Photos of the Day and Midnight Thoughts

Published on February 28, 2018March 1, 2018 by Gurezu11 Comments

(Ordinary Day at my house. Pasok po kayo. Nakakatamad lumabas e. Chill lang ako. Kape-kape)

* I feel bad that I was not able to blog for almost two weeks now. I was working on my write-up about my latest Mountain Climbing escapade but it’s impossible to finish it today. And I don’t know why that I felt like I really need to blog no matter what so here it is. I decided to have a photo of the day and midnight thoughts special in attempt to create spontaneity with this blog and hopefully finish the 30-Day Blog challenge. Which apparently I lost alreasy since I stop. But still, i want to revive a winning streak of another 10 days contious day blog. I hope this time I can make it.

-About the photos of the day, it was one of my cosplay shoots last year fron anime’ Butlers. I honestly don’t know the anime’ . I was there because I just love photoshoots and dressing up. So I’m happy to fill in characters for cosplay group photoshoots. We rented a luxury house somewhere in Alabang for this. If I retrieve the photos, I would love to write a full blog about this. Credits also to Photographer whose name I don’t remember anymore. (EDIT: I just notice the photo has watermark. Photographer’s name is Denise Daryl Florante )

-It’s March already. Imagine?!! Time flies really fast. It felt like it was just yesterday when we celebrated New Year. This really scares me.

How about you? What do you feel about the time passing? Do you feel anxious too like me?

First Solo Gig and How Lightroom App Saved The Day

Published on February 18, 2018February 18, 2018 by Gurezu4 Comments

Day 12 of 30-Day Blogging Challenge.Today marks the first day I went to a photography gig solo. You know, without my mentor with me which is my comfort when I panic. But to tell you the truth, I’m not that pressured because it was my best friend who hired me. She understands that I’m still an amateur. But still I did my best to post-process and send the photos the same day of the event. And I did it! I haven’t done that with our photoshoots before. It took me at least three days to process our photoshoot haha! But of course, this time is different. This is a serious business. I must deliver!

This is a baptismal event. I won’t be sharing much of it. But I just want to exclaimed how wonderful Lightroom is! To tell you the truth, this is the first time I used it in post-processing. I only used VSCO and Snapseed before. Alhough they are wonderful app, they are pretty limited specially when it comes to processing multiple photos at once. I already tinkered Lighroom before but decided to watch a 15-minute youtube video maximizing the basic tools this time. And oh boy?! WHY DIDN’T I DO THIS BEFORE?!!!! JUST why?!!! It would have made my life easier since million years ago.

Anyway, I’ll be featuring two photos I edited earlier. I usually salvage too underexposed photos. But I just couldn’t throw away these two photos because for me, these are good moments. I was just not that the quick enough to adjust my settings to capture them. That’s the hardest thing about shooting events. You have to be ready and quick because more often than not, you don’t have the chance to re-do a moment.

Photo 1. These two kids just arrived and it looks like they missed their Tita so much. They hugged and kissed her. I was there but oooopsss.

It was too dark!

Good thing there was Lightroom. Yey!

Photo #2. After eating lunch, the father wants to have a photo again wih his son. But baby was not looking at the camera. Until …

Why too dark? This side of the room had sudden outpour of people standing. The light condition changed at a snap!

But Lightroom is here!!! YEY!

I know I got a long way to go when it comes editing and photography itself. But I’m happy that I was able to save these photos.

I’m looking forward in improving my workflow. I have many backlogs.

How about you? Do you have any suggestions on how to improve those photos? What is your favorite photo editing tool of all?

Capsule Film Review: Smaller and Smaller Circles (2017)

Published on February 16, 2018July 15, 2019 by Gurezu2 Comments

Smaller and Smaller Circles (2017) This film is based on the book dubbed as first crime/mystery book of the Phillippines. (Maybe the first of its kind in the Philippine cinema too. I can’t remember a Filipino murder mystery film. If you know one please educate me.) Our detectives here are actually priests who are trained with forensics so they are called to help solve a series of gruesome murders of young boys. Bodies were found with no genitals, no faces and no hearts anymore. Since our crime solvers are priests, they are not only faced with the problem of chasing the killer but also, the questions of faith and forgiveness, idagdag pa ang mga corrupt na mga pulis at alagad ng simbahan. In short, mabigat at malaman ang pelikulang ito.

