Pics of Filipino children

[aposhark]

Photography has for a long time been one of my joys and especially in the Philippines.

I have a Canon 450d with a couple of lenses and often long to have a better model and lens like a 70d and the new 70-200 2.8 lens

I invariably walk around all the time with my camera as there are so many Filipino children who want their pictures taken. They are wonderful subjects, so full of happiness and almost always have smiling faces.

I also took some pics of teens in Daanbantayan on the island of Cebu recently (we got married here in August 2008), seems they were part of a group as they all met me later at night with their group T-shirts on.
They were fun to take pictures of and it was quite a challenge getting them all in.

Hope you like one of these pics.
The girl on the right couldn't just be a tomboy when it came to the moment

[KeithD]

I have the Canon 550D ..... rather brilliant, but didn't take it with me on my last holiday while I sussed the place out.

[ampy]

nice pictures,thanks for sharing!

[aposhark]

I have the Canon 550D ..... rather brilliant, but didn't take it with me on my last holiday while I sussed the place out.

Nice one - that camera looks great.

I never feel that worried in the Philippines but I suppose if I was carrying about £ 2,000 or £ 3,000's worth of stuff I would be more cautious.

It has been a dream of mine to have a brilliant camera and lens like the ones I mentioned earlier and to go over there on a mission to make a photography book made up of Filipino kids.

I seem to have a knack of capturing the right moment with the kids, but must admit that the moment is far easier to get these days with digital cameras without having to pay a fortune for film/slides like before.

I am a frustrated amateur photographer and wish I had gone to study photography at a much earlier age.

[aposhark]

nice pictures,thanks for sharing!

Thanks ampy

[joebloggs]

great pic mrshark.
but whats all the ponited fingers about ? are they all vulcans from star trek

[Pete/London]

Nice pic Apo, I love Canon cameras and over the years have taken some brilliant pictures with my Canon EOS600 film camera. While we visited Bangkok at Christmas my sis in law bought me a 500D from Singapore ,wow what a camera and all my existing lenses should work with it. I have not tried my 100x300 zoom yet but others have told me it should work great.

The best pictures I ever took was my wife and baby son when he was weeks old, treasured photos

I know very little about photography and cant seem to sit with a book and study like I used to, but armed with a good auto camera even I can get some good results.

[stevewool]

yes nice picture , we have just invested in a new camera, its from some of the money we received as gifts for out wedding , so we brought a nikon d5000 , the pictures are very good but still getting use to it, hopefully when in hongkong might pick up a bigger lens a little cheaper

[febmary]

Filipinos just love to pose in the camera..they are not camera shy

[South-east boy]

Filipinos just love to pose in the camera..they are not camera shy

Yes, I have noticed that! Any Filipina that I have dated has always been good at smiling for the camera. They always put on a smile easily and don't look uncomfortable as they are used to posing & smiling for the camera from a young age!

[aposhark]

great pic mrshark.
but whats all the ponited fingers about ? are they all vulcans from star trek

I think it could be teenage rebellion, Filipino province style

[aposhark]

Nice pic Apo, I love Canon cameras and over the years have taken some brilliant pictures with my Canon EOS600 film camera. While we visited Bangkok at Christmas my sis in law bought me a 500D from Singapore ,wow what a camera and all my existing lenses should work with it. I have not tried my 100x300 zoom yet but others have told me it should work great.

The best pictures I ever took was my wife and baby son when he was weeks old, treasured photos

I know very little about photography and cant seem to sit with a book and study like I used to, but armed with a good auto camera even I can get some good results.

Yes Pete, auto is great when you first get the camera, but from what I have been reading and watching lately (rather belatedly I might add - should have been ingrained 30 years ago) Manual is the way to go, even the best newer cameras make so many mistakes in auto.

[joebloggs]

I think it could be teenage rebellion, Filipino province style

i asked me step son, he's 22 today (married with 2 kids, 4wks tomoz he off to manila to see his son for the first time ) he tells me the kids are dancers? and the pointing fingers is do with hip hop music

[aposhark]

yes nice picture , we have just invested in a new camera, its from some of the money we received as gifts for out wedding , so we brought a nikon d5000 , the pictures are very good but still getting use to it, hopefully when in hongkong might pick up a bigger lens a little cheaper

I was told on other forums that Hong Kong is dearer than the UK, Steve.
Can you confirm that HK is cheaper from your point of view?

