Lunar Halo

Lastnight, i heard my sister screaming like mad crazy at the garage saying wow! look at the moon! Then she called me up and told me to look. I was blown away when i saw it. I never seen the moon like this before. The phenomenon is called a Lunar Halo.  It is caused by the refraction of moonlight from the ice crystals found in the clouds... yeah i googled it up. I took this photo using a Lumix LX5 point and shoot camera. I dont have my big camera with me and this is the only one I have at the moment. I laid on the floor (freaking cold cement)  to get a better angle and asked my sister to go point her finger at it. Adding a human element makes an astronomical event a little interesting. That speck at the bottom near the ring is actually the planet Jupiter!  I love this photo even though its not sharp and a bit noisy :) Photo taken January 13, 2014 

My 1st Lightning Photography

For the 1st time, i tried lightning photography and this one is just special. I was about to go home when my officemate, Nikos, asked me how to photograph lightning. I told him i never done it before but i have read in the magazines how to do it... i gave it a try and brought out my camera and my tripod.. I noticed that theres one spot at the skyline where lightning usually occurs.. i just pointed my camera on that spot and waited for about 30 minutes. Then suddenly a mesh of electricity appeared and i was lucky enough to capture it... By far, this is my favorite photo I ever did... i was so happy to photograph my 1st lightning. I wanna thank Nikos for forcing me to do this photo.. This was pretty cool....

Surfing at Baler!

Its another long weekend and my calendar seems to be unmarked. No scheduled events, no photoshoots. No work! Basically im gonna lay my butt all day and do nothing. 4-Day bummin to be exact. When Tracy asked me if i wanna go surfing with her friends, i never hesitated! Its like automatic! I just said yes! Lets go! Might as well bumm and surf at the beach! Now my bummin ass is on the way to Baler in Aurora! 230 kilometers north-east of Manila! It is one of the best surfing sites here in the Philippines!

Adventure started at the bus station in Cubao. Since its the holidays, a flock of people are going home to their loved ones for all saints / all souls day. Theres so many people that we barely had a chance to sit down. Good thing we arrived early that night coz the que number for the bus eventually ran out! We waited for almost 5 hours before we stepped on our bus - which is the 7th trip going to Aurora. It was a long 7 hour bus ride going to Baler. We were so tired but the conversations kept on going. 

Baler Bus Trerminal. Waiting for Kim to arrive

The trip was so long! 7 hours of sitting will definitely numb you butt cheeks i tell you. There were a couple of bus stops along the way just enough for our driver to have a doze of coffee and pee. We took the Genesis bus by the way. Scheduled time is usually 7 hours to arrive  but if you take the Joy bus,  Manila to Baler is only 4 hours with no bus stops.  It has Lay-Z boy seats, a stewardess, free snacks, a morning kit and it has its own toilet! When you go to Baler, better call them for your reservations early coz seats are very limited. Its actually fullybooked since early October!

with my sufing outfit.

I can hear the roar of the waves! I just cant believe im here!!!! Its been a long dream of mine to surf at Baler and now im finally here. We checked in at Surfer Girls Lodge (pretty kinky name for a place to stay). Its decent enough and not that expensive (1,600 pesos for 2 nights - 2 pax). It has clean rooms, clean bathrooms. Shower is working but i prefer using the tabo - or dipper.. and the best thing, its right in front of  the beach! That awesome beach screaming lets go surfing! Thats me with my.. ehem, surfing attire while eating scrambol. =) Surfboard aint mine.. hehe. probably in the near future il have one =) 

surfing lessons. Tracy forgot the name of his instructor

Time for our surfing lessons (P350, rent of the board and for the lessons). I really wanna thank Kuya Rico for being patient with me. This is actually my first time to surf! I have a problem with balance actually and its kinda hard for me  even standing up! (probably of too much alcohol inside me.. haha) Kuya Rico said "you can do it! " Just focus and believe - (naks believe charot). 

