February 2007 Archives

to webmaster Steve Griffith:
fr PJAMES

Steve, images are not longer displaying here on the blog - please help - I posted once today with an image, now nothing.

Yesterday, I suddenly was no longer able to post MULTIPLE images within the same entry, and I have always been able to do that.

Today's post below 'Rosas Family Shelter...' has a correctly inserted link to a hosted image, but does not display.

Today, no images are appearing after the correct link is inserted into a new entry.
...I tried to insert a sample link, but the post will not display with the "greater than/less than" symbols we use before & after an entry: img src=http://www.example.com/1234.jpg

Please text me on my mobile as soon as you can.
PJ

Olympus E-1, Olympus Zuiko 14-54mm f/2.8-3.5 Digital: 1/20s f/3.5 at 14.0mm iso800

...Rodelyn & Rosa sitting with Jordan their watchdog.
Jordan guards the shelter in case any non-invited 'guests' would try to break in from the street - Jordan's very gentle with the children - but you'd never want to see this dog mad.

Good job, Jordan.

More all this week on Rodelyn, Rosa & Edison's Family - they are all very much in-need.
PJAMES

Feb.21, 2007: Manila Philippines

Olympus E-1, Olympus Zuiko 14-54mm f/2.8-3.5 Digital: 1/250s f/4.0 at 29.0mm iso200

One of the few images from my visit to Rosa's Family shelter that day, that I didn't have to post-process much (the lighting & shadows were quite harsh outside that day) - and I think it's a beautiful portrait of this gentle & homeless street child, newly taken in by Rosa's auntie Josie.

pRice Webmaster Steve Griffith has been texting my phone all this week about how best to try to get a home for Rodelyn, how best to get her settled & back in school, etc (she speaks nearly perfect English, as her mother is AMERICAN & with a Filipino father and both her parents have abandoned her and are now in the USA) - so I'll be sure to keep everyone updated here, and I'll be posting all the images I have from the visit that day.

Sorry to have to repeat some information, but I really want the 1st time & newer readers who may only see todays post to have this important info. on Rodelyn - of course there are more images and info. in the postings below.

Many thanks for your patience, and for visiting today.
PJAMES

Today's Sunrise, Feb.27, 2007 - overcast skies without much color, high humidity & slightly cooler temps in the low 80's so far today.

Olympus E-1, Olympus Zuiko 14-54mm f/2.8-3.5 Digital: 1/500s f/3.4 at 45.0mm iso200

Shooting the sunrise & sunset always cools me out, clears my head so I can think better, and really fosters a very Positive attitude.
...it also gives me a break from editing the street shooting I do, and lets me come back refreshed.

Thanks for reading today,
PJAMES

Feb.20, 2007: Manila, Philippines

Olympus E-1, Olympus Zuiko 14-54mm f/2.8-3.5 Digital: 1/25s f/3.5 at 14.0mm iso800

The old condemned movie house the Family calls home - Rodelyn on the left & Rosa on the right after I was invited inside.

Mama Josie does the best she can to try to make this dark & dank place a home for Rosa, Edison and now Rodelyn, who was rescued from the street just last week.

Very difficult shooting here inside without flash, at ISO800 - I don't like using flash while street shooting, it always seem those images are too "clean"

PJAMES

Olympus E-1, Olympus Zuiko 14-54mm f/2.8-3.5 Digital: 1/160s f/3.5 at 14.0mm iso100

Feb. 21, 2007 in Manila, Philippines:

All Rodelyn's & Rosa's images from that day were shot available light, which was afternoon bright sun, but shadows on the sidewalk outside Rosa's shelter, so it really wasn't camera friendly at all - but I'm going to include most of all the images I shot those 2 days, including some inside Rosa's shelter (a condemned abandoned old movie house)

Olympus E-1, Olympus Zuiko 14-54mm f/2.8-3.5 Digital: 1/320s f/3.5 at 54.0mm iso200

Feb.22, 2007: Manila

I was very lucky to get a cheap $30USD flight on Cebu Pacific Airlines from Cebu to Manila - otherwise I wouldn't have been able to get there to check up on Rosa's Family.
...here a tarmac attendant takes a break in front of the huge jet engine on one of Cebu Pacific's brand new Airbus fleet.

I took note of the Rolex GMT on his wrist, favored by pilots an airline folk - you can spot one at a distance by it's signature Rolex Oyster bracelet in stainless steel.

More later,
PJAMES

Olympus E-1, Olympus Zuiko 14-54mm f/2.8-3.5 Digital: 1/2000s f/3.5 at 14.0mm iso200

Feb.22, 2007: at the airport heading back after sorting out re-ticketing issues, and doing some shooting in Manila with the Families.

