Sinulog 2012 grand parade + pics from Cebu

Was surprised Carlos and Bianca also joined us that day! 

Paul Jake and Guji being superstars on the float. LOL

PJC + Lakam

❧

I decided to join the parade this year with the beau and took 2 of my guests (Nini + Jen) with me while Pia, Paolo, Sam and my sister went to Baseline for the street party. I really can't decide which one is better but I sure had A BLAST this year! I can't even remember taking half of the photos in my camera. We were dancing in the streets for about 7 hours that day til we reached the grand stadium. We had dinner at Mr. M then I went home to change for my gig at Outpost that night. Congratulations again to IPI for winning the best float category this year! It was so pretty this year with the fairytale theme. 

❧

More photos from my trip to Cebu...

My good friend Steven invited us for merienda at the Abaseria when my guests arrived. Those goodies with their traditional tsokolate = perfection! Visit the Abaseria at Mabolo for native/Filipino food and products.

Our first gig was at Ila Puti (IT Park)

We headed to Penthouse right after.

Saturday night at GILT. I love this place!!! The interiors are awesome and I instantly recognized Delphine De Lorme's artworks (I'm a fan). It's the second floor of Vudu at Crossroads.

Beer pong at Mr. M with the boys of Salamin

Very funny, Pao! 

You guys can't imagine the amount of teasing I've gotten for that photo. Apparently it's on a billboard, near Basilica, at a hotel, and at 2 malls. Seriously will not get used to it! 

Our gig at Outpost after the Sinulog festival

Salamin 

Curbside

Early birthday celebration at home...

Thank you to my bestie Issa for this scrumptious birthday cake!!! 

Paulo was the assigned lechon carver that night. 

Lor had a go at it cos she's been eating lechon twice a day ever since she arrived in Cebu! Insane.

Spicy lechon from Rico's Lechon

white fish with spinach from The Gustavian

salmon steak

Thank you to Sam for taking our photos!!!

❤

Some of my shots for Audioclef Inc.

I've been getting TONS of questions about the cameras I use...

For photo shoots, I use my Nikon D80 + Nikon VR 18-200 OR 50mm F1.8 lens +

SB900 (flash)

For everyday photos, I use my Panasonic Lumix GF1 + 20mm F1.7 pancake lens

I almost always edit the colors of my photos here to give it my mark or a certain feel, so NO- they don't come out of my camera as they look like on my blog posts... I used my Canon Ixus for a couple of months before getting the GF1 (since I sold my Lumix LX3 too early on) and NOBODY noticed that I was using a simple digicam... It all depends on the settings, composition, angle and editing. You don't necessarily need the best camera.

I'm always the photographer with the simplest DSLR/equipment during photo shoots, but that's never stopped young photographers (like moi) from producing nicely-done photos which clients can appreciate ;) I'm not even satisfied with my own work all the time and I admit I have TONS to learn, but that will come in time... Hopefully I can take basic classes about lighting when I graduate with Interior Design.

I will not entertain any more questions about the cameras I use, or if I edit my photos or not because I get those types of questions at least 5 times a week (I am not even exaggerating, but don't feel bad if you're one of them cos that means you think my photos are nice? Haha!) through comments, e-mails, formspring, twitter, facebook messaging and replies on my Tumblr (which is weird cos I can never even reply to those without having to screencap, answer, etc).

So those are my tools and I will be putting a list of them somewhere around each of my websites. And of course, I will always blog about new cameras/additions to my camera collection. :)

♥♥♥

Amber Davis, singer

Rizza Cabrera, 2/3 of the Walkie Talkies

2/3 because she sings and plays the guitar. I'm only 1/3 of the band cos I only sing. LOL!

AND I obviously couldn't take a photo of myself... Will have to rely on the 2 other photographers for my solo shots :)

Salamin

Paolo Valenciano- lead vocals

Emilio Marcos- drums

Miks Bersales- bass

Sho Hikino, guitars

♥♥♥

There are more photos but the site will be launched this January, so I'm hoping I can post the others by then. I've seen our photos from the other photographers and I absolutely love them!

Will let you guys know about Audioclef soon when everything's ironed out... I'm excited!!!

Oh, and here are some BEHIND THE SCENES photos they asked me to take from Indios Bravos studio:

Creepy eyes of mine

Hopefully you all had a lovely weekend, because I sure haven't experienced that in a while. :))

♥

Hello Anxiety- the album launch

Rehearsals + backstage mumba jumba

performing Crusades

Ace Up My Sleeve with Enzo Marcos

Rehearsed before the show

Greek salad from Coffee Bean

They have a single called Naked that's why they're holding up my Naked palette from Urban Decay :))

Answering questions from Sonic Boom

Riz and Buchay hug each other too much

This is my face after not getting any sleep ever since I went to Cebu. YES.

They had free desserts and fondue by the entrance!

Mandy & Koi!

These siblings look like twins :))

Sam the cutie

Miks and Kara are thinking "That is SO wrong."

Sho the Japino

Buchay filmed us saying congratulations to Salamin

Duct taped camera

Mads had really cool booties on :3

Hiding in Pao's clutter :3

He got bronchitis days before the launch :s

the bezties

aww couples

Sonic Boom reprezent

Jen bought Hello Kitty stamps and just had to kittyfy our door marker :3

Riz wearing my Doc Martens, me wearing my shoezies

They call this "Genghis Khan and Mulan love"

Rob will be the next endorser of Glutamax

Final reminders

ABS-CBN interview before the show

"Act like how you would normally talk as a group"

Julianne opened the show

Sam seems to be the stylist/photographer/make up artist of the band :))

Some mediocre concert shots since I didn't wanna sit on the floor//go around the place and become a photographer...

The atmosphere became even more INSANE they performed Crusades

Kate taking photos and a video using her own Flip Mino HD

Backstage album-signing madness

KT <3

Nino Avenido

The desserts by the entrance

Robin's signed CD

We <3>

♥♥♥

Watching the whole process of how everyone practiced and prepared for this event was something else. Every person and each minor note is important. You certainly need an excellent team to create a successful event, and Salamin was able to come up with one.

The usual weekend traffic posed a problem to everyone coming in on time, so the group was anxious as to how the turnout would be. They delayed the opening for an hour or so, and sure enough the venue was packed. And why wouldn't it be? As soon as you watch these guys perform, you'll know why. They call their followers Salaminions and they are the more enthusiastic, euphoric group experiencing a musical high in every gig.

This album launch proved to everyone that Salamin was a bunch of very versatile musicians. Paolo Valenciano played Prodigal without the band at first, and he asked me to ad lib on the instrumentals. I am very thankful for the chance to do that aside from being asked to do backup with Riz. Received some heart-warming compliments from great performers after the show and that added so much to this epic night! The music video for Prodigal was shown during the launch and is going to be released this January. The song and video is beautifulllll and the video will be graced by one of the most talented actors in the Philippines so watch out for it!

Thanks again to Salamin!!!