Photography experiments

I took these photos during those instances when I feel like being creative.

So my family was to bring me to work in Quezon City and this was around 9 a.m. I hopped in the car and put my bag on my lap and I suddenly saw this macro shot opportunity with my bag. Our car's seat cover was black and sunlight was streaming in through the tinted windows. So I took out my Starmobile camera phone with a 12MP back camera (but settings were at 8MP) and started shooting away.

When I looked at the photos, it made me think that they were taken at a studio by a high quality camera with the expensive umbrella Klieg lights. But actually it was just a phone camera. What made it more dramatic were the background, lighting effects, focus point, and shot angle. Ang galing nga e. Mundane as it may seem, all it takes is the proper LIGHTING effect, more than the other two ingredients. 

At first I didn't want to use filters but since it was a photo experiment, I went for it. So here were the shots. The photos on the right are the non-filtered pictures. 

For this picture, I decided to use a black and white filter of my camera. The app came with the phone I bought. Notice how the filter greatly alters the mood and the texture of the photo.

I forgot what kind of filter I used for this but notice how the shadows, texture, and highlights were accentuated. It gave the bag a more dramatic and elegant look. Plus, it enhanced the gold color of the bag.

Again, I forgot what filter I used for this photo (hay naku!) but see how more defined the bag seemed on the left. The shadows became more distinct and made the bag appear silver when it's actually pale gold. The filtered photo appeared vivid and sharp compared to the original one on the right. 

These are just random creative moments for me. You see, I rarely get artistic since I was trained in the sciences ever since high school. My artistic tendencies just disappeared all of a sudden. And I partly blame being scientific for that, haha. The part of my brain that controls my artistry has been reduced to a munggo-sized portion. But I think creativity is different from being artistic. I am creative but I am not artistic. In Filipino, I believe the translation for creativity is, more than malikhain, is being madiskarte. Like you find different ways how to solve a problem.

Having a supportive and encouraging thesis adviser/mentor can help you graduate

I am eternally grateful and thankful to my supportive and encouraging thesis adviser/mentor, Dr. Sandra G. Catane. Despite my shortcomings and mistakes as a master's student and research associate, she doesn't make me feel humiliated nor embarrassed every time I fall short of her expectations. I greatly admire her for that.

Just recently, I submitted the first draft of my master's thesis to her and I was getting ready to be showered with litanies because of my incoherent and lackluster technical writing. But lo and behold, she delivered her "litany" to me in a manner that I would not be offended nor belittled. She actually helped me correct my mistakes and encouraged me enough to not lose hope and continue on with my journey in writing the thesis manuscript.

Grabe, nakaka-humble and nakaka-inspire yung ginagawa niya. More than the scientific skills I am learning from her, I also learn values and principles inherent to an encouraging and inspiring mentor. And I believe that if your thesis adviser is someone who embody these traits, then no matter how "inadequate" and "ill-equipped" the student may be, given the right motivation and treatment, the student can hurdle the obstacles prior to graduating.

And eventually the student graduates--- with a stronger yet humble and persevering spirit. That, to me, is what it means to be a great mentor.