Paete Church in Black and White

"This is not a black and white world
to be alive
I say the colors must swirl
And I believe
That maybe today
We will all get to appreciate
The Beauty of Gray"
-Live (The Beauty of Gray)

Last Saturday, I attended a free seminar at the University of the Philippines by Dominique James and Jun Miranda where they gave lectures on how to take better pictures plus the usual sales pitch that came with it (of course, there's no such thing as "free lunch" anymore, only freelance :)

There's one question there that answered my curiosity where even my practice to take black and white pictures directly using my point and shoot camera was commented.

Simple rule: take pictures in color, process to black and white later!

just to show an experiment I did with images of my hometown church with pictures below:

Paete, Laguna's San Santiago Apostol Church

the marker reads:

"Paete was founded in 1580 by the Rev. Juan de Placencia. Its Stone Church and its Convent, built in 1646, were ruined before 1717. The Rev. Francisco de la Fuente, O.F.M. constructed a stronger church in 1717, which was later destroyed by the earthquake of 1880. The church which the Rev. Pedro Galiano, O.F.M. built in 1884 was destroyed by the earthquake of August 30, 1937."

the facade:



St. James the Great in detail (soft focusing also used)



the belfry



the southern side with the belfry in view



side entrance



requiem for the fallen trees

These children seem unmindful of the fate suffered by the trees felled just to give way for "cosmetic" purposes. These children, living in a town in dire need of trees, might also grow up with the thinking that it's alright to cut trees in the name of progress.

Enough rant for now.

*pics taken Holy week 2006 except the one with fallen trees taken February 2006. Have to admit these pictures are more appealing in large sizes


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