basil apostol celebrates at world trade center mezzanine

basil with lyn manglapus and ching peña, college classmates in la salle.
i got my first leica m6 from basil. he now uses a D70 nikon and sorely misses his m6 which garrie david is now having fun with.
basil, sylvia go and lyn sunico.
lyn sunico, sonia narvasa, my wife joy and basil.
(front) sylvia go, rachy cuna, basil, (back, l-r) lukas (another monk), me, rafaelito (monk-bikemate), ricky cuna, geoffrey go.

lyn manglapus

Another benedictine monk, a classmate from high school, celebrates his birthday. basil apostol was a schoolmate from elementary through high school. lyn sunico, basil's close friend, of makati skyline, gifts him with a sumptuous lunch with fantastic creamy adobo catfish (it melts in your mouth without any fishy taste), lean yet juicy lechon (i dare not even touch it) and the usual great fare that makati skyline has built their reputation on.
One of the guests tripped, hitting the edge of the table with her face and falling face down on the tiled floor. with a plate of food on one hand when she fell, she just broke the plate and would be going home with a slightly tender cheek. it was a miracle, rachy claimed after breathing his usual spanish curse of anxiety. she made the celebration more memorable though because she handled the accident so well. it was a great feast with new acquaintances and old friends embellished by a gracefully handled incident.

voigtlander vitessa L

made in 1954, it is the voigtlander vitessa a patient brought in for me to see. the shutter curtain opens upon release of the tall shutter "button" (a plunger) which also acts as "advance lever". so you press the shutter button to advance film and the shutter curtain opens when you release the towering button.





"moy's quiapo," it says.the lens has scratches from cleaning.

a birthday party at the our lady of monserrat abbey

the father prior and a bikemate, rafaelito, celebrated his birthday at the san beda abbey. batchmates from high school celebrated with him.
our batch churned out three priests. in the photos are basil (also benedictine) and kit (a salesian). they compensate for the sins of the batch, we all claim. my wife joy joined the celebration and was allowed into the hallowed all-male (some question this) grounds. the abbot, tarci, also came just in time for the main course of amici pizza! fr. abbot was our principal at the time of our graduation. easy to miss because he did not age as fast as we did.
by the way, the jacuzzi is part of the new infirmary of the abbey. joy stands in the dark of the unfinished jacuzzi room.
fr. bernardo perez with fr. rafaelito, the celebrant, on right.
jacuzzi in the infirmary with joy.
the benedictine monks at mealtime.
schoolmates from elementary to high school.
fr. tarci in the center seated with bearded fr. kit behind and fr. pael on kit's right.
abbey garden

adjusting the rf patch of the epson rd1s

it wasn't hard. the rf horizontal patch was off. it needed a fix. and i found the right link: http://www.richcutler.co.uk/r-d1/r-d1_16.htm
pulling out the spring-steel clip from the hot shoe plate was the tricky part. but with a stick, i jimmied it out gently.
to reinstall, all it needed was a gentle push and the plate was back in place. but it had to be inserted on the opposite side (the side of the viewfinder) which the link failed to mention.

and, the rf patch is now perfectly aligned.

127 film for the agfa folding camera

these films are rolled up and packed by blind people in total darkness in the only company that still produces 127 films.
three rolls, all expired. i am sure images will still show. they might even turn out artsy with the usual caveats of folding cameras and the 127 film.
only grateful. no complaints. these are gifts. they cost about EURO55 for 10 pcs at 8 exposures each (unexpired, of course)!

the first philippine rangefinder camera club

in the 1930s, when the dominant cameras were the medium and large format cameras, a group of filipinos took on a different type of camera that initially made them pariahs in photography. They called themselves the 35 MM CAMERA CLUB. it was probably the first rangefinder camera club in the philippines. it was a trailblazing group of avid camera users championing the use of the 135 film and the rangefinder cameras.
a few days ago, uro dela cruz found, as if by fate, a trove of photos of that group in a bodega-curio shop in kamuning. and the owner did not realize how valuable those photos were until that time. the photos provide a sense of "roots" for rangefinderfilipinas, a recently organized group of rangefinder camera users in the philippines. just see how the members are responding to the blog.
uro's find is timely as rfilipinas is at its birthing period. for more of the story and the treasure photos:

http://rosauro.multiply.com/photos/album/8/RFilipinas_circa_1930

what is this critter?

another camera on loan. the owner does not remember the brand name of this particular agfa folding camera. i tried googling it but failed to find the model. according to a friend it uses a 127 film, a "paper film" that can still be bought on ebay. it looks like the agfa billy series.
i don't know how the focus works. i am afraid to turn the screw on the focus ring which is fixed at 10 ft. everything else seems to work though. and it is in remarkable condition. the owner promised to bring film on her next treatment session.

(the photos were taken with the canon g7).

dare to help

yashica 35 gsn with the agfa apx 400

apx 400 processed with old stock parodinal at 1:50 for 11 mins (suggested was 16 mins) at 20 C. (sorry for poor fixing as well. i was in a hurry. this fogged the negative's midsection. i can't discount age of parodinal as a factor as well). i also forgot to compensate for the yellow filter.
anyway, i was more interested in checking for light leaks, the accuracy of light meter and the effects of the slightly moldy lens. the rf patch is hardly visible. scale focusing was done.
verdict: for CLA and repair of rf patch.

dinner at gilda's

gilda, honey and joy in gilda's exquisite bathroom

we had sinister congressmen for bread!
no altercation just freeform dancing to shed the extra calories.

we had great indonesian food with flowerbud tea that "blossomed" under hot water. and we had some slow "maskipaps" after dinner. tito and honey carandang, agnes (i forget the family name), joy and myself basked in the hospitality and great food, wine, tea and the company of gilda cordero-fernando in her leandro locsin designed house.

my baby is back

this was my first camera. i was a high school news reporter when my father gave it to me. i lost it a few years ago while transferring house. this morning, a patient came in with this as a gift. her husband has no use for it, she claimed, and i was just too happy to accept. it is geared for trial shots. it looks great but the lens has some molds.