Week 52/52 : Life is like a camera lens – focus only on what’s important and you will capture it perfectly
Another year done 
Goodbye 2011! Hello 2012~
I wanted my final self portrait to show me at some scenic location, like my past 2 projects, but it just wasn’t possible this year. Nevertheless, I still really like this shot of me. This was taken by my sister’s boyfriend, Kurt, during our Christmas party. I was reviewing some of the photos I took on my camera and was laughing at some of them when he shot this. It’s a candid photo, but I love how it turned out so I decided to use it as my last portrait this year. Thanks Kurt! 
Once again, I thank everyone who have supported me during this project of mine. I appreciate every one of you. Thanks to everyone to gave me critique and encouragement and shared their thoughts with me.
(For those who are asking if I plan to do *another* 52-week project next year, my answer is a definite YES! )
(EZRA) 52/52 : Absence makes the heart grow fonder
Congratulations to my sister on completing her 2nd round of the 52-week project
This shot was taken by her boyfriend (Kurt) when we went to Pismo beach a few days ago. I did minimal editing (cropping, removing people in the background and color adjustment).
I wanted my last self portrait to be on the beach too, since my last 2 52-week projects ended with a picture of me posing next to a great view, but Ezra liked this shot so I decided to do something else.
(EZRA) 51/52 : All I want for Christmas is you
Sorry for the late upload. This was Ezra’s portrait 2 weeks ago. We really didn’t have that much time to take pictures during Christmas time. It was crazy busy over here!
We took this right before we left to meet Kurt’s family for lunch on Christmas Eve day. She just grabbed this huge Christmas ribbon that was decorating my aunt’s lamp and posed with it. XD
Week 51/52 : Make your smile change the world, but don’t let the world change your smile
One more week till the end of 2011~
It’s been pretty crazy over here at my aunt’s house. Since we don’t often come to California during the holidays, my aunt decided to hold a big party here yesterday (Christmas day). She invited all our relatives in the area (there’s a lot) so we’ve were all really busy decorating the house and planning the menu for the big day. And now that the party’s over, we’re all busy cleaning up the huge mess that was left behind.
This picture was actually taken last week during our tour of Vegas, but lately I’ve been too busy to take a decent self portrait. Ezra took this shot for me near the entrance of Tropicana hotel, where our guide dropped us off to explore the city. I really love the red bamboo-like structures so I decided to edit it and submit it as my photo this week
Week 50/52 : It’s the most wonderful time of the year
Whoa, 2 more weeks till the end of this year? Time goes by so fast!!
Ezra took this shot of me the the other day at my aunt’s house. I really love her red walls! My very first self portrait for 2010 was shot at this exact same location (I’m even wearing the same boots in both pictures XD) I stole the little snowman from her coffee table for this shot. I’m so glad she decided to decorate for Christmas this year. Last time we spent Christmas with her (back in 2009) she was too busy to decorate so Christmas didn’t feel as complete as usual. This year she even bought a real Christmas tree for us to decorate. It was the first time I helped set up a real live Christmas tree
(EZRA) 50/52 : Winter Wonderland
Earlier this week our family went on a 3-day tour to Vegas and the Grand Canyon (blog entry to follow). We saw snow again after almost two years I took this quick shot of Ezra when we were at Grand Canyon National Park. I wish we could have had more time to play, but we only had one hour before we had to go back to our tour bus. But we still had a lot of fun frolicking in the snow while admiring the view during that short time
(Trees and birds were added in Photoshop using brushes from redheadstock.deviantart.com)
Week 49/52 : Season of giving
This was taken the week that I had my thesis defense. Since it was a success, I thought that it was the perfect Christmas present
(EZRA) 49/52 : The colder the winter the warmer the spring
Another quick shot taken just before we left for our vacation. We were told that it was getting pretty cold in California so she bought a lot of scarves and jackets for our trip. She loves cold weather because she enjoys layering clothes, which isn’t really something we can do in the Philippines (unless we want to torture ourselves).
(EZRA) 48/52 : Beauty is but a flower, which wrinkles will devour
Something simple because she’s so behind on her 52-week project. I actually like this shot. Even though it’s not that fancy, I liked how it turned out. Not bad for something I edited in the middle of the night. I actually went to bed around 11 that evening, but I woke up around 2am and couldn’t get back to sleep. I hate it when that happens! Anyway I decided to edit photos to pass the time and this was the result.
(EZRA) 47/52 : PHENOMENAL COSMIC POWERS! (Itty-bitty living space…)
Disney fans would probably know where Ezra got her title from.
She found this jade teapot at our house and thought that it looked like a genie’s lamp so she asked me to draw a genie for her. I think I did a good job, but she insists that it looks like a snake’s head because of the slanty eyes! Hmph~ I told her that since she’s using a Chinese teapot, she got an Asian genie XD
(EZRA) 46/52 : Saving all my kisses
Uploaded this on Flickr about 2 weeks ago, but forgot to post it here. I was extremely busy with school stuff when I posted this there.