Yeah boy! Im hanging ten! Dont mind the hair ha. Ived been slapped by the waves big time

And there I was riding the waves... ahhhh it feels so good! I never knew the exact definition of being stoked until I experienced it. It was so damn good. You cant hear anything.. you just enjoy the moment. No past, No future.. just the moment.  Just savor gliding on water...awesome feeling. Id like to thank Joc, one of our new found friends in Baler who took this photo. Great shot dude! Thank you! 

thats me 5 seconds on the board. with tracy on the left side

Love this photo! Thats me and Tracy riding the waves of Baler! I think after 5 seconds im about to be wiped out! haha. Being slapped by the wave at the face actually hurts! Probably one of the reasons why my body is aching right now. But getting a bruised knee, a sunburn while surfing is definitely acceptable! Its all good! \m/

tracy is riding the waves real good!

Tracy is such a fast learner! She said maybe because she is light and she can balance herself pretty easy. I was tired already and decided to go back at the beach and grab my camera and go take some photos. How i wish i have a 300mm telephoto with me. 

epic pic of tracy. komang na pi'ke pa haha 

There is tracy with a huge smile in her face! A little portrait of her for remembrance for a job well done! For learning fast and gliding on the waves gracefully.5 stars for you tracy!  On the side, i so love my Optomet Polarizing filter! Look at the blue sky at the back! This was taken at almost high noon. :)

waiting for the others. gutom na

After all that surfing., I am so tired and hungry i could eat a horse! We went to this restaurant called the Bay-ler Restaurant. Its open air and the place is really inviting! When we saw the menu, we noticed that food there is not that expensive! They serve fast! (except during lunch and dinner, place is really packed!)

This is like a pre-requiste when i visit a restaurant. most specially at beachfront! A glass of cold beer... Guzzling on beer at this hot sunny weather. That  beautiful view of the beach..that sound of the waves crashing together..Its like a feeling of ecstasy.... kampai!  gulp gulp gulp.... ahhhh.  

sizzling gambas

Since im a sucker for shrimps, i ordered some gambas and damn its mind blowing! Its so freakingly delicious.  Even the vegetables are delicious! Served hot and sizzling! One of the best gambas ever!

grilled pusit

We also ordered some grilled squid. Delicious as well. Dunk it in to a bowl of soy sauce and calamansi..ugh delicious! That soft and tender meat is just superb! It has this certain sweetness which makes it really good. I love it.  

aligue rice...why are you so delicious

and to top everything else is their Aligue Rice. You will go insane over this. Sobrang sarap! Really good swear to God. Aligue is i believe the fat from crabs. Its so delicious yet deadly.. like i said its fat from crabs.. hehe. I dont effing care! I only eat it once in a while...

crispy pata for the win

and of course, in every inuman (drinking) session, its a must to have Crispy Pata on the table. Its so crunchy. Its so fatty.. it is so sinfully good... This is what you called Living the life.... pampabata! This things will make you die young but happy.  

scrambol, the best there is

and for dessert, classic filipino scrambol! shaved ice with i dunno if its strawberry flavoring topped with powdered milk, rice crispies, mallows, chocolate sprinkles and a dash of Hershey's Chocolate syrup on top! God its heaven in a cup... the best thing is., its less than 50 pesos!

from left : tracy, kim and pie

Met some new friends! at the middle thats Kim, and from her right is Pie. They are the ones who helped us find a place in Baler. Thanks guys. We had some great laughs and good times. Hope to see you guys once again! 

from left, me, tracy, kim and andrea

At our last night in Baler, we enjoyed the moments playing cards, sharing stories with red horse beer on the side. I never drank so much beer on a weekend and surprisingly im not dead wasted! Maybe its not enough?! Haha. By the way, the lady at bottom right is Andrea. 

