Scott Kelby's Fourth Annual Worldwide Photowalk: Intramuros, Manila

To go or not to go?  My wife and I had been pondering that question on our minds as the time for Scott Kelby's Worldwide Photowalk neared while at the same time typhoon Quiel intensified.  We thought about how this would be our first participation on an annual event.  So to miss this would mean waiting for a year for the next event.  We also thought about the opportunity of finally having the chance to take shots inside the old walls of Intramuros, which had been our dream ever since we got interested in photography.  Lastly, we thought about the free snacks and drinks that would be served after the Photowalk.  I guess that last item sealed the deal.  We would definitely go, typhoon Quiel or not.

After enduring the LRT, the heavy rains and the taxi ride, we finally arrived at the meeting place at Casa Rocha.  Out of the 50 that originally signed up for the Photowalk only around 14 arrived.  We were quite sad that after waiting for so long to have a chance to shoot Intramuros, we didn't have the optimal conditions for a good photoshoot since the sky was overcast and the rain was continuously pouring which might damage our cameras, not to mention the strong winds that continue to threaten our feeble umbrellas.

But bravely we proceeded.  But alas, as we tried to take our first shots the wind blew so hard that our umbrellas turned inside out.  It was a struggle just to walk against the wind and rain as we tried to seek shelter.  Finally, we entered the nearby Chow King to dry ourselves while we sipped some hot soup.   After waiting it out for some time, we finally decided that it was time to go back.  We only had an hour left in our Photowalk so we had better make good use of it.

Here's just a teaser shot of Real Street inside Intramuros.  More will be posted in the next posts.

Cobblestones of Real Street, a photo by israelv on Flickr.