flowers at my moms garden

Today I spent the afternoon lazily swinging on our hand made hammock under our mango tree.
As I lay on our hammock, I noticed my mom’s mini garden filled with blooming plants. Although it is not as abundant as it was years ago, my mom still managed to keep some plants blooming with flowers.

Most of her plants were orchids. She nurtured different kinds of orchids. Some would even come from different places, but most were locally bought. She takes very good care of her orchids, and I would proudly say she is doing a good job doing it. She used to make money out of the flowers from her garden. She has a couple or so customers who would buy her flowers. She would then sell them to moment the flowers are ready for picking. Most of her customers are flower shops owners who sometimes run short of flowers for their flower arrangement business. It made good money for my mom too. For my mom who is working as clerk in a government office, pay is sometimes just enough to keep you going for the week. There are times that when her budgets would run short, these were the times where her income from her flowers would come in very handy.

Although my mom stopped selling flowers, she still has some plants left that still blooms and she’s keeping it now because she loves her plants and the flowers they produce and not because there is a need for it. That I would say is a good thing.

first try at a telephoto

my first try at a telephoto lens. the sigma 70-300mm DG. i was excited when a friend told he will be bringing his telelphoto lens when he visits cebu, the first time for to come back to his second home after he left for kuwait. he is currently employed in kuwait right now, and he has been there for two years now.

for a while i was stuck with my kit lens, the 18-55mm IS for my canon xs. not that i am complaining, the kit lens i have performs impressively but of course i also want to try other lenses that i can use with my cam.

testing the telephoto sigma 70-300mm, i was surprised how far i can zoom. the photos are pretty descent too. i say descent since i have read from reviews that some telephoto zoom lens gives out its image quality if you zoom out your lens that far. maybe because i have not tested other telephoto zoom lens, but as far as performance is concern and market price. it is pretty impressive for its category.

i am going out for a while and have a run with baby and see how it performs. over the weekend, i will have the opportunity to test its performance. we are bound to go on a banca cruise with some friends. we will see just how good this baby is.

i stand alone

of all the photos i have taken at kan-irag park, i say this was my favorite. the composition of the photo reminded me of how difficult and dirty life can be sometimes. despite how the pond was running dry, the water lily still bloomed wonderfully. despite how the pond looks messy because of the dried leaves and nearly water less surrounding, the water lily still stand still in beauty.

i never realized that digital photography has its dramatic side and that is how i feel every time i look at this photo. the photo itself can already be interpreted in so many ways. i guess its true when they say that photography is an art. the best photos are the ones that has its own story. one that has a lesson to teach. one that has deeper meaning.

i guess same goes to the saying that in photography its not the gear, but the person behind the lens that makes the best photos.

as for me, this photo is a reminder that no matter how tempting, how dirty the society we live in, if one has the will, one can still stand out and be contaminated by the ill-will of our society. one can still do what is good and be a good example to every one else.