FILIPOS @ BORYEONG 2011

It's a hot, hot summer! So we kinda wanna bum out...so off we spent the weekend at the MUD PITS!!! ^^

Group shots by Marco Barboza

24.7.2011 의자 민박 

The more, the merrier...The crazier, the better!!! ^^

MUDPROOF YOUR DSLR. LET'S GEAR UP FILIPOS!!!

Even Reuters Photographers Make Camera Armor Out of Plastic Wrap | Popular Photography

We've all had the occasional situation where things have been spilled, dropped, smeared, or otherwise marred our perfectly good cameras — but what could possibly require covering your entire camera in plastic wrap like that? Reuters photographer Jo Yong-Hak covered the Boryeong Mud Festival this year — an annual weeklong summer celebration that involves millions of people visiting a mud-covered beach for sliding, wrestling, massages, competitions, and generally awesome summertime fun.

The festival takes place on Daecheon beach in Boryeong,120 miles southwest of Seoul, and the mud is renowned for being medicinal — though the celebration is as much about fun as it is health.

As much fun as this is for people, high end camera gear doesn't take so kindly to mud flying in all directions, so Jo Yong-Hak did the only thing practical — wrapping all the gear in plastic wrap. It won't protect the glass of your lens from getting smeared, but it'll stop the mud from getting all through the workings of your precious gears.

Though I can't imagine changing settings through all that plastic is particularly fun. But, it's nice to see that even photogs at the highest level sometimes resort to DIY solutions like this to get the shot.

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FILIPOS, LET'S GEAR UP AND MUD-PROOF 'EM!!! LEVEL UP AND GO!!! SUN UP AND MUDS ON!!! XD

Kuya Sam's Travel in Korea Rep.

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Daddy Jack the Beanstalk's Birthday

Just when you need to laugh hard~ ^^

For my "dad" in FILIPOS who taught me to be more of a gag! LOL. Kidding!

Happy Birthday UOD DAD! XD

Chased by Butterflies

11 June 2011
0504H
In the laboratory fixing my stuff after finally printing my final report. 


I haven't slept yet but I'm quite happy and excited and a bit nervous because in about 4 hours, my class in Anam will start and we will be doing our final presentation of our individual term project. I have been having a great deal of trouble with this one because for weeks I have been trying to figure out how to go about some second order partial differential equation that unfortunately, only a good computer code can efficiently solve based on the lits I've read and it will have to take me a much longer time to develop a code to get the results for comparison. But good enough, I talked things out with my professor yesterday and I was advised to make a comparative analysis instead since time is already against me. WHEW. 


Earlier, or rather, yesterday while having coffee break with Hyunjoo and Junsik oppa at CBTL, a white butterfly fluttered and seemed to be dancing in front of me for several seconds. It seemed to have effectively kept my calm. The rest of the day was spent doing my homework and finishing my final report. 


I had dinner with Hyunjoo, Gwang, Junsik, Daehoon and Daesok at the 5th floor where our food was delivered. I have tasted the mandu ramyeon a few nights ago but I think the restaurant that delivered our food last night has a better mandu ramyeon for the same price of 3,000 won, there was about a dozen mandu with the noodles! Not bad! And it was ma-ssi-seo-yo!^^ Anyway, the dinner ended up with me eating the last kimbap. LOL. 


I went back to the lab, finally got the answers to the homework and decided to take a shower in the dormitory. I came back in the lab at 11:00pm bringing my Urban Hydrology book with me (I'm supposed to study for the quiz but I barely have time anymore so I might as well study during lunchbreak with Minjae oppa -- cram again LOL), my camera and the charger. By the time I got to the lab, I realized that I forgot to bring the adaptor of the charger's plug! Deeeyyym. So I might as well just leave the slr? Since the battery has only 1 bar left? But I'm also thinking that there just might be a good view or food to shoot even for just a few shots! I might miss it! Hmmmm... 


Anyway, I'm keeping the good vibes because just a while ago in the hwa-jang-sil, a green little butterfly also came flying to me and as I subtly chased it back, it landed for a few seconds on my palm. It looked like a four-leaf clover, only that it was flying! ^___^


In a few minutes, I'm going to walk to the bus station for my 6:20am trip to Seoul. 
"FILIPOS teams break a leg for the amazing race!" -- Too bad I can't come to physically cheer and support you guys cos I have class! I even want to be part of the team but darn. I'm fully-booked in Anam. May this be a good day and may the good vibes keep coming!!! ^____^

Seoul Friendship and Lotus Lantern Festival

07 May 2011


Class ended at exactly 4:30 PM and I've got to go right away because Micah and Krish are already at the City Hall!


