HONG KONG 2015: PHOTO + VIDEO DIARY

FOREWORD:

I apologize for posting this too late (more than a month too late which makes it worse), but here it is anyway and I do, in fact, have an explanation for that.

One of the reasons why this post was delayed to a later date is because of my internship. Not that it was a huge hindrance but work is work and I didn't want to edit my photos while I was in the office. There were unwritten rules that I respected. I'll have to write a different post about my internship soon. Well, I'll try. No promises.

Another would have to be that I spent the same amount of time and effort onto my video diary, which I made open to the internet a few days ago. I know it's not much but I tried to make the best of my vlogging capabilites. Sidenote: what you'll see in my video diary is only half of all the videos that I took while in Hong Kong. I didn't want to make it into a long travel diary so I only chose the best clips. Irrelevant information but I just felt like I needed to share that.

I tried to put my entire heart into these photos and wanted to show that by taking my time in making this photo series a little bit close to perfect.

Hong Kong was such a dream; I never thought I'd be able to travel abroad at this age but I did and that's why I appreciated our trip more than I have ever appreciated anything.

Believe me when I say this (because it sounds like a complete understatement): I loved every moment that I had in that place. Forget the fact that we got lost on our way to our hotel on our first and second day, that we weren't able to stay in Disneyland for more than two hours, that we all went home with aching feet . . . I still miss it all.

I still see glimpses of Hong Kong in my daydreams and I only wish that we stayed a bit longer. Hopefully I get to go back soon. I'll surely know how to go to places now.

There are so many other things that I want to share with you about our trip but you'll see them anyway in my photo series. So without further ado, here it is! I hope you like my photos just as much as I loved taking them.

YOU MAY VIEW MY PHOTO DIARY HERE.

(Update: I do realize now that there are typographical errors in my photo diary. So much for being 'a little bit close to perfect'. On the day that I planned to edit those out, my laptop's system got corrupted and it had to be reformatted. I didn't have the raw file saved elsewhere which was my mistake. Excuse me while I give myself infinite face palms.)

MANAOAG PILGRIMAGE PHOTO + VIDEO DIARY

Last Wednesday, a few of my classmates and I went to Pangasinan to attend the pilgrimage for the Our Lady of the Rosary of Manaoag. Our Manila to Pangasinan trip was three to four hours long so most of the photos that I took were inside the bus. Going to the trip was good for me. I needed to distance myself from the bustling city and it also gave me time to reflect on a few things.

Due to the amount of photos and videos that I have previously taken, my battery almost ran out of charge. The only outcome was that I only took a few photos when we arrived in Pangasinan.

Another reason why I took a limited amount of photos there is because I wanted to focus on my prayers. There were so many things that I wanted to be thankful for. I also wanted to apologize for my faults and for the things that I have done that may have hurt other people and myself. I expressed all my troubles to the Lord that time and I still feel that I haven't prayed enough for everyone, but nonetheless, I now feel blessed more than I was before. I can go on about the power and miracles of God but I don't want to make this post tedious as it already is now.

After mass, we had lunch and walked around the place a bit, taking photos and just enjoyed each other's company.

On the way home, we did karaoke in the bus and it became one of the best days ever. The following photos were taken using one of my friend's camera because I ran out of battery by that time.

All photos were edited using C-Fuji Superia 1600+ from VSCO film pack 2.

I also made a video diary of the trip, which is the reason why I ran out of battery so fast.

VIDEO DIARIES

After going through Zoe Suen's youtube channel, I was inspired to do video diaries. 

 (Just click on any of the pictures and you will be redirected to the respective youtube video)

For the first video diary, I had two Mondays wherein I was brought to school at 5:30 in the morning. Even the guards weren't there yet. Everything was blue and I thought it was beautiful. I saw how the sun yawned and stretched to light up the whole sky and called it the business part of the morning. 

For the second video diary, one of my high school bestfriends, Shaunna, whose photos I posted on my birthday blog entry, went to UST for her FOTOCOM class project. We rarely get to see each other in a year because of our busy schedule so I stayed until night time and just enjoyed the day by taking pictures and talking about "girl stuff". It's nice to have that every once in a while.

I had some MDP moments while we were there.

Well, it's almost Christmas! Wishlists are being made, malls and markets are now filled with people, throwing their wallets at things that they're going to wrap in glossy, christmas-theme paper, and there's the feel of long sleeves over our arms. The weather in here is confusing - from bright, sunny mornings to gloomy, dark clouds-covered skies in the afternoon. But it becomes cold at night and I love snuggling in my bed. Who doesn't?

Anyway, I have another video diary in mind and I'll do it in UST as well.