Category: People

Categories
People Photos Urban

to the tune of..$$$

cooped up at home has it’s perks.. i got to catch up on some surfing.. and not a moment too soon! because there was these rumors spreading around about those new cams from Nikon & Canon, and true enough, Canon’s website confirmed that the 50D (ISO 12800!!) would be available soon.. (my 40D is just a few months old) the horror.. the horror.. well, this might be a significant upgrade for those of you using pre 40D’s ( 30D, 20D & 10D(?) ).. Nikon’s supposed D90 on the other hand.. they said it’s been pulled from the Circuit City ad, but it has GPS geotagging?! HD video?! wtf?!

dpreview -> 50D

dpreview -> D90 (not a rumor anymore)

and no, this guy wasn’t a panhandler.. he’s actually pretty good.. 🙂

Categories
People Photos

blue baby blue

..parents were coaxing this kid to smile & pose for the camera.. i followed their lead and shadowed their every move to get this.. of course i was a few feet away or they’d see me as some sort of weirdo or something.. hehe..

Categories
People Photos Urban

Playing with Rainbows

Taking a break on a bench after a long walk.. turned around and voila.. a rainbow! 😀

Categories
People Photos

Fourth of July Aftermath

What?! Expecting 4th of July fireworks? Nah, that’s too mundane ( I’ll post them later..lol ), I give you this instead. Enjoy! 😀

Categories
Landscape People Photos Urban

OMG OMG OMG

While leaving the promenade at Brooklyn Heights, a mob of teenage girls were flocking towards the Manhattan skyline scenery. Most of them were saying “OMG, OMG, This is soooo cool!”

Categories
People Photos Urban

Homeless

Ever since I got here, I’ve seen a lot of homeless people and didn’t even know that they were homeless. I think homeless people here are better off than homeless people from where I’m from.

Shot this one from a few meters a way so I’d have a head start if he flips out and chases me. 😉

Categories
People Photos Urban

Commuter

Categories
Event People Photos

Defender of Pride

Yesterday was the NYC Gay Pride Parade.. notable celebrities include Gov. Patterson & Candice Cayne, didn’t see them though, by the time I got in front of NYPL, the clouds darkened and in a matter of minutes it poured. But the parade went on with the same intensity that it had the moment I arrived.

Here’s a guy dressed like a character in 300. I’m not sure what message he was trying to send though. 🙂

Categories
People Photos Urban

Walk this way

Walking around aimlessly around the city, sometimes you’d discover something out of the ordinary.. like this Guitar Hero van.. to promote the latest release of the Guitar Hero franchise, I guess they scatter vans like this around the country to entice gamers to buy their goods..

Here’s a couple of oldie locks groovin’ it out to the tune of Aerosmith..

Categories
Event People Photos Urban

Dory

A final photo from the parade.. A guy in a blue fish costume..

Categories
Event People Photos Urban

Barnacle Head

Still from the parade.. this guy opted to look like a barnacle-encrusted abomination.. which seemed to suit him quite well..

On a sidenote, this guy was also running around scaring kids with his mask. (Quite funny if you ask me..)

Categories
Event People Photos Urban

S&M

A sea urchin perhaps? Who knows.. the first thought that comes to my mind is S&M.. 😀

Categories
Event People Photos

Squidward?

i’m thinking of making this week’s theme about the “freaks” at the Mermaid Parade.. hmm..

Categories
Event People Photos Urban

Blue Godzilla

More freaks! Out from the depths of the ocean, here comes Godzilla!

Alluding to the fact that this guy is Asian, and wearing what looks like (..to me) a dinosaur costume, I deduced that he’s portraying Godzilla.. or maybe a blue Barney?? Whatever he is, he’s rockin’ it.. rawr!

A bit of Godzilla trivia:

“Godzilla” Gojira (ゴジラ) is a combination of two Japanese words: gorira (ゴリラ lit. “gorilla”) and kujira (鯨 (くじら) lit. “whale”)

Categories
Event People Photos Urban

Get Ur Freak On

It’s that time of the year.. the temperature’s climbing.. hemlines are climbing.. the freaks are out again.. To signal the start of summer, it’s the Mermaid Parade! whee!!

Get your dose of the parade here –> NSFW

Categories
Architecture Landscape People Photos Urban

Roofed

NY may be a pricey place to stay but some things are free.. Unknown by some, museums sometimes allow free admission or a voluntary donation. Say for example, The Met.. the three of us were able to get in for just a buck.

