KLM On Assignment: BARCELONA

Barcelona, one of my dream destination. It's a once in a lifetime opportunity. Here's my pitch for DPP and KLM's ON Assignment Contest. Hoping this will make it to the second round, shoot out. The link below is my official entry in DPP KLM's official forum. If you don't mind me asking, please click the link and leave a comment on my entry. 

My Official Entry Here

“Capturing moments by freezing time”. This will always be my inspiration for my passion which is Photography and I will bring this to Spain if ever I will be given a chance to travel there. I have all the necessary tools to do this and one of this is my camera. 

I'm Alan G. Echano. A Civil Engineer, an Entrepreneur and Photography as my passion. 

Ricky Ladia is my friend and he became my mentor in photography who molded me into a photographer that I am today. So, upon seeing it in his timeline in facebook that Digital Photographer Philippines and KLM were in search of a photographer who will accompany him to Barcelona, Spain, I get excited and I immediately look at the contest mechanics. I said to myself that I want this so bad. So bad, that there are times that I can’t even sleep thinking about this because this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. 

I love to travel. Me and my wife use to travel a lot before she got pregnant. But to travel with your passion, not thinking and worrying about anything else except to shoot and take photos, will be an awesome experience in Spain. I can shoot different genres of photography. Name it, travel, food, product, streets, portraiture, landscapes/cityscapes etc. I’m so flexible. You can leave me anywhere and I’ll be fine and I will try to give you the best photos that I can get. Spain is very rich in culture. Food, religion, architecture, environment and the people living there. It’s a dream place of destination for me. There’s a lot of story to tell. Give me the opportunity and I will show everyone and make them feel that they are also traveling with me through the camera and lens that I bring. 

Thank you very much for this opportunity to join this contest. To God be the Glory. 

PEOPLE AND CULTURE

ARCHITECTURE AND INTERIOR

FOOD

The Tale of Electric Line Men

(January 14, 2014 Blog from Weebly)

It's been a while since my last blog. Almost 2 years. It's also my first time to write about Street Photography. It was brownout early in the morning of January 13, 2014. I went out and as I look outside our house, I saw these electrical linemen doing some repairs and relocation of wires from an old post to a new post. I went back and immediately grab my camera. Didn't change the lens that was mounted in my cam knowing that time is crucial in getting the moment that you want to get from this scene. With my Nikon 105 Macro Lens mounted in this cam, I patiently took photos of these men working. But upon realizing that the relocation of wires will take long, I changed my 105 to tele-zoom lens. Below are the three photos that I took. 

After I took some photos, I went at the Kidapawan City proper to withdraw and when I came back, they are still there. This time I had my Nikon Coolpix P300. I always had this wherever I go because it's small and handy. I stopped before I went home and took one shot at them with the one riding a motorcycle. When I was home, I went out again to see if I can still add more photos and get a good composition. I saw the other lineman separated from others. When I saw the yellow hard hat and red shirt peeking on the leaves, I immediately grab again my cam and took a photo of it. I went back at our house and after few minutes, I saw the guy with the red shirt transferred at the electric post near us. I recompose again and took a snap of it. That was the last photo below and the black part of the photo was our canopy in front of our house. When they finished their work at around 12 noon and after some time, electricity came back. Its time for me to go to work and do some errands.

Off To Singapore

(April 6, 2012 Blog from Weebly)

We started our journey to Singapore with a breakfast at 4am at Jollibee near Southern Philippines Medical Hospital before going to Davao International Airport.

Jolibee, SPMC Branch

While waiting to depart, I just witnessed this beautiful sunrise. So, I took a photo of it while I was inside the departure area and while going to the plane.

We arrived at NAIA 3 at around 8am. Upon going to the Check-In counter for Singapore Flight, it was still close. So we just have to wait.

NAIA 3, Check In Area bound for Singapore

...and while waiting for the Check-in time, I had to sit on the floor and relax and have a snap shot of something interesting that I see.

My Wife and My Son. They are having a very comfortable and nice sleep inside a plane going to Singapore. My son slept during the entire trip.

Sleepy Head Baby Boy

We safely arrived in Changi Airport, Singapore. Now going to immigration booth for clearance.

Changi Airport, Singapore

This was the bus that I hired at the airport. This cost 50 Singaporean dollars and its a 12-seater bus. Our destination, Choa Chu Kang St. 52. I immediately noticed that the driver was at the right side of the bus. I didn't research, so I thought their car was just the same here in the Philippines.

Calija's Residence. We stayed in this place. A friend of mine recommended this house. The owner was our kababayan from Kabacan, Cotabato, same hometown when I grew up. They are so accommodating. As we arrive in this house, we felt like it was just the same atmosphere in the Philippines. TFC channel's TV patrol was tuned in. But what amazed me is, at 7PM, its still not dark and the sun just starts to set. See the window outside?

Calija's Residence

Dinner Time. We just walk to Yew Tee Point from the place we stayed. Yew Tee Point was located in a building where the ground floor was for commercial use and the second floor above was for residential. More on a condominium unit. We went to KFC for our dinner. I noticed that their Chicken Value Meal was not served with rice, but served with fries and instead of gravy, their chili sauce was free. Gravy cost 1 Singaporean for every 3.5 oz cup. We ordered the bucket meal. As I've said, in the Philippines, it was rice and in Singapore, it was fries.

