I'm still here!

It just occurred to me that I haven't posted anything here for almost a year! Aw! That really sucks!!!

I have neglected this blog for a long time. So sorry about that! It's just that I found something that has been occupying more of my time. I'm talking about my RedBubble site. Do visit if you are interested.

Anyway, I am just not ready to give up on this blog. Why? Well, I just discovered that there are some who still follow even if I have not been so active here. So I owe it to them to keep on.

It's raining right now and I just thought that I will write something about rain.
What I like about rain is...it makes me dreamy. It makes me want to curl up in bed with a nice book. I will only do that though after I finish posting this.

I also love taking photos of raindrops. So I did just that before I started this post. I wrote a hub about raindrops before. I shared several photos there. If you would like to check it out, the link is here...
RaindropsA-Few-of-my-Favorite-Things

Meanwhile, here is a photo for you. These are raindrops on a rose petal. I hope you like it. I have more raindrops photos in the hub I mentioned above and also in my RedBubble as well as RedGage sites. Enjoy!!!

What I Like About ... Frames

When you exhibit photos or art works what do you usually do? Frame them, right?
Frames always add something to the photo or the painting. Frames can be simple or can be ornate. Either way, they always add context and focus to any picture. However, the frames that I am talking about today are the frames that you create while you are still taking a picture. This is a photo tip that I learned early on when I started my photography adventure.

Adding a frame to a scene or object as you take the photo somehow creates a more focused and interesting picture. The frame can be natural or it can man-made. Do check out my hub on how frames add something to a photo.
http://hubpages.com/hub/How-to-Improve-your-Photography-Frame-It

Frame it!

What I like about...photographing old buildings

Inside an old Spanish building

I love photographing old buildings because of their architectural details. I took this from inside an old Spanish houses found at the Villa Acuzar resort here in the Philippines. Aren't the lines and details cool?

What I Like About ... Architectural details

I love looking at and taking photos of architectural details in buildings. These details always tell some story about the building and its owners.

What I Like About ... Boracay

I love going to Boracay. I have been there countless times but I still keep going back every year. Why?

Well, there are reasons and reasons and I have written about these in hubs before.

A-Paradise-Called-Boracay

Why-People-Love-Boracay

However, aside from all the reasons I have written about before, there is one more reason, and that is – I keep discovering something new every time I visit. There is always a new hotel, or restaurant or activity or product to explore. 

What I discover is not necessarily new in Boracay but just new to me, just like what I am sharing today – the Boracay Beach Club. This is not really a new beach club in Boracay but I only learned about it when I visited last August.  

Frontage of Boracay Beach Club

So how did I discover Boracay Beach Club if it is not that new? Well, Olga, their Director of Sales & Marketing, read one of my hubs about Boracay and sent me a letter when she learned that I was going to Boracay again last August. We then agreed to see each other and so we met.  The rest as they say is history.

So in this blog today, I am sharing some photos about Boracay Beach Club (BBC), my new discovery about Boracay. 

Boracay Beach Club although it is along the main road of Boracay, is not easy to spot because of its unassuming frontage. That’s the reason why I did not notice it during my previous trips to Boracay. However, once you get inside, you will discover a very welcoming and relaxing atmosphere. 

receiving area of BBC

The view from their top floor is that of the famous Boracay beach.  So how would you like to wake up every morning and have a view of the beach while having your coffee and reading the papers? Wonderful, isn’t it?

View of Boracay beach from the top floor of BBC

 

 Even if the Boracay beach is just a few steps away, BBC (just like most of the hotels in Boracay) also has its own swimming pool.

BBC swimming pool

Boracay Beach Club

 

BBCs rooms are comfortable and reasonably priced plus they have promo packages all year round. http://boracaybeachclub.com/index.html

Olga invited us to visit Ariel’s Point, BBC’s eco-adventure get-away. BoracayBeachClub-arielspoint Unfortunately, I got sick the next day and so we did not get a chance to visit this wonderful place. We will probably try it when we visit Boracay again next year. This is something I look forward to.

By the way, I wrote about our (Olga’s and mine) encounter in a previous post. Both of us are RedGagers. Thus our meeting last August was really exciting!

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Additional info:
I have just published one more hub about Boracay. Please check it out.
The-Best-Beach-in-the-Southeast-Asia-Side-of-the-World

What I like About ...Water

I like water. No, I wish to correct that - I love water.