Another thing to commend. This film has beautiful sountrack. Haunting, creepy and wonderfully chorals interweave in the movie scenes. Ilang beses tumaas balahibo ko! And lastly, Nonie Buencamino (Father Saenz) is such an underrated actor. Whatever character he plays, he plays it with sort of magic. Sid Lucero (Father Lucero) as support added dynamics to their team. Not another beautiful face I must say. Napakagaling!

I don’t agree much with sequels but this time,I would strongly suggest it. I demand more cases for Father Saez and Father Lucero to solve. Not only because of their brilliant minds but they have heart of gold with a lot of inner conflict themselves. Philippine Cinema had enough of love teams already. We should perhaps give way to crime-solving team this time.

Rating: ★★★★✩

This movie is not on PH theaters anymore but from time to time, it has screenings at Cinema76. This movie house features Filipino Indie Films for only P150.00. I totally recommend you to like their fb page so you can be updated with the schedules.

Here’s the trailer of the movie. Let’s celebrate Filipino films. Maraming magagandang Pelikulang Pinoy. Kailangan lang ng ating suporta. 😉

NOTE: Photos not mine. Grabbed from Google.

Special shoutout to bequietkate . I originally posted this review on my facebook page “Gurezu Blog” where I usually post my capsule reviews. Just today, I read her blog about her review on the book which prompted me to re-post this here as well. Hi Kate! I super love your review and it was nice to see someone who love this book (and movie) as well!

Day 12 of 30 Day Blogging Challenge.Done!

Watercolor Floral Workshop by @jhaamsey (A Review)

Published on February 16, 2018February 16, 2018 by Gurezu2 Comments

Last year, I dive in to the whimsical world of watercolor ( well aside from other worlds I dive into like photography and dancing lol) but found myself in a rust lately. I haven’t hold a single brush. So to re-ignite my fire for watercolors, I purposely search and signed up for a watercolor workshop specifically florals since this is a good background for calligraphy.

I actually tried watching youtube and instagram videos before in drawing florals. Not like it was a disaster but it lacked finesse. Here is my so-so attempt.

So in my searching, I found @jhaamsey upcoming workshop in instagram. It was worth P1800 inclusive of the painting materials, workbook and food. For me that was a pretty good deal. It was held on February 10, 2018 at Craft Coffee Revolution, Greenhills.

(photo credit: Danica)

This is it! I arrived minutes earlier than the schedule which is pretty unusual for someone like me who has lazy ass during Saturdays. Craft Revolution Cafe’ is cozy. It is a mall cafe’ but I love the atmosphere. The woody interior makes it more elegant.

My classmates and @jhaamseywites (the one in dark blue)

You know, what I love about attending workshops? Not only I got a personal guidance to learn a skill but I got to meet new people who share the same interest with me. We came from different background and different generations. Two of us even came from Indonesia. So we Filipinos tried to speak in English all the time so they won’t feel left out. I added them on Instagram immediately. I used to be introvert but I don’t know what happened to me lately and socializing became my thing.

The first part of the workshop is about the basic drills and technique of watercolor in general. Here is my output for the drills.

All that information in one sitting made me viciously hungry. So good thing that after the drill was meryenda break. This is inclusive of the workshop fee so I don’t expect much with the food. I expect that it would not be enough for my appetite. But I have to say I truly enjoyed the food in terms of serving and taste. These pictures did not do justice.

I super love the grilled cheese sandwich and the nachos. Totally recommended. It inspired me to make my own sandwich this week. However, the hot chocolate was not hot anymore when it was served to me. I almost asked the staff to at least heat it in the microwave. The serving was also too small compared to the coffee which my classmates chose. But overall, the sandwich and chips are bomb! I wanna try their other sandwiches.

