Glimpses of My Father's Barrio

Photography by Ryan Macalandag

These are some of the images I took when I last went home to this little barrio in the mountains of Danao, Bohol, Philippines. My father is from here and he was speaking at the elementary school's graduation ceremonies when we went.





First thing you can really notice when coming here are the kids running around playing. My earliest recollection of my first visit was when we went into this little barrio through a curvy, swervy, narrow heckuva road and out of nowhere pops out this little place crawling with children. The little critters were following the pick-up truck we were on. They didn't see motorized vehicles too often during those times.



That's my pop in the middle of the huddle with our lunch of fresh water crabs and shrimp.



Me with a few of my cousins.

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Photobin: Trinidad Beauties

Beauty Pageants Photography by Ryan Macalandag
Miss Trinidad Beauty Pageant 2008
Bohol, Philippines

Here are some of the photos from the Miss Trinidad shoot I did las Saturday. The ladies were still young and didn't have any experience with pageants yet but they were quite cooperative during the shoot.

Bravo also to their hair and make-up stylists - all from Trinidad also.









Technical Info:
Shot using a Nikon D80 with a Nikkor 50mm 1.8 lens.

Lighting Info: 1 Vivitar 283 at full-power bounced to a silver umbrella camera right and above, 1 SB24 left and behind subject to light "blue screen" background and act as kicker light. A huge sheet of white illustration board was placed in front and just slightly below the face of subject to act as fill light (and a flattering catchlight as well).

Background is a digitally made art through Photoshop.

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Photobin: True Radio Show Shoot

Lifestyle Photography
True Radio Show DJs and Staff Pictorials
by Ryan Macalandag




True Radio Show airs on BCCTV Channel 6 TV every weekdays from 7 to 9 in the morning. Hosted by DJ Sandy, the show is originally radio only but BCCTV Channel 6 wanted to hook up with 911 FM so now they're also airing the radio show on TV.

Cool! Now you can actually see your favorite radio hosts beamed live to your TV sets. If you're on Channel 6 and you have cable that is.

Here they are: The FM DJs



The whole True Radio Show crew:



Solo shots!



Aren't they all adorable???hehehe Way to go guys! Keep it up.

For more photos from this set, go to my Flickr site.

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People: My Lola in B/W

Portait Photography by Ryan Macalandag
Tagbilaran City, Bohol



My grandma is old and quite sick too. Old age has weakened her body leaving her episodes of rheumatic pains. But despite her illness, she is still quite sharp and witty. I've always been fascinated with her stories of yore - of how my grandpa caught two wild pigs in their corn farm in one night or of how she and her sisters would go to the barrio dances when they were still young. Or how they escaped from the Japanese when Davao was besieged during the war.

These stories seem to keep her cheery and young-faced again. She just lightens up with excitement and euphoria. She talks longer than I would have wanted her to. I wish I could record these stories and compile them for later when we got grandkids of our own already.

Sometimes, I cut her short of her story telling (I've heard of some of them!) and try to come up with a reason to leave. Often, she asks me what the name of my wife is. She sometimes forget. I say, "Regina, Lola, uy! Sige man ka kalimot." (Here name's Regina, Lola. You always forget.) She smiles and says, "Kanus-a man mo manganak kay para makakita na ko's imong liwat?" (When are you guys having a child?)

If and when we do have a baby girl, I should probably name her, Maxima. In honour of my dear lola.

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Photobin: Jack the Electrician

Portrait Photography by Ryan Macalandag

This is Jack. He works as an electrician for the local government unit of Trinidad, Bohol. He's probably like the head electrician 'coz he does a lot of stuff and has about 3-5 people working under him. When I went to Trinidad (for the town photography), Jack was one of the more interesting people I met. On my second visit, they we're assembling 4 huge-ass sub-woofers for the town gym.




Shot using a Nikon D80 w/ a Nikkor 50mm 1.8 lens attached.

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Photobin: Ryan by Reg

Photo by Reg Estorba-Macalandag
Edited by Ryan Macalandag



Here's another portrait of me before the year ends. Reg, my wife, tries her hands in photography and shot this picture of me. Of a number of shots, she chose this shot. I look goofy here, don't I? Oh well, she's the photographer.

