Yay to Instagram and Live Writer

I had a year of painstakingly posting my blogs thru WordPress web editor and iOS app. Switching from edit to preview mode is no fun in these platforms. Recently, I discovered that Microsoft can ease my life of creating blogs thru its desktop application Live Writer which is part of the Windows Live Essentials suite.

Anyway, in case you haven’t seen my latest Instagram pictures, for this post I am showcasing some of my noteworthy shots.

My babies. Chichi and Gigi are the real royalties in the house. They are provided shelter, food and love. And all they need to do is be cute and adoring.

Chichi the conqueror. I am living in an open concept designed house. And here is Chichi manning every rooms in the second floor.

No mosquito bites!

 

The Majestic Atrium + scenes from the Triangle

My mom and I went to the Atrium of Makati early April. Lucky that we brought a camera and took the opportunity to capture the majestic interior of the building. After a while, we strolled around the Ayala Triangle. Photos here are compressed to ease download – apologies in advance ( o _ o )’. Nevertheless, I hope you like it!

Complete photos are available at the end of this post.

Financial hub. Located at the business district of Makati, the Atrium has witnessed the growth of the country’s economy. It houses several government agencies, banks and other financial institutions that service millions of workers in the metro.

Eight story wonder. The exterior of the building may be simple but the interior defines its character. With a few steps going in you’ll be greeted with the grand atrium naturally lit by the sun.

Futuristic lift. To exploit more of the captivating scenes inside, visitors have the option to take the escalators on both ends or take this elevator enclosed in glass.

 

Blogged from my Word Press app on Windows 8

Hooray for Windows 8! I just installed the Windows 8 Consumer Preview on my other hard drive. It took some time to complete the whole set up but in the end the rich user experience is worth it. This is really an operating system “re-imagined.”

 

I’ll be needing more time to bond with the Metro and the promising apps from the Store. So this it for now.

 

You can get the Consumer Preview from the Microsoft site.

 

 

While below are the useful articles to give you some guidelines on installing the Win8:

 

Link to Win8: http://​windows.microsoft.com/​en-US/windows-8/consumer-preview
 
MUST READS:
 
Building Win8: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/​b8/archive/2011/09/16/​running-windows-8-developer​-preview-in-a-virtual-envi​ronment.aspx
 
For DUAL BOOT here is the article: For http://lifehacker.com/​5840387/​how-to-dual+boot-windows-7-​and-windows-8-side-by-side

 

Market Affair

One weekend my parents and I went to Antipolo church in the Rizal province. The place is so different now. It used to be chaotic because vendors were scattered across the facade of the church. But now it got more organized because vendors are strategically located at the rear side of the lot.

I didn’t take pictures of the church, its interiors or the main altar since these images are wildly celebrated from other photography sites or someone’s album on any social media you can find. What I did is to capture some stuffs that may seem ordinary for a local but quite interesting to the outsiders. Again, thanks to art filters for helping me tweak bland images from my point-and-shoot camera and turn these to impressive stills.

And I still don’t know the name of this flowering tree! The back of the church’s altar is open to the public. The roof of the tent placed at the entrance leading to the back of the altar got these fallen flowers from a tree beside it. Nature’s mess sometimes looks so lovely specially when it includes colorful flowers or dried leaves.

Black candles. I don’t know the symbol of black candles but devotees use this to recite the prayer posted on that wall.

The mini altar before the main altar. These rituals really involve many candle lighting. Glassed encased candles are used to light the mini altar before we were led to the back of the main altar.

The mini altar. I guess the prayer posted on the wall outside and on this altar are the same. But I wonder why my parents got to do this prayer twice. I love how the lights embellished this altar though.

 

Market Affair ~Minus One a.k.a. Teaser Photos~

You know those record albums that have a separate disc containing instrumentals or background music of the original tracks? Well I’m doing that same thing with my next blog post. But this time instead of music I am doing a release of the “instrumentals” of some pictures thru black and white.