1st time to see the moon rise above the ocean. And it happened twice on our stay in Baler

Capping off the day is this awesome moonlight. It made us all gone emo actually. Such a beautiful night. Playing pusoy dos., silly love conversations, kilig moments with chef sharwin look alike at the beach...all those with chippy and red bull on the side. What a way to end the day...

no i didnt brought home sand. Leave nothing but footprints, Take only but pictures, Kill nothing but time

I wanna leave you guys with this photo of the sands of Baler. This trip is really unexpected and unplanned. The plan., is to have no plans at all! I just gave it a go. I want to thank Tracy for inviting me over. To her friends, Kim, Andrea, Pie and Ayan.. thank you so much for sharing this vacation to us. We will definitely go back. Surfing is really addicting! I am actually thinking of buying a surfboard for myself! To the staff of Surfer Girls Lodge specially to ate chona. To the lady at the sari-sari store who lend me her nail cutter.. thank you! and to  kuya Dennis for taking us to the the bus terminal. We were the last ones to ride the 5:30am trip and we were so fortunate! If you want to go to Baler, please consider riding the Joy Bus. It would be a lot easier and comfy-er.. Call and book now at (+632) 912-33-43 , (+632)912-33-61

Baler..cant wait to go back and get stoked once again! Good times! \m/

The Most Beautiful Full Moon Ever

Thursday, March 8, 2012, the moon is so big, so beautiful, i cant help myself take a photo of it. I went out at the parking lot in front of our office at W Building at Bonifacio Global City at Taguig. I used my 70-300mm attached to my ever reliable Nikon D7000. Switched the image size to large (about 4000 px) and then i cropped the photo by 25%. Used a very fast shutter speed about 1/250 since im shooting this one hand-held. Used f/8 on ISO200. 
I never seen the moon like this before. That huge crater just fascinates me. I love this photo..

2012 Hot-Air Balloon Festival

What a beautiful saturday morning as me and Abby went to the 17th Hot-Air Ballon Festival over at Clark Airfield Pampanga. We are so excited for this event that we took off Manila as early as 2am. Cruising without traffic, we arrived at Clark at around 3:30am! We had some coffee first at Petron to waken up our senses. 

The moon is really beautiful that morning and i cant help myself taking a photo of it. Using my 70-300mm lens, i captured this really nice photo of the moon. Its still dark when we arrived at our post, just in front of the steel fence. Since there are no balloons at sight yet, i got bored and took this photo...

An awesome view of Mt.Arayat. Its really breathtaking! The clouds are very nice as well. I used my tripod and my shutter release cable on this one.  I used Bulb mode on my shutterspeed at ISO 400.  Its actually dark when i took this photo Thanks to my trusty old tripod i made this photo possible without any blurs.

At last! One of the balloons arrived and they are fast setting up their gear. I am really amazed when they do that. That blazing fire. Like a really strong blow torch.. I was actually wondering if you can put on some marshmallows beside it.. hehe. That would be fun!

And then the National Anthem played. We saw this sky divers descending and one of them has the Philippine Flag tied on his foot! Slowly waving the big flag for everyone to see as the National Anthem plays. Such a thing of beauty.

More flames! More fire! Lets light this baby up! Look how intense that is! Amazing! Gimme some marshmallows and throw in the BBQ! hehe. 

People are actually in awe with the power of the torch! This guy over here is witnessing it all upfront. He is definitely in heat right now.  I hope next year we already have photographer's passes so we can go inisde the fence and take closer photos of the people., the balloons and the drama.. and probably ride one of the balloons! 

The sunkist balloon is already up and thank goodness it showed us her pretty face! We had a sunkist deal at the office and theres big big picture of that balloon at the office. I witnessed it live in flesh  here at the Balloon Festtival.

