Birthday thoughts

It’s my birthday today.

I got myself a new Canon EOS 40D as a birthday gift. It’s one of Canon’s latest salvos in the ongoing digital camera war among the top brands (Nikon, Pentax, Olympus, Sony, etc.) released mid-September 2007. I’m aware it’s a powerful machine and a pretty intimidating one. There’s a saying among serious photographers which goes, “Hinde nasa pana yan; nasa pumapana yan!” I’m sorry but I’ll have to disagree after a cursory examinaton of the new toy - may sinasabi rin ang pana! Now, if only I’m able to digest this tiny but complicated owner’s manual…

I remember when I was young and upon opening drawers of my parents I’d come across handwritten notes and small journals in tiny spring-bound notebooks containing entries like, “pamasahe - 10 centavos, viand -.75, lugit 175, etc…” No, they didn’t have computers then; everything was done manually, handwritten.

They were recordings. Valuable records. And the photos.

The photos were sepia, faded. I used to wonder why all their pictures had a certain “look” in them. My venture was it was a combination of both fashion and the state of camera and photo printing technology prevailing then. (Freeze! Hold it! Don’t move! *puff!* there goes the flash!)

Now we have digital photo recording technology. Records. They momentarily freeze time. (To the photographer, it’s a tool which enables him to re-live a moment - a widget to combat the passage of unmerciful time. Ain’t that great?)

I had a cousin who never wore a wristwatch. When asked why, the standard reply was, “I don’t allow myself to be a slave of time.”

Time as a measure of passage, is man-made. So are birthdays. But…

We went to Hinunangan, Southern Leyte yesterday, passing through the new Abuyog-Silago road. Here are photos, nay, records of young trees in a newly “reforested” area, taken while I was driving (the photos are not sharp - sorry, gee, we were cruising!)

I’m certain if you check the place out 20 years from now - these trees will be mighty tall and strong. Mother Nature would surely be proud then.

Updated March 30, 2008: View my post on Silago, Southern Leyte posted today.

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~ by gerryruiz on 2 October 2007.