is most important, with all its faults, the   Philippines  is still a democracy, more so than any other nation in    Southeast Asia .  Despite gross corruption, the legal system generally works, and if ever confronted with having to employ it, I would feel much more safe trusting the courts here than in any other place in the surrounding countries.
 
  The press here is unquestionably the most unfettered and freewheeling in     Asia , and I do not believe that is hyperbole in any way !  And if any one thing can be used as a yardstick to measure the extent of the democratic process in any given country in the world, it is the extent to which the press is free.
 
  Nevertheless, the     Philippines  is a flawed democracy, and the flaws are deeply rooted in the Philippine psyche.   I will elaborate.   The basic problem seems to me, after many years of observation, to be national inferiority complex, a disturbing lack of pride in being Filipino.
 
  Toward the end of April I spent eight days in   Vietnam  , visiting     Hanoi ,      Hue, and Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC).   I am certainly no expert on     Vietnam  , but what I saw could not be denied :  I saw a country ravaged as no other country has been in this century by thirty years of continuous and incredibly barbaric warfare.
 
  When the Vietnam War ended in April, 1975, the country was totally devastated.   Yet in the past 25 years the nation has healed and rebuilt itself almost miraculously !  The countryside has been replanted and reforested.         Hanoi and HCMC have been beautifully restored.
 
  The opera house in     Hanoi is a splendid restoration of the original, modeled after the Opera in     Paris , and the gorgeous Second Empire Theatre, on the main      square of    HCMC is as it was when built by the French a century ago.
 
  The streets are tree-lined, clean, and conducive for strolling.  Cafes in the French style proliferate on the wide boulevards of HCMC.  I am not praising the government of     Vietnam  , which still has a long way to travel on the road to democracy, but I do praise, and praise unstintingly, the pride of the Vietnamese people.
 
  It is due to this pride in being Vietnamese that has enabled its citizenry to undertake the mi racle of restoration that I describe above.
 
  When I returned to       Manila, I became so depressed that I was actually physically ill for days thereafter.  Why ?  Well, let's go back to a period when the   Philippines  resembled the     Vietnam  of 1975.   It was 1945, the end of World War II, and       Manila, as well as many other cities, lay in ruins.
 
  As a matter of fact, it may not be generally known, but     Manila was the second most destroyed city in the entire war; only       Warsaw was more demolished.
 
  But to compare       Manila in 1970, twenty five years after the end of the war, with HCMC, 25 years after the end of its war, is a sad exercise indeed.  Far from restoring the city to its former glory, by 1970     Manila was well on its way to being the most tawdry city in    Southeast Asia.   And since that time the situation has deteriorated alarmingly.
 
  We have a city full of street people, beggars, and squatters.   We have a city that floods sections whenever there is a rainstorm, and that loses electricity with every clap of thunder.   We have a city full of potholes, and on these unrepaired roads we have traffic situation second to none in the the world for sheer unmanageability.
 
  We have rude drivers, taxis that routinely refuse to take passengers because of "many traffic !"   The roads are also cursed with pollution spewing buses in disreputable states of repair, and that ultimate anachronism, the jeepney !
 
  We have an educational system that allows children to attend schools without desks or books to accommodate them.  Teachers, even college professors, are paid salaries so disgracefully low that it's a wonder that anyone would want to go into the teaching profession in the first place.
 
  We have a war in    Mindanao that nobody seems to have a clue how to settle.  The only policy to deal with the war seems to be to react to what happens daily, with no long range plan whatever.  ; I could go on and on, but it is an endeavor so filled with futility that it hurts me to go on.  It hurts me because, in spite of everything, I love the Philippines
 
  Maybe it will sound simplistic, but to go back to what I said above, it is my unshakable belief that the fundamental thing wrong with this country is a lack of pride in being Filipino.
 
  A friend once remarked to me, laconically : "All Filipinos want to be something else.  The poor ones want to be American, and the rich ones all want to be Spaniards.  Nobody wants to be Filipino."
 
  That statement would appear to be a rather simplistic one, and perhaps it is.  However, I know one Filipino who refuses to enter a theater until the national anthem has stopped being played because he doesn't want to honor his own country, and I know another one who thinks that history stopped dead in 1898 when the Spaniards departed.  While it is certainly true that these represent extreme examples of national denial, the truth is not a pretty picture.
 
  Filipinos tend to worship, almost slavishly, everything foreign.  If it comes from   Italy  or     France  it has to be better than anything made here.  If the idea is American or German it has to be superior to anything that Filipinos can think up for themselves.   Foreigners are looked up to and idolized.
 
  Foreigners can go anywhere without question.  In my own personal experience, I remember attending recently an affair at a major museum here.  I had forgotten to bring my invitation.  But while Filipinos entering the museum were checked for invitations, I was simply waived through.   This sort of thing happens so often here that it's just accepted as routine.
 
  All of these things, the illogical respect given to foreigners simply because they are not Filipinos, the distrust and even disrespect shown to any homegrown merchandise, the neglect of anything Philippine, the rudeness of taxi drivers, the ill manners shown by many Filipinos are all symptomatic of a lack of self love, of respect for and love of the country in which they were born, and worst of all, a static mind-set in regard to finding ways to improve the situation.
 
  Most Filipinos, when confronted with evidence of governmental corruption, political chicanery, or gross exploita tion on the part of the business community, simply shrug their shoulders, mutter "bahala na," and let it go at that.
 
  It is an oversimplification to say this, but it is not without a grain of truth to say that Filipinos feel downtrodden because they allow themselves to feel downtrodden.  No pride.
 