Asked Abby to take a pose at the balloons. Slowly, one balloon at another is raising up. The sunkist balloon at the back is slowly coming to life! Abby is like a little kid with so much excitement in her eyes. This is her first time to witness the hot air balloon festival and she really liked the experience. Probably next year we will ride one of those balloons! =)

 My good friend Pads came at the event as well. He used his new Lumix GF1 camera. I was kinda surprised he didnt used his D300s! Well the GF1 is an amazing camera as well so i think he got good pictures with it as well. The good thing about it, his camera is really really light and not bulky :) 

This balloon just gave me the smiles. Its really cute. Its like the flower power from Super Mario. This is my favorite balloon design at this balloon festival.

moosehoof.wordpress.com

  Last year, my favorite ballon was the Darth Vader head. Sad thing, i wasnt able to go to the festival. havent seen it live. Thats an awesome balloon. Hopefully next year that balloon flies again at clark airfield pampanga!

Now this balloon is really cute. It made me hungry as well. Never seen the biggest ice cream cone ever? Now here it is! hehe. 

Paragliders flocked the airspace as they graze the skies in groups. This is actually dangerous coz they are so close together and theres a possibility they could tangled up together. Its great watching them flying all together. 

Another view of the balloons. I so love this picture. I actually submitted this one at the Caltex on the spot photo contest. Its like im close by as the balloons are slowly ascending one by one but actually im quite afar. I just used my telephoto and zoomed onto the balloons.

Pads had the courage to as ask this girl to look onto the balloons and take photos of the reflection onto her glasses! I also took a shot of it. The lady obliged and just smiled at us. =)

This cake balloon is really awesome. Very creative! 

the balloons are not the only attraction from the festival. There were also drift cars parked and displayed. I love this skyline! Thise deep dish rims are insane! I love it.

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I saw this photo of the Hot-Air Balloon Festival from Cheyz Pedragosa's blog and i was shocked by the sea of people who witnessed the balloon festival! This is a really great photo and if she actually submitted this at the Caltex Photo Contest, she might probably win! 


It was a really great saturday morning. Me and abs had a great time. Till next year's balloon festival.. hope to catch and witness the balloons again. Hopefully we can ride one of them as well. =) Thank God also for the great weather!




Photos by: Mac Centeno
Thanks to : Ms. Cheys Pedragosa of http://www.thewalkingrecessionista.com/ 
and to  moosehoof.wordpress.com  for the extra photos. 


photos taken at Clark Airforce Base , Clark Airfield Pampanga.

Shades of Blue

I am going to miss this view. Next week, we are leaving One Global Place and were transferring to W Building . This is my favorite view at One Global and id definitely miss it. 5th Avenue on bird's eye view...

Another run?! Mac adik! Oh yeah., im goin to participate on this one. This run is a week before Adidas King of the Road and goodluck na lang sa akin! I can do this. !

As i went out of our house earlier, this view welcomed me with such open arms. Its almost unreal! Never seen the sky so beautiful. I just grabbed my camera and took a photo... I said on my twitter : " Sana ganito kaganda ang langit araw-araw " ( wishing the skies are like this everyday...)

From Divisoria with Love

Hataw yung buwan kagabi! Pagpasok ko ng bahay nakita ko na agad sya na nakasilip sa mga silhouette ng mga dahon ng mangga. Sabi ko sa sarili ko na mapicturan nga. Kinuha ang camera., nilabas ang tripod at eto na!

Minsan ba kinakausap mo ang buwan? Wirdo nga minsan. Pero tignan mo naman., ginawan pa ito ng kanta ni Bruno Mars! hehe. Nakakamangha nga naman kasi tignan ang buwan. Kahit napakalayo., tanaw pa rin ang kanyang ganda. Alam ko para syang muka ng tao na kailangan dalhin kay Vicky Belo... pero ang ganda at misteryo nya eh minsan nakakamanga...

Potek talaga at dinale pa ako ng malas kagabi. Pauwi na nga lang, na-platan pa! Nung narining ko na parang may tumusok sa gulong ko, nung una di ko pinansin. Sabi ko baka basura lang. Pero nung naririnig ko na parang may bakal na paulit-ulit na kumakalansing habang bumibilis ang takbo ko, teka iba na to. Masilip nga. Ayun! PLAT na nga sya!

