shiny, happy people: raynald and emie wedding

raynald and emie are good friends of ours dating back to their days in samsung electro-mechanics. it’s been years since they’ve both left the company for greener pastures (much, much greener… ;-)) but when they decided to tie the knot, selle and i still got invited. woohooo!

raynald is a dependable reccom member when i was handling it back in ’05. we were just a handful back then hence, labored a lot… but we had fun while at it. he also was a member of my samsung cell group circa ’03-’06… (and so was emie. :-)) emie marie is a fellow iskolar ng bayan and a frequent office chatmate of mine – when she left… those chats turned to email exchanges.

emie asked a lot about wedding stuff during their preps. we even even met up one time at a bridal fair for a “double date” of sorts. 🙂 buti na lang may naitulong pala kami sa kanila as she was soooo thankful about our lanie acedillo recommendation. 😀

i had an unofficial assignment (given by emie, cno pa kaya? hehe) during the wedding day – to be the backup photographer. i still have a pathetic d40… with a kit lens and nothing else so it was indeed a challenge. so here are some of the images i captured… one thing’s for sure – raynald and emie were ALL smiles throughout the day. 🙂

congratulations, guys… at “double date” uli tayo after your honeymoon. 😉


the groom… happily strutting down the aisle


the bride preparing for her…


…grand entrance.


just love how the light gives her gown that “ethereal” glow. i wonder if the “official” photographer shooting across me was looking at the same light. hehe




like raynald before… emie was all smiles as she walked down the aisle. 🙂


shooting in san agustin is really hard because of the lack of lighting… but its architecture more than makes up for it.








mr and mrs herrera… 🙂


emie admitted that the gown was one of her priorities… and she had a KILLER gown! just look at the details…


while waiting for the reception to start… i managed to capture this scene. cute, huh? 🙂



the semphil contingent…


i have no idea what they’re looking at… 😀


i had to run from the back row to the front row just to capture this scene. now if i only had a zoom lens… 😉


wacky shot… up close. 😀


shiny, happy couple. 😀


love this one… even in black & white


i’ve done this kind of shot a number of times already… and, just recently, a friend of mine won a contest with a similar shot. cool, no? 🙂


the same girls i shot playing in the garden… this time, sitting still. cute pa din. 🙂


the semphil contingent… just before going home.




my always gorgeous wife… with a brand new dress just bought for the occassion. 😉

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paul and emma: a wedding photo coverage

may 30, 2009

covering weddings, not merely attending them, has become a habit of mine. so when it was time for emma and paul’s wedding, i was determined to get that one shot worthy of being framed and hanged on their house wall. here’s some of them… hopefully, i managed to get that one shot. 😉


selle with “mommy” and “daddy.”




the bridal march, taken from different angles.



a couple of photo-journalistic shots. key to photojournalism is having an alert eye… cause these moments don’t last that long.




emma was all laughs during the ceremony. fun, fun, fun… 🙂

yes, it’s a BIG clan. 🙂

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kiddie party #3: jubilyn

august 9, 2009

just a day after miggy’s swimming party, we’re off to another kiddie party – this time just within calamba. ruby (or mama ruby) and jun are former colleagues of selle and their 2nd child just turned one! and where else to celebrate? at every pinoy kid’s favorite fastfood – jollibee!

more than just a kiddie party, it was a sort of like a reunion for selle and her former tantal officemates. she spent most of her time with mariel (or manang), a neighbor but somehow we don’t get to spend much time with. sadly, mommy rose was not able to attend but kate, selle’s inaanak, was there and we “baby-sitted” her during the party. 🙂







sometimes, you got to be creative in choosing your subjects – shying away from the obvious ones. 🙂


in this shot, i used the other guests who were taking photos to frame the subjects. worked out well, in my opinion. 🙂




happy, happy birthday, jubilyn. 😀

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kiddie party #2: miggy

august 8, 2009

it was miggy’s 8th birthday party and it was at my sister’s condo in pasig. not knowing how to get there, we got instructions from my sister and then followed it to the letter. everything was going smoothly until we near her place and her instructions were to turn right. i got confused because it was impossible to turn right. 🙂 buti na lang familiar na kami dun sa condo and made the correct decision of turning left. 🙂



miggy had a swimming party! ok sya kasi it’s a different kind of a kiddie party. sobrang ok kasi the kids were enjoying themselves at the pool to the fact that no entertainment was needed na. they only stopped when it was time to eat… pero after eating, back at the pool they were. 😀 it was a good thing that the weather cooperated… it was raining all week-long but that day it was just partly cloudy – enough to block the sun rays from the kids. 🙂







the birthday boy having a quick chichacorn break with my lovely wife. 🙂



we left after the blowing of candles – a brief pause to the kids’ playtime at the pool. we still owe miggy his transformer ironhide toy… something we have yet to see at the stores.