1630h I rushed to the subway and met Tin at Dongdaemun station at around 5 PM. We reached the city hall at 5:25 PM. Krish gave us a call to inform us that they're waiting at Dunkin Donuts straight out of the subway exit having some snacks.


http://seoulfriendshipfair.org/

The Seoul Friendship Fair 

* We started at farthest booth near stage and had photo with some Irish men. 
* Wore costumes from different Nationalities
* Photo-ops with booths from different nations. We'd even ask foreigners to pose with us. ^^
* Took macro shots of plants around the place.
* Booth-hopped from one country to another.
* Went to see international children's painting display

At 7:00 pm, we were getting even hungrier so we checked out the food fair. Too bad, it was almost finished and everyone was packing out T___T" We were too eager to try out different dishes only to get tok. T___T"
We ate some patty with tok and sausages and went to the giant "kuhol" where we took photos with the World Vision display.


We met up with Kuya Nads and other FILIPOZENS at Mr.Pizza and we got a treat from Kuya Marzy! ~^^


After dinner, we photo-walked at Jonggak. *Night Photography / Long Exposure Practice*

Cheonggye Square


We went down the bridge to do long exposure shots with Kuya Marzy as the mentor. Thanks to his heavy-duty tripod! ~^^ 


There were lots of couples around so I also took "couple" shots. LOL


It's past 12 midnight and we were still up and ready for more action. Where to go???


We decided to go for samgyeopsal and shots of soju and mekju! And to Hyehwa we go!


08 May 2011
THE AMBUSH KIDS ATTACK


We met up with Corinna at the pub and had some soju and beer. To make the long story short, by 4:30am, 
Corinna: "Kuya Marzy, magbabayad na po"
And Kuya Marzy got ambushed again...LOL


Upon reaching Tin's dorm, I simply went straight to bed knocked down. =))


We were supposed to go to Incheon but we woke up to the 10am alarm at Tin's dorm with Micah sharing the bed with me. I sure had a good sleep, I wonder with Micah...? =))


We went to have lunch at the best budaechige resto and heard mass at 1:30pm (Filipino mass) at Hyehwa church. After mass, we went to visit the FILIPOS booth at the Filipino fair behind the church. Micah shopped for delicacies and squeezed out discounted 2k from Kuya Jay. LOL


The mbush kids again were able to convince Kuya Pudu to buy empanada for us. The ambush kids did it again. LOL


Going back home, Micah and I rode the 1740h trip of the Mugunghwa train.
In the train, we were entertained by three Japanese guys flirtin' with a Korean girl and a bilingual kid as we tried to interpret their conversations since we couldn't sleep. LOL
Micah got off at Cheonan by 1845h and I reached Jochiwon at 1906h. I went to dorm and dozed off. EXHAUSTED BUT HAD EPIC FUN! ~^^

Olympic Park Photowalk

01 May 2011


Photowalked with FILIPOS and learned a lot from SLAG mentors!


Obviously, Tin and I were tired for what few hours of sleep we had. So we woke up late and arrived at the Olympic Village / Park at 11 o'clock. Just an hour late. LOL.


The members were divided into amateurs and professionals and each amateur was asked to tag along with one professional photographer for that day's photowalk. It's a good practice and Tin and I tagged with the SLAG. I learned a lot particularly from Kuya Jhan-jhan who even reset my camera's settings and fixed it up to match his D90's settings.


The sky was not so moody and the sun barely shone but the weather was good enough to go along with us by not raining. ^^

My First FILIPOS Day: Yeouinaro Photowalk

I was overly excited and woke up at 6:00 AM. I checked the internet last night and it said that there's a train to Seoul at 7:18 AM. I had everything prepared, my memory card, spare SD card, my battery - well charged, lens and body - cleaned --- all set! I brought some oranges for breakfast in the train. ^^


I walked to the train station and only to find out that the next train schedule is at 8:10 AM! T___T" I was supposed to be at Singil Station by 9:00 AM in order to meet Kuya Marco and Kuya Mon, the two FILIPOS guys whom I met in the train yesterday. Since I couldn't make it, I called them up and asked for the exact train station where the club will meet up. So yeah, I'm gonna be late. T__T"




10:20AM YEOUINARO STATION EXIT 2
As I got out of exit 2, I saw a group of people with dslr's. "This must be the place then and they must be Pinoys", I thought. And when I got nearer, some of them were staring at me cos I had my slr over my neck and seemed to them like I was looking for one of them. They were right! Then I met Kuya Marco and Kuya Mon and they introduced me to the rest of the members. ^^ I met Tin, whom Kuya Marco thought was me (because of the long hair probably) and from then on, she became my best buddy in the club, my so-called long-lost-sister in Korea. Hahah... Tin is a Nursing Management graduate student in SNU and is already in her final year and has also been into photography. We talked as if we knew each other already and it was a lot of fun knowing each other and meeting other people in the club! A few minutes later, Krish, who was already a member of the club also arrived and introduced me to his two friends int he club. He's my batchmate in UST and we haven't seen each other since I arrived in Korea. So this is like our mini reunion and a sort of grand gathering with fellow Pinoy photographers for me!


