angrylittleboy

I met Tony around 2 years ago through flickr. It was the usual fare at first: I saw his photos, I liked them, left a comment and he did likewise. After a while, I found myself asking him about photography. I had aspirations of being a commercial photographer back then, and I thought having someone to teach me the ropes would be nice.

Tony did that and more. Besides teaching me about commercial photography, he gave me valuable insights regarding the art of photography, its past, present and future. The talks even went beyond the boundaries of photography and, soon enough, Tony became more than just an online acquaintance. Tony became a mentor and a friend.

I didn’t make it into a commercial photographer, but I believe I got more than what I had originally hoped for. Maybe someday, I can repay him by passing on what I learned to another confused novice.

Things have been pretty hectic at the workplace. Right now, I’m also helping make segments for a new TV show, MOG TV. It’s being shown on TV5 every Friday, 11:30pm (shameless plug).

With the frantic schedule, photography has also taken a back seat. It’s okay, I guess, since I’ve also switched to film for the time being. A very good friend gave me his Nikkormat FTn, while a contact donated a couple of rolls of film.

Film photography can be pretty nice. You stand still and chill. You become patient, hoping to make each and every frame you take count. There’s no rush to take thousands of photos in a day, and you don’t take the pictures you make for granted. It’s almost zen-like.

I’m now on my second month and, so far, I’ve only been through 3 rolls. Take it nice an’ slow, I say.

Olympus’ E-P1 is now officially out. It comes in 3 kits: $750 for body-only, $800 for body plus zoom lens & $900 for body plus pancake lens. These are MSRP, so prices can be lower (or higher, depending on where you’re buying your unit). It’s priced as much as intermediate-level DSLRs like the Nikon D90 and Pentax K20D, but we can still expect prices to dip in a year or so when other manufacturers make their own high-end compact cameras (rumors have it that Panasonic is making their own compact micro-4/3 unit and Samsung will be producing a small, APS-C sensor camera a-la Sigma DP2).

Now comes the hard part: To buy, or not to buy? In my case, it’s this or a medium-format come next year.

More information can be found at dcresource and dpreview.