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kiddie party #1: chloe

“sir…..”

that was the subject title of a blank email i got from cinderella, a friend and a former officemate, a few months back. yes, a blank email… meaning, walang laman.

“ha? ano to? may problema ba?” those were the thoughts going through my mind as i stared at the blank email. i then quickly shot back a reply asking what’s going on?

“eh kasi sir… nahihiya talaga ako eh. mag-bday kasi si baby chloe ko… eh kung pwede sana kayo mag-cover ng party. eeeee… nahihiya talaga ako sir.” or something to that effect (hehe) was the reply i got from cindy. ok, ok, i got the message. but why me? i mean, she’s got plenty of friends who have better cams than our pathetic d40. tsaka, sa taas ng kinikita nilang mag-asawa eh why not just hire a pro? 🙂 whatever her reasons were, i didn’t bother knowing them anymore. cindy’s a friend and it would be an honor to shoot for her baby’s party. plus, it’s one way of giving a gift without spending a single peso. 🙂

may 24, 2009. dahil mga probinsyano’t probinsyana kami (vena, neriz, jade and cedrick (na nag-iisa sa kanyang kotse)), we kinda got lost looking for the place. palibhasa mga d sanay sa fort. 🙂 but we still managed to arrive early and since we were there before the start of the party, i got a chance to snap off a few pre-party pics.








then the party officially started. syempre kiddie games dominated the program – to the enjoyment of the adults.

heck, there even was a game for adults which we guys starred in – and won. come from behind pa nga yung victory eh. 😀




with the vertical movement to consider aside from the horizontal movement, i know that a panning shot of a running person is almost impossible to pull off… but i tried anyway. kinda liked the output. 🙂


i wonder what lara was thinking about? “give me that balloon?” 😀




chloe… with utmost concentration on blowing those candles out. 🙂





babies, babies and even more babies… heck, there were even a couple of celebrities in the party too. 😉

after the party, guests stayed and did some catching up with friends.





not satisfied, we even changed venues and went to bonifacio high street to continue the exchanging of stories. since andun na rin lang, we strolled and went window shopping… eventually making our way to la senza – where the gals did some mega-shopping (especially the millionaire myles ;-)).






yah, from kiddie party to a lingerie botique… it was quite a day. 🙂

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a super highway, a pristine island and a lovely wedding

may 2, 2009

are you willing to travel 700+ kilometers both ways by land just to attend a wedding? that’s the test-of-friendship question thrown by rex and imee to us, their friends – and our answer? heck, yeah! 🙂

so, together with cedrick and wengi, off we went to zambales. we were told that the approximate travel time was about 6-7 hours and expecting such a loooong drive ahead, we devised a plan with cedrick and i alternately driving. but what happened was i did most of the driving. 😆 (ok lang, binawian ko naman cedrick because he did all the driving on the way back. 😀). the road trip was long but not boring. the scenery was beautiful and the roads were in tiptop condition. they were so good we had to stop quite a number of times and just to take pictures. 🙂










it took us almost nine hours just to arrive at the resort prepared for us by rex. yes, nine hours. aside from the photo stops, we had other delays along the way:

• horrendous traffic jam from trinoma to nlex exit (oo, alam namin. ang lapit na nun… pero it took us almost an hour just to traverse that distance)
• lunch stop at petron station in nlex (gutom na kami so we stopped at the very first establishment we saw. dapat pala sa shell kami kasi mas malawak at mas maraming choices.)
• traffic at nlex (huh? nagkaka-traffic ba dun? wala eh, na-timing kami ng road maintenance works)
• “typhoon” somewhere in zambales (the visibiliy was so bad that i had to turn my fog lights on for the first time – not that it helped. 😆)

it was nighttime already when we arrived and we didn’t get to see the beach anymore so we just settled in our cottage. for dinner, cedrick and i went out to the nearby jollibee (wala eh. no choice. :-D) for takeout. nakakatuwa nga mga tao sa drive thru kasi they were so enthusiastic… not sure so sure why though. hehe

after dinner eh bagsak na ako and slept early. pero si cedrick eh nagpuyat kakanood ng tv… palibhasa d napagod mag-drive. 😀

early morning the next day, selle and wengi decided to checkout the beach. 🙂





afterwards, we prepared ourselves so that we can go and visit the famed potipot island. after breakfast, we took the very, very short boat ride to potipot.