We started our day with a prayer led by one of the leaders of the club, Kuya Nads. Then off we went to take photos of whatever we can. The theme of that day's photowalk was Macro Photography. Ok, I like macro photography but it's something I badly need to develop. So whatever happens, I'll just try to shoot whatever I can macro on as creatively as I can. LOL.


Tin is also addicted to coffee and she hasn't had breakfast yet. It was already past 12:00 PM and everyone was still busy taking photos! ^^ Though the place was still not in full bloom, there weren't so much cherry blossoms yet, it still looked beautiful and peaceful and I enjoyed taking random photos of passers-by, portraits of children rather than the macro theme. LOL.


There's a Ministop nearby and that's where all of us had lunch at past 1:00 PM already. Everybody sure was hungry! The group was gathered once again to announce the winners of the last photowalk's theme - Pre-nup Photography. Ate Janice was the winner and also the people's choice! Girls are ruling! ^^,


Tin and I decided to go home by 4:30 PM and I took the train to Jochiwon. By the time I reached Jochiwon, it was past 6:00 PM and I had enough time to buy some stuff at the market.


For the first time, I heard mass with Sue! We've been planning to hear mass together but our schedules hardly jammed. Finally, tonight was the night! Hahah! She's an undergraduate student in our department as well and I knew her through my professor who gave my number to her in order to contact me whenever she'd hear mass in Jochiwon. Sue has been one of my good friends since then and has been helping me with some Korean phrases! ^^,


Before heading to the bus stop, we bought some bread at Jong Man. It looked similar to Breadtalk and they have a quite a good selection of various pastries too! ^^, Dinner that night - pizza bread! ^^,

FATE Brought Me to the Train and to FILIPOS

Extraordinary things happen...and today, it seems fate just brought me to the unexpected twists of my Saturday's routine...^^


For lunch, I went to eat with MJ oppa at the building, the one across the Biotech Bldg, where we also had lunch last time. At least this time, we're not so much in a hurry cos our afternoon class was adjusted to start 30 minutes after the scheduled time. I was treated with bibimbap for lunch and in return, I bought coffee for oppa hahah! Oppa was very tired cos the whole week he's been working on the project in our laboratory and has been staying overnight for 3 consecutive days in the lab. As much as I would like to help them with the report, there's nothing much I can do cos I barely understand Hangeul and the report is in Korean. T___T"


After the class, I went by myself to the subway cos oppa was going to meet his girlfriend before he goes back to Jochiwon. My Saturday Seoul to Jochiwon route has changed. I would now take the train instead of the bus so from Anam station at line 6, I get off at Dongmyo where I would transfer to Line 1 until I reach Seoul Station. Just when I got off the subway at Seoul Station, I saw someone familiar. When I looked, it was oppa and his pretty pretty girlfriend! ^^ I have never seen her yet in person, only her pictures at oppa's desktop in the lab. And indeed, she's so pretty!!! Chesca is also a Catholic, something in common we share. And she invited me to hear mass with her sometime in one of the biggest Catholic churches in Seoul. ^^


At the ticket booth, I had to go ahead cos they still had to go on a date (of course ~~,). In the train, since I got no seat anymore, I stayed at the cafeteria car. There I sat in front of the counter where they sell some food. A few minutes later, a couple of men boarded the train with a box of what seemed like an equipment, backpacks and DSLR's. They seem like professional photographers. My ears was covered with earphones but I turned down the volume of my music player. They seemed to be talking in a different language, it didn't sound like Hangeul. I kept glancing at them and I had a strong feeling that they may be my kababayans. When the train started, I decided to position myself and stood near them so I could hear if they were Pinoys indeed. Right then and there, I heard them talk in Tagalog! "Kuya, Pinoy po kayo?", I asked one of them. And that started our conversation during the whole trip. The best part is, they're members of FILIPOS (Filipino Photographers in South Korea) which is a registered club in the Immigration and because I've always wanted to join a group and develop my skills in photography, they eagerly invited me to join them and to come to Seoul for a photowalk with the rest of the club tomorrow at Yeouido! I was so excited, so happy, so full of energy despite the fact that I haven't had much sleep cos I studied for my exam since midnight and never went to sleep anymore! Though tired I may be, my brain was still full of ideas and thoughts about the Filipino community I'll be joining, the photography club, to be with professional photographers and all! Ooooohhh! I couldn't describe it perfectly that when I got off the train, I was still smiling and it's as if my smile won't ever fade! I had kimbap for dinner at a restaurant near the station and I was still smiling after even during my whole 30-minute walk to the campus!


As I went in the lab, I gleefully greeted Kiko oppa and hid behind my computer, bashful and kept my smile all to myself hahah! =) TOMORROW --- the photowalk! c",)