  One of the most egregious examples of this lack of pride, this uncaring attitude to their own past, is the wretched state of surviving architectural landmarks in       Manila and elsewhere.  During the American period, many beautiful and imposing buildings were built, in what we now call the "art deco" style (although incidentally, that was not contemporary term; it was coined only in the 1960s).  These were beautiful edifices, mostly erected during, or just before, the Commonwealth period.
 
  Three, which are still standing, are the      Jai    Alai    Building, the Metropolitan Theater, and the Rizal Stadium.  Fortunately, due to the truly noble efforts of my friend John Silva, the Jai Alai Building will now be saved. But unless something is done to the most beautiful and original of these three masterpieces of pre-war Philippine architecture, the Metropolitan Theater, it will disintegrate.  The Rizal Stadium is in equally wretched shape. 
 
  When the wreckers' ball destroyed Frank Lloyd Wright's Imperial Hotel in    Tokyo, and       New York City's most magnificent building, Pennsylvania Station, both in 1963, Ada Louise Huxtable, then the architectural critic of The New York Times, wrote: "A disposable culture loses the right to call itself a civilization at all !"  How right she was ! (Fortunately, the destruction of Pennsylvania Station proved to the sacrificial catalyst that resulted in the creation of      New York's Landmark Commission.  Would there be such a commission created for       Manila ... ?)
 
  Are there historical reasons for this lack of national pride ?   We can say that until the arrival of the Spaniards there was no sense of a unified archipelago constituted as one country.  True.  We can also say that the high cultures of the nations in the region seemed, unfortunately, to have bypassed the     Philippines  ; there are no Angkors, no Ayuttayas, no Borodudurs.  True.  Centuries of contact with the high cultur es of the Khmers and the Chinese, had, except for the proliferation of Song dynasty pottery found throughout the archipelago, no noticeable effect.  True.  But all that aside, what was here ?  To begin with, the ancient rice terraces, now threatened with disintegration, incidentally, was an incredible feat of engineering for so-called "primitive" people.
 
  As a matter of fact, when I first saw them in 1984, I was almost as awe-stricken was I was when I first laid eyes on the astonishing Inca city of Machu Picchu , high in the Peruvian Andes.  The degree of artistry exhibited by the various tribes of the Cordillera of Luzon is testimony to a remarkable culture, second to none in the Southeast Asian region.  As for     Mindanao, at the other end of the archipelago,  an equally high degree of artistry has been manifest for centuries in woodcarving, weaving and metalwork.  However, the most shocking aspect of this lack of national pride, even identity, endemic in the average Filipino, is the appalling ignorance of the history of the archipelago since unified by     Spain  and named Filipinas.   The remarkable stories concerning the courageous repulsion of Dutch and British invaders from the 16th through the 18th centuries, even the origins of the      Independence of the late 19th century, are hardly known by the average Filipin o in any meaningful way.   And thanks to fifty years of American brainwashing, it is few and far between the number of Filipinos who really know -- or even care -- about the duplicity employed by the Americans and Spaniards to sell out and make meaningless the very independent state that Aguilnaldo declared on June 12, 1898.
 
  A people without a sense of history is a people doomed to be unaware of their own identity.   It is sad to say, but true, that the vast majority of Filipinos fall into this category.   Without a sense of who you are how can you possibly take any pride in who you are ?  These are not oversimplifications .
 
  On the contrary, these are the root problems of the Philippine inferiority complex referred to above.   Until the Filipinos take pride in being Filipino these ills of the soul will never be cured.  If what I have written here can help, even in the smallest way, to make the Filipino aware of just w ho he is, who he was, and who he can be, I will be one happy expat indeed !

I am a Filipino - inheritor of a glorious past, hostage to the uncertain future. As such I must prove equal to a two-fold task- the task of meeting my responsibility to the past, and the task of performing my obligation to the future. I sprung from a hardy race - child of many generations removed of ancient Malayan pioneers.

Across the centuries, the memory comes rushing back to me: of brown-skinned men putting out to sea in ships that were as frail as their hearts were stout. Over the sea I see them come, borne upon the billowing wave and the whistling wind, carried upon the mighty swell of hope- hope in the free abundance of new land that was to be their home and their children's forever.

This is the land they sought and found. Every inch of shore that their eyes first set upon, every hill and mountain that beckoned to them with a green and purple invitation, every mile of rolling plain that their view encompassed, every river and lake that promise a plentiful living and the fruitfulness of commerce, is a hollowed spot to me.

By the strength of their hearts and hands, by every right of law, human and divine, this land and all the appurtenances thereof - the black and fertile soil, the seas and lakes and rivers teeming with fish, the forests with their inexhaustible wealth in wild life and timber, the mountains with their bowels swollen with minerals - the whole of this rich and happy land has been, for centuries without number, the land of my fathers. This land I received in trust from them and in trust will pass it to my children, and so on until the world no more.

I am a Filipino. In my blood runs the immortal seed of heroes - seed that flowered down the centuries in deeds of courage and defiance. In my veins yet pulses the same hot blood that sent Lapulapu to battle against the alien foe that drove Diego Silang and Dagohoy into rebellion against the foreign oppressor.

That seed is immortal. It is the self-same seed that flowered in the heart of Jose Rizal that morning in Bagumbayan when a volley of shots put an end to all that was mortal of him and made his spirit deathless forever; the same that flowered in the hearts of Bonifacio in Balintawak, of Gergorio del Pilar at Tirad Pass, of Antonio Luna at Calumpit; that bloomed in flowers of frustration in the sad heart of Emilio Aguinaldo at Palanan, and yet burst fourth royally again in the proud heart of Manuel L. Quezon when he stood at last on the threshold of ancient Malacañang Palace, in the symbolic act of possession and racial vindication.