[aposhark]

i asked me step son, he's 22 today (married with 2 kids, 4wks tomoz he off to manila to see his son for the first time ) he tells me the kids are dancers? and the pointing fingers is do with hip hop music

Disgraceful, they should grow their hair

[South-east boy]

I was told on other forums that Hong Kong is dearer than the UK, Steve.
Can you confirm that HK is cheaper from your point of view?

If you look on ebay, you'll see a load of new camera gear is from Hong Kong. It seems to be generally cheaper, but most times not really worth it by the time you get customs and VAT etc added on which of course I guess some people forget or don't realise.

I've got a Nikon D90 with an 18-105mm, 50mm 1.8 and 28mm 2.8.

[Pete/London]

Yes Pete, auto is great when you first get the camera, but from what I have been reading and watching lately (rather belatedly I might add - should have been ingrained 30 years ago) Manual is the way to go, even the best newer cameras make so many mistakes in auto.

Yes your right and I was using manual years back, then I went through a period when I couldn`t be bothered taking pictures and left it all to my wife to flit around with a small compact.
My wife and her sisters take snaps the same way as they talk...non stop
I just mentioned that I was interested in a new camera and before I could say `shut that door` I was gifted with one. The learning process will begin soon

As you said in another post, and South-East boy, when I visited HK years ago I never found it cheaper to buy electrical or photographic goods after you took all things into consideration, also always worried about warranties. Singapore may be cheaper but best to weigh up the pros and cons.

[sparky]

if that was in the UK and any of the picturees was under 18 you would need written permission from all the parents - probably in triplicate etc

thank god PC bullsh!t hasnt quite got as bad in the Phils yet
btw great pic - keep it up :0

[JimOttley]

great pic mrshark.
but whats all the ponited fingers about ? are they all vulcans from star trek

Joe I know you know the answer to that question I am sure you have read it before on here or elsewhere

The whole of Asia... all of them do this.... peace sign (hangover from WW2 and what happened to Japan) sometimes wrong way round for us Brits

Makes it bleedin hard to take a candid

I'll add a pic in a few minutes to this post.

I've posted this one here before but it always makes me laugh

[JimOttley]

Christmas Carolers.

Good few years back, Malate near Remidios Circle.






This next one breaks my heart, these kids worked the restaurants on what was/is known as Baywalk, Mayor Lim on election took exception to the previous Mayor's policies and closed down ALL of the businesses on Baywalk, the reason given was non payment of tax by the restaurant businesses and prostitution associated with the live music entertainment that many of the restaurants clustered around.

Personally I never saw that side of it, certainly not obvious prostitution in that part of Malate.

We used to go for dinner, after church, every Sunday night to the Adriatico By The Bay, a really nice restaurant and good value, these kids always tried to sell us a few roses, I rarely if ever bought any from them as Ana and I had been together for a long time and this was a touristy thing, we always had James and half the rest of the family with us but I always paid for a rose or two when the girls came round, there was also a handicapped older gentleman who sold roses in the same area we helped him too, sadly not seen him again for several years.

Never saw these young lassies again either after the closure of the whole of Baywalk.

One of the businesses that they closed was part owned by Manny Pacquiao, again claims of non payment of tax and other fees.



Note the fingers on the right, still attempting to do the peace sign, but closer to a Vulcan death grip in this wee lassies case

[JimOttley]

Photography has for a long time been one of my joys and especially in the Philippines.

I have a Canon 450d with a couple of lenses and often long to have a better model and lens like a 70d and the new 70-200 2.8 lens

I invariably walk around all the time with my camera as there are so many Filipino children who want their pictures taken. They are wonderful subjects, so full of happiness and almost always have smiling faces.

I also took some pics of teens in Daanbantayan on the island of Cebu recently (we got married here in August 2008), seems they were part of a group as they all met me later at night with their group T-shirts on.
They were fun to take pictures of and it was quite a challenge getting them all in.

