Blogging With Mikoy

For the first time, I’ll be making a blog collaboration! I’ll be posting on Mikoy’s blog Slide and Tap with a series of “opinionated” blog entries that will talk about the recent (and not so recent) gadgets of today, from the Fuji X10 up to the latest Macbook Pro with Retina display. I will share my insights on the new technologies and features of the gadgets and what why I think they're good or not for me. I’ve always wanted to do blog collaborations and join a blogging group. I was supposed to have a featured entry on Leave The Cube but it never materialized so guess I haven't left the cube yet. 

These series of blog posts will also be posted here but the reason I want to post it on Mike’s blog is because I wanted it to be public, since this blog is (semi) private. I want a bigger audience and see their comments. I remember before when this blog can be seen publicly, people would comment on my lowly blog posts about the movies I watched. It's fun to read other opinions. Technically, this blog still gets hits from the US and even Russia and I don't know how they find this side of the web. I actually thought of making a new blog just for those posts that's why it expanded my initial topics from 3 to 10 but I don’t feel like making a new blog. Maybe in the future, but for now, working with Mikoy is a good idea!

So 10 (or 8) blog posts coming up!

Photography Idols [Toto & Jaja]

This time, I'm featuring a couple of amazing wedding photographers whom I had the pleasure of meeting in the workshop I attended last week. Actually I already knew one of them for some time now because I like his style of taking photos and I get to know the other because she is one of the our instructors in that workshop and I'm glad I did.

Ladies first.

Jaja Samaniego

(Philippines)

Facebook | Blog | Twitter

Hers is a style with simple and clean compositions and natural colors. She trained from Imagine-nation photography and it shows in her pro event photographs. She's been in the industry for 3 years now and she proves to have the eye for amazing light, the very ability I want to learn. What she originally wanted to do is take videos but when her dad gave him a DSLR, she fell in love with stills and the rest is history. I think she's a really good people person and this profession of doing weddings is right for her. Although she mentioned that she also do portraits though I don't see it on her blog. Here are some of her photos lifted from her blog. (I know I said she uses natural colors, but the picks I made are more of my personal taste.)

Toto Villaruel

(Philippines)

Facebook | Blog | Twitter

I don't recall where I saw his photos first but I know I had a Red Mango moment, where I was just wow-ed by what I see, when I saw his wedding shots. His has the color and tone that I like but with simplicity and the look that other wedding photographers don't subscribe to. He shoots weddings with his girlfriend Nicolai who is also has an eye for amazing photos. Both of them are living together right now and together, they make a very good team to capture such events. From what he told us in the workshop, he started as a photojournalist then crossed over to taking wedding photos. The thing that is amazing with Toto as well as Jaja, other than their photos, is that they both shoot with manual focus. Not just manual exposure but also manual focus and that made me say wow! Imagine doing a fast paced event with manual focus and capturing the right moments with manual focus. Now that's an eye for photography indeed. Here are some of his photos.

So if you're planning a wedding, I suggest you ask these amazing photographers first because I'm sure you'll be pleasantly surprised.

As for the workshop that I attended, I'll make a post soon.

Photography Idols [Nirrimi & DigitalPimp]

I think I haven't made a photographer feature for the longest time so let me start it again. I have a couple of photographers that I would like to share to you guys. One I've been following for quite some time now and the other I just discovered in PinoyPhotography forum. Their photos are the ones I want to be taking as they have the aesthetics and the emotions I want to capture in my photos.

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There are some really young talented photographers down under and one of them is 19 year old Nirrimi Firebrace. As well as a very good photographer, she also is a good writer. She maintains a blog (see below) and she recently had a baby that she documented on her blog of course accompanied by wonderful photos. She was able to travel to the US for a campaign and recently Europe for another campaign. She's mostly shoots fashion and portraits but sometimes a slice of life.

What I like with her photos are the simplicity of each photo, the vintage feel, the beauty of the subjects perfectly captured, her ability to see beautiful light and the feeling I get when I look at her photos. It's calming in a way because the colors and facial expressions just works for me. Here are some of her latest photos from her blog. Visit her blog, bigger photos does make a difference when you look at them.

Nirrimi Firebrace 

(Australia)

Twitter / Facebook / Blog

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Nathan Hayag, also known as digitalpimp, has a couple of threads in Pipho forum titled Everyday People and Everyday Places that he maintains. Both started on 2009 and now has a lot pages worth of fantastic photos! He's also friendly and gives advices to forumers who asks about his photos. Let me concentrate on his Everyday People photos. As the title suggests, they are mostly street photos of people. His works are mostly from other countries like Singapore and Malaysia. I'm not sure if he is associated to a photography group or works solo as well as what his forte is but he takes very beautiful landscape and street photos.

What I like about his photos are his compositions, wonderful realistic colors as well as his artistic take on some of his street photos, just like the first photographer I mentioned, his eye for amazing light. Some people I see post process their photos too much for my taste. His are just right and that "just right" touch is perfect! Here are some of his photos from his Flickr stream.

Nathan Hayag 

(Philippines, Singapore)

Flickr / Website

I hope you guys saw what I saw in the photos from these photographers and why I like them. I suggest you guys follow their Twitter streams.

Photography Idols Nicoline Patricia Malina

Update: I've change the title of this post to reflect my series of posts for Photography Idols

I just have to post this today.

"I think I found the older more serious looking version of my idol and that makes her double awesome! :P"

This is what that tweet means, New photography idol :) Nicoline Patricia Malina.

check her page here and her DA page here.

Here are some of her works