Down South

residents Gov. and Mrs. Peter Medalla were featured on the cover

with Dianne, Nimu and the rest of the team of Southern Living, Mt. Makiling at the back

with 3 strobes as fill, 17mm f:4 1/200s

10am: to balance the blue sky, I used fill for the shadowed areas

slow shutter to show movement, mixed lighting

I treated this as an outdoor shot because the huge windows and doors brought in a lot of light

For the cover of Southern Living, we featured Ayala Greenfield Estates in Laguna, a residence area with an expansive view of Laguna’s natural wonders (like Mt. Makiling and Laguna de Bay). My task was to highlight the vastness and nature-friendliness of the place.

Laguna is known to have rains in the afternoons, so when I shoot there, I try to finish by 3pm. I was to shoot outdoors and the interiors of a house. So some of my layouts were done while it was drizzling.

When shooting this kind of project, it’s a good idea to shoot outdoors first because if it rains, the skies turn grey but the indoors can still be considerably bright.

drizzling but the grey sky added a little drama

taken from the top of a truck

shot during a 2-minute window between drizzles, with 17-40 L on 1Ds Mark III

It happens often that you have set up your camera and fill strobes, and you are about to press the shutter, when it suddenly rains. One of the reasons I can continue is because I use L lenses on 1Ds Mark III. L lenses and 1D’s are weather-sealed. Me, if I catch a cold, I can just take some tabs, but if my equipment gets a hiccup, it’s not that easy to fix.