Feb.21, 2007: Manila Philippines
Rodelyn & Rosa vending outside their abandoned shelter - it's money (litterally pennies/pesos) from this vending that pays for Rosa's Jeep each day, to take her to school. P20 rt, about 40 cents USD per day, to ride to school where Rosa is doing very well, especially in Math according to Mama Josie.

Rodelyn however, just off the streets is seriously in-need.
...shes 11 years old, yet she appears younger, and is short her age...obviously being abandoned by her parents & the poverty that came with that has already taken its toll on her - you can see some of the cuts, and scabs that have opened back up on her legs.

Olympus E-1, Olympus Zuiko 14-54mm f/2.8-3.5 Digital: 1/125s f/3.5 at 14.0mm iso100

Many Thanks for reading today,
PJAMES

Feb.21, 2007 Manila Philippines

Olympus E-1, Olympus Zuiko 14-54mm f/2.8-3.5 Digital, 1/320s f/3.5 at 45.0mm iso200

Rodelyn's images continue today - she's a beautiful & intelligent English-speaking homeless child from Manila who was left behind - homeless, destitute & hungry by her AMERICAN mother & Filipino father when the parents moved to the USA - and now Mama Josie (Rosa's auntie) has found her sleeping on the street & taken her in...she has nothing but the clothes on her back)

Good Monday morning to you all - I'm dealing with a headcold today, but it's not severe - so I'm just plugging along, like the SLOW internet here (bandwith is tanking today, with very slow pageloads thanks to svs. provider GlobeLines), and I'll try to sweat it out later in the heat here (it's very humid today & yesterday, and was 90 degrees by 8:30am)

Onto Rodelyn's images - all the current images of her & Rosa/Edison were shot available light, with hellish contrast in some images outside, so it was a bit of work to post-process them, and I'm still working on more, but please understand the difficult lighting conditions I was trying to work around, on the fly (I don't 'set up' shoots with the kids & Families - I shoot their daily life & routine as it happens when I arrive, so I have to deal with whatever conditions exsist when I walk in - the images are far from 'perfect', but they are very 'real'.

Her physical condition worries me - I know she has some rice at Mama Josie's abandonded shelter they all live in, but there's not much of anything else there for her; some veggies & bread - so I brought them what I could afford while I was there last week.

I also noticed many circular scars on the top of her head - she also has these on her legs, ankles & feet - probably common insect bites from sleeping on the sidewalks; it's common in these children and they scratch them so they bleed a little then scab over, etc.

That may have been the reason someone cut all her hair off recently - we laughed about it last week when I told her I thought she was a boy - and she instantly corrected me with "...I'm a GIRL..."

With all she's been through, Rodelyn is always smiling & laughing, and has a wonderfull sence of humor.

Olympus E-1, Olympus Zuiko 14-54mm f/2.8-3.5 Digital: 1/125s f/3.5 at 14.0mm iso100

Olympus E-1, Olympus Zuiko 14-54mm f/2.8-3.5 Digital: 1/160s f/3.5 at 54.0mm iso100

Feb. 20, 2007: While in Manila last week visitng Rosa & Edison's Family, I was also greeted by this beautiful smile above, and Rosa told me Rodelyn was now living with them.

We crawled inside Rosas place, off the street - and it IS a crawl through a trap door off the sidewalk, to keep out prowlers - and while sitting with the 2 kids & Auntie Josie, I turned to Rodelyn (I hadn't yet been officially introduced) & said "what a nice smile for a little boy..."

Rodelyn said to me with a smile "Im a girl..."

I was so embarrassed, I said to her "I'm so sorry - I saw the crewcut and thought..."
...Rody just laughed, and the 3 of us started talking and I couldn't believe Rody was speaking excellent English; I was absolutely taken with her polite & gentle manner, her near perfect grammar, and the face of a little Angel.

What she told me broke my heart, and just like when I realized for the first time Rosa was homeless & sleeping on the street - it was all I could do not to cry in front of her.

Auntie Josie whispered in my ear that she found Rodelyn on the street earlier in the week - that she was homeless & hungry and had taken her in, that she only had the clothes on her back - and that she really didn't know anything more.

With as gentle a smile as I could manage, I asked Rody to tell me about herself, and she told me:
* she was 11 years old (she's very short & small for an 11 year old)
* she knew how to speak good English because her Mother is an AMERICAN, and her Father is Filipino.
* she said BOTH her parents have left her, and now live in the USA

(I couldn't believe what I was hearing - my mouth almost dropped open - this beautiful child is homeless & dirty for the past few years because her Parents abandoned her???)

