Basic photography techniques for newbies @prodigalconcepts.com

If you have always been wondering how to approach photography that's good enough to be posted online, but you're not confident that you will get some positive comments or feedback even from your family and friends then this is a good time to start to learn about the basics. Ground level skills of a soon to be photography enthusiast and maybe well get you started on the right track of becoming a professional photographer. The possibilities are endless... continue reading

Awesome Wedding Photography Compilation

Wedding photographs are almost always set in a romantic mood, always fun, sometimes mushy and borderline boring, but sometimes we get real lucky and stumble upon exceptionally interesting ones that literally jumps out of the box and get's in your face. Like these wedding and prenup photos I compiled for you continue reading

American Choppers Got Cancelled

I've been an avid fan of the Discovery Channel reality show about building chopper bikes called "American Choppers". As a fan I even featured their builds as inspirational in my design blog www.prodigalconcepts.com. I do get into an inspired mood while watching the show, and although I feel that season 5 and 6 jumped the shark I kept watching until their last episode for the Kobalt Bike Build. It's sad to see them go but it was almost painful watching them during their last 2 seasons so I guess it's a good thing.

I wrote a post titled American Choppers (O.C.C.) because I would like to share my fancy that these guys are creative with shaping metal and customization. I'm not a mechanic, I'm a web designer, but I was able to absorb from their work the importance of customizing a site according to the clients personality and how the designer is totally responsible for the entire look. So as a designer we sometimes must know when to say "NO" to what a client wants, especially if that would have a negative effect on the overall design which in the end will have more effect on your credibility and how future employers weighs our skills before they start hiring us for a project. As a designer we should know how to steer the clients identity into the direction that would benefit both parties.

Top 20 Photography tips on Shooting Macros | Digital Photography Student

Top 20 Photography tips on Shooting Macros | Digital Photography Student

Learning the ropes of macro photography takes a lot of practice and patience. But all will be worth the agony once you get the perfect shot that you can be truly proud of. I'm just an enthusiast, I don't think I will be able turn this hobby into a full time career, but still I take the time research the topics that would help me to acquire a better image. If you have any additional information that you would like to share just leave a comment here.

Freelance - de deux

Ok, so as usual it took me a month to get back on track, well not that usual sometimes it takes me more than that... I've been having the holiday blues that I couldn't shake off and usually when this thing happens I just wait it out until something knocks it out of my system. And along came Julie & Julia the comedy-drama movie my wife and I saw the other day... It's a story about the early life of Julia Child as a struggling cook in parallel to the life of the struggling writer Julie Powell who decided to start a blog to escape the mundane day to day experiences she has at work and life as an unpublished writer. She attempts to go through Julia Child's book "Mastering the Art of French Cooking", and blogged about her daily experiences while cooking each of the 524 recipes in the span of a year.

The rest of that story will have to be on a different entry (if I ever get around to it) since this article is the second part of my previous entry that introduces my freelancing aspirations. Now that I'm back I was able to populate my personal website *slash digital playground *slash online portfolio *slash freelance H.Q. First order of business after getting the site ready for some time now was how do I pick the topics for my content? Well before I started on the endeavor of putting up my site prodigalconcepts.com I was collecting links of websites I find or stumbled upon while looking for some tutorials or inspirations and from these motley crew I started with the first topics that are now up on my site. So the next thing in line to do is decide what niche I would like to be a part of so I can concentrate on that and get my identity and web cred level up. In addition I would need to showcase some of the best works I've done and start making new ones. It would also be cool to get some interesting testimonials from my past clients and hopefully they have something nice to say about me.

So to wrap up, I need to get new articles, update my work and get it out there... well that sounds easy enough, the realization of this whole idea though would be something else entirely.

Freelance

I've decided to get my feet wet in the freelancing business sometime ago and now I'm seriously considering making a career of it. But with the economy as it is it wouldn't be wise to leave my day job just yet, still I need to get the gears rolling and start taking action.

Segue...
"Now I am the voice" I got that one from Anthony Robbins, the last event I attended from my previous employer.

First thing I needed to do is get the word out that I'm for hire.

Easier said than done... A good way to do this is send out an email blast to all the people in your address box and hope they also get the word out for you.

Second thing, I need to have my own galaxy in the vast space of the world wide web and so pRODigalconcepts.com was born, I was planning on making my own theme from a basic wordpress wireframe like the sandbox but I fell in love with the Mystique theme by digitalnature, that I stumbled upon while browsing for some design ideas and inspirations, and it's one awesome and powerful theme I have ever seen. And my other excuse is that my current schedule keeps me from breaking ground on my own design plus I believe that everything happens for a reason and stumbling on this theme is one.

So I was thinking and many experts have mentioned for people to take you seriously you need to show them what you can do, imagine posting ads online that you're for hire and the only thing you can show for it is an email address from a public email server. Even writers, or photographers have put up websites for prospective clients to look at and a place to showcase their skills and experiences.

