RELOAD, REFRESH, RESTART 020 – It’s what we do in our computers. So with life, we take a break. If all else fails, reformat. Sit back, relax and enjoy my favorite video reposts. 🙂 “How Deep Is Your Love” – Cover by Arden Cho, Heejun Han, Gerald Ko A tribute to Robin Gibbs of the BeeGees
RELOAD, REFRESH, RESTART 019 – It’s what we do in our computers. So with life, we take a break. If all else fails, reformat. Sit back, relax and enjoy my favorite video reposts. 🙂 Boy: “Whenever I miss my mom, I sing this song. “ Judge: “Can you tell us where your mom is?” Boy: “Mom is in the heaven…“ Copied from two youtube posts, one is of a story (I left some grammatical errors as is) about this incredible kid who sang for his mom during an audition in China’s Got Talent, and the other was a video I had to find that has an English subtitle on it. How he sang the song was unforgettable. Read on… (um, do you have a hanky with you?) “A 12-year-old Mongolian boy- Uudam (Wudamu in Chinese) — who lost his parents at the age of 8 in a road accident — singing the song-“Mother in the Dream” to his mother in heaven. He seldom talk about his story but when he miss his mother, he will …
“Landscapes of great wonder and beauty lie under our feet and all around us. They are discovered in tunnels in the ground, the heart of flowers, the hollows of trees, fresh-water ponds, seaweed jungles between tides, and even drops of water. Life in these hidden worlds is more startling in reality than anything we can imagine. How could this earth of ours, which is only a speck in the heavens, have so much variety of life, so many curious and exciting creatures?” ~ Walt Disney Company Seven Falls Number 2, the highest and most popular in the seven falls of Lake Sebu, South Cotabato This particular image is composed of three photos stitched together for a panoramic vista, which does not give justice to its immense beauty which is in reality, enchanting, serene and magical. PHOTOGRAPHY TIP: When creating panoramic shots, try to shoot several images in portrait mode, and not always in landscape (horizontal) mode. Lake Sebu in South Cotabato, one of the top tourism destinations of Region 12, is famous for its three …
“When we’re incomplete, we’re always searching for somebody to complete us. When, after a few years or a few months of a relationship, we find that we’re still unfulfilled, we blame our partners and take up with somebody more promising. This can go on and on–series polygamy–until we admit that while a partner can add sweet dimensions to our lives, we, each of us, are responsible for our own fulfillment. Nobody else can provide it for us, and to believe otherwise is to delude ourselves dangerously and to program for eventual failure every relationship we enter.” ~ Tom Robbins Catching the sunrise in Dahican Beach, Mati, Davao Oriental (with my sister as my model) Remembering Jerry Mcguire’s classic lines, “You complete me,” I honestly think otherwise, much as it sounds so romantic and cheesy. I feel that a person has to achieve a substantial amount of self-esteem and fulfillment in order to be able to manage a healthy relationship with others. However, a person should also be able to accept contentment with being alone and …
The 5-star Tanjung Rhu Resort, located at the northernmost tip of Langkawi Island, is spread over 1,100 acres of sprawling rainforest, healthy mangroves, rolling limestone, and a breathtaking private 2.5 km beach that may well be unmatched anywhere else in the islands. This beautiful long coastline of white sand was included in the National Geographic’s list of the World’s Ten Most Beautiful Beaches.
My photography is simple in composition, more often emotional and dramatic, but easy on the eyes. Because of my orientation as a painter and artist, I view each capture as evocative scenes I want to brush on canvas. The changing header you see above are snippets of my life as a photojournalist all these years.
