Missing Dinagyang

I’m going to be missing this year’s Dinagyang Festival. Ever since I got my new SLR 3 years ago, I made sure that I was available to shoot during Dinagyang.

Dinagyang is pretty close to me for a couple of reasons — I grew up in Iloilo City and I’ve seen this event since I was a kid and, my first-ever published photo was of Dinagyang! Just to reminisce, here’s one of the photos I took back in 2007 that was published. I did some changes to the colors compared to how I did it 2 years ago. Hope you like it

Unfortunately, this year, I don’t have a camera body. Yes, I sold my gear last year — both Canon 40D and 350D. In case you ask, I kept my lenses, so I still plan to buy a new gear. I’m just looking for a great deal for the Canon 5D (not the Mark II).

So (just a plug), in case any of you know someone who’s selling a brand new 5D or a slightly used one, please do let me know.

As for Dinagyang, I’m sure it’s gonna be a lot of fun. My photographer friends are probably excited to shoot tomorrow.

So for you guys who don’t know what’s in there, here are some more photos of last year’s Dinagyang:

A view of Freedom Grandstand, the main judging area (usually where all the celebrities or politicians can be found):

Yes, there’s a lot of action and it’s pretty intense to shoot there because you have to make sure you also enjoy the event and not just take shots.

So, in case you’re there and you still don’t know what’s going on, here’s a link to the schedule of activities. You can also see one of my photos there

To find out more about this event, here are some links:

• DinagyangFestival.com
• Wikipedia: Dinagyang

Hope to see you guys next year (or in 2 years) for another Dinagyang shoot!

My Photos in Days Hotel Website

Just wanted to share that some of my photos for Days Hotel, Iloilo City are posted in the Days Inn Website. My friend, John, commissioned me to shoot some photos for the hotel and I wanted to give it a shot knowing I always liked shooting the hotel rooms I’m in when I travel. Anyway, this was a bit of a challenge because this was my first time to really shoot a commercial establishment.

Well, what do you know, John liked the photos and he sent them to the Days website! Cool! Thanks, John!

Note – not all of these are mine.

Dinagyang 2008 – The Images

Last week of January – if I can, I should always make it a point to go back to Iloilo and capture the Dinagyang. This year was the first time that Iloilo City was jampacked with tourists just to see the Dinagyang. Well, it was worth it! It’s hard to capture the event in words (obviously, I’m not a good writer), so I’ll just share with you some of my photos.

My overall take was – I felt that the moves were a lot faster this year. There were more jumping from several tribes, and there were a lot more butt cheeks exposed this year compared to the previous one! Hahaha! Don’t ask me how I notice these things… Okay, enough of the words. On to the photos…

and probably one of my favorite shots since it shows that the kid is a bit nervous prior to the actual dancing…

Hope you like them!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

Here’s a shot of the fireworks at Iloilo City’s Capitol last Friday, Dec 28, 2007. The shot was taken from the 2nd floor of the Atrium. Special thanks to John for the ‘special access’ during the event.