This is the rooftop of The Met, it was a Friday so people were guzzling booze & shooting the crap.

Categories
People Photos

watch my six

The Urban Dictionary defines this phrase as:

covering your back. six comes from being behind a person (six o’ clock position). so “watch my six” is “cover me from behind”
SWAT Team Leader: Watch my six boys, this is goina get uglySWAT Team Members: Roger that sir.

I helped out Tun with a shoot he did for a designer friend – see, being antisocial brings you nowhere.. lol. His friend thought that the “Sphere within a Sphere” sculpture by Arnaldo Pomodoro in the United Nations would look rad as a backdrop for the shoot. It’s a good thing the security guard was cool with that idea too, anyhoo, the shots came out pretty good and it was fun.

Check out the photos (and the dresses) here.

Categories
Event People

No Frills

…

Categories
Event People Photos Urban

Intense

The Times Square Alliance partners with Dancers Responding to AIDS and the many astonishing dance groups and artists who work with that organization to bring creativity to the Crossroads of the World, a free performance featuring more than 20 local, international, and student dance companies performing some of the best dance that NYC has to offer will take place right in the heart of Times Square, on the island at the insersection of Broadway and Seventh Avenue between 43rd and 44th streets.

06/19/2008 Update:

I wasn’t able to get the name of this dancer, but her repertoire is a rough mix of ballet and … … I can’t describe it.. it’s just intense! 🙂

Thanks to Mr. Giarmo, I was able to know the name of this talented dancer and give her credit for an excellent performance. Her name is Drew Jacoby and she can be found here.

Categories
Event People Photos Urban

Anticipation

It rained for a bit yesterday so I never thought that we would be able to get out. But the sky cleared a bit and off we went to church, but who knows that just around the corner, the Tony Awards was going on. 🙂 We stalked the red carpet across the street in anticipation of the celebrities and pseudo-celebrities that would pass by. We weren’t disappointed ‘coz our 3-hour wait paid off with a couple of celebrity sightings.

Here’s a member of the media gazing out into the dark, empty void that is the Red Carpet.

Categories
People Photos Urban

Generation Gap

From the rooftop of The Met, a grandma & grandson (I suppose..) looking down Fifth Avenue..

Categories
People Photos Urban

patience

..tricycle pedicab drivers waiting for customers around Columbus circle..

Categories
Event People Photos

Jazzy

Most of the time the city hosts a variety of free events, like this one.. a jazz trio @ Bryant Park. (Trust me, they’re a trio, the other guy didn’t fit the frame. lol)

Categories
People Photos

JennyBoo

..met up with a few photogs @ Coney Island for what i thought was an ordinary stroll around the beach.. turned out, there was a model! sweet! 🙂

Here’s JennyBoo.. she’s a fun model to shoot. You can find her on ModelMayhem (#692714)

06/18/2008 – Here are some more shots from last week.

Categories
Event People Photos

Stifling

Supposedly, there’s a heatwave going on today. With record-tying temps reaching the 90s and increased humidity to boot, no wonder the media is hyping it up. It’s all in the news, but it makes me smile. I was thinking “..so this is a heatwave”, not bad, considering I’ve lived in Manila for five years and almost each day there’s a heatwave. I just brushed it off as another typical day..

Here’s another shot from the parade last Sunday..

Categories
People Photos

Packing Heat

Summer.. a preview of things to come. 🙂

Categories
Event People Photos Urban

Yo soy Boricua

Yo soy Boricua, pa’que tu lo sepas!

Braving the crowds, trudging uptown, under the sweltering heat of the sun, in between NYPD barricades I stalked an ample (if not perfect) location to shoot.. I perched under the lamp post at the NE corner of 72nd & 5th avenue, behind 2 Puerto Rican ladies one of who possessed an accent very much like Fran Drescher has. lol. All in all it was an experience of a lifetime, the energy of the crowd was intense!! 🙂

The Puerto Rican Day Parade (also known as the National Puerto Rican Day Parade) is a locally televised parade that takes place yearly on Fifth Avenue in New York City. The parade, which is always held on the second Sunday in June honors the nearly 4 million Puerto Ricans on the island itself, as well as the Puerto Ricans and those of Puerto Rican heritage on the mainland. In 2006 more than 80,000 participants marched and nearly 2 million spectators lined the parade route. The parade always attracts many celebrities, both Puerto Rican and of Puerto Rican heritage, and many politicians from the tri-state area.