The seed I bear within me is an immortal seed. It is the mark of my manhood, the symbol of dignity as a human being. Like the seeds that were once buried in the tomb of Tutankhamen many thousand years ago, it shall grow and flower and bear fruit again. It is the insigne of my race, and my generation is but a stage in the unending search of my people for freedom and happiness.

I am a Filipino, child of the marriage of the East and the West. The East, with its languor and mysticism, its passivity and endurance, was my mother, and my sire was the West that came thundering across the seas with the Cross and Sword and the Machine. I am of the East, an eager participant in its struggles for liberation from the imperialist yoke. But I also know that the East must awake from its centuried sleep, shape of the lethargy that has bound his limbs, and start moving where destiny awaits.

For, I, too, am of the West, and the vigorous peoples of the West have destroyed forever the peace and quiet that once were ours. I can no longer live, being apart from those world now trembles to the roar of bomb and cannon shot. For no man and no nation is an island, but a part of the main, there is no longer any East and West - only individuals and nations making those momentous choices that are hinges upon which history resolves.

At the vanguard of progress in this part of the world I stand - a forlorn figure in the eyes of some, but not one defeated and lost. For through the thick, interlacing branches of habit and custom above me I have seen the light of the sun, and I know that it is good. I have seen the light of justice and equality and freedom and my heart has been lifted by the vision of democracy, and I shall not rest until my land and my people shall have been blessed by these, beyond the power of any man or nation to subvert or destroy.

I am a Filipino, and this is my inheritance. What pledge shall I give that I may prove worthy of my inheritance? I shall give the pledge that has come ringing down the corridors of the centuries, and it shall be compounded of the joyous cries of my Malayan forebears when they first saw the contours of this land loom before their eyes, of the battle cries that have resounded in every field of combat from Mactan to Tirad pass, of the voices of my people when they sing:

Land of the Morning,Child of the sun returning…Ne'er shall invadersTrample thy sacred shore.

Out of the lush green of these seven thousand isles, out of the heartstrings of sixteen million people all vibrating to one song, I shall weave the mighty fabric of my pledge. Out of the songs of the farmers at sunrise when they go to labor in the fields; out of the sweat of the hard-bitten pioneers in Mal-ig and Koronadal; out of the silent endurance of stevedores at the piers and the ominous grumbling of peasants Pampanga; out of the first cries of babies newly born and the lullabies that mothers sing; out of the crashing of gears and the whine of turbines in the factories; out of the crunch of ploughs upturning the earth; out of the limitless patience of teachers in the classrooms and doctors in the clinics; out of the tramp of soldiers marching, I shall make the pattern of my pledge:

"I am a Filipino born of freedom and I shall not rest until freedom shall have been added unto my inheritance - for myself and my children's children - forever.

After
Make sure the levels and color are fixed on the original before you start.

Duplicate the layer on the LAYER pallette
Go to FILTER - OTHER - HIGH PASS type 4.0 for RADIUS
on the LAYERS pallette choose vivid light for the blending mode
Now flatten the image.
step1


Second Step
Duplicate the layer on the LAYER pallette
Go to FILTER - OTHER - HIGH PASS type 6.9 for RADIUS
on the LAYERS pallette choose color for the blending mode
Set opacity to 40%
Now flatten the image.
step2


For this step you need to do the following
DUPLICATE LAYER on layer pallette
FILTER - BLUR - GAUSSIAN BLUR 9.4 pixels
FILTER - NOISE - ADD NOISE 3%
from the top menu select LAYER - ADD LAYER MASK - HIDE ALL
using the lasso tool select only the eyes and choose SELECT - FEATHER about 6pixels
Choose SELECT - INVERSE
now use the brush on the tool pallette and set the brush opacity to 30% - brush over the entire image
Now FLATTEN the image
step3


the final step is to sharpen the image.

Go to FILTER - SHARPEN - UNSHARP MASK

use the following settings:
AMOUNT 100%
RADIUS 30.0 pixels
THRESHOLD 0
step4

Most of the look is due to the multiple lights used to create highlights. To get that Shiny skin apply lotion on the person before taking the picture.

Taken from DPP , posted by Jason Tablante 22 May 07
=========================================================

If you wanted to name the biggest complaint of professional photographers in the digital age, you’d have a lot to choose from. Demand is falling. Prices are dropping. Photography schools are growing just as jobs are disappearing. If it was always difficult to make a living taking pictures, it’s safe to say that times are particularly hard now.

All of those are good reasons to grumble but there’s one complaint that stands out above all the others: Everyone thinks they’re a photographer now.

It’s the inevitable result of cameras that are cleverer than the people who sell them and editing software that was once only found on the desks of professional graphic designers now available for free online.

Give anyone a decent digital camera and a good view, and after an hour or two, almost inevitably, you’ll end up with a selection of attractive images and someone who thinks they’re Annie Leibovitz.

That doesn’t mean they aren’t though.

Talent is spread unevenly and not everyone discovers their abilities early. There are plenty of amateurs who could have made successful professionals had they picked up a camera earlier, chosen a different career path or who weren’t enjoying what they’re doing full-time now.

But there’s a difference between an attractive image and an exceptional one, and the wrong person to ask about the quality of an image is always the person who took it. So how can you tell if your photography really is as good as you think it is?

“Nice capture”… not!

What you shouldn’t do is trust what you read under your photos on Flickr. The photo-sharing site has no shortage of mediocre images with long pages of positive comments. That’s because offering a compliment is a good way of receiving one, and contributing is a powerful form of Flickr marketing.

Better then to join a group and ask for constructive criticism. That might be harder to take – it’s likely to be less complimentary – but it should show you how close you came to shooting a perfect picture, and the advice will help you to get even closer next time.

