Category Archives: 52-week project (2015)

Week 52/52 : If it doesn’t challenge you, it won’t change you

Posted in 52-week project (2015), Photomanipulation by

Ta-dah! Another 52-week project finished. Just in time too! Although I sort of cheated. I shot and edited this photo way back in October but I never got the chance to post it. Finally I decided that I would make it my final upload for 2015 since it seemed fitting. So much happened this past year! I look back at the start of 2015 and I can’t believe how much my life changed in a year. Some changes were bad, but most of them were good. I hope that 2016 will bring about many more awesome changes that will give me the chance to grow as an individual.

Butterflies are from here:
http://madetobeunique.deviantart.com/art/Monarch-Butterfly-Clipart-PNG-181725617

Week 51/52 : Never forget

Posted in 52-week project (2015), Photography, Travels & Adventures by

I’m currently in Thailand for the holidays and my family went to an elephant park yesterday. The last time I rode an elephant was probably in 1996 (or 1997), when my grandpa visited us in Myanmar. I forgot how bumpy it was XD

I debated on whether to include this in my 52-week project or not, but since there are only 3 days left in 2015 and I’ve still got 2 shots to go, I figured as might as well.

Week 50/52 : Holiday bouquet

Posted in 52-week project (2015), Photography by

I shot this with the intention of making it my Christmas SP, but in the end I decided it didn’t look Christmassy enough, so I took some pictures with our tree and used that instead. But since I already invested time editing this, I figured I might as well include it in my project.

I made the “bouquet” by harvesting some of our Christmas decorations around the house. I made sure to put them all back in their proper place before my mom noticed they were missing XD

Week 48/52 : Chasing clouds

Posted in 52-week project (2015), Photomanipulation by

Another conceptual self portrait, yay~ I really missed doing these.

This was inspired by the thunderstorm we had last week. We pretty much had continuous rain everyday. It got so bad that the roads flooded, causing severe traffic where I live. I tried to defy Mother Nature last Saturday by trying to get to SM Calamba despite the heavy rain. As a result I almost got stranded due to all the flooding. I spent over an hour trying, and managed to cross three flooded areas before I gave up and decided to head back home. Of course that meant I had to pass through the floods I crossed earlier, and this time they were much deeper because the rain wouldn’t stop. I had to park on the side of the road and wait for a while because I knew my car wouldn’t make it through one of the areas. Fortunately traffic aids appeared after some time and started directing us to alternate routes, which meant that I was able to avoid two flooded areas and made it back home safely. Phew~ Lesson learned Mother Nature.

At least one good thing came out of my experience. It gave me the inspiration for this photo. Initially I wanted to do something related to rain, but I saw my white wig and the cloud idea came to me so I decided to shoot that instead 🙂

Week 47/52 : Paper doll

Posted in 52-week project (2015), Photomanipulation by

It’s been a while since my last conceptual self portrait, so I figured it’s about time I shot one of those. I love conceptual photography, unfortunately I’ve been a little short on ideas lately. I was browsing the net this morning trying to come up with something and this paper doll idea suddenly hit me. Shooting this was extremely easy, but making the doll clothes was a lot harder. I had to draw the clothes in Photoshop, print them, shoot them, and place them on top of a photo of me. But it’s all worth it because I love the final image 😀

I’ve still got 5 self portraits to go before I complete this year’s project. Our Christmas break officially begun last Friday, so hopefully I’ll have plenty of time to shoot this week.

Week 45/52 : Mochi

Posted in 52-week project (2015), Family, Friends, Photography by

Ever since my sister got married, I’ve been feeling a bit lonely at home. I’m used to having someone to talk to and goof around with after work, and now that’s gone. I decided that the best way to resolve this was to get a pet. Initally I wanted a puppy, but my dad would never agree to let me keep a dog inside my room (we keep our dogs outside) so I figured the next best thing would be a rabbit. I mentioned it to Amie one day, and it so happened that her mom’s pet rabbit just gave birth! I didn’t even know her mom had a rabbit, so that was a pleasant surprise. We waited until the babies were old enough to be separated from their mother, and Amie gave me this little furball a few weeks later.

I had a hard time deciding on a name at first, but in the end I went with Mochi. Most of the time I just call her “Chi”. Ocassionally I call her Mochichi when she’s being extra adorable. When I first got her I didn’t know if she was a boy or a girl (apparently it’s really hard to determine the sex of young rabbits), but upon my last inspection, I’m 90% sure she’s a girl. I love spending time with her. Most people think that rabbits make boring pets, but I have a lot of fun just watching her run around my room. She’s also very sweet, she loves being stroked and she’s always begging for attention (and treats). But she hates being picked up, which is why she wasn’t too happy about this shoot. I tried my best to be quick about it and gave her lots of treats afterwards. Besides, look how adorable she is 😀

Thanks to Chops for the Photoshop and Lightroom tutorials which encouraged me to shoot again just so I would have something to edit. And thanks for putting up with my questions about how to edit this shot!

EDIT : Two months later and I’ve discovered that Mochi is NOT a girl. He is 100% male. So much for being 90% sure. It’s a good thing I’m not a vet XD

Week 44/52 : My heart wants roots. My mind wants wings. I cannot bear their bickerings.

Posted in 52-week project (2015), Photography by

Here’s another shot that Dustin took of me the other day. We had a little bit of daylight left after my Physics 1 final exam so we went to the stage behind the NCAS building to take a few photos. Dustin suggested that I spin around so the photo has some movement. I especially like how my hair looks here. The skirt I was wearing that day wasn’t too flowy, but I fixed that in Photoshop 😀

I’m still 4 weeks behind on this year’s 52-weeks, but I’m pretty confident that I’ll be able to catch up.

(Quote in title is by E. Y. Harburg)

Week 43/52 : Hey little fighter, soon it will be brighter

Posted in 52-week project (2015), Photography by

Dustin took this lovely photo of me. He bought a new camera this week so we went out after work yesterday to play around with it. He takes really good photos using just his phone, so I already know that he’s going to be making good use of his new techie baby. Hopefully he’ll start doing 52-weeks next year so I’ll have someone to shoot with each week. I’m pretty excited because he’s a dancer so he knows how to pose and how to direct models posing for him 😀

(This week’s caption is from the lyrics of Stormy End by Sunrise Avenue)