I have a whole list to go through, but at the moment I'm stuck here because I'm having some serious connection problems and until my calendar clears up I'm going to settle in making this post a series and wait for good things to happen.

A Singapore Taxi Driver's Diary

The verdict is in, 2012 is a cinematic feast, the effects comes alive like a theme park joyride, but what it lacks is original story, I told a friend of mine how I felt about it and he said what else can you expect it's a disaster movie lah, and in a way although I was disappointed with the story, I don't feel cheated even if a few of the last scenes obviously was shot with a different film quality. Is the economy to blame, did they exceed their budget or were scenes added at the last minute?

This reminds me of the guy who writes for the blog titled A Singapore Taxi Driver's Diary his heading/blog description caught my attention:

"Probably the only taxi driver in this world with a PhD from Stanford and a proven track record of scientific accomplishments, I have been forced out of my research job at the height of my scientific career, and unable to find another one, for reasons I can only describe as something "uniquely Singapore". As a result, I am driving taxi to make a living and writing these real life stories just to make the dull job a little more interesting. I hope that these stories are interesting to you too."

Like the movie this PhD holder greatly reduced himself out of necessity but still found a way to express himself creatively, and maybe not everyone can appreciate such an effort I on the other hand finds inspiration, to know that it's not a perfect world and there's nothing we can do to make it so but enjoy the ride, because after everything is said and done it's not the good things that happens to us which defines our humanity but we take the form of the character that rises in every adversity.

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The END

Grax and I will be watching 2012 later today, from the teaser trailers it looks like another "day after tomorrow" kinda end of the world as we know it... It has been like ages since I made a post here, mainly because being in a new job on a very different culture like Singapore makes me sometimes feel like my world is ending everyday, my wife often points out that this is all because I was spoiled rotten in my last employment where I have autonomy to every decision I make work wise. Being a foreigner for hire makes it a bit difficult to negotiate certain employment perks, mainly because I need to be employed to be able to stay here, if not I will only be allowed 30 days to stay as a tourist and will not be eligible for any part time or short term jobs. But the competition is stiff and the offers aren't overflowing so you grab what you can and hope for the best.

I've also decided to put up a new web site for my budding freelancing career, I bought the domain a few months ago thinking that I will have a few weeks free time during my transition period from my first job here, but I was temporarily hired by a client of mine to whom I was freelancing with at the time and I'm still with them. My side project is moving but sluggishly and with no definite direction or estimated time of completion.



I've been working on 12 hour shifts + weekends this past couple of weeks, and the movie well see later will be my only safety line back to reality because when your working all the time for long periods there is always a tendency that you forget what life is all about, "I work to live and not the other way around..."

Hopefully it wouldn't be a bust, I love John Cusack from the teeny bopper flicks "Sure Thing", "Say Anything", to the dark films like "Identity" and "1408". Anyway I just want to be teleported to a place where work is insignificant which makes me think, it would be catastrophic when the world ends, but when it comes and it catches you behind your desk typing on the keyboard inside your cubicle that would be the tragic end of the faceless man.

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Hold on to the handrails... of Life

With or without you life goes on,

it's like a run away train blazing in it's tracks,

you need to be fit, physically, emotionally and spiritually

to catch a ride, because life doesn't stop for anyone.

When you get on the train of life it doesn't always take you to where you want to go

sometimes it just goes to places insignificant to you,

because the train is not just about you, it's a collective,

it's for everyone

MacRitchie Reservoir Park

I knew that everything is going to be hard when we decided to move to Singapore, I just didn't realize that even recreation is going to be a pain. My wife Grax and I went to the MacRitchie Reservoir Park to do some trekking, we love to be outdoors every chance we can get, so last Saturday we packed some stuff and our trustee camera and off we went, first stop was to the Ministry of Manpower to file the documents for my work permit, then hopped on the bus to the MacRitchie Reservoir. We've been there once but did not stay too long, we planned to go on a picnic the first time but the local goons (Monkeys) tried to steal our food and it was too humid to do anything that day so we ended up at the mall, (-next best thing to being outdoors). But this time we came prepared, although I was wearing jeans because I had to go to MoM and I figure we'll end up at Ang Mo Kio Hub soon enough, Grax did bring me a change of clothes and it came very handy half of the way to the 5km hike it felt really heavy to be wearing jeans.

Although it was hard walking the trail and the monkeys were being territorial, we managed to capture some cool pix along the way and the experience burned some calories and a few work related stress for both of us.

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A New Beginning (Again)

After 3 weeks, countless applications sent, updated resumes and profiles from monster.com.sg, jobstreet.com.sg, jobsdb.com.sg to name a few then the phone interviews and exactly 7 personal interviews later I'm finally going back to work. I will be working as an in house web designer for a mid size company here in Singapore. I'm very grateful for the opportunity and I don't need to extend my visit pass or make an exit. This will be a new challenge for me and I know that it's not going to be easy, but I live for this kind of stuff, I worked for Royal Caribbean Intl. for 5 years as a deck hand, went back to school and after 4 years got a bachelors degree, got hired by Iwebmasters became a project manager for one of their accounts and now I'm in a foreign country starting over again.