I love water not only because it's the most important and dominant chemical of our body, but because it is refreshing and cleansing. However, what I am going to talk about here is not about the importance of water to our body but about the role of water in photography. 

During my photography adventure, sometimes I run out of ideas on what to shoot. So what can you do if that happens to you? I always remember one advice - "just add water and keep on shooting". So I have followed this advice and have come up with so many "water" shots.

So what I like about water in my photography are:
- water is everywhere - as lakes, oceans, seas, fountains, waterfalls, rivers, raindrops, etc. So I never run out of "water" to photograph                                                                                
- water can awaken emotions - photograph still water and you indicate serenity. Photograph raging water and you indicate danger or rage.

I have so many "water" photos and I therefore gathered them and wrote a hub about my adventures with water. Go check it out at:

http://hubpages.com/hub/Just-Add-Water-A-Photo-Tip-When-You-Cant-Think-of-Anything-to-Shoot

What I Like about ...RedGage

I have only been a month in Redgage and I am already enjoying my stay there.

Just what is Redgage? Well, according to their blurb, "RedGage is a website that pays you for your content and monetizes your social activity. RedGage helps you make money for what you're already doing online and by building traffic to your content on RedGage you can maximize your earnings".

I first discovered RedGage when a friend in Hubpages mentioned it to me. She told me that it is the perfect venue for my photos. You see, I love taking photos and I love sharing them with friends. She told me that I can earn from just uploading my photos. So I got curious and I went over to RedGage and gave it a try.

On my first day at RedGage, I waited with held breath if the photos I uploaded can indeed earn something. I at first saw some views on my page but there was no money yet. I did not know how many views a photo will have before it starts earning anything. After waiting for a few minutes, I decided to sign out and do something else. Later during the day, I signed in again and lo and behold, I saw $0.01 register in my profile! Wow! I excitedly shared with my family, "I now have $0.01" in my RedGage account"! 

Hahaha! "Big deal" you might say. Well, it was big deal to me! It was the first time I earned from just uploading my photos! So I excitedly uploaded more photos each day and watched my earnings grow. I know it's not much yet, but I am getting there. I am still learning all the ropes about using RedGage.

So, what do I like about RedGage? Well, I like the way it has delivered on its promise of "paying for your content". I still haven't earned enough to receive my first payout yet. RedGage only pays once you reach $25 earnings. However, I can see my earnings growing everyday as I upload more photos, links and blogs. 

I also like RedGage because of the way I discovered friends using both RedGage http://www.redgage.com and Hubpages, http://hubpages.com, two of my favorite sites. My other favorite is of course Blogger. Now, my network has expanded because of these sites.

Because of RedGage, I have also learned more about socializing and using my Twitter http://twitter.com/account. Before RedGage, I only tweet occasionally. Now I have learned to tweet more regularly.

So after a month at RedGage, did my curiousity help me? Well, I can happily say that this time, curiosity  did not kill the cat! In fact, I discovered that what they say about RedGage is true! I really can earn from my photos and other content! And I am having fun too! Isn't that great?

So if you are interested in monetizing your blogs, photos and other content, come and join me at RedGage.

http://www.redgage.com/profile.

By the way, I am known as "lensbaby" over at RedGage. Below is my photo over there. You can cite my name as as reference in case you decide to join me there. See you!

What I like about Youtube

I love youtube! I can get videos of almost anything there - lessons, songs, inspiration, motivation, laughs, anything.

I even use youtube to study photography techniques. It's always so much easier to learn something if they are accompanied by visuals. I am a very visual person, so I learn faster if I see something.

Anyway, I stumbled upon an inspirational website yesterday,  - http://www.arinanikitina.com/. It has this incredible video about "Validation". I liked the video so much, so I followed it over at youtube and now I'm posting the link here. Sorry, I still don't know how to embed a video here so you just have to click on the link below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cbk980jV7Ao

I assure you, you will love this video. You will feel good after viewing it - guaranteed!