Better still, because group members are selective there’s a greater chance that the people offering the comments will actually understand what they’re looking at. Choose a group used by both professionals and amateurs, and your viewers will be able to see where you want wrong, understand how you made the mistake, tell you how to put it right… and appreciate all things that you did so well.

A compliment is always worth more when it comes from someone who really can tell a bad image from a good one.

Take a Prize

You could also try submitting one of your images to a competition. There are plenty of these on the Internet these days, so you have to choose carefully. A weekly contest held by a site with 30 users a month might not be worth winning. Getting your pictures shown on the BBC’s website might not deliver any prizes but it is free to enter, highly competitive and a good sign that you’re better than average.

You could also try submitting your photos to a peer-reviewed photography publication like JPG Magazine. Although the final choice won’t be solely down to other photography lovers – the editors have the last word – being chosen is still a good sign that you have something that most people don’t.

Return to the Stone Age

A tougher test of your talent though would be to strip down. Ditch all the hi-tech wizardry that makes shooting easy, turn off the camera’s automatic features, deny yourself the benefits of post-production and see how you do with nothing but the bare camera essentials.

It’s how photographers used to learn their trade, and it would be a good test of how much you know as well how much you can do. You don’t have to go analog – do photographers still need darkroom skills? – but photography talent isn’t just about framing and composition. It also involves an understanding of light, shadow, focus and depth. How much do your images owe to your talent and how much to your camera’s features?

Ultimately though, the biggest test of your talent is also the most satisfying. When someone is prepared to pay for one of your pictures, you know you’ve got something valuable.

Where to find money to pay your debt

It is so much easy to borrow money and owe a credit card company especially in Dubai where the Banks are chasing you. Almost no collateral yet you can easily apply for a salary loan. You don't even need a salary transfer certificate. We easily fell into the trap. However, paying it off is the most difficult part. Here are some tips I got from website on how to pay off your debt and start saving.

The main source for money you can use to pay off your debt is your regular income. By reducing your monthly expenses you will free up money to pay down your loans and your credit cards. However, there’s not much money you can squeeze out of a limited income. Below are six other possible sources of money that can help you pay your debt faster.

1. Your savings & investments

If you have money in the bank, use it to pay your loans, especially the ones charging very high interest rates, like your credit card debt. Would you rather pay 3% monthly or 36% yearly in interest for your credit card dues so you can earn an almost insignificant interest of 1% per year from your bank account? That would be very foolish.

Consider this: You have P36,000 worth of credit card debt and P50,000 in a regular savings account that earns 1% yearly. Instead of using your money in the bank you choose to pay your debt through monthly installments for 1 year. So you end-up paying close to P6,000 in interest charges while your money in the bank grows by only P400 (after deducting withholding taxes). Be wise, make the more intelligent move.

As long as your savings or investments are earning way below the interest you’re paying for money you borrowed, use it. However, do not use all your money; leave some for your emergency fund. If you don’t and a financial emergency strikes, you will be forced to borrow again; balik din sa dati ang sitwasyon mo!

2. Borrowing against your insurance or pre-need plan

There are insurance and pre-need (pension & educational) plans which allow you to take out a loan against any cash value that the plan has accumulated. The interest rates for this kind of loans are considerably lower than the rates of other consumer loans. So if you have such a plan, go ahead and take out a loan. (If you’re not sure your plan has it, read the “fine print” again or ask your agent.) It’s perfectly alright to borrow “cheap” money to pay off expensive debt.

3. In-house salary loans

Some companies offer their employees salary loans with favorable terms (e.g. 5%-7% interest per year). You can’t get a loan from outside that will charge a lower interest rate. Find out if your company offers salary loans and check out the interest rates. If it’s considerably lower (at least 5% lower) apply for a loan. Just make sure you use it to pay for your high-interest debt; hindi sa bagong sapatos o damit.

4. Selling your belongings

Consider selling some of the things you own and use the money to break free from your debt. Look around the house and see if there are things you can do without. An expensive cellphone is a good candidate for disposal. Sell it (you won’t miss all those features & functions) and buy a cheaper one then use the extra cash to pay off your debt. You can try to pawning some of your jewelries or gadgets. However, pawnshops charge high interest rates (comparable to credit cards), so you might be better off selling them instead; unless they have a sentimental value. But then again you can’t be too sentimental if you are deep in debt.

5. Taking out a loan against your property

For huge debts you can apply for a loan with your real estate or car serving as the collateral. Although interest rates for this type of loans are also quite high, these are still much lower compared to credit card interest rates. As a rule of thumb take out a loan to pay off your debt only if the interest charged is lower than the interest you are currently paying. (But sometimes you will have no other option but to get a more expensive loan to pay off a long overdue debt & keep intact whatever is left of your integrity.)

6. Loan from family & friends

The best source of money for paying your debt is your family, close friends and relatives. If you are honest about your situation and they find you trustworthy, you might be able to borrow from them without having to pay any interest. It can’t get any better than this. However, don’t disappoint them and let them lose their trust in you by not paying them back. Don’t make a promise you can’t keep; hindi ka na makakaulit.

We don't know much about money hence we all spend what we got. One-year hard-earned dirhams easily swept by a one-month vacation back home. Pag balik negative pah, may utang pa yung credit cards. Then you will realize that after 10 or 15 years you go back  to the same situation you were in before working abroad. Only this time, matanda ka na and opportunities around you becomes harder to find.

By the way, there are no get-rich quick scheme that works. Pyramiding , multi-level marketing and alike are nothing new.  Don't hope too to have your million dollar Dubai Duty Free or a National Bonds sweepstakes, probabilities are like LOTTOs in the Philippines.

 

There are sure fire way to earn your millions. Not quick , slow but sure. It is the day you start earning is the day you must start investing. By investing part of your earnings from the start gives you a huge advantage. Time is money. Be it in shares, property or as recurring fixed deposit, compound interest works only with time.

