Sparkling P A L A W A N : Chasing the Magic in CORON/BUSUANGA

[jay jallorina]

the Sparkling Light : Chasing the Magic in CORON / BUSUANGA, PALAWAN

A Stun of Islands



Coron...Calauit...Busuanga. Palawan. The very names are like spells that enchant any would be traveller, a siren call for those who have been locked-up in office cubicles for far too long. For many, these destinations are but a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. For the Chizmax Academy (Team Coron) and three friends, Northern Palawan would be a landscaping wonderland for a week.

And so for seven days seven friends would hop islands around the Calamianes, eat the freshest of seafoods, chomp on seaweeds and wood worms, scale thousand-year old limestone cliffs, brokeback swim in crystalline lakes, snorkel in verdant underwater coral gardens, scare off a herd of zebras with a fart, entertain giraffes, await the tiktik and imagine large bats as aswangs, do a photoshoot with a 1.5 kilo lobster, leave streaks of sunscreen on our faces, imagine gecko "tuko" calls as if they instead calling "tuk paler," sleep through rough swells on hour long banca trips, wake up inside a kulambo, and so on and so forth. The collective experiences are enough to "out-journalize" anyone.



Seven sunsets and one sunrise. For one week we chased the magic light around Busuanga's fringes. The fieriest sunsets and the most sparkling turquoise waters we have seen. Unnamed beaches and thick mangrove groves. Undulating hills and seas that seem to go on forever. Nights as still as a whisper and summers that blaze the days. Enough space to escape and to thank God for the treasures He bequeathed on us all. Enough time to give thanks for the gift of travel.


jay, darryl ong, randall cipriano, john melvin chua, paolo melendres, joy perez-melendres and tok paler @ pinnacle beach, coron island. (group hug by randall)

Our hearts and gratitude go out to Granny Babe Abrera-Canseco for the all-out support and for tirelessly hosting and cooking for us throughout our stay in Busuanga.

Palawan, I love.

[jay jallorina]

the shallows


30 seconds @ f/8

[christopher cortez]

anak ng tokwa! (child of a beancurd/tofu - i know it doesnt make sense in english)

that last boat shot is great.

[jay jallorina]

Final Light


82 seconds @ f/11 iso 160

[jay jallorina]

trailing the stars


25 minutes @ f/5.6 iso 200

[Alexis L. Lagura]

here comes my idol jay again....cant wait for more

[jay jallorina]

Equinity


composite of 2 exposures blended manually

[joelhgarcia]

@ Jay the PRO -

The composition is Great and post processing skill is at par as usual. although notice some vignettes especially on the upper/lower right facing the photo. Glad the boat doesnt blurred that much...guess the wind/tide is not that strong. A pleasant image. = )

[jose_deluna]

Uuuuyyyy... another set of "cheque"-mate shots!

Jay... any chance of visiting Iloilo soon? There are lots of beautiful and mystifying landscape scenes in Iloilo that would merit your extra-ordinary gift in capturing such legendary landscape scenes. I'll be in town (Iloilo) from 27th March 'til April 12, pasabi ka lang kon gusto mo bumisita at mag-photo-trek. I am planning to explore the Igbaras mountain ranges and photograph that elusive 100-ft waterfalls (http://www.flickr.com/photos/alexees/327173479/). Care to join me?

[jay jallorina]

@joel....hmmm...thanks...not vignette per se but light fall off. natural effect when you capture fading, omni directional light with an ultra wide lens stacked with filters. i think kung walang vignette, it will looked artificial. i actually wanted the boat to blur more. more mysterious then.


shot with a 3 stop soft-edged grad.

if i could help it, i would not use grads again. the disadvantage of using it the field in fading light came to fore during this trip. for me, blending exposures results in sharper, more contrasty images. grads get scratched, get dirty, etc....and when you use small apertures f11-f22, their every defect degrades the picture. and its hard to keep them clean shot after shot!