Used here is my new Nikkor 50mm 1.8 which is quite sharp at f/2.8. People say it's soft at 1.8-2 but i think it's just camera shake 'coz at these apertures the DOF can be real narrow. I tried it with some strobes at the biggest opening and had some sharp shots too.

Oh well, as if I don't Photoshop. :p

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Wedding: Kim and Cindy Prenuptial Photos

Kim & Cindy are a couple from Tacloban who both chose Bohol as the venue for their wedding. Why not! Bohol has beautiful churches, wonderful sceneries and great photographers!hehehe

The couple will tie the knot tomorrow at the magnificent Dauis Church. Reception to follow at Panglao Island Nature Resort. :)

This photo was shot at one of Bohol's more iconic churches, the Baclayon Church,built in the 1600's. Really old. One of the oldest in the Philippines. Here, Kim seems to be jubilant that he's finally getting married. Well, he should be.



This scene is in Loay, at the end of the river cruise. A group of Ati tribesmen welcome visitors here with a display of drumming, dancing and fire eating. Lovely.



I just can't resist. We had to do the jumping shot at the top of the world famous Chocolate Hills. As you can see, Kim was a varsity volleyball player before.



Cindy had always loved the sun in tropical Bohol. All day long we were praying for a good sunset. Lo and behold! A majestic sunset. Just perfect!





Trips like these make me happy I am a wedding photographer in Bohol. This way I get to tour around and have fun capturing beautiful shots at the same time.

It was a pretty exhausting day though. Janet, the couple's wedding coordinator was helpful though. She just doesn't seem to run out of fun things to say and do all in the name of good fun! Thanks Kim & Cindy! Thanks Janet! And to my cousin Francis who was assistant, too.

(For more photos from this set, click here.)
_________________________________
Photo by Ryan Macalandag
Gear: Nikon D80, SB-600
Copyright �2007 All rights reserved.

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Photobin: Lovely Couple at the Hippy Party

These photos were from a few months back during a "Hippies Party" at Miriam and Sebastian's house. As I was reviewing this website, I saw that I haven't posted these pictures here yet. I just felt compelled to put these up.









It might be due to the quantity of alcohol I took that I forgot their name. Apologies. They are Antonio's friends. They are a beautiful couple indeed.

(Edit: Thanks to their comments, now I know their name - it's Gertjan & Marielle.)

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People: Terence

This set of Terence was way shot about a year ago using a 50mm 1.8 lens on a Canon XTi. I was browsing through and remembered how nice it was to shoot with a normal-prime. Now, with a Nikon D80, I'll have to save up a couple thousand more since the Nikon 50mm costs about P6,500 in Hidalgo - about P3T more expensive than the Canon counterpart.

Anyhow, I really have to get that lens. And after that a 50-200 VR or an SB-800 to compliment to my SB-600.

I'm gonna have to pray for more projects to come then! :)

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Events: Seeing double at the Sandugo Oracles '07

Apart from Liza's a tenny-weeny-bit bland review of the Sandugo Oracles, I was also felt a bit weezy after a few minutes into the musical. I thought, "It's the same as last year?" People around me were whispering the same, too. On my viewfinder though, I really thought I was seeing double.


The first photo is from this year, the second is from last year.

Yes, this year's show is just the same as last year. But, not known to many (I had to ask people from the production team), this year's stageing had a few major (production) changes. For instance, the singing is done live this year; Cesar Montano and Rich Asuncion did some parts this year; more soldiers on the stage this year (purely my own opinion).

Well, the sensitive sucker that I am, the show had it's chilling moments, too. To think that, as always, Boholanos who haven't seen the production before should watch it. It really is something that we as a people should be proud about. And we have Mayor Dan Lim and Gardy Labad (and the rest of the production team) to thank for that. Hats off to them.













_________________________________
Photos by Ryan Macalandag
Shot using a Nikon D80
Copyright ©2007 All rights reserved.

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Personal: Batch 97 Final Meeting Slideshow

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