Take a safe, tax free Public Provident (retirement) Fund account or a Recurring Deposit Account with a good bank, where you are allowed to invest Pesos 70,000  (app. 530 dhs./month)  a year at 8% interest.

My case, I have started with Mutual Fund. I'm more of a conservative type and went for a safer haven with Philam Asset Management. I am not advertising them, you can find other investment vehicle but the point here is you should save. Not in the bank, since interest rates are only 3-4% while inflation is  at 7%.

Starting late at age 40 and investing Pesos 70,000 a year till you retire at 60 will give you Pesos 3.785 Million on your investment of Pesos 1.4 million.

However, if you started at age 25, soon after you started working and invested Pesos 70,000 annually until you retired, you’d have Pesos 14.0 million on your investment of  2.45 million i.e. just 1.05 million more than the person starting at age 40.

That’s the magic of compounding – more time, much more money

With improving health care, today’s young people can expect to live longer than previous generations. This means a longer retirement. So get the time you now have on your side to work and start investing as early as possible

In this digital age where everyone has digital cameras, scanners and home "photo printers", when people upload their photos to a local drug store website and pick them up a few hours later, we hear this all the time - How in the world do Professional Photographers charge AED 150 for an 8x10 when they cost just AED8.00 at the drug store?

Here's why.

Simply put, you're not just paying for the actual photograph, you're paying for time and expertise. First, let's look at the actual time involved. If you don't read this entire page, at least read this first part.

For a two hour portrait session:

- one hour of travel to and from the session
  - two hours of shooting
  - 30 minutes of setup, preparation, talking to the client etc.
  - 30 minutes to load the photos onto a computer (2 - 4 Gb of data)
  - 30 minutes to back up the files on an external drive
  - 3 - 4 hours of Photoshop time including cropping, contrast, color, sharpening, saving a copy for print and a copy for the internet and backing up the edited photographs
  - 2 - 3 hours to talk to the client, answer questions, receive their order and payment, order their prints, receive and verify prints, package prints, schedule shipment and drop package off at Fed Ex.
  - For local customers, we also print a set of all of their photos, and meet them at our studio to review the photos and place their order. Meeting and travel time averages 2 hours.

You can see how one two hour session easily turns into more than ten hours of work from start to finish. So when you see a Photographer charging a AED 700 session fee for a two hour photo shoot, you are not paying them AED 350 / hour.

For an eight hour wedding:

- I won't bore you with the details, but an eight hour wedding typically amounts to at least two to three full 40 hour work weeks worth of time. Again, if they are charging you AED 8,000 for an eight hour wedding, you are not paying them AED1000 / hour.

Now for the expertise.

Shooting professional photography is a skill, acquired through years of experience. Even though a quality camera now costs under AED 2,000 taking professional portraits involves much more than a nice camera.

Most Professional Photographers take years to go from buying their first decent camera to making money with their photography. In addition to learning how to use the camera itself, there is a mountain of other equipment involved, as well as numerous software programs used to edit and print photographs, run a website etc.

And let's not forget that you actually have to have people skills, be able to communicate, make people comfortable in front of the camera - and posing people to make them look their best in a photograph is a skill all by itself.

Think of it this way - the next time you pay AED70.00 to get your hair done, a pair of scissors only costs AED50. But you gladly pay a lot more to hire a Professional.

What about the cheap studios at the mall?

Please don't compare us to the chain store studios. But if you must, consider all of the time and work that we put into our photographs, compared to what they do. Good luck getting a two hour photo shoot at a chain store. Not to mention they won't come to the beach! And of course, look at our work compared to theirs. You get what you pay for.

The truth is, most of the mall and chain store studios lose money. In fact, in 2007 Wal-Mart closed 500 of their portrait studios because of the financial drain they were putting on the company. What the chain stores bet on is that you'll come in for some quick and cheap photos, and while you're there, you'll also spend AED1000 on other things. They don't have to make money, they are just there to get you in the door.

Conclusion

We hope that those who have taken the time to read this page will have a better understanding of why professional photographs cost so much more than the ones that you get from your local drug store.

Thank you for taking the time to read this.

 

"Choosing a portable studio lights that is just right for the budget"

I already did an extensive research in buying a studio lights, I already made a mistake once when I bought cheap China lights and Stands and already paid that lesson by selling it less (obviously) than the price I paid. I can still remember one funny incident with that light that I have to shoot executives in a hotel lobby and the strobes were not flashing synchronously with my camera and ended up with all underexposed shots. Good that the client paid but I’m not happy as a photographer.

My requirements are cheap yet dependable.  Cheap does not mean very cheap since I believe in an adage that you get what you are paying for. I mean a product that will not break the bank or skyrocket your credit card bills but a product that can be used later on as a source of your extra income.  I’m not pushing you to incur another debt. This is a good debt since definitely you can earn money out of it. A debt is only bad if you are buying something will suffice your vanity (IPHONEs,LCD TV and alike).

What I mean of Dependable means consistent light output and trusty recycle time.  I have checked RIMELITe, as displayed in SHARAF DG. It is made by Hyundae, Korea.  Obviously, it looks better than the cheapo chinese brand and I assume works better but the price is quite high for a company that does not have a big history in making STUDIO LIGHTS. 

Then, yesterday, while browsing the International Photo Exhibit, I almost bought  the SOLO B400 which cost around  DHS1,200 for each 400Ws strobe head.  The product is made by VISATEC, a sub-brand of BRONCOLOR, which is very popular among the PROs and has a remarkable history in studio lightings. Visatec is distributed by Gulf Color Film Lab in Sharjah, near Mega Mall. It also offers a wide range of accessories that can be attached to the heads.