I really enjoyed taking this shot because I got to tape up Ezra’s mouth XD She’s normally very chatty when we shoot, so it was nice to have some peace for a change XD Just kidding~
Anyway, this was taken before we left for our vacation here in California. She was extremely excited about seeing Kurt again. They’ve known each other for 10 years but this will only be their third Christmas together since he lives in California. Before we left she told him that he better prepare himself for all the kisses that she’s saved up for him
Week 48/52 : Six years and counting
My boyfriend and I have been together for 6 years, I can’t believe it. Time seems to have gone by so fast. But at the same time, it feels like we’ve been together for so much longer. Does that make sense?
Sadly he has to work late today so we have to postpone our celebration till tomorrow.
Happy anniversary Ckloy! I love you baby~
Heart bokeh texture from HERE
Week 47/52 : Geek
I got new glasses the other day It was an impulsive buy because I saw that it was on sale. I’ve been using black frames since 2006 so it will probably take a while for me to get used to these white ones. I just thought they were really cute, and I like the fact that they have nose pads. My old plastic frames don’t have them and they keep sliding down my nose.
My shirt says “Astig ang Physics” which translates to something like “Physics is Cool”. It was designed by a Physics instructor from our University (where I used to teach before deciding to study again) for last year’s Physics Fair.
Ezra tells me that I’m such a geek for posting this XD
(Binary brushes are from redheadstock.deviantart.com)
(EZRA) 45/52 : Behind every girl’s favorite song, is an untold story
I was too lazy to take Ezra’s portrait this week so I set up my camera on a tripod, put it on self timer, handed her the remote, and told her to have fun.
It’s the first time that I asked her to take her own photo and she enjoyed it. Although it took her a while to come up with something she liked because she’s not used to not having someone directing her. She normally enjoys posing for the camera when someone’s taking her photo, but she had a hard time taking her own picture. I always thought that she was as vain as I was, but I guess I was wrong XD
I have this silly idea that girls have this natural ability when it comes to taking their own pictures since my friends do it all the time using their phones, but I guess Ezra’s different. If you check her phone, you won’t find a single vain picture of her there. In fact, someone would probably mistake it for my phone because I use it all the time to camwhore since the camera on my phone stopped working months ago.
Week 46/52 : One true lover with a thousand kisses
I really like how this turned out. It’s a simple portrait but I’ve been trying to catch up on my 52-weeks so I’ve been doing a lot of beauty shots lately.
I got the title from the lyrics of the song “Three Wishes” by The Pierces. I haven’t been able to get that song out of my head since the other day. It’s so haunting, I love it
I showed this to my mom and she said it looks familiar. Maybe it’s because its very similar to this self portrait from 2009. (It’s also the same photo I’m using for my buddy icon XD)
(EZRA) 44/52 : You really don’t have to be a child to find a friend in a teddy bear
Ezra’s 2 weeks behind on her project so I had to rush editing this. Which was hard because my tablet has decided to give up on me. It keeps zooming out every couple of minutes while I’m editing. It’s very frustrating~
So yeah, this is not my best work but I still like how it turned out.
Week 45/52 : Dream as if you’ll live forever, live as if you’ll die today
(Quote by James Dean)
Quick shot taken the other day. I was playing around with this new lipstick that my aunt gave me and I decided to take a few pictures to see if it was a good shade for me. Since I’m a bit behind on my 52-week project, I figured I might as well edit one of them for my self portrait this week. I chose this one because I like that my hair looks healthy in this photo. (It’s really very damaged IRL T__T)
I didn’t have time to take a proper self portrait last week because I spent most of it travelling back and forth to Manila:
- Monday – Went to the mall with Ezra and Raffy while waiting for our parents to finish their meeting.
- Tuesday – Dropped my parents off at the airport then went to UPD to pay my tuition fee. The line was 3 floors long when I got there and it took me 3 hours to pay my tuition of P40. Argh! (I know that I could have just come back another day, but I was already there and I didn’t think it would take that long. Tch~)
- Wednesday – Got to rest at home
- Thursday – Went to UPD with Amie to give my reader and examiners a copy of my thesis manuscript. I also filed some of the required paperwork for my thesis defense next month. It was a really stressful day for Amie and me so afterwards we went to SM North to relax with Ate Love.
- Friday – I planned on staying home but I woke up to a text from May telling me that there were still some paperwork that needed to be done for my defense, so I rushed to UPD to handle them.
(EZRA) 43/52 : Tell me your deepest darkest secret
We’re two weeks behind on our 52-week projects AGAIN. This was supposed to be her Halloween SP. We actually shot it before Halloween but I didn’t have time to edit it until last week, and she didn’t send me her title until today.
She wanted to be a bloody ghost for Halloween, but we didn’t have time to plan a shoot so she just ended up grabbing a random scarf and being a gypsy/fortune teller.
I didn’t really do much to this photo except make it darker and less saturated. I also made her pupils (irises – what do you call the black part anyway?) a bit larger to make them look more haunting, and I used some glowing abstract brushes (which I got from HERE) on the “crystal ball” she’s holding.
