Kristine & Ronan's Wedding

Yesterday, our friends Kristine and Ronan tied the knot. I was able to take some shots during the reception at The Mango Farm. It was fun seeing old friends and we were all so noisy again just like our good old Lawson days.

Here's one of my favorite shots of the lovely couple:

At the Mango Farm

Today, we have attended the wedding of our friends, Tin & Ronan. It was such a beautiful celebration and it was great to see old friends that it seemed like a mini-reunion.

Here's one of the shots that I took of the lamps lined up along a pathway leading from the reception hall to the gazebo:

Lighting the way...

More pictures coming soon...

Scott Kelby's 5th Annual Worldwide Photo Walk

I'm stoked to receive the following e-mail in my inbox:

So mark your calendars and prepare for this exciting event! This will be our second Scott Kelby Worldwide Photo Walk since my wife and I were able to participate last year. Hopefully, October 13 would be rain-free unlike last year when we were drenched due to the heavy rains even before we began our Photo Walk at Intramuros. We waited for the rain to stop but by then only an hour was left for the event.

For more info check out: http://worldwidephotowalk.com/

Flora Filipina Expo 2012: Landscapes by Lei (Picture Set #2)

Here's the last batch of landscape shots by Lei.

In summary, here are the highlights of our visit at the Flora Filipina Expo 2012:
- Great-looking bonsai trees (For me!)
- Pretty orchids (For Lei!)
- Excellent landscape arrangements (including a weird vine lady! see below)
- The light rain actually enhanced the beauty of the flowers
- Inexpensive entrance fee, P30 :)

All in all, it was a very fulfilling day as we were able to take lots of nice photographs. Thanks again to Lei for sharing her shots. We would surely be back next year!

ZEN BRIDGE 2, a photo by Lei Vinuya on Flickr.

FRAMED ZEN , a photo by Lei Vinuya on Flickr.

WALKWAY , a photo by Lei Vinuya on Flickr.

We were quite startled by this mannequin wrapped in vines. It's not landscape but still a worthy, albeit creepy, subject:

VINE WOMAN, a photo by Lei Vinuya on Flickr.

Here's Lei relaxing in a Zen garden after our photoshoot:


ME @ ZEN, a photo by Lei Vinuya on Flickr.

Thanks again to our viewers and hope you enjoyed our photos! :)

Flora Filipina Expo 2012: Landscapes by Lei (Picture Set #1)

As I've promised in an earlier post, here are the pictures taken by my wife Lei. As I've also mentioned earlier, I was not able to take shots of the beautiful landscapes at Flora Filipina 2012 since I've concentrated so much on the bonsai trees. Plus, I'm using my nifty 50mm lens so it was quite difficult for me to capture the whole scene.

But enough excuses already. It was a good thing that my wife was armed with our Nikon COOLPIX P300 and she was able to capture the beauty of the landscape arrangements at the Expo.

So again without further ado, I hereby present the landscape shots, as captured by Lei:

FLORA FILIPINA, a photo by Lei Vinuya on Flickr.

RELAXING OLD MANILA GARDEN, a photo by Lei Vinuya on Flickr.

OLD MANILA LANDSCAPE, a photo by Lei Vinuya on Flickr.

RELAXING GAZEBO 2, a photo by Lei Vinuya on Flickr.

GREENS, a photo by Lei Vinuya on Flickr.

More landscape shots in the next post!

Flora Filipina Expo 2012: More Orchids and a Creepy Vine

After some time, the rain had finally stopped but we still had to use our umbrellas since there were still water dripping from the trees. It was challenging but it was all  worth it in the end.

Aside from the flowers, there were lots of great landscape arrangements but sadly I wasn't able to take pictures of them since I concentrated on mostly close-ups of the bonsai trees and the flowers. It was a good thing that my wife was able to take shots of the landscapes. I would feature them here in a future post with my wife as guest photographer.

So without further ado, here's the last set of my photos from the Flora Filipina Expo 2012:

Creepy!, a photo by {israelv} on Flickr.

Pink Cacti, a photo by {israelv} on Flickr.

Tiny Orchids, a photo by {israelv} on Flickr.

Cattleya, a photo by {israelv} on Flickr.

Dancing Lady #2, a photo by {israelv} on Flickr.

Lavender Orchids, a photo by {israelv} on Flickr.