* she said that her Parents sent her to live with an auntie in Manila, but that the auntie didn't want her, &/or couldn't care for Rody anymore.
* she said she had never been to school - NEVER...English was taught to her by her American Mama, and it makes perfect sence, as there's absolutely no way an 11 year old homeless street kid could possibly learn 20pct. of the English Rody knows at her age, even with schooling.

* she has one shirt/blouse (the black one pictured) and one pair of short pants, and someone elses adult slippers.
* I didn't ask her exactly why she has a crewcut, but she did tell me she's always had long hair.
* I did notice some scarring on her scalp, specifically on the top of her head.

I kept my composure, and felt horrible, but I smiled and gave Rody a hug - I was amazed at her calmness, politeness & positive attitude....and that infectous smile of hers.

Olympus E-1, Olympus Zuiko 14-54mm f/2.8-3.5 Digital: 1/250s f/3.5 at 31.0mm iso200
* Rodelyn & Rosa's auntie Josie: Feb.20, 2007 in Manila.

I had very little to give her (the pRice donated money specifically for food & clothing from my friends which was aprox. $650USD this year, had been spent as of early Febuary 2007 - so those funds are exhausted)
...I quietly explained that to auntie Josie, and she completely understood - she knows from years past that I live on a very tight budget.

It did not make me feel any better.

More about Rodelyn tomorrow.
PJAMES

My current gear, photographed at my hotel in Manila, November 2006

My WACOM pen & tablet DID eventually become operational again, after all the January 2007 rain stopped (go figure, but it's true - as soon as the hot weather came back, so did the tablet).

The new issue is that my G-Drive 250GB external hard drive's power supply burnt out last week & is now completely out of comission, and thankfully I was backing up nightly to my Western Digital Passport 120GB external mini HD, so we're still up & running - I've got just over 43GB available on that drive as of today.

DVD back ups of the 21GB I've already shot happen weekly, and I'll be doing that tonight also.

The image below is yesterday's sunrise framed by a wild pineapple tree, from just down the road at my place - right on the cliffs above the sea.
...I've been getting up at 5:30/6am to shoot the sunrises with Coca Cola Steve - the mornings are calm & very beautiful here, so it sets the pace of the comming day well for me.

After the sunrise shooting & coffee with Steven, we discuss the days issues at our place & our plans for the day (kind of a staff meeting if you will) and I've been getting online by 8:30am.

I'll do some pRice shooting during the day while visiting the Families, and a lot of editing in Photoshop - especially the Manila & Cebu pRice images.

Olympus E-1, Olympus Zuiko 14-54mm f/2.8-3.5 Digital: 1/4000s f/5.0 at 54.0mm iso100

Regards,
PJAMES

Olympus E-1, Olympus Zuiko 14-54mm f/2.8-3.5 Digital: 1/400s f/5.6 at 22.0mm iso100

I want to appologise to all the readers & Supporters of pRice - I'm so sorry at not being able to get online to post regular current content since the first of the year, but it was out of my control.

The undersea Quake off the coast of Taiwan in late December 2006 disrupted all of Asia, and our tiny little Island as well; there was nothing anyone could do about that.

As time went by, other service providers in Philippines got SOME bandwith back, although the 'broadband' speed of 384kbps seemed to slow to a litteral crawl, and our little internet cafe lost a LOT of their business, as the only customers seemed to be local kids playing video games, etc.

As most of Philippines started to get a good measure of bandwith back, our service provider on the Island: GlobeLines - was STILL in the dark and could not seem to address the issue.

We all kept checking back daily & weekly, but we were still looking at 8 to 10 MINUTE pageloads for websites (weather.com loaded a sat image of a tropical cyclone in a full 8min as I watched)

THEN came all the rain in January 2007 - what a mess on the Island.....simple runs on the motorcycle for food & water turned into drenching slow rides to avoid a crash on the mud & dirt roads - so even if the bandwith came back at that time (it didn't), it would have been next to impossible to get my laptop in its non-waterproof soft case to the cafe on the bike, etc, etc, etc...

Yet I still was shooting & editing every day, I didn't let up there - so I have a backlog of new images & issues to write about, and it'll be a slow go getting caught up, but at least we're back.

Bandwith here on the Island for now is about 85pct of what it used to be and should be getting better over time, and I'm gratefull for it!

I have over 1,000 emails to try to sort through, so to everyone who's been emailing me worried - I'm sorry for the blackout, but I am fine here - I just couldn't let anyone know!

Much love & thanks to Steve Griffith - he's been texting me on my phone each week & I've been giving him updates, etc. - he's even the go-between to get messages to my Family in the USA, who I'm missing - especially my Father who is sick.

I love you Dad - I'll see you later next month.

I'll be back later tonight with more content, especially concerning Rosa & Edison's Family in Manila.

Best Regards,
PJAMES