anton's photos in vietnam

he dared play with lights and shadows.
he focused on the passenger on the other side and not joy. i like the effect.
i said, this is a great shot! you showed scale of the mountain with good framing. he just shrugged his shoulders.
even this! ... and he just smiled.
he used flash for the first time. i had to remind him that tito wam does not like using too much flash.
the first vietnamese tank that broke through the gates of the presidential palace putting a symbolic end to a horrible war.

he used the canonet g3 ql17 at full manual mode*, hardly assisted, with kodak gold films that are slightly expired. and i now regret not giving him better films. i should have been the one using the expired films.

(*i thought the built-in light meter has finally conked out but, when i checked under better light back here at home, it was just corrosive contact points.)

the guillotine

Joseph-Ignace Guillotin, a French physician, recommended its use for executions in 1789. The guillotine above is on display at the Hoa Lo Prison, more popularly known as the "Hanoi Hilton". But the sign at the gate says "Maison Centrale".
The board below the hole where the neck is placed still has stains. This was used during the French occupation. The photos behind show the heads of the Vietnamese cut off by this contraption.
The museum shows that the Americans did not receive the kind of treatment the Vietnamese got from the French. The Vietnamese treated the Americans more humanely, so the museum appears to convey.

street photos and unforgettable faces of vietnam

with impressions...right after the anticipated mass at the st. joseph's cathedral in hanoi, we saw a massive crowd surrounding the image of the virgin praying the holy rosary. their display of faith is quite inspiring.

the non la is usually donned by women who are peasants, fisherfolk, peddlers and street builders. tourists and fashionistas are donning them, too. (note how neatly dressed these peddlers are).

the tube houses are a mix of modern and old euro-asian architecture. they are still narrow but bigger houses are starting to sprout -- two to three tube houses joined.
roadside dining is via plastic stool chairs. and the pho ga is great and cheap. my son and i tried it.
i asked her how old she was. she said, "25."
and i said, " i swear you look 24." that ended the conversation.
she is a waitress at the elegant moon river restaurant, hanoi. and she is gorgeous even without make-up. but she may not be considered beautiful by vietnamese standards.

i heard that vietnamese women are beautiful. and the vietnamese women are beautiful indeed and scandalously slim. above are dancers in ao dai.
and the wife had a bout of gastroenteritis on board our boat at halong bay. she vomited until late in the evening during what was supposed to be a romantic overnight cruise. we suspect it was the yoghurt she had that afternoon. she kept it in her bag from hanoi.
i used up all 6 rolls of color film i had with me. developing in hanoi costs Php20 a roll of 36 shots! i just had to wash them again to remove the smell of the fixer. above are some of the rolls being dried in our hotel room.
crossing the streets is not for the faint-hearted. vehicular accidents are vietnam's no. 1 killer. the rule on the use of helmets got implemented the month after we left.
(photos taken with the epson rd1s using the cosina voigtlander 15/4.5, summicron 35/2, and summilux 50/1.4).

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.