What I Like About...Watching Ants

 I love watching ants. I always learn something from them as I watch them go about their "business" of making a living.

This morning, I was out with my camera in our small garden. I was looking for something to photograph and I found some ants scurrying about along a metal wire that stretched from our fence to a tree. I have taken so many ant pictures before so I just watched them for a while without taking photos. Then I noticed that several of them were carrying some injured/dead fellow ants while others were carrying eggs. I suddenly thought of an idea - - - what if I placed some food across their path, what will they do?  

So I went inside the house to get some food and put a few pieces along the pathway of the ants. Then I got my camera ready and started shooting away. What I observed made me respect ants even more!

I noticed that those carrying their injured/dead fellow ants or their eggs, just went on with their work and did not even bother to stop where the food was. Only those who were not carrying anything stopped and tried to take bites of the food or went around the food looking for ways to maybe carry it. Nobody succeeded in dislodging the food, but several of them managed to bite off little bits and carried these off too.

       At the upper left-hand corner, the ant carrying an egg, ignored the food in the middle of their pathway.

So I learned that not even food can stop ants (this particular species anyway) from doing and completing what they are supposed to do. Transporting their injured/dead comrades or their eggs are more important than food to these ants!

I have seen movies where people sometimes drop what they are carrying (even if it's another person) if they find food/money on their path. Not these ants! They do what they are supposed to do! Isn't that amazing? That's why I wrote a hub about these amazing creatures! 
       http://hubpages.com/hub/Amazing-Ants

What I Like About...Being in Hubpages and in RedGage

I like being in Hubpages and in RedGage.

I never imagined that I will find true, new, friends in the internet. However, I am happy to be proven wrong in this regard.

I have developed a circle of true, new, and very supportive friends in both sites. And very recently during my trip to my favorite island, Boracay, Philippines, I met a fellow RedGager. Isn't that great?

My fellow RedGager is "OlgaBBC" who works at the Boracay Beach Club. She first read my hub (in Hubpages) about Boracay and commented on it. When she learned that I was going to visit my favorite island, she sent me an email  and we exchanged cellphone numbers. When I got to Boracay last August 23, I contacted her and the next day we dropped by at her place. It was great to met face to face.

Boracay Beach Club is a nice place. Olga gave us a tour of the place. They have some fantastic vacation package offers. I will write about the place in another blog.

For the moment, I just wish to reiterate that I love being in Hubpages and RedGage because I meet some really nice people and develop good friends in both sites.

That's Olga and me from the top floor of Boracay Beach Club. That's the famous Boracay beach behind us. In case you are wondering why the picture is grainy, I used a Photoshop filter here.

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 Celebrating

I love celebrating milestones in my life. What about you? Do you like celebrating too?

I just reached my 1st anniversary in Hubpages  and wrote a hub to celebrate it.
For a while now, I have been sharing my photos there using different colors as theme. Some hubbers have started calling me as the 'countess of color' and some as 'queen of color'. I thought it fitting therefore to celebrate my 1st anniversary in full color. So please check out what I wrote there. Here's the link below. Thank you!

http://hubpages.com/hub/First-Anniversary-in-Hubpages-Celebrating-with-Rainbow-Colors