As I have said, after short-listing the particular brands  I finally decided to buy my flash heads online from “ALIENBEES”.  It only cost US$224.00 per head and ALIEN BEES product is highly recommended by serious enthusiast and entry-level professionals. You can buy a POWERPACK cheaper than that of VISATEC and with this you can bring your strobes anywhere you go.

I don’t think I still have to convince you that Lighting system is more important than lens, much more of a new camera. Since, we all know that photography is more about light than lens and camera.

See the reviews here. So far I have not seen a bad review with this lighting system.

DARKROOM - Post Processing Revelation
by Dustein Sibug

Did I already mention that the workshop was really worth it? As an avid photography enthusiast I have attended several workshops in the past but this one got my A+ rating. Although I did not expect or find Dustein’s workshop as mind-blowing or really an opening of  Pandora’s box but it was indeed effective and useful to me as a photographer who like to manipulate photos. Who else doesn’t? Although there are purists out there who just let their camera in-processor manipulate pictures for them.

DARKROOM revelations has open up a lot of unknowns to me. Yes, everyone knows the effect of a softlight blend effect to the picture underneath but I have never bothered to touch-on  the fill value which is quite essential in every technique. I have used Dodge and Burn for so many years now but never knew the effect on a masked channel. The normal gaussian blur appeared to be a common technique for everyone who is doing a portrait but never thought it could be easier. Just like what I said, commands and filters are always available but putting the right amount on it still proves to be very difficult to many.  Channel masking was still Greek to me before I attended the workshop.  Although I'm not yet a master of this trade but now, I have to go back and open my old files and start processing them again usingDustein’s style which I begin to like it.
Don’t get me wrong, Of course I will try it on my own later but let me master the technique first and develop my own style. 

Moreover, I really enjoyed the workshop as it was well organized. Although we have started a bit late and there was a rush in taking the model’s picture to be used during the workshop but these are minor snags that do not affect the meat of the matter.   Again the venue is nothing chic or elegant that would have increase the running cost, it is just enough and serves well the purpose.  At AED 100.00, I can’t believe that CL8 was still able provide free refreshments considering the cost of bringing in Dustein from the Philippines.  The CL8 has really pulled it off nicely and should be highly commended for their unwavering dedication to make the said event fun and educational for everyone.

It was not an out-of-the-blue fashion and glamour workshop, it was well thought and planned. The model is not someone whom you meet everyday in the streets Nasser square but stunning and drop-dead gorgeous TRINA.  Describing her as   beautiful is an understatement. Beauty is not the quality a model should only have but discipline and character.  She posed for almost all the sessions and was awesome in everyway. She's very cooperative and knows her stuff very well. The outfit was not something anyone can just pull it out from a wardrobe but classy and well-designed.

Overall, I believe the event rocks - it would take too much time to mention all the good stuff.

Somehow it's true to most of us.

1. You start out with very little knowledge
2. You start doing research and realize it is much more difficult than you imagined.
3. You begin to pick up knowledge, the technical side of things from  group of friends.
4. You begin to use the technical knowledge and it works.
5. You start to feel as if you are mastering the technical
6. You begin to feel you know a LOT and begin commenting on other images.
7. You start posting images that you are proud of and you start to question why images of another photographer with the same level gathered most comments while yours isn't.
8. You realize that personality matters than your photograph. However, you always know your images are better than much of what you see.
9. Family and friends start to oooo and aaaahhh at your images and you thought you can already make  professional money out of your hobby.
10. Pro's don't seem to acknowledge you.
11. You think it's jealousy.
12. You reach a valley in your photography. You are starting to notice that your images aren't quite what you thought they would be.
13. You start to notice that, in your images, the models hands, the composition, the depth...isn't quite what you wanted.
14. Even your very favorite photograph isn't as good as you once thought. "I should have . . . "
15. You are now completely dissatisfied with everything you have ever shot.
16. You begin to realize that your photography is NOTHING compared to the masters.
17. You begin to see the differences in your photography compared to what you see published.
18. Now you are beginning to learn.

Check out this link

http://www.thecameraprofessionals.com/prodetails.asp?prodid=401224

They sell cameras at unbelievably low prices but it is a scam. Too good to be true.

Thanks to Emy for the heads up

Check out the reviews:
- http://www.resellerratings.com/store/TheCameraProfessionals
- http://forums.photographyreview.com/showthread.php?t=33481

I am suppose to put this up in the link entry but I want to state my reasons on renting photography equipment.  Since, photography now has been my 2nd income stream beside my real job so I have put a real thought of investing on equipment but sometimes they are hugely expensive that renting rather than buying is a practical solution.

Although I have the basic set-up but sometimes when you want a truly professional output you really need a professional lighting system. Another reason might be to impress a very important client or to land a good job.

Of course, you will say that the output is more important than the equipment but that is very subjective. What you think is really good to you may not appeal to others. I confess I had assignment where my photos are not important, just my presence with the big camera, lens and constant flashes from my strobe as VIP's got down from their Limousines. For you artist out there, I know it is disheartening but it is a call of business.

Well this blog entry is not about that, it is about the place  HOTCOLD photography equipment rentals I have discovered near Mall of Emirates in Dubai. It is quite practical and catered to PRO and NON-PRO like us. Prices are quite reasonable if you will share it with your buddies. Your group can also rent the whole studio for a day and you will see the difference how a professional environment can really affect the quality of your pictures.

Please visit their website at this  address

1. Lara Jade Coton Versus Bob Burge and TVX Films

Lara Jade Coton, who we interviewed here not long after the story broke, was a 14-year-old schoolgirl in England when she shot a self-portrait wearing a top hat. She was still under 18 when Bob Burge, owner of TVX Films put the photo on the cover of a porn film called “Body Magic.”