It was really a very fulfilling day for us at the Flora Filipina Expo 2012. We will surely be back next year!

Flora Filipina Expo 2012: Cactus, Flowers & Orchids

At first my wife and I cannot hide our dismay that it was raining as we visited the Flora Filipina Expo 2012. It was really a hassle as we simultaneously try to take shots of the flowers while holding or trying to balance an umbrella on our shoulders. How I wished I had one of those caps with a built-in umbrella. But after reviewing the pictures, we felt that our efforts were not in vain since the droplets added to the appeal of our subjects.

There were so many good subjects all over us that an hour was not enough to cover them all. So we just picked the best as we hurriedly tried to cover as much ground as possible in our photoshoot.

So here's my next batch of pictures. Hope you like them...

Droplets on Cactus, a photo by {israelv} on Flickr.

Morning Glory, a photo by {israelv} on Flickr.

Periwinkle, a photo by {israelv} on Flickr.

Hanging by a thread..., a photo by {israelv} on Flickr.

Dendrobium, a photo by {israelv} on Flickr.

Laying low..., a photo by {israelv} on Flickr.

More shots in the next post!

Flora Filipina Expo 2012: Bonsai Trees

After reviewing the pictures I took yesterday, I noticed that the majority of my shots from the Flora Filipina Expo were bonsai trees. I was so fascinated by these miniature trees with their sometimes creepy-looking trunks and branches that most of my shots ended up with them as subjects. How I wish I could have brought my Lego Star Wars figures. It would be cool to pose them with the bonsai trees.

My wife, actually, is somewhat amused by my bonsai fascination. She, on the other hand, concentrated on the orchids and the magnificent landscape arrangements since she had a background in interior decoration.

So here they are! All the rest of my bonsai tree shots in all their glory:

Bonsai #3, a photo by {israelv} on Flickr.

Bonsai #4, a photo by {israelv} on Flickr.

Bonsai #5, a photo by {israelv} on Flickr.

Bonsai #6, a photo by {israelv} on Flickr.

Bonsai #7, a photo by {israelv} on Flickr.

Bonsai #8, a photo by {israelv} on Flickr.

More pictures in the next post! Stay tuned! :)

Flora Filipina Expo 2012: Teaser

My wife Lei informed me about this event weeks before and we had planned to go there last Saturday but we were unable to due to some pressing matters. Today, on exactly the last day of the event, we were able to make it. Withstanding the hunger and the rain, we proceeded to the Quezon Memorial Circle. Actually before going to the venue, we were able to discover a cute resto called Sunglass Cafe and we had lunch there. Upon entering the venue, we paid P30 each. Much to our delight, there was nobody in there but us. We could only imagine the hordes of people who were there last weekend. Now, the venue was all ours with no potential photo bombs in our shots.

Armed with my trusty Nikon D40x with the nifty fifty lens attached, and Lei with the Nikon COOLPIX P300, we scoured the venue like explorers and took shots of the different orchids, cacti, bonsais and assorted landscape arrangements around us. It was pure joy! We never thought that taking pictures of flora was so enjoyable! After more than an hour, we felt a great deal of satisfaction as we stop to review our shots.  Finally, I took out my handy tripod so we could pose together in one of the beautiful zen gardens there.

Here are just some of my pictures. More pictures in the next post!

Dancing Lady #1, a photo by {israelv} on Flickr.

Red Flower, a photo by {israelv} on Flickr.

Bonsai #1, a photo by {israelv} on Flickr.

Bonsai #2 (Juniper Tree?), a photo by {israelv} on Flickr.

At The Philippine Blog Awards 2011: Photobooths & Memories

Finally, after endless busy days, I was able to sit down and blog about The Philippine Blog Awards night. Initially I had my reservations about attending the event but my wife Lei convinced me that we should go. Later I was also contacted by my friend, and fellow Finalist, Ry if we were attending and that sealed the deal.

So after Lei and I attended a wedding early in the morning, we just rested for an hour and off we went. We took a cab from the LRT so we won't be late. But still, we arrived 30 minutes later. We met Ry on the third floor as he was getting ready and together we headed for the Carlos P. Romulo Auditorium. As we entered the fourth floor, bloggers from all walks of life greeted us. We were impressed that TV5 and Smart were sponsoring the event. It felt surreal that we were there. Upon noticing the photobooth, we were immediately pulled towards it and eventually we were posing to our hearts' content :)

Later, Ry pointed out that there were some familiar faces in the crowd. Some of them were Lawson peeps.

