i'm in awe!

It was an unexpected yet pleasant surprise. I only wanted to get my coffee table book last night. You see, being included in the best 200 is already an honor in itself. There are thousands of entries to choose from and I was included in the top 200. Mind you, this was no ordinary photo contest, the country's best and well known photographers are all a part of this.

But this honor is not my own.

God chose to honor me in this contest. There are a lot of good entries from better photographers yet He chose to honor my little entry.

The shot is a product of being at the right place at the right time. We were walking along the road when I saw this house in Sabtang. It may have already been photographed a zillion times but the bike made it different. It was almost serendipitous, no, it was appointed. I took a few shots and left happy and satisfied. I took a lot of photos in Batanes and never thought of it as much.

Epix06 deadline came and I had to choose my entries. I had other favorites and I'm glad I chose this. We were hoping to get into the best 200 and nothing more. The competition is fierce and I wasn't expecting much.

Then God remembered me. And to Him I give the honor back. Photography is relatively new to me; I love capturing and creating beautiful things by drawing them, not taking their pictures. For now I'm happy, I finally found something where I could pursue with passion. This is not the end, this is just the beginning...



In pursuing our dreams and goals, the following Words echo in my thoughts...

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"Unless the LORD builds the house,
its builders labor in vain.
Unless the LORD watches over the city,
the watchmen stand guard in vain."

Psalms 127:1

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see Catdan Ku

see Epson Epix 2006

awed in batanes

its been 3 weeks since we last went to batanes and even now, id often think about it and wish i was there again. life in batanes is simple indeed, who would believe that a town exists without a market, a bank, even an atm machine. i got back to manila with 70 pesos left in my pocket!

its supposed to be our "5th annual tarsiers? national convention" - as we fondly call it (the group's name is a different story) - where we go to some far-off place in the philippines and marvel at God's creation. we were 28 folks on day 1 and trickled down to 7 by week's end. we thought that spending our time in batanes in just 4 days/3 nights would be too "bitin", so some of us extended by 3 more days! happy days indeed!

we spent the first 4 days in batanes seaside resort - one of the "better" resorts in batanes. we then bunked in our new friend totoy's house - one of our companion's ancestral homes for the rest of the trip. btw, thanks totoy for accomodating us.

ever tried sleeping inside a hospital sans the medical treatment? itbayat has no official inns and hotels to speak of and most of the residences accepting transients are full. so yes, and we stayed in the delivery room! good thing no delivery was done during the term of our stay! being in itbayat is like going back in time, spanish era time!

a lot of unique experiences happened during this trip:

• its the first time i ever rode a 6 seater cessna plane - fun!
• first time i ate tatus - and i loved it
• northernmost ive ever had the chance to visit after baguio/sagada - hehe
• most beautiful place ive ever been to - ive been to baguio, sagada, batad, pulag, mindoro, cebu/mactan, dumaguete, bohol/panglao and davao - hopefully palawan next time
• first time ive ever ridden a boat with waves bigger than our boat!

sigh!

batanes... i shall return