So here are the rest of the photos of the workshop. In general, I truly enjoyed the whole workshop and I learned a lot. @jhaamseywrites truly did not only teach the principle but she roamed a lot and made sure she got one-on-one guidance for each one of us.

photo credit: danica. That’s me getting some attention from sensei.

This is me working on my final output after all the basic drills. I am still not good in it and my classmates’ works are lot more excellent. But I must say I improved a lot compared with my own previous attempts. My roses finally looked like a rose. And that is more important! Haha!

(Photo credit: Danica)

It’s done! I got a lot of mishaps and this was not perfect but still an improvement.

Some group photos. I want to give another special thanks to @jhaamseywrites for sharing these photos from the official photographer who uses Fuji Camera too. Danica uses Fuji-XA2. I can’t help but notice haha!

Overall, I love this workshop because of these things;

The kit is superb. I got a lot of surprises when I dig the the kit like the black notebook, washi tape and craft yarn. I also love the workbook.
The flow of the workshop is clear and concise. It is easy to take the information. I totally recommend this to beginners. If you are interested, here are her social media accounts.

Instagram: @jhaamsey

FB: Jhaamsey Writes

3. The venue has nice atmosphere.

4. The food oh the food! I’m craving for that grilled cheese sandwich and chips. Where will Craft Coffee Revolution have another branch in BGC?

The only thing I HATE about this workshop is I did not won the raffle. I really want that Papelito calligraphy workbook but that’s my problem. Haha!

That’s it for the Day 11 of my 30-Day Blogging Marathon. Oh yes, I was actually absent for 7 days because I was emotionally down and I could not squeezed anything from my brain. But here I am, rose from the ashes, to finish the rest of the days. See you tomorrow!

“Night Fairies” Photoshoot Series

Published on February 8, 2018February 10, 2018 by Gurezu18 Comments

Fairylights became a trend last year because the viral series of photos by Brandon Woelfel. Basically its just like a Christmas light but lighter and safer since it uses LED. So as part of our Infor Photography Club practice, we decided to have night fairies shoot. We did not imitate Brandon Woelfel’s editing style though. We had three models for this photoshoot series. Actually it should be only one session but it became three due to popular demand. My models are my friends and new officemates although they belong in different department. Like before, our photoshoot was just held in our office. And if you are interested to try this,I bought the Fairy Lights online at Copper Lights PH.

Not only I became a photographer but also became a stylist. I conceptualized the dress and props to use. I also lent my own white dress that I rarely use. This is really one of the most fun photoshoot we had last year. And I think my output was great base on the feedbacks I received.

My camera was Fuji XA3 and I just used kitlens (16-50mm) for most of the following pictures. Although sometimes, my mentor let me borrow his prime lens.

Before anything else, this photoshoot series is a collaboration with my Infor Photography Club Mentor Gerard Dangca of @g2photography. My photos would be series of darkness and vagueness if not because of this guidance.

HASMINE

Make-up: @judylovesthis

Processed with VSCO with hb2 preset

SOME BEHIND THE SCENE PHOTOS…

By the way, this dress is mine and I bought it in Zalora like a year ago. I didn’t have the chance to wear again. Luckoy me because it was perfect for this shoot.

Outfit For Today: White Lacy Dress from Zalora. #Zalora #WhiteLacyDress #klubkeluarga #ootd #summerdress #outfitoftheday #WhiteDress #Beach #CatchingUpForTheSummer #SummerGetaway

A post shared by Gurezu.com (@gurezu) on Jun 10, 2016 at 7:25am PDT

INNAH

We only had few pictures of fairy lights for this one because we did a light painting session which is more tedious. But that deserves another blog post.

SARAH

For the previous shoots, we used warm fairy light. So for this time, we decided to use the cold type of fairy light. It was harder to work with because the light it emits is so unflattering and too harsh for the skin. On top of that, the location we used to shoot is unavailable and we have to use a very enclosed room. But we still proceeded anyway and took it as a challenge.

