Do you have what it takes?

Recently, I’ve discovered a love for things I’ve never had any interest before – for kimchi and photography (see previous posts). Although I don’t dislike kimchi now, I won’t say that I’m addicted to it. Photography, however, is different. I am totally in love with photography. I guess this stems from my frustration in my art work. There are just some things that I cannot paint or sketch, like beautiful landscapes or magnificent sunsets. And I discovered that I can still capture these captivating works of nature through the lens.

But I am slowly realizing that being a photographer is not at all easy. You have to ask yourself, “Do you have what it takes?”. Having an “eye” for things is not enough. You have to have this X factor in photography. You have to have guts and a certain level of detachment and brashness.

I remember in the movie “Before Sunset”, Julie (the female lead) was talking about her non-committing photographer boyfriend. She says that he goes on a trance when he starts to photograph things. He becomes totally detached to people, treating them as subjects.

You can’t be a photographer if you are timid and attached. Sometimes, you have to pry into people’s lives, encroaching into their minds and emotions, looking into their eyes and souls, and immortalizing into photographs their vulnerabilities and weaknesses. This takes a lot of courage, much conviction and total dedication to one’s craft.

I still have this hesitation to take photos of people in the streets, of children innocently playing around, of old people walking aimlessly about, of couples doing what lovers do. I don’t know if I can be attached enough to capture their emotions, but at the same time detached, so as not to drown in other people’s sorrows and jubilation. I am still asking myself, “Do I have what it takes?”.



24 April 2007
Tuesday
3:05 pm
Penang (at the office)

Kimchi Convert

There are just things that I hate, smells that I abhor and tastes that I would never like. Cheza – that icky yellow fruit – it tops this list. Also papaya, labanos (radish), and kimchi. Just the sight and slightest smell of these makes me want to puke my guts out.

Let me tell you how deep my hatred for kimchi is. Everytime I pass by the cold section in the supermarket and see a bottle of kimchi, I feel nauseated and sick. Everytime I eat at Greenhouse, a restaurant in Quezon City frequented by Koreans, I always fish out my cologne from my bag, ready to spray cologne everywhere. I hate how kimchi smells. I hate everything about it!

But tonight, I’ve become a convert – a kimchi convert! Working in a development-oriented organization means meeting people from different countries. Yesterday, one of our Korean partners left boxes of kimchi at the office. My pinoy housemates love kimchi, and Marjo decided to bring home some for tonight’s dinner.

She was coaxing me to try her kimchi in exchange for Purefoods corned beef (a very valuable delicacy for OFWs). So I braced my tastebuds and smell glands for a very traumatic experience. Surprisingly, after smelling the reddish concoction, I didn’t feel like I wanted to throw up. So I took the next step, got a small piece, and bravely placed it in my mouth. What do you know, I didn’t hate it! It actually tastes good – a bit sour, spicy hot and tangy.

So I enjoyed the rest of the meal with kimchi, Purefoods corned beef and Lorin’s alamang bagoong (another precious delicacy). The meal was perfect, almost heavenly.

Marjo and I decided that my hatred for kimchi was just because I had bad, low quality kimchi the first time. And as with any other experience, the first time is the most memorable.

So now, I am a self confessed convert. I am glad that I ended this more-than-a-decade-long hatred for kimchi. Tonight will go down in history, as the night that I re-discovered kimchi.

(It’s just ironic that after having kimchi for dinner, the Korean student who massacred students was on tv. How could one country be related to something as gastronomically pleasurable as kimchi, and to someone as psychologically disturbed and destructive as this Korean student? But then, this boy lived most of his life in the US, not in Korea. Maybe they served bad kimchi in the US. Stop it, Norly. Sorry, bad joke.)


18 April 2007
Wednesday
9:03 pm
Penang

Vagabond Photographs

I’ve never thought of myself as a vagabond, a drifter, a wanderer. I’ve always fancied myself as someone who needs and wants stability and monotony, someone who needs to be around people all the time.

I guess I’ve changed. Or I must have known myself better.

I now have this craving to go places, even if I’m alone. I will not feel lonely because I will be looking at things and people through the lens of my camera, Ixty (short for Ixus 60).

I am now nurturing my love affair my new basic point-and-shoot digicam. I never had an interest in photography before. And I did not care whether I had a camera with me when I travel. As long as I have my ever-reliable N6600, then I can go places. I went to India and Singapore alone, awed at how photogenic these places were, especially the village scenes in rural India. I took some photos with my camera phone, and was quite happy with the pixelated photos I had. But now, on hindsight, it would have been amazing if I had a decent digital camera with me.

In 35 days, I would be going back to the Philippines. And I am really excited to take photos of the places and people back home. I am even excited to go home to my hometown and capture its simple beauty through Ixty’s lens.

Together with my dyosas, we booked a flight to Palawan as early as last month. We will have our Palawan escapade in two months, and I feel that Ixty too, is trembling with excitement at this prospect.

Baguio is another place where Ixty and I will nurture our affair. One week in this charming city would mean gigabytes of new photos. Pure bliss!

Here are some photos from Ixty and me:

http://new.photos.yahoo.com/norlygrace/albums

Bicol, Pearl farm, India and Singapore photos – from N6600
Bali photos – by Ram



14 April 2007
Saturday
02:05 pm
Penang