What I like about...Hubpages

 I have been writing articles for hubpages since May of last year. I find it very satisfying to write there because I almost always get some comments about my articles. It's good to know that somebody is reading what you published.
I now have developed a circle of friends there and we usually visit each other's hubs or articles. It's really very heartwarming to know that someone else appreciates what you write.
If you have time, do make a visit there. There are so many good writers there who write on various topics. Who knows, you might want to join us there too.
Anyway, here is a link to my latest hub. It's all about roses. You might want to check it out. Thank you.
          http://hubpages.com/hub/Roses-are-Red-and-Pink-and

What I like about ... Photos and quotes

I love collecting motivational/inspirational quotes. When I started my photography adventure, I coupled these quotes with some of my photos and printed these as postcards to give away to friends. Lately I put together some of these cards into a hub and published this in my hubpages website.
The photo below is one example of this. For the rest of the other photos and quotes, please check out the link below. This is the second time I actually did this. You will also find my first hub about quotes there in hubpages. Just navigate around my pages there.
http://hubpages.com/hub/Motivational-Quotes-and-Photographs

What I like about ... playing with my camera

I'm very sorry I have not posted here for a while. Somehow, being affected by typhoon Ondoy has thrown off my natural rhythm and I am just beginning to get back in the groove. I'm really sorry about that.

To get back in rhythm, I have been playing with my camera, which by the way is one of the first things I immediately tried to save when flood waters started to enter our house!

Playing with my camera focuses my mind on beautiful and creative things and makes me forget about all the things I still have to clean and put in order. It's so much fun to discover the camera's new features and find new ways of using them. There is still so much to learn and I am just beginning to discover them. I really feel like a child with a new toy even if I already had this camera since May of this year.

Anyway, I'm sharing today a photo I created by zooming in on some plants in my garden. I did this to create a swirling effect. Isn't it amazing?

what I like about ... tableaux

Today is "T" day and right away I thought of "tableaux." I love looking at tableaux. They present scenes or groups of people or even photos in such a creative way that make an immediate impact on the viewer.

Tableau is the reason why I joined HP's tabblo.com. The website has presented a way that awakens the artist in us. It allows one to put together photos and text in a creative way. This is not a paid promotion of their website at all. I just want to let you know that I love using the website.

You can check out one of my tableaux by clicking on the link below. You may also want to look at my other tableaux by clicking on the "next tabblo by saanva". Saanva is the name I am using in this website. Saanva was coined by my son, Milo, when he helped me with my first ever website. It simply comes from the first few letters of my name and designation, "Salvacion Angtuaco Visual Artist".

This is the link.
http://www.tabblo.com/studio/stories/view/1719080/

What do you think?

What I like about ... raindrops

Every time I see raindrops, I always stop and say a prayer of thanks. If I have a camera with me then I take pictures. You don’t know how many raindrops pictures I have collected. I think that one of these days, I will set up an exhibit just showing my raindrops pictures. Hmmm, come to think of it, I think that is a good idea. What do you think?

Raindrops, raindrops...
... are always refreshing
... are beautiful
... remind me of the wonders of God’s creations
... sometimes reflect our world upside down, so we get a fresh view
... can create works of art
... I love them on my face
... I love them on flowers
... are really angel tears according to a song
... are priceless jewels

Oh..., I simply love raindrops!

What I like about...photography

Ah, this one I really like. In fact I already have thousands of photos in the hard drive of my computer because I just love taking pictures. I also have created a blog just to share my photos and photographic adventures.
http://aphotoaday-saanva.blogspot.com

Plus, I also have a website for my photos: http://saanva.multiply.com/

Anyway, just to go back to the topic. What I like about... photography...
... it has improved my focus (pun intentional). Now, I not only learned to focus well in photography but my focus in other aspects of my life has improved as well. For example, lack of focus has been my greatest weakness in bowling. Now, my focus has improved as well my scores.

...I have learned so much about: composition, color, design, light, leading lines, etc.

... it has taught me to be even more observant, to pay attention to light, pattern, lines, shapes, shadows, color, temperature...etc.

... it has opened a new world for me. Now I have included in my vocabulary words like: aperture, shutter speed, ISO, depth of field, lenses, tripod, bokeh, filters, macro lens, zoom lens, strobes, photoshop, lightroom, ...etc.

...it has heightened my creativity
...it has increased my curiosity
...it has gained for me new friends
...it has made me realize that I can do things that I have never done before. I learned that I can also win in photo contests and even have some photos published

...it has increased the depth and span of my interest in people, things, places, and my surroundings

As in my previous posts, I can go on and on about “what I like about... photography but I have to stop somewhere. And this is where I stop for now.