But of course, I won’t let this photoshoot series to pass by without having my own photos. Hahahaha! Ako pa ba?!

GUREZU

Photo credits: @g2photography

That’s it for today. I hope you enjoy the photos. How about you, do you want to be my next fairy light model?

Day 10 of 30-Day Blogging Challenge.

Things to Look Forward

Published on February 6, 2018 by Gurezu9 Comments

Hi guys its wee hours of the morning and I’m already late again for my 30-Day Blogging Marathon. I’m already on my Day 9. Yey! I don’t know what to blog. I have actually tons of things to blog but I’m too tired now so I intend to keep this short and full of text. I decided to write about the things to look forward.

1. I just came from photoword asia event at Glorietta and I bought a Fujinon 35mm 1:4 lens in last minute. This is a really good lens for portrait since I love portraitures. The catch is this is pre-order and the lens will come on March huhu.

2. Floral Watercolor Workshop this weekend. Yey!!!!

3. My first solo photoshoot gig will be on Feb 18 omg. Its a baptism event. Good luck to me. Gosh. I’m palpitating already from thinking about it.

4. March 11. SWEET LOlita Meet at Dessert Museum. I’ll be joining as model and photographer. I hope.my new lens has arrive by then.

That’s it! So many things to look forward. These are pretty big events. I need to sleep now guys. Forgive this blog is quite crappy. Xiao!!!

Find Your Happy Tribe

Published on February 5, 2018February 5, 2018 by Gurezu6 Comments

Have you ever felt unliked by someone without reason? Did you ever feel you need to chase for connection? Don’t worry its not about you. It just means that they are not part of your happy tribe. Who’s your Happy Tribe? They are the people whom you can share your craziness and quirks. They support you. Most of all, they don’t make you feel you have to chase for connection. They can be your friends, your family or officemates. Unfortunately, sometimes, its none of the above. But don’t give up. Share to the world who you are so your happy tribe will find you. You are not meant to be alone. And when you find your Happy Tribe, LOVE THEM HARD.

PHOTO:Angeli Santina Soriano

ABOUT THE PICTURE: Yes. That’s me the girl Luffy and I’m with my friends. We did a One Piece Girl Edition cosplay shoot at One Hundred Islands in Pangasinan. This was already years ago. Perhaps 2014. This one of the most memorable travel I ever had. I wish I could do this again. It was really fun.

How about you? Have you found your happy tribe? If not, don’t give up. You can reach out to me and maybe we can be part of each other’s tribe. Who knows?

That’s all for the Day 8 of my 30-Day Blogging Challenge. See you again tomorrow!

Mountain Climbing is A Sweet Torture

Published on February 4, 2018February 4, 2018 by Gurezu36 Comments

I skipped having any blog post yesterday thus breaking my 30-Day Blogging Challenge. But I have to forgive myself because I was out there, getting out of my comfort zone again and pushed my lazy ass to climb a mountain. It was not my first time but climbing any mountain is still a challenge no matter what. Just like last year, climbing a mountain remind me of these two things: 1. No matter how hard it is, no matter how long the struggle, as long as you make that one step forward, you’ll get to your target destination no matter what. In climbing a mountain, you’ll get overwhelm with slippery mud. You’ll get dirty. You get hurt. But it doesn’t mean you’ll stop. Its okay to rest when you feel exhausted. Its okay that you are the slowest climber. But as you keep moving forward, you will reach the top. If you think about it, it applies so well in our daily life. I have a goal this year, to finish a novel. But lately I got overwhelmed again. With the feelings of insecurities and not feeling good enough to write. But climbing a mountain refreshed my perspective again. I will write everyday keep moving the story forward, even I can only do one sentence in some days. I will appreciate any step I would take. 2. It’s not the summit but the journey. Why do we like to reach the summit? It’s on the top. It has the nicest view where it would be great to take selfies. Reaching the top felt like earning a bragging badge. But you know what, summit is nothing compared to the journey and the memories you had with your friends or evwn strangers while climbing it. Whenever you help each other in a muddy trail. When you share food and drinks. When you have a conversation with someone while walking along the trail. Or sometimes you sing together. When you get hurt and someone will help you. The laughter you share. The bond. The new friendship. It was so hard to get the top. Frustrating. But you keep on moving because of the people with you. There’s so much lesson from the journey than the summit itself. Just like in real life, we see successful people who reached the summit of their lives. We see pictures of them having luxurious lives. But I think people should always look what they went through to get there. They must have sacrificed a lot, shed a lot of tears, had multiple failures and regrets. If we encounter a successful person, I think its best to not concentrate on their success, but the story of their journey. There are.more learnings from there. (The Fault in Our Blogs family)