From my experience I could self proclaim that I am the epitome of that line that goes "It's never to late to start over". But I guess it's because being trapped in a dead end career scares me more, being in a place just because you've stayed too long and you can never be anywhere else, do something different, reinvent yourself again and again. But starting over and over is not for everyone, there are those lucky few that finds their calling on the first try I used to envy those types of people until I realized that life has a lot to offer and that I'm here to try as much of what it can give me, expecting the worst but always hoping for the best.

I'm both excited and scared of this move, I'm looking forward to new possibilities and scared shitless of the unknown but one thing is certain I wouldn't have it any other way. Remember that scene from "Pulp Fiction" between Jules and Vincent, when Jules was thinking about retiring from being a hitman?

Jules: I'll just walk the earth.
Vincent: What'cha mean walk the earth?
Jules: You know, walk the earth, meet people... get into adventures. Like Caine from "Kung Fu."

I'm walking the earth, kind of in between retirement and questing for whatever is still out there, making an adventure of an ordinary day, a regular job in a new place with a very different cultural background. So ladies and gents I would like to welcome you all to "A New Beginning".

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attack weapons of choice

EZLINK - a type of stored value card that will help you get around. You can use it on all the MRT lines and all the bus lines. Just make sure you have enough credits until you get to your next top up station, or make sure you have exact change in your pocket for emergencies.

LAPTOP - we were lucky enough to get the ACER aspire 4930G for SGD998 its very powerful with core 2 duo processor, a 250GB HDD, 2GB DDR2, and a 1023MB NVIDIA GeForce 9300M turbo cache. So for us its a really good buy. I really need to get online here because that is the only way I will be able to find employment since walk in applicants are not encouraged.

PHONE - Grax was able to acquire a NOKIA E63 (their version of a blackberry) not only does it have a seamless design but you can check your email via wifi and find out if you have any new appointments or scheduled interviews you can also ask for directions at gothere.sg whenever you get lost on your way there. And of course receive incoming calls even on the go. LOL

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Singapore

It's Friday today Grax had to work, I arrived at the Changi terminal last Tuesday May 19th 7:35 in the evening. After depositing my luggage at our new place and meeting our new housemates, (mommy Susan, her daughter Gileen, Gileen's husband Allen and their little boy Hans) we went out for a neighborhood tour and had dinner at the nearest "Hawker" a foodcourt of sorts where you can find great tasting foods at very acceptable prices. The following day was our first day together since she left for SG last February, we had a busy day ahead of us, our plans was to watch Wolverine and cruise on the shops for things we need.

After breakfast we went to the market a few blocks from our place and bought fish, shrimps and some veggies for our lunch. While Grax prepares lunch I had 2 phone interviews for a web designer position both got my profile on monster.sg the Singapore wing of monster.com This is all for now more updates soon.

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Remember When

Remember when life was simple?
We hang out with our common friends over coffee,
watch a movie on tape, or dvd?
life was simple but it meant the world to me.

Remember when things got a lot better,
we were the best of friends,
I could tell you anything, and listen
to all your thoughts and dreams.

Remember when things became complicated,
it was such a trying time,
but being with you it didn't matter,
I knew you were the one,

But I guess you wont remember,
the day you broke my heart,
into tiny little pieces,
I'm trying not to, but I can't forget.

Forgiving is not forgetting,
I've learned this the hard way,
One thing is certain, you are the one for me.
But I will always wonder if I'm the one for you.

Only time will tell,
but It's too early for me,
I hope you can understand that...
Remembering is the only way for me to forget.

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James Sawyer : 1971 - 2009

Jumper - Third Eye Blind

Oi Soy, kumusta ka naman, umalis ka ng walang paalam.
Langya, tae ka talaga ginulat mo kami at bigla kang nawala.
Medyo matatagalan ka siguro, kasi sinturon ang ginamit mong
sasakyan patungo sa iyong pupuntahan.

Sana dinaan na lang natin sa inuman, kahit walang pulutan.
Di naman ako mahirap isama basta magsabi lang ng maaga.
Pero siguro matagal mo din yan pinagisipan, at kahit mapalitan
ng alkohol ang dugo mo di ka rin naman namin mapipigilan.

Saglit pa lang tayong nagkasama
pero parang ang tagal na kitang kakilala.
Ok ka naman kausap kahit minsan ang hina ng boses
na lumalabas sa yong lalamunan.

Salamat sa mga araw na binigay mo sa amin,
Mga laban natin sa DotA, walang sawang yosi break,
pagsabay mo sa pag-uwi kahit nauuna kang maglakad,
pang-aasar mo kay Dean at Jabong, at sa mga inuman sessions.

Di ko man maisip kung bakit mo nagawa,
Nakalulungkot isipin na ika'y nawala,
Sana ay masaya ka sa iyong naging desisyon,
ingat sila sayo at kumusta mo na lang ako kay John Lennon.



Elektra King to James Bond: "What's the point of living if you can't feel alive."

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