We soon got hungry and we were quite disappointed that they were only serving pichi-pichi. Where's the BBQ? Where's the pancit? Where's the spaghetti? We thought that we were getting a full dinner :) #WishfulThinking

Anyways, we ate the pichi-pichi, which was so mouthwatering, that we eventually noticed that no drinks or even water were served. So Ry & I went to 711 to buy drinks while Lei waited in the auditorium. BTW, something funny happened as we went back to the auditorium and I am sure that Ry would blog about it so check it out at his blog at RyRamos.com.

All was quiet inside the auditorium upon entering since we were early and only few were around. So we decided to take advantage of the situation and Lei took pictures of Ry and I with the stage as our background.

We got excited as the program started. The thrill of the night was when we saw the URLs of  our blogs being flashed on the big screen as the names of the Finalists for each categories were announced. Although we didn't win, we still felt like winners since it was clarified that the Finalists were chosen among several nominees after passing certain criteria.

It was truly a great night for bloggers and a great night for us. As the evening winded down, our inspiration was at an all-time high and we can't help but think that maybe next year, who knows, we might win one of those trophies! :)

At The Philippine Blog Awards 2011: Teaser

The Philippine Blog Awards, a photo by israelv on Flickr.

Just got home after attending The Philippine Blog Awards with my wife Lei and my blogger friend Ry (RyRamos.com), who was also a Finalist for the Travel category. It was a tiring day after also attending two weddings but it was a great day nonetheless. I'm so sleepy now but I would just like to share my reactions to the Awards night. Even though I ended up not among the winners' circle, I still feel like a winner after being chosen as one of the Finalists for the Photoblog Category for both the National and Luzon levels.  Seeing my URL displayed on the big screen twice at Carlos P. Romulo Auditorium brought goosebumps. For me, that alone is worth it!  We were all inspired as the various blogs were displayed and the winners were announced and even my wife was invigorated to resurrect her blog.

So kudos to the organizers and more power to all the bloggers out there! More pix and more updates in the next post. For now, it's sleeptime for me.

Pix n' Toys is a Finalist for Photoblog Category in The Philippine Blog Awards

Imagine my surprise when I receive the following message in my e-mail:

Congratulations! Your blog http://www.pixntoys.blogspot.com/  is a finalist for the Photo Blog Category at the 2011 (Luzon) Philippine Blog Awards. We would like to invite you to the awards ceremony on the 3rd of December 2011, 6 pm at the Carlos P. Romulo Theater, RCBC Plaza, Ayala corner Buendia Makati City. As a finalist, you are advised to prepare a short two minute acceptance speech. If you are unavailable to attend, you can send a representative on your behalf. There will also be special raffle for finalists during the Awards night. You or your representative must be present to claim their raffle prize.

Wow! I can't believe that my photoblog is one of the finalists. To be included is such a big honor in itself! Can't wait for the results during Awards night this coming Dec. 3rd.

Source: http://www.philippineblogawards.com.ph/2011/11/30/finalists-for-photoblog-category-national-level/

My Entries to 11 Eleven Project

Last night was the deadline for the submission of entries for the 11 Eleven Project.  So even though my right arm is still aching from playing bowling, I still processed the pictures that I took last 11/11/11, uploaded them to flickr then finally submitted the form at http://11elevenproject.com

I entitled my series of pictures as Happy Weekend and I described them as pictures I took as I left the office on a Friday night on the way to a relaxing dinner.

Here are the series of shots. My first shot is a close-up of the F11 function key. Since it was 11/11/11 so I took a picture of a key with 11 on it.

F11, a photo by israelv on Flickr.

As I left my office, I said goodbye to the tools of my trade:

Tools of my Trade, a photo by israelv on Flickr.

It was a bumpy ride on the way to the restaurant:

Bumpy Bus Ride, a photo by israelv on Flickr.

But in the end, it was all worth it since I had a sumptuous dinner plus a refreshing drink as I relax for the weekend!

Dinner+R&R, a photo by israelv on Flickr.

So that's all. It's not much but I still hope to make it to the official 11 Eleven Project coffee table book! :)