Finally, some summit photos

Climbing a mountain is surely a torture. But it gets to remind me to strive in life and keep creating sweet memories. Mountain is a great analogy of getting the goals in real life.It might not be my passion. I don’t know when I would climb again. But I am sure it won’t be the last. Day 7 of 30 day blogging challenge. By the way this is Mt. Daguldol of San Juan Batangas. I’ll be blogging more about this trip this coming days. See you tomorrow!

OOTD: Student Vibe Outfit

Published on February 2, 2018February 6, 2018 by Gurezu7 Comments

It’s 1:43 am and actually too late for my Day 6 of 30-Day Blogging Challenge. I was so busy. At the moment, I am with my fellow TFIOB bloggers and we are on our way to Batangas for our first climb together. I still have no sleep. But I will carry on and finish a blog no matter what to win my challenge.

Yesterday, we had a photowalk shoot around BGC. This is the first outdoor shoot for our club. So I purposedly dressed up because I also want to have new pictures of myself. To have a new profile pic. To have a new banner for my blog. I have serious reasons.

So for today, I present to you a student vibe get-up. The highlight of this look is the tennis skirt I bought at ig:@bohochic. I love tennis skirts because it is youthful and playful looking. Probably because its like a student uniform. Haha!

Paired up with statement shirt and sneakers, the student vibe is now complete.

My mentor took this photos with a 56mm prime lens. Also today, I decided I’ll buy 35mm prime lens because I really love portraits. My mentor recommended this lens since it fits my budget and can do the sharpness and bokehlicious pics too just like his lens.

Well I think that’s all for today. I need to sneak time for sleep while we are still traveling. I’ll do a full blog about our photoshoot some other time.

Thank you for reading. SEE YOU TOMORROW!!

Photo Credit: Gerard Dangca of g2photography

Do You Want to Confess To Your Crush This Valentines Day?

Published on February 1, 2018February 2, 2018 by Gurezu8 Comments

Do you want to tell your crush your sincere feelings but overwhelmed with anxieties? Let our magic mugs do the talking. Give your favorite person a gift of surprise (or shock?) haha!!! I do customized design for magic mugs. Handwritten or digital.

A post shared by Convo Street (@convostreet) on Jun 20, 2017 at 7:01am PDT

If you are new to the concept of magic mugs, these are mugs coated with photosensitive coating. It is originally in black color. But when you pour hot water, the coating disappears and the secret design will appear. Perfect for a surprise message right?

Here are my available designs. Available for P 300.

I also accept customized message orders. Just send the message not exceeding 15 letters. Each requested message mug costs P350.00 for computerized letters. If you preferred handwritten letters , it would cost P400.00.

Here are the samples of my customized handwritten designs. I do receive crazy request sometimes.

Do you know our mugs are lucky love charms too? Look at these happy couples. (hahaha joke only. But these couples are really happy and in-love with each other. I mean look at them. )

Photos owned by the couples.

So guys, if you are tired of the usual chocolates and flowers. This time you want to give something different, order now! just message or pm me for your orders. My online shop is named “Convo Street”.

Ig: convostreet

Facebook: Convo Street