#175 Someone's Watching

Do you sometimes get the feeling someone's watching you?

At sunrise, a lot of things can be happening. As the golden light bathes the grand landscape, what was previously dark and formless turn into a landscape alive with tone and color. Clouds can catch color too, the meandering edge of a lake might suddenly merit your attention, and random wild grass just in front of you now make an interesting foreground. Through all these, a twilight photographer can get completely lost in the moment.

But not everyone is transfixed by the same scene, nor at the same time. After exhausting the compositions in our heads, we start looking around for something else to shoot, and inevitably find each other in our cross-hairs. Yes someone's watching after all, and we have only ourselves to blame. Enjoy. 

(Pixel-peepers: There are compositions that you see only through your mind's eye. Others, well the opportunity sometimes just pops-up.) 

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For those who've inquired about buying prints of my postcards, you may purchase them directly from master printmaker Arnel Murillo (murilloarnel@yahoo.com), one of the country's foremost fine-art printmakers.  Arnel uses archival inks and museum-grade paper to ensure his prints will not fade. You will not be disappointed. (All my images are provided gratis to help showcase the beauty of our country. But if you feel generous, help me uplift the lives of the Children of Payatas.  No donation is too big or too small. Get in touch with Fr. Aldrin Suan at aldrinsuan@yahoo.com of the Vincentian Missionaries in the Philippines. As always, thanks and enjoy.)

#174 The Sands of Time

After shooting the dawn I paused to catch my breath, and it was then that I noticed this well-trodden patch of shore. There must be several thousand footprints here, randomly headed in all directions, left by multitudes who had come before me. 


Some of those footprints are mine of course, as I combed the shore just moments earlier, while looking for a vantage to shoot the dawn. But alas they are now lost and completely obscured. What proof is there that I've come this way? This is not a far-fetched analogy to human existence itself, and our brief moment in it. We all try to leave our mark, but in the end each mark becomes just one of many, forever lost & obscured within the sands of time. Enjoy.

(Pixel-peepers: When the sun is still low on the horizon, side-lighting is at its best. This kind of light can exaggerate the texture of the landscape, making them appear more three dimensional, sometimes almost surreal.) 

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Past postcards at www.PostcardsFromManila.com

Say hello: Bobbyw59@yahoo.com

But wait, there's more...

For those who've inquired about buying prints of my postcards, you may purchase them directly from master printmaker Arnel Murillo (murilloarnel@yahoo.com), one of the country's foremost fine-art printmakers.  Arnel uses archival inks and museum-grade paper to ensure his prints will not fade. You will not be disappointed. (All my images are provided gratis to help showcase the beauty of our country. But if you feel generous, help me uplift the lives of the Children of Payatas.  No donation is too big or too small. Get in touch with Fr. Aldrin Suan at aldrinsuan@yahoo.com of the Vincentian Missionaries in the Philippines. As always, thanks and enjoy.)

#173 A Burning Dawn

At twilight, the sky can look truly extraordinary. 


How early do you need to be to catch a sky like this? If sunrise is at 5:30am, you need to be at the sunrise point an hour before that. And depending how far you are from there, wake-up even earlier. 


Does every sunrise light-up the sky like this? Unfortunately no. The conditions have to be just right. You need relatively good weather. You need interesting cloud formations just above the horizon. And the horizon itself needs to be clear so that light from an emergent sun can light up the bottom of these clouds. But knowing all that, every dawn is still a throw of the dice. You'll be lucky if every third sunrise you wake-up to looks anything like this. Such is life. Enjoy.

(Pixel-peepers: I was a little late this morning, but luckily, peak light waited for me. A good foreground eludes the unprepared, but a burning sky needs little introduction.) 

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Past postcards at www.PostcardsFromManila.com

Say hello: Bobbyw59@yahoo.com

But wait, there's more...

For those who've inquired about buying prints of my postcards, you may purchase them directly from master printmaker Arnel Murillo (murilloarnel@yahoo.com), one of the country's foremost fine-art printmakers.  Arnel uses archival inks and museum-grade paper to ensure his prints will not fade. You will not be disappointed. (All my images are provided gratis to help showcase the beauty of our country. But if you feel generous, help me uplift the lives of the Children of Payatas.  No donation is too big or too small. Get in touch with Fr. Aldrin Suan at aldrinsuan@yahoo.com of the Vincentian Missionaries in the Philippines. As always, thanks and enjoy.)

#172 Tucked within the Shadows

The night air is deadly still. You are standing on the edge of a cliff waiting for dawn to break. Before you, a valley is covered in mist. Not to worry. The mist will rise and reveal what lies underneath. Soon, you spot first light on the horizon, rising from behind the silhouette of distant clouds and mountains. This will be pretty, you thought. And finally you look around you, only to find everyone else pointing their cameras in the same direction. Everyone will end up with the same shot. Now wait a minute...!


Along the Tagaytay ridge, the colors of dawn seldom disappoint. Every now and then, fog heavier than most will spoil it. But not today. It will be great. But what's so great about a dawn shot when four other dudes will take the same picture home? There's got to be another way... I quickly took several steps back and found a composition none of them will capture, because in my shot they're all tucked within the shadows waiting for dawn. Enjoy.


(Pixel-peepers: It's not enough to nail a shot, you need to find one that is unique as well. Standing on the rim in Tagaytay is like having front row seats to a concert, but in landscape photography that is seldom the best vantage point.) 

Sign-up to receive new postcards weekly by email 

Past postcards at www.PostcardsFromManila.com

Say hello: Bobbyw59@yahoo.com

But wait, there's more...

For those who've inquired about buying prints of my postcards, you may purchase them directly from master printmaker Arnel Murillo (murilloarnel@yahoo.com), one of the country's foremost fine-art printmakers.  Arnel uses archival inks and museum-grade paper to ensure his prints will not fade. You will not be disappointed. (All my images are provided gratis to help showcase the beauty of our country. But if you feel generous, help me uplift the lives of the Children of Payatas.  No donation is too big or too small. Get in touch with Fr. Aldrin Suan at aldrinsuan@yahoo.com of the Vincentian Missionaries in the Philippines. As always, thanks and enjoy.)