“To find the universal elements enough; to find the air and the water exhilarating; to be refreshed by a morning walk or an evening saunter… to be thrilled by the stars at night; to be elated over a bird’s nest or a wildflower in spring – these are some of the rewards of the simple life.” ― John Burroughs
“Sometimes our light goes out, but is blown again into instant flame by an encounter with another human being.” ― Albert Schweitzer He stepped into my frame by chance. It was a wonderful moment, because he completed my picture. Inside Angkor Wat, passing through ancient walls and corridors…and catching a monk by surprise
“Pain is a pesky part of being human, I’ve learned it feels like a stab wound to the heart, something I wish we could all do without, in our lives here. Pain is a sudden hurt that can’t be escaped. But then I have also learned that because of pain, I can feel the beauty, tenderness, and freedom of healing. Pain feels like a fast stab wound to the heart. But then healing feels like the wind against your face when you are spreading your wings and flying through the air! We may not have wings growing out of our backs, but healing is the closest thing that will give us that wind against our faces.” ~ C. JoyBell C. For friends who are in the healing process at this moment, hurting from betrayal, complications of love, and shattered trust… fly free. Go and find your wings. Let the wind take you to places where you can heal, feel it fan your faces once more, and not be bogged down by your miserable burden. A …
“Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.” ~Mother Teresa Try to do small things for others without waiting for big rewards. It works wonders for me. Eden Nature Park, Davao City © Jojie F. Alcantara
“Every person passing through this life will unknowingly leave something and take something away. Most of this “something” cannot be seen or heard or numbered or scientifically detected or counted. It’s what we leave in the minds of other people and what they leave in ours. Memory. The census doesn’t count it. Nothing counts without it.” ― Robert Fulghum, All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten
“Change will not come if we wait for some other person, or if we wait for some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.” ~ Barack Obama Early morning walk and a sunrise shoot. Hypnotized by the swirl of red-orange tones and yellow skies, I stepped lower with my tripod and reached down the waves, trying to capture the solitude of the replica of the Little Mermaid. At break of dawn, people started to arrive in the park, jogging, picnicking, doing aerobics, walking. She will be a little less lonely, for someone is bound to notice her. But in her misfortune and enchanted state, she continues to sit there, waiting. Baywalk, Times Beach, Matina, Davao City
“Sometimes beautiful things come into our lives out of nowhere. We can’t always understand them, but we have to trust in them. I know you want to question everything, but sometimes it pays to just have a little faith.” ~ Lauren Kate, Torment
“We too are called to withdraw at certain intervals into deeper silence and aloneness with God, together as a community as well as personally; to be alone with Him — not with our books, thoughts, and memories but completely stripped of everything — to dwell lovingly in His presence, silent, empty, expectant, and motionless. We cannot find God in noise or agitation.” ~ Mother Teresa, In the Heart of the World: Thoughts, Stories and Prayers Deep inside the elaborate temple ruins of majestic Angkor Wat, I found people in zen-like composure, individuals who opted to stay away from the crowd, find their own quiet corners to meditate, and suck in all the spiritual energy these ancient walls have accumulated through time. Whatever it is, it must be a positive force, because we each end up going out of the archaeological wonders in a state of serenity, submission, and mystic calm– somewhat like a recharging of life. Okay, okay, she did remind me of that morbid character from “Drag Me to Hell”, so I was a …
“We are not going to change the whole world, but we can change ourselves and feel free as birds. We can be serene even in the midst of calamities and, by our serenity, make others more tranquil. Serenity is contagious. If we smile at someone, he or she will smile back. And a smile costs nothing. We should plague everyone with joy. If we are to die in a minute, why not die happily, laughing?” ~ Swami Satchidananda, Yoga Sutras of Patanjali Another serene moment revisiting the Angkor Wat in Siem Reap, Cambodia, April 2012 © Jojie Alcantara
“Life is like the river, sometimes it sweeps you gently along and sometimes the rapids come out of nowhere.” ― Emma Smith
“Motherhood is a choice you make everyday, to put someone else’s happiness and well-being ahead of your own, to teach the hard lessons, to do the right thing even when you’re not sure what the right thing is…and to forgive yourself, over and over again, for doing everything wrong.”― Donna Ball, At Home on Ladybug Farm
The Scene Stealer 