Everything Under The Tropical Sun

Happy Birthday, Teach! I know you’re on a plane from Thailand right now so let me be the first to greet you ONLINE. And as a tribute, I’m going to go on a “Teacher bashing time…”

A few weeks ago, Teach and I were chatting and he had me check out some photography equipment sold at a local photography store (The Photoshop) near our office. Since he was in Dubai, I was thinking that these things he asked me to check out were most likely cheaper here.

The great friend as I was, I called the shop right away to check on the availability of: 1) UH-200 Bracket; 2) 36″ Shoot-through umbrella; 3) 6.2′ Stand. Only the UH-200 wasn’t available. Instead, there was a UH-400. Told him about what I found out and he said that the UH-400 will do and he said to go ahead and have the items reserved. So I did.

He was trying to work out the payment so I gave The Photoshop another call if they would accept international credit cards wirelessly. They said that they had to physically see the credit card and that it couldn’t be done over the phone. So I offered to pay for the items first. I mean, he really sounded like he was interested in them and they weren’t really expensive so I really intended to get them for him.

He was really bummed to find out that I would have to pay for it from here and will end up owing me money. So I told him that I had a paypal account and that maybe he would like to send his payment to me there. He agreed. Gave him my email address and then he went ahead and wired the money.

After working the transaction out… I was feeling quite proud about being able to help a friend out… he went and said: “Advanced Happy Birthday, TEACH! BWAHAHAHAHAHA!” Stupid guy made me buy all those things for myself! ARGH! I really hated that he tricked me! I don’t mind getting gifts but it’s not the place or the time to give me any (it’s our secret why).

I got the equipment about 2 days later and true enough, his instinct to give me those things triggered me into playing around with lighting. Though I still prefer natural lighting, my fears in delving into the unknown has subsided. I’m still trying to figure out how to use it and I can’t pretend to know that I’ve learned enough to feel confident but at least I’m trying. Photos of my test subject (a.k.a. my husband) will be posted after this entry and the con turned out to be another lesson from my teacher and best friend.

P.S. Isn’t it funny that Teach was born on Friday the 13th and it’s another Friday the 13th… and he just turned 33 years old? Well… it’s just an odd coincidence if you ask me.

Such great news! For someone who first picked up a DSLR March of 2008, this is one incredible feat!

I don’t really understand what the whole article is talking about since it’s in Russian. To think he’s in Dubai but got published somewhere else. Isn’t that Amazing?

He showed me this particular shoot he did late last year. To be honest, I didn’t see the technical side of his shoots… all I saw were the beautiful jewelry. He shot a 5 carat round diamond that just made me sigh. So I guess he did his job right, right?

All photographers could ever hope for is getting to capture the “moment” or show how beautiful these products are (or even make an ugly product look beautiful). To create photographs that evoke emotion from the viewer is not easy without talent but with enough skill and knowledge, it can be achieved with great precision. Teach has both.

As I’ve posted before, I’m so proud of him. Though he doesn’t really know how to graciously accept compliments (I think he’s embarassed by it.), I will say it over and over until he gets comfortable with the idea that he is worthy of compliments… and not just in photography. For someone so talented, he barely recognizes his.

I wish I had a link to post of his site. But not just yet. His OCD coupled with Harry’s (the one doing the coding and stuff of his photoblog)… it may be a while ’til that blog sees the light of the web. As soon as it’s up, I’ll post a link at the left. For now… I’M SO PROUD OF YOU TEACH!

I’m so proud of my Teach. He’s one of my best friends and we talk practically every day. Sharing mundane everyday things happening in our lives and a week without chatting with him seems incomplete. To think he lives thousands and thousands of miles away and yet it’s so comforting to know that in spite of the fact that it years went by before we started chatting again (which is what we did when we first met: in a chat IRC chat room – embarassing to admit that now but it’s true), we just picked up where we left off.

He’s always tried to teach me things I wouldn’t normally try to learn on my own. He encourages me to do the things he knows I love and but just afraid to try. Though he is a very intellegent person, he’s a paradox on his own. He knows he’s smart but thinks he’s not smart enough. He knows he’s got skills but wonders if it’s just in his imagination. Among my best friends, he’s the most paradoxial (is that a word?) among them.

One thing I admire about him is when he focuses on something, he usually excels. He’s recently taken up photography (just shy of a year ago) and the heights he has reached is just simply amazing. His level of learning is so awesome that I believe he’s the fastest learner in the world! He encouraged me to take up photography as well because he knew that it was something I was into when we first met (but let it go to pursue my give-in-to-peer-pressure teenage life). Isn’t he just the best? He’s so supportive.

He would sound off how bad he feels because he thinks his photography hasn’t improved. I think that was maybe about 3 months ago… but now, he’s so proficient in the language of photography that half of the things he’s trying to teach me gets deposited in my subconscious bank. Something to be accessed when the need arises. He’s getting paid gigs and he’s not even started with his portfolio! Imagine that. He’s getting all these sophisticated equipment which is more than fine but the great thing is, he knows how to use them effectively! There are so many photographers out here who keeps buying expensive studio equipment, lenses, the best DSLR and they take horrible pictures!

I haven’t seen the complete new collection of photos but Teach showed me ONE shot he took and it was awesome! I’m so proud of him. But I’m not surprised that he’s doing so well. It’s always in him to excel and he has excellent focus. He’s reached a whole new level and I’m so happy for him.

My friend, Teach, advised me to stick to one topic or a uniform idea that will predominate this whole blog. I listened to him, took stock in what he said but it’s so difficult for me to do that!

Look at my header up there: EVERYTHING under the tropical sun… ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING under the sun that I could think of writing about. Isn’t it obvious that I don’t really know what to do with this blog? Yet it has become a part of my daily routine. I’m still trying to find out the right “look” for it since I’ve ingeniously incorporated a photoblog of sorts.

One thing that Teach told me that a blog is something that I should update on a daily basis. I reacted to that quite violently. But THAT advice I really listened to. So 5 months into this blogging gig, I found a routine that’s not too daunting for my taste and my Nikon D80 (here I go again with the never ending Nikon advertisement) really helped. If you’ve noticed, I’ve got a formula going here… every other day is a written blog entry followed by photo blog entries… PLUS no posts on the weekends (those are husband days and only belong to him).

This has turned out to be such a fun blog for me. Combining one passion that I’m trying to re-discover which is my writing and another passion that I’ve been discovering which is photography. Isn’t that simply amazing?! Something old, something new… Now if I could only find something borrowed and something blue… It’ll be like my wedding day all over again. Haha. Corny.

Anyway, I’m sorry, Teach. No single topic to predominate this blog because my life isn’t limited to just one thing. My life doesn’t revolve around this blog either… it reflects it.

*Humming-oh-so-merrily*

Welcome to Everything Under The Tropical Sun‘s permanent home!

Again, I give 1,000% credit for this running site to Teach. Update: I give 500% credit to Teach and another 500% to Harry (thanks, Harry! I owe you one). They worked out the back end of things and now it’s up and running! Woohoo!

There was some sort of problem with the mySQL (totally clueless on what it does) at one point last night and Teach had to enlist Harry’s help (very unusual… hmmm…). I don’t know how long it took for them to correct the errors but was told that I owe Harry a beer. I guess it took them a while. Hehehehe.

As promised, I woke up this morning and found that the site is ALIVE. Now I can just keep blogging… and blogging… and blogging. Thanks so much, you guys!