It was a weekend that is very informative, fun and inspiring.  I am not into wedding photography but I decided to go to his workshop knowing I will learn tons from him.  I was not disappointed.  He shared a lot of his techniques and it’s such an eye-opener watching him in action.

Lito Sy is a great photographer, teacher and person.  Learn more about him on his website: http://www.litosy.com/.

Many thanks to the organizers, Michelle and Andy Rivera of MishaMedia, Crizen Hasegawa for hair and makeup and Cheryl and Michael Santos for modeling for us!

I could not help but snap a few photos myself.

I think the trees won.

It was overcast that afternoon but whenever the clouds parted, we were bathed in a sweet glow of afternoon light.

In this photo, I used a preset in Lightroom 3 that creates a Holga based look.

It is easily my favorite part of the trip!

I loved arriving early in the morning, just as the the pretty colors of the blue hour are showing, watching residents of the area go about their early morning chores (and snapping photos as they did…), and taking in the beautiful reflections of the gorgeous sky on the waters of Srah Srang.

We were the first ones there (at 4:45 am)!

That morning was very cloudy and overcast but there was a fleeting moment when the clouds parted a bit to give us beautiful light.

That afternoon, I used a phrase that I learned just the day before from our guide, Chet. The phrase was “proh sanghaa”. It means “handome boy”.

Check out Jesley’s photo of the same boy on her blog.

This woman is a 75-year old Buddhist nun whom we met at the Preah Khan Temple. She is such a lovely lady with the most beautiful smile and very expressive face that you can’t help but feel good interacting with her. She graciously allowed us to take photos of her around the temple.

After we have taken her photos, she gave each of us a blessing by tying a white string bracelet around our wrists (right wrist for the males and left for the females), whispering prayers as she blew on our heads and the hands with the bracelet, whipping our hands away with a “whoo!” and lastly, giving us her infectious smile.

I will never forget her.

A great day for the St. Patrick’s Day celebrations! Jet-lagged though I am since I just came back from Southeast Asia, I just had to get out there and enjoy the day and people-watch.

To kick off the day’s festivities, thousands of people (and some leprechauns) gathered by the Chicago River to watch Chicago’s annual tradition of dyeing the river a bright, festive emerald green.

Below are some photos I took of the event.
 

These vistas remind me of our family road trips to my dad’s home province of Batangas (in Southern Luzon). I am sad to say that most of the landscapes of rice fields, and untouched distant mountains we used to see on our way to Batangas has been replaced with gas stations, restaurants and walls to new subdivisions. But it’s progress. And progress is good, right?

I am not sure. I know I was not happy with what I saw.

Maybe I’m just being nostalgic.