Spontaneously Renewing: The Simplicity of Ternate and Maragondon

One Saturday afternoon, I got a call to pack for a day of shooting.  Always wanting to try going off with photography enthusiasts and see them in action, I found myself in a car the next day, off to Ternate, Cavite. 

Having been to Ternate and Maragondon before, we decided to visit the Shrine of Andres Bonifacio as our first stop.  Built on Mt. Nagpatong, the shrine marks the spot where Andres Bonifacio was allegedly killed and buried along with his brother Procopio Bonifacio back in May 10, 1897.  The shrine has a mural, depicting the highlights of the life led by Andres Bonifacio, spelling out the word BAYANI.  It's a good sight to behold, and definitely worth visiting if given a chance.

"A shot of the muddy path to the Shrine.
We were already walking at this point."

Unfortunately, because of the recent storms that had swept the area, the car kept screeching from underneath whenever it encountered pot holes and extremely corrugated roads.  Determined to make it to the shrine, we found ourselves going out of the car to lessen the load (and screeching) whenever we encounter a path.

"Car-Mercy-Point" :)

Finding ourselves cringing with every screeching sound, and that terrible sound happening more often than we expected, we finally decided to finally have mercy on the car (and the owner :P ).  So we stopped, and turned back.  


Being halfway down the path to the shrine, we decided to make the most out of the place and see what was there to shoot.

I was amazed by how sensitive one of the guys was towards his surroundings.  What looked like mere shrubs to me was a haven of macro subjects for him.  He oddly had the ability of sensing the presence of the smallest insect, and spotting a bird’s location and even breed from the sound of its chirp.  Often I found myself staring at a leaf, with him seeing an insect from the same perspective.  He definitely opened my eyes to seeing beyond what’s “there”.

It was then that I realized that getting a great shot isn’t just about the lens, but also finding the perfect subject and getting the opportunity to capture it at its best perspective.

Not being able to see what he sees, I settled with capturing them in action.

The moment we were done, we were off to Caylabne for a sunset shot. 

Caylabne has a view deck right before the entrance gates where they said had a good view of the sunset.  It was around 3 o’clock in the afternoon when we got to the view deck.  Being early, we decided to check Caylabne out, where we got a couple of shots of the area.

"The puddle-stashed road the to the dock in Caylabne."

"Just about Sunset.."

It was quiet - not that many guests that day… probably because it was the rainy season.


Going around I found myself thinking, with the beach, pool, and the look-out point hut, this definitely used to be a wonderful place of lazing around and just having fun.  It was a bit sad to see the evident hint of abandonment to the place.  Although, on my opinion, there were still good spots for shooting.  

"Sunset from the Bar"

"A closer look at the rock formations by the dock...

Walking along the shipping dock, I found myself delighted to be able to capture this shot.  I’ve always been one to try to take images of things less noticed.  I’ll always remember this day as the day I found my heart – and in concrete!

** A snapshot of My Concrete-Heart **

A simple day –-
   spontaneous... 
       light on the pocket...


and one which absolutely lightened my stress-load. 


Definitely worth trying out...
   Experience "snapping" your stress away!