Hope you like one of these pics.
The girl on the right couldn't just be a tomboy when it came to the moment

Me too!

Yep it's a really nice pic Apo

The new 70-200 IS MkII is really too long on a 1.6 crop body like the 7D or any of the xxD and xxxD series.

For portraits and groups (from a distance) get the EF 50mm f1.4 or the 50mm f1.8 plastic fantastic

For a truly good standard lens on a 1.6 crop body either get the EF 35mm f2 or the EF 28mm f1.8

All of these are good value and will out perform any zoom by a HUGE margin

Seriously it would be hard to tell a shot from the 50 or 35 wide open from a shot taken on the 70-200.

The other option is the EFS 17-55 f2.8 which while it is expensive is a truly stunning lens!

[JimOttley]

Please forgive me for crowding your thread Apo.

Taxi boys.

These lads made a living flagging down taxis for folk outside our condo building.



they worked bleedin hard every day and I will bet there was a good chance they were supporting their entire family.

[JimOttley]

Last one tonight.

Toto and Nene's kids, our nephews and neices, again many years ago.



The lassie in the middle she has been a great help to us in recent years helping to look after our daughter, the two boys have unpronounceable names, not catholic church, parents are Iglesia ni Cristo

[JimOttley]

If you look on ebay, you'll see a load of new camera gear is from Hong Kong. It seems to be generally cheaper, but most times not really worth it by the time you get customs and VAT etc added on which of course I guess some people forget or don't realise.

I've got a Nikon D90 with an 18-105mm, 50mm 1.8 and 28mm 2.8.

Past tense, used to be cheaper, an awful lot of good kit can be sourced for a lot less in the UK now!

Exchange rates and a glut of stock has stuffed the Hong Kong eBay to UK market.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Canon-EF-28mm-...ht_2478wt_1139

http://www.warehouseexpress.com/buy-...sm-lens/p12809

Bad example but the ebay import has the risk of VAT even though they say they will compensate for that if you get caught.

If I spent a bit of time I could find loads of examples where the actual cash price is more on eBay from an HK retailer than it costs from Warehouse Express but it's late at night and I'm tired

A few years back though and yes you could save hundreds of pounds on camera's and lenses from HK, sadly I never bought any from them at the time

[aposhark]

If you look on ebay, you'll see a load of new camera gear is from Hong Kong. It seems to be generally cheaper, but most times not really worth it by the time you get customs and VAT etc added on which of course I guess some people forget or don't realise.

I've got a Nikon D90 with an 18-105mm, 50mm 1.8 and 28mm 2.8.

Seems like this camera and the nice lenses will do well taking pics of your new mahal in low light when you visit her

[aposhark]

great pics JimOttley

[aposhark]

....Taxi boys......

Best shot of the thread JimOttley
I love the composition, shows the cars moving and the kids have adult body language, possibly caused by their hard lifestyles

[JimOttley]

Thanks Apo, it's one of my personal favourites as well although it never got as popular as some of my other shots on Flickr.

These kids have as you say a hard hard life.

[stevewool]

I was told on other forums that Hong Kong is dearer than the UK, Steve.
Can you confirm that HK is cheaper from your point of view?

sorry i cant but when i am there in shall look at ther prices, its like anything really shop around for the best prices, plus also there are so many differant lenes that will fit cameras nowdays, i should really be able to pick one up at lease

[JimOttley]

Hong Kong has definitely lost it's edge at least regards imports from HK to the UK, 5 years ago your could buy a camera from HK for 65% of the UK price now it's sometimes dearer or so close that you will get a better eBay bargain from a UK seller.

It's all exchange rates in the last couple of years the pound has devalued about 20 to 30% same reason we are only getting 70 peso to the pound now.

Every time I hear them talking about Quantitative Easing on the tele a shiver runs down my back and it's not just because camera prices will go up.

Last point. camera bodies still generally get cheaper over time, manufacturers get economies of scale and they tend to reduce the price over the lifetime of the model but lenses never get cheaper and they also retain second hand value extremely well again 60 or 70% no matter how old they get.

When it comes to photography glass is the only really important thing just about every DSLR camera made in the last 8 years will give you fantastic photos that will look stunning in print but they will look even better if the lens is really good.