The Show of Beauties: PARIKITAN

This was the only foreign entry. This was a show of beauty and indeed she lived up to the expectations of the public. She wore a very colorful gown as the rest of the contestants did. I was having a hard time doing shots in the mid afternoon since it was very hot and they did have some parts overexposed. I worked with what I had. I think this was the only descent couple I saw there. The others had weird partners that had too small guys and gay ones at that matter. They could have done a better job but hey its just a local fiesta so no need to be serious right? Then again that was actually a 50,0000 peso pot. The theme of each design had natural vegetables on it. It was nice to see it for the first time and no one expected a foreigner wore it! ^_^

This lady was difficult to shoot since she had an umbrella that constantly covers and uncovers her face. The exposure in this shot was varied but I think I did a pretty good job capturing this. She is not that pretty in person but as you can see she looks a million in this moment.

Now this lady wore something with suman and a mask. She had the right design and smile but I think it was really overshadowed by the fact that the other lady was a foreigner. I really like what she wore that afternoon though.

I think this one was the runner up. The intricate design on the dress probably made it what it is in the rankings and she was a sight to behold because of her smile. She wasn't that pretty but she was really appealing to look at. And she never did excuse herself posing for me even if there were lots of photographers at that time.

This was most colorful one. I used a flash so I could have the face only get one exposure. I just learned that trick there hehe. I like her smile. I mean who wouldn't right?! She is pretty and colorful at the same time and I guess she got one of the top prizes.

I think this gal won over all. The PARIKITAN lived up to its name and showed the most beautiful ladies in town I love it! I'll go back next year and see this again soon!

SSDD

The Pahiyas Festival had lots of homes decorated with vegetables and food in their walls and leafs made of grounded rice colored in pastel. This one was a close up shot in one of the flowers which at first I thought was just painted and adorned with beads but looking at it this close only shows it was all arranged beans. Imagine how hard it was for them to do this one by one. I like it a lot.

This was the first building we got our eyes into. See how huge this is?! I think this is the winner since they went all out on this one. The strips on the edges are all made of rice and rice stalks. Some of the round objects are all dried flowers and ground rice powder. The colored walls are made of vegetables. The flower petals are all made of anahaw, a plant normally used to make hand fans.

The petals of this flower is made of KIPING which is grounded rice added with water and coloring then put into real leaves and let to set out in the sun. After it dries they either hook them up with sticks like this or arrange them with threads and put them up as lanterns. The middle part of this flower is made of beans obviously.

These are paper mache giants. Made of old clothes and paper. These are worn by strong men on sundays and meant to scare kids. Oh no this is not halloween. LOL

This was the first pair of giants that greeted us when we arrived in Lucban, Quezon the main town where the festivities were held.

This was actually a great day for working out but I did not get to the gym. Apparently it was better for me to get into my house first so I went ahead and did my best to finish post processing my photos. I didn't really finish it but I got to do only several of them. I'm gonna finish the others soon. ^_^

I Enjoyed the Ride!

I haven't thought of anything to do today other than take a good rest. I lack sleep obviously because I went to the Pahiyas Festival last Saturday. Friday night was busy too because I had to go out with friends in Manila to get a bit of nightlife in between but I didn't really get enough sleep because of that. Sunday was not much of a rest because I had to run errands for my folks. I got the notion we needed groceries so I went and swiped the hell out of my credit card. Yes I have something big to pay for this weekend but I'm optimistic I can do this.

As for relationships I think I have one coming up. I don't know if I'm sure about it but hey as any of my past ones said, ENJOY THE RIDE!

This week I will be concentrating on editing my photos from the Pahiyas Festival. I kinda liked what we went through. With some minor problems here and there it was all ok. At least I got to spend some time with my friends over at the D60KREW. I think I kinda miss them a lot. Well I think they did miss everyone too. Saw their shots on the thread recently and its looking great. We had some great shots over at Lucban. It was a punishment but we survived!