I feel the need of showing these B&W photos prior to the actual post because I think these filtered materials need a shining moment of its own!

Like what I said from my previous post, I began appreciating photo apps with art filters. There is a right filter for every photo. Finding the best one is the real experience of creating a visual expression of your own.

Enjoy these artsy B&W pictures. (^_−)−☆

 

Confession: Beginning to love art filters

Remember when I used to say I prefer not to use art filters in my photographs? Well, that changed.

Forgive me for not keeping my word but I said that because I was not exposed to this and went to my judgement quite easily. So here I am shamefully admitting that I am beginning to take interest with art filters available from Instagram, Leme Leme, Pixlromatic and etc.

Also, I haven’t bought my dream compact D-SLR yet. So I think this art filter will fill the void of my longing to have a nice camera. One thing I learned though is to use high resolution images when using filters. Pictures from the iPad2 is plain crappy.

My photographs for this post came from my Instagram (ID: mynotsoopenbook) and the pictures of my family’s typical Sunday when we have an energy to spend the day at the Mall of Asia.

My first Instagram showcasing my “Disharmony Painting”. 

My Timex watch. I bought this because it got a strap which I can replace easily. However, I haven’t found a Timex boutique shop that sells a variety of straps over the counter. You can get another strap of different color by order basis. Bummer.

A 24K gold nail cutter? I doubt it. I think it is made of brass.

Woolly Wonder’s Dusters. Made from lamb’s wool. Simple vanity.

 

Into the future: somehow I wish I get reborn.

One day, I was “flipping” through Flipboard and came across an article featuring Corning‘s vision of the future. Corning is the company that created the Gorilla Glass which made iPhone, iPad and other Apple related products sturdier. It includes a video that shows how Touch Technology will surround our life in the future. Most of the technologies found in the material are already being used but not on a grander scale as shown. I am already aware to some of these visions because these are already being pitched by many IT companies such as Microsoft. Here is the video. Enjoy!

After watching the video, the first thing that came to my mind was I wished that I get reborn on the day these technologies will be fully integrated in our lives. Somehow you get the feeling of excitement. I really hope that we get to enjoy these technologies as soon as possible. By the way, the ultimate technologies I am rooting for are commercial spaceships to other galaxies, flying cars and teleportation. Now that is wishful thinking!

 

Caterpillar

I just realized yesterday that I am not a big fan of “art filters” from which you can add distinct looks and borders in a picture. I just rely heavily to the auto correct functionality of Microsoft’s Picture Manager to make the blunt colors of my raw photo stand out.

What got me into photography in the first place is that I love the whole choreography I do when I’m finding the right angles and “artsy” perspectives of a very ordinary object. My goal is to present this mediocre object in many surprising ways. I also love the sharpness the camera can produce specially on a close shot. So editing a photo to make it appear artistic is not my thing. I just like it raw and taken with manual labor. You either took a mediocre, bad or a great shot.

There’s no problem with using a point and shoot camera. But it would be better to have a D-SLR. I’m still looking in the market. I always consider this thought: “will this new camera be replaced with a better one?” This is the same feeling I always get when I’m looking for a PC or a cellphone. I just hate the feeling of regret when some months later there will be a better gadget out in the market. Oh yeah, first world problems.

I got bored during my long break and decided to focus with this stranger in the terrace. The only edit here is the auto correct. I don’t have Photoshop and all pictures in my blog are either unedited, cropped, or enhanced by Microsoft Picture Manager.

 

 

Brother and Sister

I am still dying of envy because my sister spent the holidays in Mexico with our eldest sibling. I laughed when I saw this photo with her feet laid lazily across the sands of the Pacific. It seems she wanted a version of my “Lazy Feet” picture.

The Lazy Feet ~Mexico Version~

And the original lazy feet Palawan Version.

Lazy Feet ~Palawan Version~

 

Addictus To Smintus

Got a SLOW moment realizing that SMINT came from MINTS??? lol ( T ~ T )

Addicted to Smints over Double Mint