Magnum's VIP Red Carpet Premiere

Honestly, I don't have any idea how to shoot on a red carpet full of celebrities. I've attended so many events for the past years but never I have attended on a red carpet premiere until last Tuesday. Canon Philippines together with Selecta-RFM invited around 100 photographers to take the opportunity to witness the VIP Red Carpet Premiere of Magnum (I'll be writing a separate post about the product as this post would be about the experience of shooting at the red carpet).

By 5:30pm (our call-time), I saw some familiar faces as we waited for the event to start at between 8:00-9:00pm. While killing time, I took some snapshots of the red carpet and some behind the scenes (which includes ABS-CBN Entertainment Reporter Gretchen Fullido) before our contact from Canon Ms. Kathleen Buendia arrived to give us a briefing of the photocontest that we'll be joining. She handed us a the details for the contest as well as the waiver that we should sign.

The theme of our shoot would be "Royal Treatment". It looks easy as I am anticipating a flock of celebrities but the challenge there was how to take pictures of them from a different perspective. I am thinking of taking decent portraits of them but that would be too common as most of my fellow photographers will do the same. Well I have to take pictures that without them noticing me (but how?). 

Of 100 photographers invited, I think more than 40 (I think) have attended. My friend backed-out for some reason (he missed a part of his life for it XD). Only a few media were there as most came late as the event progresses. Anyway, as the sun goes down, its time to get my Canon 7D's baptism of events shooting XD.  I didn't took my external flash out as the lights from the event were good enough plus I have to test my camera's external flash.

Since we were limited to taking pictures from the outside (within the red carpet as we're not allowed to take pictures inside; BOOO), I got myself a good spot in taking pictures of celebrities. From well known stars from three big networks (Kapuso, Kapamilya, Kapatid), to Magnum's brand ambassadors (Liz Uy, Erwan Heussaff, Rajo Laurel, Tessa Prieto-Valdez, Raymond Gutierrez) to Magnum's Princess Solenn Heusaff. Even the big bosses from RFM (headed by the Concepcion Family) were also present to grace the event.

Well with so many celebrities that I spotted during the event, I couldn't remember all of them XD.

As the night progresses, I got curious with my camera's battery meter as I also went to another event to shoot. Probably I need to get another battery and a battery grip so I could shoot longer without worrying if my battery goes dead on me. Also, we were given samples of Selecta's latest brand and I got the one with Almonds (my favorite). I my bag wasn't so heavy, with stuff, I could have grabbed a few bars for my wife and my in-laws to enjoy back home.

Then, when I was about to submit my entry to the contest, the organizers told us that they don't have any card readers for camera's using CF cards (BOOOO) but they extended our deadline until the noon of the next day. Since we got quite tired, we had our late dinner at the tent that Ms Kathleen told us to go to. To my surprise, dinner is c/o Bizu which I wasn't got disappointed as food was abundant as well as the drinks (I got 10-15 glasses of iced tea I think XD).

At the end of the event, it felt good for someone like me who wasn't able to take pictures of events for the past 3-4 months. I could have took more good shots if we were allowed to go inside the VIP area but I guess I had to be contended with its limitations.

Unfortunately, when I was about to resize my pictures to make it smaller, my photoshop went nuts on me and from there, its sad to say I wasn't able to send my entries. Oh well, there is always a next time for an event like this sometime soon and by then, I'd be ready. ^_^

Here are the rest of the pictures. Enjoy! XD

For more pictures, you could visit my Flickr here. Let me know if you could see the other photos.

Trust No One

After watching Survivor for the past few days with Marlon's (former Season 1 Castaway) entry to demonize the remaining castoffs, I realized that its only a game but they should trust no one.
 

Marlon tried to talk to each castoff to know their insights and at the same time, try to advise them that even though its only a game, they should trust no one. After Amanda won the last immunity challenge, Shaun tried to solidify his alliance with Justine to vote Mika out of the game. Actually, He tried to form an alliance with Justine after he won the reward challenge and assured her of a possible top 2 spot in the end game even if he knew he had a little chance of winning in the end.
 

By tribal council, all of them knew to trust no one. It even took a while before the voting commence since Paolo asked several questions to the remaining castoffs as the Jury remain observant. Since Mika was given a red pearl last tribal council, she already had 2 votes. But that wasn't enough as Shaun was voted out with 5 votes to 3 making him the 5th member of the jury. With only 5 castoffs and 2 weeks before the finale, who would emerge as the sole survivor for Season 2?

Strongest Out

Though I wasn't able to blog the first few tribal counsel (since I am more interested with the merge), I'll make sure to write down (whenever time and funds permits) how I interpret the game. I have been a fan of survivor since its first US episode and I make sure to watch whenver time permits.
 

   Since I began watching its Philippine Version last August, I stayed home and as much as possible and avoided staying out late so I could complete its second season I was a little bit intrigued back then on how the Filipino version would fare against its international counterpart.
 

   As I browsed through websites, Marvin was one of the early favorites because of his strong character. It was evident during the third tribal immunity challenge, Marvin showed a strong will power not giving up for the sake of his team (koror). And during the next few tribal immunity challenges, he made sure his team would win to avoid tribal council.
 

   It was during the merge of two tribes that Marvin was transformed to an easy target. After Shawn won the first individual immunity challenge, it was time for them to form alliances with other tribe mates to plan a strategy on how to eliminate Marvin. He knew he was very vulnerable since most of his tribe mates assume that he was the strongest among them. And during last nights tribal council he was the first one to be eliminated and became first member of the Jury. I would expect that Tara will be voted off first since most of her former tribemates doesn't like her for her tactless attitude.
 

   And since they were able to eliminate a possible Pinoy Sole Survivor out of strategy, I wonder who they will eliminate next. Would it be the 2nd strongest? The most annoying? Who knows...

Watching late night documentaries

Since I started my so-called vacation, I had this habit of watching late-night documentaries. Usually, these start after the late night news which is airs at almost midnight.And because of that, it keeps me awake until late in the morning (which talks about my plans of sleeping early at 11pm which it extends up to 2am =\ ).

These documentaries are informative in a way that it opens our eyes to the reality that most people are not aware of. Personally, I've learned a lot from watching these late night documentaries and I could advise today's youth to watch and learn from others experience and insight. 

If these documentaries could be moved to mid morning (between 9am-11am) or early evening (7pm-9pm), more people could watch instead of watching these so-called novela re-runs. Honestly, I'm learning a lot from watching these.