potipot island is like a deserted island (wait a minute… it is a deserted island. 🙂). very small yet extremely beautiful. we didn’t have much time to stay so inikot lang namin island at nag-picture-picture.








we then hurried back to mainland and went to trinidad bay resort to prepare for the wedding.

at the resort we were greeted by the very hands-on groom, rex… who was both nervous and excited at the same time. (don’t worry, rex, we understand… we’ve been there. :-)). rex had his preparations at the same room as ours so we had “backstage” access to this wedding. a few shoots here and there and then we were off to the church… with the groom. (btw, muntik na maging instant bridal car yung aming focus… but that’s another story. :-)).







at the church, we saw the other guests:

• karl and leah who made the trip in a short time of 5 hours (speedy. :-)).
• ferdi, joel and roju who went through their very own amazing race experience jumping from one public transportation to another (talk about passing the test of friendship w/ flying colors :-)).

then the wedding began. after taking shots of the guys from the entourage, i ran out of the church to take a shot of imee. i was pleasantly surprised when imee saw me and said, “hi dyoks!” surprised because i only saw her once and, according to rex, that was their first “date” pa. makes me wonder kung anu-anong pinag-kwe-kwento ni rex kay imee about me. 🙂





anyway, rex and imee were very candid throughout the wedding ceremonies. that’s very nice because it’s just so natural. you could really see and feel their love for each other… as can be seen in the pictures below. 🙂

at the tail-end of the wedding, it was very humid and i noticed that it was getting dark outside. i was thinking, “no, no, no… pls don’t let it rain.” when we left the church going to the reception venue, rain fell… and it fell real hard. we felt really, really bad. outdoor kasi yung reception eh. sobrang lakas ng ulan that we couldn’t get out of our car to get to the reception. we waited a while for it to die down. eventually, humina din ulan (no, it did not stop) so we finally were able to get in. seeing the tables all wet crushed our hearts. this was a time that the newlyweds really needed us… so we had to stay.

and the guests must really love the couple as most did stay. so what if it rained? the reception program was extremely fun… and i was busy taking pictures. 🙂











btw, vena and neriz arrived at the reception… just fresh from vigan… and got somewhat lost in the process of going to the wedding (that’s yet another long story. :-D).

with the program about to end… even if we really, really wanted to stay pa (kahit overnight pa)… we couldn’t. si cedrick kasi – the best man – had to go to work the following day. so we had no choice. nalungkot nga kami noong nagpaalam kami eh. but we vowed to make it up to the couple (especially to imee).

we arrived home at around 4 in the morning. 700+ kilometers were logged by our focus during the whole trip. would we do it all over again? for friends, heck, yeah. 🙂

congratulations, rex and imee. lovely, lovely, lovely wedding…



checkout the official wedding photographer’s photos here.

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extremely late blog post #12: holy week in lucena

april 9, 2009

we usually spend holy week in lucena… where we can truly relax. this year, it was also the first extended road trip for our focus so at least we didn’t have to commute (and stand inside the bus) going there. yun nga lang, since we decided to go to lucena mid-morning of thursday, we ran right smack in the middle of the holy week exodus… in other words, slow-moving traffic. slow talaga. 🙂

we eventually arrived and surprised mama with our new car. yup, we didn’t tell her about it yet. 🙂 later on the day… we surprised our sister as well (yes, d din nya alam. 😆).

since bago nga sasakyan, we drove around the city… eventually settling at the city’s park. eh ano pa nga ba, eh d picture-an galore… with my pamangkin, miggy, as the prime subject. 🙂







of course, lots of picture-taking were done at the house din syempre. 🙂

on the way back… we stopped by the roadside a couple of times for a few more photo sessions. 🙂

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extremely late blog post #9: usapang dslr mini-photoshoot

february 22, 2009

the usapang dslr forum finally had it’s first photoshoot when our us-based friend (and forum member), rex, flew in last february for a short vacation. we were all prepped-up for an out-of-town shoot in tagaytay but things didn’t go as planned as rex suddenly had other commitments to attend to. still hoping for a photoshoot, we decided to lounge at francis’ house in laguna bel-air.