Week 44/52 : Come play with me
Belated Happy Halloween everyone! Wasn’t able to shoot this on time, so please forgive me.
This was inspired by the lovely JolsAriella. I’m such a fan of her work. If you like this then you definitely have to check out her gallery, it’s amazing!
I’m wearing the same wig I wore in this photo, and once again I am reminded of the fact that I can never pull of blunt bangs. My cheeks are big enough without the bangs there to emphasize them. (I edited the lighting a bit to hide my chubby cheeks a bit for this shot though)
This took me quite a bit of time to finish, mostly because I’m not used this style of editing so I had to do a lot of trial and error. I don’t usually process my pictures to come out this dark. I used default Photoshop brushes to draw the blood on the knife and on my hand, as well as the smudged mascara. The headband was also painted on in Photoshop – I got the black bow from here. Processing this took much longer than usual but I’m really pleased with how this turned out.
Week 43/52 : Two can keep a secret if one of them is dead
I mentioned in a previous entry that I have a newfound obsession with Pretty Little Liars, so I decided to use that as inspiration for my self portrait. If you watch the show then you probalby recognize this pose from the opening sequence.
I think this picture doesn’t look like me for some reason. I’m trying to figure out what makes it look so strange, and I think it’s the eyes, although I didn’t really do anything to them … hmm … weird. Maybe I’m just not used to seeing myself look evil. (But Ezra tells me she sees this expression on me all the time, lol)
Anyway, the title came from the show’s opening song (“Secret” by The Pierces), which I absolutely love. You can listen to it HERE.
(EZRA) 42/52 : Victory is always possible for the person who refuses to stop fighting
Ezra’s portrait for last week. My dad found our grandpa’s old sword in the attic a few weeks ago, so she decided to use it for her SP. I think the sword’s meant to be used as decoration though, seeing as it wasn’t sharp at all.
Neither of us know anything about sword fighting so we had to look up interesting poses online for this shot. I like the concept but I’m not entirely pleased with my editing on this one. I’ve been tweaking it for the past few days, but something still seems a bit off. I do like how it appears to be a still from a movie, but I think that has more to do with her posing rather than my editing.
(The textures I used came from textureking.com and the title came from a quote by Napoleon Hill.)
Week 42/52 : The art of simplicity is a puzzle of complexity.
I used to be addicted to Rubik’s cubes. I bought my first one when I was in the 8th (or was it 7th) grade but I couldn’t figure out how to solve it past the 2nd layer. Then, in my senior year of high school, my math teacher taught me the algorithm. He taught his students not only how to solve the puzzle, but also how to create various patterns such as the hole in the center, the T, the checkered, etc. I got so hooked that I even joined a couple of Rubik’s cube competitions that year. If I remember correctly, I placed 3rd in one of them
This is actually my 2nd Rubik’s cube which I bought in my senior year. The stickers are shiny and glittery unlike my older one. Brinks has the exact same one. I saw her using it one day, and it was so cute that I had to have one too
(Title came from a quote by Douglas Horton)
(EZRA) 41/52 : If you wish from your heart, you can even catch the stars
Ezra says she could pass for me in this shot. Probably because of the layered brown hair (she’s wearing a wig).
Her inspiration for this shot was the J-drama “Ikemen Desu Ne”, which is also where her title came from. The girl in that series was separated from her mother at an early age, so to comfort herself, she would pretend that the stars are her mother, watching over her. She believes that through hard work and prayer, she would be reunited with her mother one day.
(Glitter brushes from redheadstock.deviantart.com)
Week 41/52 : Who will hear the echoes of stories never told?
Uploading this two years too late. I’m currently organizing my posts here on WordPress and I discovered that I forgot to post a few of my old photos on my blog. (And I’ve numbered a few of them wrong, eeek~) Anyway, thank goodness I can change the date of my posts ..
I shot this for Theme of the Week’s topic : “Face your fears”
I chose acrophobia for my theme this week, which is the fear of heights. I’m not really sure if that’s the right phobia to describe what I have though. It’s not really the idea of going someplace high that scares me, it’s the risk of falling down. I actually enjoy going up to high places. And I get super excited when I look down and see how far the ground is – as long as I know that there’s no chance of me falling.
Ezra helped me take this shot. It took a while before we got it right. At first I tried lying down on a chair and posing as if I was falling, but it was extremely difficult. I looked awkward (and in pain) in most of the shots, so we tried a different method. This time we had me jump up in the air while bending over. It sounds a lot easier than it actually was. My body kept wanting to straighten up as I jumped, which didn’t really give that “falling” effect. And the fact that Ezra kept rushing me didn’t help either. I told her to count to three before clicking the camera, and she just kept going nonstop! Sometimes she’d begin counting again from 1 even before I’ve had a chance to regain my balance from landing after the previous jump! My legs and thighs are still aching right now T__T But at least we got some decent shots~
I’m not sure if this looks realistic enough. I’ve been tweaking it all afternoon. I figured I should just upload it so I’d stop fiddling around with it already.
(Title came from the lyrics of “Melodies of Life” – FF9 OST)