KFC, Yew Tee Point Branch

After having our dinner, we went to a place to buy an EZ Link Card. They are using this card as payment for transportation whether you travel by bus or by MRT. After buying, we just loaded our card in this machine.

ATM and EZ Link Card Machine

MRT Station. Now after reloading and have a little walk at their MRT station, we can call it now a day and be ready for tomorrow's tour. And oh, No Durians allowed in the MRT. :)

MRT Station, No Durians Allowed

CHRISTMAS FAMILY PORTRAIT

(December 22, 2011 Blog from Weebly)

Christmas of 2011. My family celebrated our Christmas vacation in Polomok, South Cotabato. It's always been Christmas in my parents-in-law and New Year in my parents house. It's been our practice that we always do Family Christmas Portrait every 25th of December. On the 23rd of December, we traveled from Kabacan to Davao then Davao to Gensan and Gensan to Polomolok. We decided to travel this day so that it would be a total rest on the 24th. We arrived in our destination at 10:30 in the evening. It was first time in my life that I overslept and had a 14-hour sleep. I woke up at 1pm and missed breakfast. Since its Christmas, we have scheduled plans and parties of my wife's friends to attend to. It started on the 24th in the afternoon to 26th in the evening. I thought we are going to miss this family portrait because we planned to go home on the 27th. In the morning of the 27th, we decided to do what we have planned. It was a family portrait with an angry bird theme. I just set up a white cloth as a background, with two-light strobe setup and this was the result. I had a shortage of white cloth as the background in the lower area of the photo and the result turned out to be like this. I just post processed the lower part of the photo. Yes, its obvious. I just make the most of what I have. For me, I'm still satisfied with this result. What's important is we had a family portrait. I thank God also for this Christmas season because Jesus is the reason for the season. I am looking forward for another Christmas Family Portrait next year. Can you suggest what theme are we going wear next year?

CHRISTMAS LIGHTED HOUSE

(December 22, 2011 Blog from Weebly)

Christmas Lighted House

It was a busy Wednesday. A very tiring day. I went to Digos City from Kidapawan City to check for a project there. Then, I went back again to Kidapawan City. Traveled again to Kabacan, Cotabato for a store renovation project and went back to Kidapawan City. I arrived in Kidapawan at exactly 6:30pm. Me and my wife decided yesterday that in the evening of this day, we will go to Makilala, North Cotabato to see and have a photo of a well lighted house there. And so we did. We brought also our son because we know he will enjoy there. It was a house full of Christmas Lights and Christmas Lighted Jabbawockeez Santa. Even the trees have lighted lanterns with different colors. The house was different from last year. This time, more lights and there are lighted Santa Clauses dancing in front of the house. This Lighted Santas are giving gifts for kids who are present in the area. They are doing this every night. Everyone seems to enjoy what they have seen in this house. Some kids also are dancing with the Santas. I took a photo of my wife, my son and our companion in our house with the lighted house as the background. After I have done my part taking photos of them, I immediately took and prepare my tripod to do panoramic shot of the house and this photo was the result. This house was just beside the main road of Kidapawan-Davao route. It caught the attention of the vehicles passing by and they are slowing down just to see what was happening on this area and realizing that the activity that they have seen was about the spirit of Christmas.  When we were satisfied of what we have accomplished in going to this place, next is.... we went home.

Digital Photographer Philippines Issue #40

(December 2011 blog from Weebly)

Tuna Tataki with Asparagus and Whole Wheat Blinis with Smoked Salmon

Tuna Tataki

Whole Wheat Blinis with Smoked Salmon

It was July 28 in the afternoon when me and my wife Jenny decided to have a husband and wife bonding and to have fun. What we did was.....Foooood Photography. She cooks and I'm going to shoot the food. She decided to cook Tuna Tataki with Asparagus. She did all the preparation and food styling and here's the result of what we did. This photo was also selected and featured in Digital Photographer Philippines, Issue #40 in Your Images, Reader's Gallery Section page 51. The funny story about this photo was I thought the date was already July 29 and the deadline of submission was July 28. Upon realizing the date was still July 28, I hurriedly post process my photo in my personal computer and change the photo that I submitted in Digital Photographer Philippines website. The next day, to my surprise, one of the editors, Angelea Velasco, emailed me that my photos were selected as a potential image for DPPs 40th issue and we have to submit the high resolution version of our photo without interpolation and watermarks. Still, after I submitted the 3 photos, I was still clueless if it will be selected because it has to pass and fit to the CMYK printing. I emailed Nigel Laxamana, one of the moderators, just to verify if my photos made it to the final cut. He told me that it's been a practice to keep us excited as they don't announce the selected photo until the magazine was out in the magazine stores. Now, it was a waiting game. It was just in the 3rd week of October when I really found out that my photos were selected. Not only one, but two out of three photos were selected (Yahoo! The other photo was Whole Wheat Blinis with Smoked Salmon and Cream Cheese Mousse). I just said Wow! I immediately informed my wife after I found out that this photo was selected. She's the reason why I have a subject to shoot. Without her, I don't have a subject. It was my mentor Ricky Ladia who teached me how to shoot food, how to light it and how to make it appealing and make the viewer hungry. And I guess I did that. Thanks to him. But most of all, these are not possible without God. This photo did not make it to the DPP Magazine without Him. He is the reason of everything. It was an answered prayer. 

For this, I give Him back the Glory and the Honor. To God Be The Glory. Thanks for dropping by. God Bless.

Digital Photographer Philippines Issue #40

Digital Photographer Philippines Issue #40