So I packed up and decided to do some street photography at the Fish market here in Doha. This shoot put me in trouble not only with the “Authorities” but also with my girlfriend. As much as i wanted to explain further, it’s already quite late and i needed to wake up early for work tomorrow, ,nevertheless will try to update this blog to include the stories behind the said incidents. Sharing a few shots i took. Hope the shots are worth it with the trouble it got me into.

Grace is something you receive but you don’t deserve. The salvation God offers is not free, though God offers it to us for free. Salvation has been paid for by the blood of Christ. He bore all our sins, past, present and future so that we may be able to join Him in paradise.

If you think that all the good works you do each day can bring you salvation, the shocking truth is no. It is only through our faith that we are saved. Faith in the saving power of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Our good works springs from the fact that we are saved and not the other way around.

The only act that you can do is probably to accept Him as your Lord and Savior and ask Him to come into your life. If you so desire to be saved and have Christ in your life, this simple prayer will do you wonders in having just that.

Lord Jesus,

I am tired of living life on my own strength. I admit that I am a sinner and need your forgiveness. Help me turn away from sin and live a life of obedience to you.

Thank you for giving your life to me and paying the penalty of my sins. I now receive you as my Lord and Savior. Please come into my heart and take control of my life. Forgive me for all my sins and help me become the kind of person that God wants me to be.

May God be glorified always!!

The longing that was steadily accumulating in me from a year’s deprivation of nature’s beauty started to suddenly pour out. The wait was over and was totally worth it.

Having seen a few other parts of the globe, what used to be such a mundane thing as a blue sky or a cotton candy like cloud formation now strikes a chord in me every time i see one.

Sharing a few shots I was able to take from that wonderful and truly amazing place:

Ciao!

It’s fun to be shooting with a group of photographers, except that I don’t get to dictate the shots that I wanted to make. So despite the ever growing Doha Pinoy Shooters Flickr Group, I had to venture and shoot on my own, to satisfy my own photographic needs. hehehe.

Thanks to Allen and Marie for the opportunity. It was really fun shooting you both.

There they go!

Despondent

For more of the shots just visit my flickr site

Ciao!

We had a two light set up - one soft box and one strobe shoot on an umbrella. Participants included some of the members of the Doha Pinoy Shooters, most of which was called/texted at the last minute for this shoot.

Thanks to Tabs, who, despite the call-off of our first model, was able to find a replacement, and a very good one at that, in Lobelle. Also thanks to Cristy, Tabs better half, for the modeling tips, postures and the works. Lastly to Richard, our ever patient mentor and to Jun for hosting the shoot at his flat.

Sharing some of the shots:

Used my new Canon EOS 5D. What a cam.

More shots to follow soon, need to catch some sleep.

I need to buy a guitar here in Doha. Missed my guitar badly. =(

Shots taken by Carlo

I’ve been contemplating of whether to buy the Canon wireless triggerr or another flash, probably another 430 ex, and the choice was pretty simple at that time, and that’s to purchase another 430 ex, considering that the price diff is less than 200 riyals.

That was before I stumbled upon an old post from strobist.blogspot.com featuring the Cactus V2 triggers for Canon. The post was not an extensive review but the price tag of 30 usd really struck me, so I searched deeper for this cheap little triggers and was able to find a link to there site.

Anyway I purchased the trigger online two weeks ago from gadget infinity which is a Hong kong based firm who manufactures and markets the triggers online. Total price tag for a one set of trigger and receiver and three extra receivers - less than 100 USD!

The package came today and was taking some test shots, and the triggers seem to work ok, the built is shabby and my 580 exii don’t seem to lock on the trigger, I think it was the weather sealing on the hot shoe which prevents it from locking. One more thing, the receivers doesn’t lock on the small stands of my Canon flashes, so light stands would definitely be required, unless you’ll have some one to hold the flashes for you when shooting.

Will be posting some test shots during the weekend and probably additional reviews on the triggers.

Overall I think this is a good and cheap way to start off cam flashing.

Anyway, I just came home from another EB shoot with some of the Doha Pinoy Shooters flickr group members, but I’m just to tired to upload the shots, so I’ll just be posting another shot I took a few weeks back, which I post processed using Scott Kelby’s tutorial on the Dave Hill effect. Been trying this work flow on some shots but I can’t seem to get the consistency that I wanted, I guess this work flow, or more so the so called Dave Hill effect is primarily dependent on the proper lighting of the shot, nail the lighting, then probably you’ll have a good chance at coming up with a decent and consistent Dave Hill effect shot.

Here goes:

Ciao!

Anyway, one of the benefits of photography is being able to meet new friends. Luckily one of my new found photography buddies works for an ad agency and offered to install photoshop cs3 on my mac. Some shots I processed applying the Dave Hill effect from a tutorial from Scott Kelby’s site, here goes:

This was quickly done, will try to do better this weekend if i’ve got time.