Bumaba ako., at sinuri ang damage. Mukang kailangan ko na mag stretching kasi magsisimula na ako magpalit ng gulong. Natanggal ko na yung tatlong lugnuts(security tornilyo para sa gulong na hindi naman kailangan sana pero maporma lang) pero yung isang damuhong lugnut eh ang hirap alisin kasi bilog na yung loob dahil sa pagkaka-loose thread! Buti na lang may tumulong sa akin na jeepney driver para alisin ito.

Natapos ang gabi sa dalawang bote ng beer. Pananggal uhaw sa nakakapagod at magrasang gabi.

Have a good week everyone! Ulan! maghunusdili ka!Bakit nga pala ganun yung title? kasama ko kasi si beb abby., pinuntahan namin yung damit nya para sa kasal ng kaibigan naming si teng. :)

Talking to the Moon

I missed the lunar eclipse. I was away at work and didnt have the chance to take a photo. When i got home., i just looked at the moon and noticed its different color. Took a photo of it and this serves as a post-lunar eclipse picture. Took this one wearing only my boxers out of the cold. That is why its hazy, and a little out of focus.

I was also inspired by Bruno Mars' song - "Talking to the Moon" . I just love that song. Merry Christmas everyone!

Stunning Sorsogon

Welcome to Sorsogon! 12 hours of Bus ride! It’s a back-breaking journey but its all worth it after all the beautiful sights! Along with Abby and her friends, our long weekend is simply unforgettable. This is Subic Beach . This is probably one of the best in the country. White sands..fine in texture..like the ones in Bohol. Cool crystal waters…. I love it!

We went to this place where you can go canoeing or kayaking, I forgot the place. Im not really good in remembering names and places. This place is really amazing. It’s a lake right at the foot of Mt. Bulusan. Abs and her friends tried paddled their way at the murky waters as I took some pictures of the place. I saw this old boat and again , sounds of the camera is ringing inside my head. Grabbed my camera and started shooting. This photo is a personal favorite. I just love both the foreground and the background.

This is actually the biggest crab ived ever seen. If you dig seafood like fish, crabs, prawns or anything out of the sea beside spongebob.,im sure ul’ gonna love it here. Thanks to our friend Gary and his family for their hospitality. We stayed at their place and even cooked for us. They serve crabs like these at breakfast. :D Not to mention their Bicol Express and La-ing. Diet is not an option here in Sorsogon. Eat like theres no tomorrow! My ate will surely love this photo.

This is Barcelona Church. One of the oldest church in town, probably in the country as well. We stopped by and took some pictures of the church. We took some photos inside as well. This is one of those places to go to in Sorsogon.

Our last stop of the day, Rizal Beach. I brought along my Frisbee and I tell you after a crash course game in ultimate frisbee, our sweat is really pouring with our hearts racing! Gary brought his skimboards and gave us lessons on how to ride waves. On my first attempt, I fell real hard and till now my butt aches. Standing up is really difficult coz the board is really slippery. I held on for a couple of seconds and after that.. Im good. Im done! I dont wanna go home with a broken arm. I just love this beach. Its not that fascinating like Subic Beach but the shoreline is really huge and wide. Perfect for beach volleyball.. playing ultimate Frisbee and bonfires.

As the day went deeper, the sky is like this! Its like a gazillion stars exploded the clear black sky. I grabbed my camera and made an experiment. I used ISO 1250 on 20secs shutterspeed, Manual Focus and i used F/4 on aperture. Wonder what are those clouds on the right side of the picture? On a naked eye, di naman ganito kadami yung stars.. but when i looked at my camera.. Wow dami....i was actually waiting for a shooting star to appear but i failed. Grabe ang ganda...

Sorsogon is definitely one of those places you have to visit. The abundance of natural resources in this place is really unimaginable. The beaches are so nice. Forests are still intact. The food is heaven. My stay in Sorsogon is truly one of those moments i will never forget. Thanks to Abby and her friends for bringing me here. To Teng and Garry and his family. Thank you for your hospitality. Thank you so much.