My smartphone photos

Update as of September 18, 2023: If you’re a high school or grade school student in the Philippines who’s joining the photojournalism contest in the division, regional, or national press conference, I’m offering two free resources to you : A. 900-plus interactive exercises on English grammar, vocabulary, reading comprehension, verbal analogy, etc (with around 200 megabytes total file size). The exercises have time limit and automatic scoring, with an average of 10 items per exercise. Examples of these interactive exercises are: Common English grammar errors: Exercise 01 (nouns - confusions of number); Phrasal Verbs: Expressions with Go; English Placement Test (45 items). B. 200-plus resources (JPG, PDF, MP4, etc.) on photography and photojournalism, with 600-plus megabytes total file size. To avail of these free resources, email me with the following information: your name and school; the name and email address of your journalism teacher or schoolpaper adviser (or that of your parents); the division, regional, or national press conference that you’re joining. (I’ll be able to reply to you within two to three days; if you don’t see my reply in your Inbox, check your Spam folder. Or, you can text me.) Atty. Gerry T. Galacio gtgalacio@yahoo.com 0927-798-3138

As I stated in the Introduction, I used a Canon AE-1 Program SLR camera to shoot the pictures that I used to illustrate the 40-plus lessons in photojournalism. (I used several lenses like the Canon FD 1.8 50 mm normal lens, Vivitar Series 1 70-210 mm zoom lens, and Vivitar 28-200 super zoom.) I’ve long retired that beloved camera, and for a while, I used a point-and-shoot, Sony digital camera.

Last year, I bought a smartphone with a 5-megapixel camera. But because of various reasons (no physical zoom, no control over depth of field, the “shutter release” is on the left side of the phone, etc.), it was only this year that I have tried doing some serious shooting with my phone.

Early morning in UP Diliman, taken April 2018.

I was a freshman in UP way back in 1973. Ah, the 1970s, those were the best years — AS, Main Lib, Vinzons Hall, the frat rumbles, Danny Purple, Sunken Garden, ABBA, etc.

Transient Beauty 01 (Rainforest Park, Pasig City)

Transient Beauty 02 (Rainforest Park, Pasig City)

Homeless cat (Rainforest Park, Pasig City)

Let there be light! (Amphitheater in Rainforest Park, Pasig City)

The Bench (Rainforest Park, Pasig City)