Anything Goes

Cebu celebrates this annual feast of the Sto Nino. I never watch the Sinulog because it’s crowded and rowdy. Heck, I only got to watch it once when I was still new in Cebu. People who are not from Cebu are always curious what it is like to be there during that day. After having experienced it, I never bothered going out to watch it, even more so any fireworks display put up by malls since they are frugal when it comes to budgets. Look at their fireworks display. Although after I saw Ayala’s fireworks display last Sunday night, I was pretty impressed. That was by far the best fireworks display I had seen in the Philippines (including those I saw on TV). Not that it was Ayala’s budget. Mitsumi sponsored the fireworks display, also the same sponsor as last year (thank you, sponsor!). The fireworks sequence was never a one by one extravaganza. Groups of them zoomed up in the sky and exploded. It was a great display of lots of fireworks exploding almost all at once. So if you are around town during future Sinulogs, make sure you watch the fireworks display in Ayala.

Before that, during the day I decided to go out because I recently bought an SLR camera and thought I try it out on the performers in the parade. Sadly, I did not get a photographer’s ID because since my wife did a fashion show in Abellana complex, we thought her ID as a performer was enough to have the same privileges as a photographer. Turned out it did not. So while waiting for my wife, I was stuck inside the Fuente Circle’s rotunda trying to take photos. Believe me, if you are keen on taking pictures, you better purchase an photographer’s ID next time. Why? You can never take good pictures of the performers because mostly all the photographers who have all-access inside crowd your camera’s view. Instead of you shooting performers doing their dances, photographer’s heads and bodies get included. I even saw some people wearing photographer IDs not having any camera equipment with them. They should be kicked out because they are only crowding. There were even some who took pictures within the parade route (foreigners!) and nobody bothered to escort them out of the area. This is sad behavior that I see will never improve because people do not have discipline and those who have authority do not instill discipline on others (makes me pretty impressed with how Americans act when I went there 2 years ago). I saw one instance wherein a lady pointed the guard to the other side of the road. She then walked quickly so she could cross it and the guard just pointed at her with a mad look and that was it. The lady won. The guard did not chase the lady and try to escort her back out. I also noticed some photographers carrying two cameras with expensive telephoto lens, which, I can tell their purpose for that was just to show off. One good battery of an SLR camera can last a few days and they had to carry two SLR cameras with lens that can zoom in from long range? Hah! Figures… The weather was good and good thing it did not rain. Otherwise, no one would have enjoy it.

Here are some photos I took. I do not like the photos taken during the night because I just used the internal flash (still did not know how to use the settings until last night).