The parade marches along Fifth Avenue from 44th Street to 86th Street and has grown to become the third largest parade in New York City after the St. Patrick’s Day Parade & the West Indian Day Parade along Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn. With close to 3 million spectators annually it is one of the largest parades in the country.

Categories
Architecture People Photos Urban

txtm8

I guess this guy’s too busy txting to notice “Liberty”, or he’s already been desensitized seeing it in his everyday commute.

Categories
People Photos Urban

Boo!

I didn’t notice this girl in the frame up until now.. talk about weird..

Categories
Event People Photos Urban

skritch skratch

One day a year, for the past 29 years, nine of the country’s finest museums, all ones that call Fifth Avenue home, collectively open their doors for free to New Yorkers and visitors for a mile-long block party and visual art celebration. This traffic-free, music- and art-filled celebration fills the street and sidewalks of Fifth Avenue from 82nd to 105th street, the mile now officially designated as Museum Mile. Over 50,000 visitors attend the festival annually. Kids and kids-at-heart channel out their inner Michelangelo on a mile long stretch of asphalt canvas.

Categories
Event People Photos

Mabuhay..

There was a parade today to celebrate the 110th anniversary of Philippine Independence. It’s still no match to the parades we have back at home though, but this’ll do. At least there was a bunch of good food. 🙂

The girl’s passive reaction mirrors mine.

Categories
Architecture People Photos

Flip it

Some kid doing some tricks in front of the museum.

Categories
People Photos Urban

Tell Me Off?

I found this guy along 42nd street in Bryant Park while walking towards the subway. I don’t know what this means but I guess for $1, he’s allowing you to “Tell Him Off”. Anyone here mind telling me what that means?

Categories
Event People Photos Urban

Glassy-eyed

Another one of the participants in the Dance Parade.. I wonder what he’s gonna be dancing to..

Categories
Event Indoor People Photos

Down The Aisle

They look like a bunch of mini-brides walking down the aisle right? 😀 Actually, they just had their First Communion.. that’s Julienne way back in the line.

Categories
Event People Photos Urban

Dance Parade

Here’s a dancer from the Dance Parade. Lifted off of their website, here’s a short description of what it’s all about.

On May 17th, thousands of us will dance in the streets of New York City, moving to every kind of dance music under the sun. Why?
To celebrate diversity as “One Parade with Many Cultures” 31 genres are represented:
African, Algerian, Ballet/Ethnic, Ballroom, Ballroom, Swing, Latin & Tango, Belly Dance, Break Dance, Cumbia, Disco, Ecstatic, Folkloric, Greek, Hip-Hop, Hooper, House, Hustle and Salsa, Jazz, Mambo, Modern, Roller Dance, Roller Disco, Sacred, Salsa, Samba, Swing, Tap Dance, Techno, Tinku, Tribal, West Coast Swing, Zydeco, just to start!

Categories
People Photos

Reflecting

On the way out of the Botanical Garden after a day’s stroll, there was this kid sitting on a stone staring at something.

Categories
Indoor People Photos

Dare desu ka?!

This is Ichigo from the Japanese manga Bleach, written & illustrated by Kubo Tite. It’s one of the several manga titles I’ve been reading. The scene is from Volume 22, Chapter 192, where Ichigo whips Yammy’s butt. I’ve probably read this chapter over 20 times already now. It never gets old, I’ll probably be reading it over & over again while waiting for the next chapter to be released..

Categories
Landscape People Photos Urban

A Shadow of Senescence

An old lady dancing around while walking her dog.

Categories
People

Ashton

This weekend was a blast! Yesterday, I was up from 4AM up until 10PM filling up my CFs with 6Gigs of photos (+2 more Gigs that I borrowed from Tun to shoot the Burmese affair. Thanks, bro!) And today, to end the weekend, a photoshoot, my second one actually. 🙂 I’m prepping myself like a character in one of those RPGs, racking up experience points until I ‘level up’. lol

Today’s location is at Church Street Boxing Gym. I simply was tagging along behind the other photogs as they nailed “the shot”. Great group of people, excellent location.. now if only I could sort through all these photos then everything would be perfect.. 🙁

Categories
Event People Photos

A Loong Day

Today, the pope is here. Even though I wasn’t able to see him, I was within a few meters of him, breathing the same air he was breathing. I feel calm, happy, giddy.. I feel faint! Okay, let me get this straight, this is what happens when you only get 2 hours of sleep & wake up at 4AM in the morning, eat a banana & stand in line to see the pope.

