An Experiment

Of course I'm only going to post the okay ones and keep the bad ones un-uploaded. Too bad I'm not yet even an amateur. With my camera, I'm still la ignorante.

I wanted to practice but no one at home permitted me to photograph them, so I went to our garage to shoot my pets instead. After all, they're better subjects because I don't need their consent. And they're more colorful too. Literally.

My birds, Tippin and Pita, were not the easiest to photograph. They moved and flew all the time that I usually focused their cage while they're blurred. I had to practice my timing and quick manipulation. I realized it's like journalism, y know - accuracy, accuracy, accuracy. But then I wasn't that accurate. They look like as big as parrots here, while they're really only about four inches tall.






Then I shot my dog Tukmol. I wanted to shoot Charlie since he's my favorite and I named him after Ms. Portman's dog. But Charlie has ADHD, while Tukmol loves to be photographed and he's more guwapo. I want someone to discover him. He could easily work in a commercial, y know, then I could earn some serious bucks.




I also spotted a very interesting subject on the coffee table. Chips Ahoy. I tried a several options for this. I don't like how it looks in the end though. Maybe I should've used the flash or less shutter speed? I have no idea. I did my best.



Finally, the most fascinating subject of all - der Sonne, the sun.



And some of the most passive - plants.



And because I wanted to take a revenge, a candid shot of a shy subject. Medyo madilim nga lang. I still have to practice when and how to use certain options. Widescreen frame for you, human being!

Young Boys' Films

Maybe it's my wanting to have a younger brother that makes me love to watch young boys in movies. Girls' stories are moving but I guess little boys films do that in a different way. We never look at them as macho or masculine, because We always feel that they can use our help. They're so vulnerable but they carry themselves in a such a way that Princess Sarah, Heidi, or Judie Abbott do not. Harry Potter is, for me, too powerful and unconquerable. Willy Wonka's Charlie works but this one's too good and too lucky.

The films that I like show young boys' weaknesses but at the same time, their daring, their implied desire to be bigger and stronger like a man, and circumstances they encounter somehow permit them to be. The Little Prince only partly achieves this as a character, much less so as a story. Peter Pan is too childish for me, and also too old.

I have three films here that I strongly recommend. And after you've seen them, you'd know what I'm talking about. These films succeed in creating my kind of a young boy genre, but at the same time they don't excessively conventionalize.



1) Empire of the Sun (1987) - Steven Spielberg
Based on J. G. Ballard's autobiographical novel about a young boy's struggle to survive in Japanese-occupied Shanghai at the beginning of World War II. Worth seeing especially if you want to try watching Christian Bale without being infatuated. Unless of course you're 10 years old or there's something wrong with you.



2) Le Chiavi di Casa (2004) - Gianni Amelio
An Italian film with English subtitles (hehe). Gianni (played by Kim Rossi Stuart) meets his 16-year-old son, Paolo, a developmentally disabled boy. He takes Paolo to Berlin for a series of medical tests. They go around the city spending time and getting to know each other. When it's time to return Paolo to his mother, Gianni thinks twice. And so the story goes.



3) I Am David (2005), Paul Feig
Starring newcomer Ben Tibber as the young boy and Jim Caviezel as another Jesus Christ-like character. About the journey of a boy to find a family after he escapes from a Communist concentration camp. Imdb.com writes: "It is a spiritual voyage of discovery, where David slowly loses his instinctual mistrust of humanity and begins to smile, share, trust and ultimately, love."