it was a pretty slow afternoon and we all just settled around the dining table… chatting and doing various stuff.





soon, we decided to play a game i brought, true colours. it was a fun, fun game with neriz eventually coming out as the winner.





by nightfall, rex finally arrived… armed with his d90 – jacked up with an sb-900. we started shooting immediately – shooting any subject we could lay our eyes unto. 😉









here’s a few photos by rex documenting the photoshoot. 🙂






sam, kathleen’s eldest, was into this photoshoot thingy and was endlessly posing. mukhang may pinagmanahan. 😉




with the photographers and our models (hehe) all tired, we ended the day by introducing rex to the famous 3-ingredient razon’s halo-halo. yum! 🙂



until the next photoshoot, guys. kelan naman kaya yun? 😀

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extremely late blog post #8: a touching renewal of vows

february 15, 2009

we’ve attended plenty of weddings before but a renewal of vows, this was a first. last february, rene and lalaine celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary by renewing their vows in front of family, friends and rescued streetchildren.

adding more meaning to an already meaningful event, the couple decided to forego a grand ceremony but instead decided to share their love (and the love of their guests) with the children of tuloy sa don bosco foundation – a foundation built to rescue children off the streets. knowing ma’am lalaine, this act was expected as she has always been known to have a caring and loving heart. 🙂



the church was lovely. you wouldn’t have thought that this was resting along the busy streets of zapote road in alabang.

the ceremony was solemn and touching… all nestled inside the beautiful church inside the tuloy sa don bosco foundation. with the kids taking part in the ceremony – acting as sakristans and choir members – 25 years of love was even more magnified.











the ceremony was then followed by a short program prepared by the tuloy sa don bosco kids. what started out as an entertaining presentation of martial arts and sports…





…ended up with a moving rendition of josh groban’s you raise me up – which moved the hearts of everyone.




afterwards, instead of the usual cocktails to kill time while waiting for the start of the reception, we were ushered to a room telling the story of tuloy sa don bosco foundation. an avp was even showed showcasing what the foundation has done for streetchildren. then, at the middle of the room, a tree was situated and hanging on its branches were the wishes of the kids of the foundation.




during the reception, ma’am lalaine’s subordinates reciprocated her love for them back to her by taking the helm of the program. a song number by the logistics boys and a narration of the couple’s love story during their dance were only a few of the things they prepared for her. emotions then overflowed as the couple took the mic to say a few words.

ma’am lalaine enjoying the soulful voice of the boys. 🙂




the couple started to get teary-eyed as their kids say their well-wishes to their parents.


the unique “first dance”… with their love story being narrated. touching. 🙂






it was an inspiring sequence of events. we were touched… we’re sure all the other guests were, as well.

congratulations. 🙂

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extremely late blog post #6: johnjay and dred homecoming

february 7, 2009.

resignation is a given when it comes to work – and samsung have had its share. we’ve seen colleagues come-and-go – venturing to greener pastures that await them elsewhere. to some that means moving to another company. to some that means building their own business. while to others that means flying to another country… and for ex-samsung pips, that’s either going to singapore or dubai. johnjay ang mildred opted for the bright lights of singapore.

johnjay and mildred were long-time colleagues of selle. they’ve worked together for about eight years – starting from their ojt in korea to their differing supervisory roles in their department. they are now raking big bucks in singapore and last february they came back home and initiated a mini-reunion of sorts.

armed with our d40, i took the liberty of “documenting” that cozy saturday afternoon in pansol. 🙂




to start, i took photos of non-human subjects to warm myself up. 🙂



here are the guys having some serious boys talk… whatever that means. 😀



pansol is widely considered as the videoke capital of the philippines and my wife wowed everyone with her vocal prowess. 🙂
meanwhile, habang busy ang mga asawa sa chikahan, the hubbies pulled up chairs and marked the videoke area as their territory. 😆




when the guys got tired with their boys talk… they played pool. heck, even i played too. 🙂



the kids (and the kids at heart) stayed in the pool.



like in any reunion, there were a lot of catching up and exchanging of stories.




…at syempre there were plenty of picture-taking sessions. 😀




yes, colleagues come-and-go… but it’s nice that once in a while, they do come back and everybody does find time to spend time with one another once again. 🙂

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