Its the first day of 2011, a new year and a fresh start. 2010 had been a great year, full of exciting travels and new friends. Join me in looking back at the previous year's favorite photos and adventures.
January
Started 2010 with a trip to the coastal town of Alabel in Sarangani province to photograph its mangroves. Mangroves play an important part in the coastal ecosystem, and it was great to see a reforestation area in Kawas with full grown mangroves.
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| strong and sturdy |
February
Found myself revisiting a favorite cove in Zambales, and setting foot on another one for the first time.
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| Nagsasa evening colors |
While Nagsasa is the most picturesque of the Zambales coves, Silanguin is the grandest, with a shoreline more than 3 times longer than Nagsasa.
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| Silanguin dusk |
March
Its summer time and what best way to spend it than hitting the beach. Together with a group of photo enthusiasts, I visited my favorite nook in Pangasinan: the quaint fishing village of Tambobong.
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| sunset at Nalasin point |
From the beach, I soon found myself trekking to Laguna's Hidden Falls (aka Buntot Palos) in the lakeside town of Pangil. The trek was easy, but the climb down to the falls was a challenge. On the first day there I accidentally smashed by circular polarizer on a rock when I slipped on a moss covered boulder - one of the hazards of outdoor photography
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| Buntot Palos |
April
Summer was in full swing. I journeyed to the northern-most province in Luzon and to the southern-most province of mainland Mindanao.
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| sunrise in Maasim, Sarangani |
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| rosy morning in Bangui windmills |
May
High above the tree tops, I rode the most scenic zip line in the Philippines: the two segment Lake Sebu zip line.
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| soaring |
Famous for its three lakes, the ancestral home of the T'bolis now draws adrenaline junkies.
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| Hikong Bente falls |
From the cool mountain air of Lake Sebu, it was beach time the next few days as I went around Samal island with the family in tow.
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| Babak sunset |
June
Its difficult to find one word to describe Coron - "magical" seems understated. Its natural wonders, both below and above the sea captured the imagination of many.
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| sunset in Coron |
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| Kayangan Lake |
July
July was a busy month, with the demands of a new job piling up. But I was able to squeeze in a weekend on a beautiful rock off the coast of Zambales: Capones island.
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| sunset on the edge |
August
Its the middle of the rainy season and its best spent photographing waterfalls. The multi-layer Balagbag falls in Real Quezon was a perfect daytrip destination.
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| silky Balagbag |
While its rainy in Luzon, its still perfect beach weather down south in Gumasa in Glan (Sarangani province).
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| Gumasa sailboat |
September
We were drawn back to the magnetic north: the province of Ilocos Norte. It was a weekend of rugged coastal seascape, waterfalls, and iconic churches.
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| Kapurpurawan rock formation |
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| Kaangrian waterfalls |
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| Paoay Church |
October
Its a solo trip this time to Concepcion in northern Panay. I spent a quiet weekend in Bolobadiangan Island, famous for its long sandbar.
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| muted sunset |
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| Bolobadiangan shore |
Of course a trip to Iloilo is not complete without dropping by some of its heritage churches.
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| Miagao church |
November
Time for my yearly pilgrimage to Candaba wetlands, a bird sanctuary in Pampanga. Was not able to get good photos of the birds but was gifted with a beautiful sunset.
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| Candaba sunset |
Together with several kindred spirits, I was able to visit Aurora province (long overdue) on Luzon's east coast, facing the temperamental Pacific Ocean.
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| moody morning in Ampere beach |
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| clash of the Pacific waves in Diguisit Bay |
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| Ditumabo: the Mother Falls |
December
The season of giving. My family and I, together with a few close friends, spent a day in a B'laan community in Bagong Silang in Linan, a small barangay at the foot of Mt. Matutum in Tupi, South Cotabato.
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| hike to Bagong Silang |
We distributed school supplies (courtesy of Black Pencil Project) to about 50 B'laan kids.
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| school supplies from Black Pencil Project |
This community is the designated protector of the tarsier sanctuary near the village (yes, tarsiers are not exclusive to Bohol). They have stopped with their slash and burn practices to protect the thriving population of tarsiers in the nearby hills.
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| a tarsier in Linan |
2010 had been a good year. It has a few downs, but in the end, all's well that ends well. May 2011 be even better.
This post won the Top Photo Post in the
Philippine Blog Awards 2011.
21 comments:
National Geographic quality ang mga photos mo! More power to you for the New Year! Keep on shooting.
Wow! Monthly ang travel! Pangarap ko yan. Ikaw na ang madatung hihihi! I love your year-ender special (naks!) I hope magawa ko din ang mga nagawa mo sa 2011. Fan mo na ko agad. Happy New Year!
@bertN, Salamat :)
@Kura, kuripot ako sa byahe :D
Happy New Year to both of you!
nice photo..are you an ILonggo?..Lantaw in our term means "Watch"..
Happy new year..
your photos leave me breathless! hay, ang gaganda!
Happy New Year!
@miss single mommy, yup Ilonggo ako :)
@luna, thanks! Happy New Year too!
Lots of breathtaking landscapes captured this year Allan! May you have more travels and keepers in 2011 :D
Awesome!!!
I love the shots!
amazing! thank you for transporting me with you with your narratives and photos. you are holding my dream to visit those places and capture the beauty of our beloved country through your lenses. please keep them coming.
oh, btw, what kind of camera did you use? and mind if you share your exif in those photos? thanks! :)
@pinaytunay, thank you. I'm glad you enjoyed the photos. As for the EXIF, I think you'd be able to get that in flickr (simply click the photo). I'm using a nikon D80
i really love this site.. keep posting..
a friend at fb shared this page to me with a note wondering what camera did you use...i wanted to tell him the camera is just a factor...the real deal is the eye and skill of the photographer in using that camera. thanks for the reply, allan. i am looking forward to see more of your photos and perhaps shoot beautiful objects like you do. God bless!
Thanks Mikexplorer!
@pinaytunay, I have been asked that several times, and i would of course politely reply :D. i think the correct questions would be what technique was used, what was the conditions at that time, etc, rather than what camera was used. for the record, my shots were taken with D50 (older shots) and for the recent ones i used an old hand-me-down D80 :D
what is then your latest gear?
if you happen to travel again here around zambales, give me a heads up-perhaps you can tag me along :)
@pinaytunay, I'm still using that old D80, no new lenses. I shoot mosly with a sigma 10-20mm that was given to me as a gift about 3 years ago. My D50 did not agree well with seawater so it died :D
Unang bisita ko dito.Ang ganda ng mga photos nyo po. :)
I salute you po. :)
Keep it up. Your an inspiration to others.. :)
Thanks Angie!
Hello. I hope you don't mind, I took the liberty of getting a screen shot of one of your photos (the first one) and posted it on my hub / article. I have provided a link to your blog and my URL link is on my name. Thank you for your approval.
That's a surprising number of things to do in Sarangani. Combined with the fact that I heard Manny Pacquiao runs the place, this is definitely a place I'd like to go and visit sooner rather than later.
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