Hello Tonichi

Summer is upon us! Or rather, upon me, because a lot of my batchmates are working this summer for their internship/OJT. I'm not taking mine yet because I have a handful of minors (prerequisites to going on an internship) left. Praise the Lord, hallelujah! I'm off the internship hook for this summer. Thank you, useless minors for being useful for once. :D Anyway, the first thing on our summer itinerary was to go to the beach, as always. My family went resort hopping in Bataan for a few days, and the first stop was Anvaya Cove. Apparently it's an exclusive resort or something because you can't spend the night there unless you're a member or know somebody who's a member. Luckily, my dad's good friend is one, so pack our bags we did, and off to Bataan we went! :D

When I was younger, my summers were spent in the backseat of the family Nissan with my mama blasting Billy Joel (greatest hits album on cassette, of course!) on the radio and my papa behind the wheel. My sisters and I used to swim way past pruny fingers and toes, during high noon, grumpily complaining when our parents would tell us to get out of the water.  I guess in a few ways, we've grown up a little bit because our road trips now aren't for coming back to the city seven shades darker, but for some good ol' R & R. :D

By some stroke of good luck (and a lot of coaxing from everyone), my sister finally agreed to be my subject for one of my personal shoots. She's a reluctant model and doesn't particularly enjoy being photographed, but oh woe is she - the camera loves her! She was such a trooper, lying down on the itchy grass, and kneeling on the sand without any complaints. Since she's pretty shy, we were really lucky that we had the beach all to ourselves. (Some Koreans arrived 10 minutes after we wrapped up, so the gods of photography must've been on my side that day haha!) There were so many more pictures I wanted to include but I didn't want to be overzealous, so these will have to do.. for now! XD As always, it's a challenge for me to shoot outdoors with the constantly shifting sun. I wonder, what is the maximum allowable time for a photographer to figure out the best settings when changing locations? Ack, I still have much to learn... I've been slacking of...