The Green Dancing Machine of Pahiyas

tgssh tgssh tgssh tgssh :D

Instead of a riot of colorful leaf-shaped rice wafer, fresh produce and other indigenous materials embellishing this house in Lucban, Quezon, an old man does the job and entertains tourists with a jab of lambanog-powered tgssh tgssh tgssh and with advocacy for sustainable development to boot during the San Isidro Lucban Pahiyas Festival recently.

- a redmark video, Lucban, Quezon Province, Philippines. May 15, 2010

Camera phone hike

With my main DSLR camera under repair, I maximized my 1 megapixel W660i Sony Ericsson camera phone in scaling Mt. Tagapo, all of 438 meters above sea level of it, in a dagger-shape island called Talim in Laguna de Bai.

Climbing the island mountain entailed just the basics in order to survive my third summit: enough water, food and determination to see the night, so that I would still be around for the next climb with Julz and Rod.

Producing this set, on the other hand, brought me back to the basics of photography. Timing and composition. And it's almost two years na pala this bunch of photos have been lying idle in my dearly missed Multiply page.

April 25, 2010

Philippine Kayaking Series 2009: 2nd Leg Kayak Explore Cavite-Corregidor-Cavite

Start:	Sep 19, '09
End:	Sep 20, '09
Location:	Manila Bay off Cavite and Corregidor

Click http://www.kayakphilippines.com for further info and to download your form.

ASEAN photo contest zooms in on biodiversity

The ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity (ACB) is now accepting entries to the First ASEAN-wide photo contest “Zooming in on Biodiversity”.

In partnership with the European Commission, ASEAN Member States, and the Asian Institute of Journalism and Communication, the photo contest seeks to popularize the values of biodiversity through the medium of photography.

ACB Executive Director Rodrigo U. Fuentes said only a small fraction of the global population, mostly scientists and environmentalists, understands the role that biodiversity plays in humankind’s survival.

“This lack of knowledge often translates to the lack of care for the very environment. There is an urgent need to popularize biodiversity and one effective way is to use the power of photos. By translating biodiversity and its relationship with health, food security, climate change and other everyday human issues into powerful images, we can generate a greater awareness for this often-difficult-to-grasp concept,” Fuentes said.

The contest will run until 30 August 2009 with a total of US$7,700 total prize at stake. First placers in the three categories will have an opportunity to exhibit their winning photos and attend the ASEAN Conference on Biodiversity in Singapore on 21 – 23 October 2009 for free. Open to all residents of ASEAN Member States Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Viet Nam, the contest welcomes entries which are exclusive to the contest, unpublished, and not submitted to previous contests. Entries should capture various images related to biodiversity (plants, animals, marine life, ASEAN Heritage Parks) or the many benefits that biodiversity brings to human beings, its importance, the threats biodiversity face (deforestation, climate change), or how biodiversity affects lives. Photos showing initiatives to protect biodiversity resources such as plants, animals, and marine species are also welcome. Entries can also depict biodiversity as source of food (food and agriculture); biodiversity as source of medicine (health and medicine); biodiversity as source of shelter; biodiversity and climate change; the aesthetic value of biodiversity; biodiversity as source of livelihood; and biodiversity and ecotourism.

For more info, http://www.aseanbiodiversity.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=375:zooming-in-on-biodiversity-the-first-asean-wide-photo-contest-on-biodiversity&catid=135:contests&Itemid=178

Dark skies, dark waters

Dark overcast January skies reflects on the waters of Manila Bay. The cold air wafted with a marriage of rain, salt and sewerage. But fishes remain stubborn though they are significantly less in number for a fisherman's catch.


January 8, 2008
Baywalk, Roxas Boulevard, Manila

Bonifacio and Gisele cry eco-chic and more trees

When Daniel Burnham penned the blueprint for Manila in 1900s, his vision would be like Fort Bonifacio: tree-lined streets and parks all over the city.

One hot weekend afternoon in sprawling Fort Bonifacio in Manila, Brazilian sandals brand Ipanema and the Haribon Foundation gathered a throng of environment and fashion advocates for a mile-long walk for a cause.

Garbed in their comfy tops and footwear, participants to the March 21 walkathon called "Walk the Green Mile" trooped around the former military camp in an effort to boost awareness of ROAD to 2020 (Rainforestation Organizations and Advocates) for the preservation of Philippine rainforests.

Haribon Foundation Vice-Chairman Philip Camara thru the NGO's website explained, “ROAD to 2020 movement is an environmental conservation effort to restore one million hectares of our rainforests by the year 2020.”

Further, Patxi Elizalde, head of Ipanema's local distributor said proceeds from the Gisele Bundchen Seeds Collection will be used in sustaining forest preservation initiatives.

Elizalde gave away a pair of Ipanema sandals signed by its designer herself, supermodel Gisele Bundchen to a lucky participant.

redmark SPEAKS: The organizers should consider another round of walkathon in a place where the general tao could absorb their cause. Bonifacio would surely love to see that.

Perpetual Dancers

10:24 PM

Dancers of the wind at 640 meters above sea level, these wild grasses play against a backdrop of rustic Taal living as seen from Tagaytay Vista Lodge day in, day out.

DEADLINE: Greenpeace "Celebrating Philippine Freshwaters and Looking at the Threats" photo contest

Start:

Sep 28, '07

Photos must depict freshwater or freshwater sources in the Philippines and have been taken by a Philippine resident between January 1 to september 28, 2007.

For more info: www.greenpeace.org.ph/photocontest

Bye, tree

Because the road is getting too narrow for the volume of traffic along the winding Ortigas extention between the Ynares Center and Tikling in Antipolo, this beautiful tree has to give way.

Workers had just cut her down to accomodate the road widening project as well as the pipe laying by the Manila Watef Company.

This strip every summer would come to a lovely display of red blooms because of the abundance of fire trees. As the rainy days come, the flowers had started to fall. And so is this one beautful fiore tree because she's on a wrong spot.