Lara Jade, now an 18-year old photography student, had placed the image on deviantART, protected (she’d hoped) with a watermark and copyright symbol.

After being told that her self-portrait was being used to promote porn, Lara Jade contacted Bob Burge who was less than polite. Complaining that her photo was harming sales anyway, he promised to change the cover of his Hustler-rated DVD.

Months later, ads for the film featuring Lara’s image could still be found on the Web.

It was only when Lara Jade used her Flickr page to describe what happened that things really took off. She received press coverage around the world, comments of support from hundreds of photographers… and a court case filed against Bob Burge and TVX films in the summer of 2007.

Photography: Lara Jade Coton

2. Flickr Member Sues Virgin Mobile after Appearing in Australian Ad

Lara Jade isn’t the only underage victim of a company trying to promote itself. Alison Chang, a 16-year-old from Bedford, Texas was photographed flashing a victory sign at a church fundraiser in April 2007. The photographer, a youth counselor, posted the image on his Flickr stream with a Creative Commons license.

Advertising executives at Virgin Mobile Australia grabbed the image and placed it on at least one bus shelter with the caption “Dump your pen friend.”

Ryan Zehl, an attorney for Ms. Chang was quoted in the Dallas Morning News saying:

If a company uses your face in its ads without your consent, then you’re entitled to whatever money those ads generate for the company… It’s Texas law.

Australia, of course, is a long way from Texas but the law suit does touch on all sorts of important issues, including model releases, privacy and copyright as it relates to Creative Commons licenses.

3. Corbis Sued For Losing Photos

Most photographers have nightmares about something happening to their images. So they keep back-ups and they trust stock companies to do the same.

Or at least to look after their photos properly.

Corbis didn’t do either. Early in November 2007, photographer Chris Usher won his suit against the stock company after discovering that it had lost 12,640 of his analog images — one in four of the images the photographer had submitted.

Usher, who used to represent himself, had signed up to Corbis to supplement his sales to Time, Newsweek and other major publications. He asked for his images back when he grew disappointed at Corbis’s licensing deals and billing practices.

Corbis initially denied that they had lost any of Usher’s photos but admitted on the first day in court that they might have misplaced a “mere 5,877.”

This isn’t the first time that Corbis has been sued for losing photos. Arthur Grace was awarded $472,000 after Sygma, a French stock company that Corbis bought in 1999, lost 40,000 of his slides. That case will receive a new hearing and could lead to even higher damages. Chris Usher will have to wait until December to learn the size of his court-awarded compensation.

4. Passer-By Sues Philip-Lorca diCorcia for Selling his Photo

In general, if you’re in a public place, you can photograph it. And in general, if you want to sell an image of someone for commercial use, you need their permission.

Philip-Lorca diCorcia though, thought he was on safe ground when he set up strobe rigs in New York in 2006 and photographed people walking down the street. He didn’t put the photos on ads or mount them on billboards. He placed them in an exhibition and sold them as prints.

And he was sued by Emo Nussenzweig, an Orthodox Jew, who appeared in one of the photos and considered the sale both an invasion of his privacy and a breach of his religious rights.

The court ruled that although ten copies of the images had sold for up to $30,000 each, they were still considered works of art, were not commercial and were therefore protected under the First Amendment. Nussenzweig’s appeal was filed too late to be considered.

5. Goosed Farmer Seeks $7.5 Million in Damages for Photo

You might be able to argue that a work of art is not commercial but photographer John Burwell could struggle to make the same claim for an image he shot that appeared on greeting card.

The photo, which was taken in 1996 at the State Fair of Virginia, shows poultry farmer Andrew Marsinko with a goose on his knee. Burwell submitted the image to Jupitermedia who licensed it to a company called Leanin’ Tree.

Leanin’ Tree used the photo on the cover of a greeting card with the caption “Since it’s your birthday, you decide — Would you rather get spanked… or goosed?”

Marsinko, who was a well-known figure in goose-breeding circles, is now an even more well-known figure.

He is suing Burwell and his wife, Jupitermedia, Getty Images (who bought the rights to the image) and Leanin’ Tree, for defamation, unauthorized use of a picture, conspiracy and attempted conspiracy, and reckless infliction of emotional distress. Marsinko claims that he did not sign a model release form.

Photography: Courtesy of Roanoke County Circuit Court

I will be ordering stuff this time from ADORAMA

The last time we did proves to be very beneficial for everyone.  Just in case you want to order something, just let me know so we can club together our orders and save on shipment and custom duties. We had worked out an arrangement that the shipment cost and duties if applicable was justly divided to everyone.

Although there are risks involve  but it's still worth it, considering the price difference.  In some products, international warranty is also applicable. There are still of products that you can't find locally.

I will be placing my order before the end of the month, around 23-27 February so let me know in advance if you are interested in  any products availble from this online store. Payment has to be in cash upon delivery.

After almost an hour of finding the Sharjah Art Museum, I was standing in front of a very large canvass and was awestruck by the image in front of me photographed by Andreas Gursky. It was truly an inspiring work of art.

The exhibition where it was held was a huge four-story building and nothing was displayed on the entire premises but the works of this artist Andreas Gursky. I never knew about this photographer till I went to that exhibiton and dig google about him.

The work is something you don't see everyday in internet, I'm not even sure if you can appreciate it in your 21" LCD screen. You really have to stand in front of these pictures to truly appreciate it.

One of the pictures there is 99 cent which fetch more than US$2.4 million U.S. Dollars in an auction. The image feature oversaturated colors and enough detail to overwhelm the viewer. I guess everyone of us who has a good access in Carrefoure can easily take the same picture.
It was truly a great experience to visit the exhibition. I guess it was the best two hours I spent in my photographic life without having to take pictures but just appreciating them. You can easily spend more than 15 minutes by just gazing into one of his masterpieces.

