Ferdz Decena

Downpour in Manila The first Nokia N8 Gallery last month proved to be a popular posts here since it showcased the imaging prowess of the N8. It’s always comforting to know I have a capable camera in my pocket so whenever I’m out on the streets I take the opportunity to take photos when I see some interesting subjects. I think I’ll be doing a compilation of Nokia N8 shots every end of the month. This month I’ll be featuring a set of street photos that I liked. Took them colored but just converted them to Black and white via adjustment layers then re-sized.

Kar Grobl at Atok (Olympus E-PL1, Lumix 20mm, f3.5, 1/640, ISO 200) I recently had a chance to work with Humanitarian Photojournalist, Karl Grobl on their first Jim Cline Photo Tour in the Philippines. I find his knack for people photography impressive most especially that he’s a JPG shooter and his images doesn’t rely much on Post-processing. I have a short interview with Karl on Philippine Star’s Online Edition at Unblogged which I’m writing weekly for a limited time. At the interview we discussed why he chose the Philippines, his type of Photography and also some travel related stuff.

Mang Ramon (Olympus E-PL2, Lumix 20mm, f1.7, 1/25, ISO 1600, WB Auto) I met Mang Ramon , the owner of Rita’s Inn in Batad, Ifugao while he was grinding a few betel nuts to chew in a corner by the dining area. His humble and heavily bearded appearance was deceiving as one would just ignore him as one of the elders until he speaks. His English was fluent and had stories as many as the lines in his face. Before I left Rita’s Inn, probably the oldest inn in Batad, he wanted me to see his Ifugao House which he inherited from his father. It was probably more than a century old. Inside the elaborate Ifugao House are his collections of antiques.

Olympus PEN E-PL2 now in the Philippines Now on its 4th PEN, Olympus displayed evolution on this new M43rds model. The Olympus PEN E-PL2 is their most recent release which is by naming convention is a successor to their E-PL1 which proved successful at launch. As a user of the Olympus PEN E-PL1 for more than a year now, E-PL2 is more like a beefed up version of the E-PL1. It has the same sensor with a few tweaks so Image Quality is more or less the same. What significantly changed is the body. So here are a few things I liked from the new E-PL2. Also you can see a few hi-resolution out-of-the-camera real-world sample shots which you can access at my flickr account .