Now on to today’s post, that guy obviously ain’t The Pope, Einstein.. that’s Green Lantern! My lead-filled zombie legs trudged aimlessly around midtown till I arrived at the Pearly Gates of the Geeks, the Comic Con. A place where you can forget your worries and feel like a total kid again.

Categories
People Photos Urban

In the zone

Test shot from a paparazzi glass. 😀

Categories
Landscape People Photos

Good Times

California’s beaches & rocky coasts are the best I’ve seen so far. Today we drove along Newport & went to the beach for a walk.  I don’t remember shooting this elderly couple, I guess it was Eileen. Nonetheless, I liked it so this’ll be today’s post. 🙂

Categories
Architecture Landscape People Photos Urban

Going to Church

This is the LA Cathedral. I’m off to attend my cousin’s wedding. From the I-20 & surrounding streets, this structure doesn’t look impressive at all, but once inside, you get to see & feel the vastness of the complex. Here are some facts & numbers:

  • Designed by Spanish Pritzker Prize architect Rafael Moneo.
  • Features a series of acute and obtuse angles. There is an absence of right angles.
  • Designed with protections from future earthquake structural damage. Every detail of construction was specified to last approximately five hundred years.
  • The site of the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels is 5.6 acres (23,000 m²) bound by Temple Street, Grand Avenue, Hill Street and the Hollywood Freeway.
  • The 12-story high building can accommodate 3,000+ worshippers.
  • The site includes the cathedral proper, a 2.5 acre (10,000 m²) plaza, several gardens and waterfalls, the Cathedral Center (with the gift shop, the Galero Grill, conference center, and cathedral parish offices), and the cathedral rectory, the residence of Roger Mahony. The entire complex is 58,000 square feet (5,000 m²).
  • The main sanctuary is 333 feet (100 m) long (purposely one foot longer than St. Patrick’s Cathedral, New York).
  • This is where Lea Salonga got married. 😉
Categories
Indoor People Photos Urban

Gearzmondo

Shiny, happy, tech news. Mr. Gaijin got a new toy. Best to test it on a trip to the West Coast then. 🙂

Categories
Event People Photos Urban

2008 Pillow Fight NYC

Feathers fly and teddies soar as we gather for a massive urban pillow fight! Swing and whack as you evade pillow-wielding assailants. Bring a pillow to Union Square and wait for the signal. Pillow fight!

– freenyc.net

Newsletters save you the trouble of sifting through the digital debris amidst the bits & bytes of the internet. All things said, this event was a blast! At first I cowered at a top level of a local department store, but my flimsy zoom didn’t just cut it, so I braved the crowds and went around. As it turned out, it wasn’t that bad. =)

Categories
Indoor People Photos

Ni Hao

I’ve been focusing on shooting events, street, urban, landscape, sports & random “what-nots” while avoiding studio photography, the reason being that it’s readily available. Today, though, I was able to join a group of locals in a photo shoot. That group being the Brooklyn Camera Club. They’re a laid back, happy group of people and I didn’t have a hard time warming up to them. They claim to be the oldest photography club in America, they go back to 1864 & have newspaper clips to back up their claim. I’m inclined to believe them, because I’ll be joining them soon enough. 🙂

There were two set-ups, one in the kitchen & one with a backdrop. The setup was daunting at first because there was too much information to take in. It’s a good thing I wasn’t the only noob at photo shoots so I was able to get off a few good shots. I also didn’t realize that we had to direct what the models pose would be. Jeez, what do I know about poses?? Oh well, there’s a first for everything.

Now, on to the models. The girl on the left is Kayi & the one on the right is Marlie.

Categories
People Photos Urban

G.I.R.

The Giant Inflatable Rat (G.I.R.). My first encounter with this character made me think that there was some sort of event happening, only to find out that this was a favorite tool of the pro-union protesters around the city. Meaning that the guys around the rat are “in strike” / protest. The G.I.R pales in comparison to the PI where you see a mob of people brandishing banners, picket signs & megaphones.

Categories
Indoor People Photos Urban

みましょうダンス

Let’s Dance! That’s what I was trying to say, but what with these tap dancers being Japanese, I thought of this title.

Categories
People Photos Urban

Unflustered