                                                                                        

There is no better way to improve than to compete against others. Participating in contest can be very rewarding, even if you don't end up as a prize winner.
I had wicked reasons of not joining a contest, ‘Ayaw kong matalo’ ! I hate to lose since I am always a sore loser. I know it's pathetic! I just sulk to my defense mechanism that not all good photographers join the contest and not all contest winners are good photographers.    Although I hate to admit this, but one of the main reasons that triggered me to a join photography contest before were seems atrocious. I just want to prove something else. There was a point in time that I was pestered by those photographers who always claimed that they are good, yet ‘WALA NAMANG SINABI’.  To subdue their pomposity(kayabangan), I’ll just have to beat their arse in every contest and fora they join. I win some I lose some. I know it’s wicked so forgive me However, I’m a change man now. I now join a photo contest not because of this reason but something on a higher grounds.
	Since if you really put it on a different perspective,      there are also good reasons in joining photography contest. It is the only way you can really gauge whether your photos are really that good. Maybe, you are already satisfied by your friends saying to you that ‘WOW’, ‘NICE’, ‘GANDA’ . Yes, they are nice to hear but you really don’t know the truth behind those words. I’m not saying that it's all untrue.             Maybe, they are just telling this with a different motive. ( Baka gusto Lang sumama sa next EB! ) Another reason is that it pushes your limits. You will be more critical of your pictures, especially those pictures that you will submit in a contest. You may ask a help a friend to evaluate it but you keep on       dissecting that inner voice and ask yourself KUNG MAGANDA NGAH TALAGA.                          So, here's an invite for you to join a photography contest.  Of course, you just don’t join in every photography contest you know.  Maybe, you can start joining online photography contest who knows?.  However, just be a little watchful on some organization that charge exorbitant fees for your entry.
I have realized that it’s ok to lose. As what Michael Jordan Said                   “I've missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.” P.S. (Edited) By the way, SONY has ORGANIZED a PHOTO CONTEST, Held at the prestigious Palais des Festivals, Cannes,  between the 21st and 25th April 2008, The Sony World Photography Awards     proudly give tribute to photographers around the globe in all categories.   From landscape to music, photojournalism to fashion, the Sony World Photography  Awards showcases the world’s best images taken by the most renowned photographers as well as the yet undiscovered.          The competition has both  professional  and amateur categories and is free to enter.

Again, I would not like to start another debate here which group is better. If you start reading this blog and expecting an answer which group is better then I advise not to read it any further since it is not all about that.  This is more of a personal perception since in one way or another I have been a part of these groups except DubaiSuperstar. I used to be a member of Lightform and now OPPPS and also went out a few times with the members of Mideast Snipers.

Obviously, you would think that someone who is an OPPPS insider will still have something good to say about Lightform, DubaiSuperstars or the more recent, Mideast Snipers. In fact, writing this blog would catch a few eyebrows and even my group might start to question my loyalty. However, as much as possible I just want to be honest on what I feel and would like to convey this honesty to whoever read this blog.

 

If you want a more institutionalized organization, strong branding and work hand in hand with the giants of Dubai - then Lightform would be your best bet. No other Filipino group (so far that I know) can run a prestigious photography contest recognized no other than by Dubai Municipality. Their presence can be felt in each and every Filipino event around Dubai. A well structured organization. I think it has produced the most number of good Filipino photography enthusiast than any other group. It is the first Filipino photography association in the UAE. A venue where I learned and love photography and made friends to a lot of people. This strength comes from years of experience and the people behind it.

 

OPPPS on the other hand has just started; the same people who started Lightform formed thi s group. I would not like to touch the reason why they formed another one since it will be  beyond the scope of this blog and would not benefit anyone by mentioning it. However, OPPPS started with just a small group of Professional Photographers. Earning their living through photography.  So, where else do you think you can learn better the Itsy Betsy Tweeney of photography but from the people whose photographs put meals on their table. It has now become a more dynamic organization with lots of activities. Members enjoy the benefit of attending various road trips and workshops given by local Filipino talents.  Its main strengths lie on the passion of the group to the art and trade of photography. A little bit institutionalized , a little bit artsy and a little bit of everything about Photography. People inside it never missed a single free time to further the group’s cause. It keeps on improving by day and catching up fast. I am part of it and I myself can’t believe the commitment of the group to its activities for the benefit of the members and the students.

 

Passion is what defines the other Group, the MIDEAST SNIPERS. Just for the love of it ! a group of like-minded individuals meet somewhere in the vast arena of the electronic world, went out a few photo treks around dubai and in the course of those meet-ups, a group was formed. It started in a virtual world and has now become a group to boot.

 Although not as institutionalized as the other two groups but you got to see to believe the output of the members plastered all over the internet. It has become an inspiration to me personally. If Ansel Adams would have live today and browsing the internet, surely he will ask which school this group of photographers came from.

 

Well, here goes my hodge podge entry of the various photography groups. By the way, there’s no rule that by joining one group you are not allowed to join another one.  Just like choosing camera brands you are not bind to one brand, and it does not matter which camera brand you are using.

 

As like LIFE, you have many choices and as long as you enjoy and no one is aggravated, you have made the right one!

It is always the question raise, especially those students who just enrolled in OPPPS who does not have a camera yet. We always say that it is not the brand but the person behind the camera. It might be true to some extent. I don't want to start another debate here which brand is better. I can always say that Canon has been the forefront of DSLR however, we now have a bit of a sea change happening. Nikon has flexed its considerable muscle and with the D3, produced a camera that sends a clear challenge to Canon's nearly decade-long dominance of the digital arena.

Click the picture for more.