Ompo Odis, as she is fondly called, is blessed with 13 children, three were deceased. She does not remember her childhood, the war and the Japanese occupation. She recalled bits and fragments of memories that brought a sad smile or two on her beautiful face.
“One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.” – Henry Miller
“Travel changes you. As you move through this life and this world you change things slightly, you leave marks behind, however small.” ~Anthony Bourdain
“Life is like the ocean. Waves will try to knock you down and push you back to where you started but once you fight through them, the entire ocean is yours.”
“To me, photography is an art of observation. It’s about finding something interesting an ordinary place… I’ve found it has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them.” — Elliott Erwitt
“Someday you will find the one who will watch every sunrise with you until the sunset of your life.” – Unknown
“Children are happy because they don’t have a file in their minds called “All the Things That Could Go Wrong.”― Marianne Williamson
“At the beach, life is different. Time doesn’t move hour to hour but mood to moment. We live by the currents, plan by the tides, and follow the sun.” — Sandy Gingras, Writer
One day I spotted attractive wind turbines from the plane. At first I thought we were passing over the Bangui Windmills in Ilocos Norte, but I was heading for Manila.
“Be content with what you have, rejoice in the way things are. When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you.” ~Lao Tzu
“To take photographs,” Cartier-Bresson once said, “is to hold one’s breath when all faculties converge in the face of fleeing reality. It is at that moment that mastering an image becomes a great physical and intellectual joy.”
“I’m always trying to find ‘connections’ between things. That art is the juxtaposition of a lot of things that seem unrelated but add up to something recognizable.” ~ Pat Metheny
When it comes to street and documentary photography, I am a huge fan of Henri Cartier-Bresson, Steve McCurry, and the enigmatic Vivian Maier. Watching her documentary Finding Vivian Maier was overwhelming for artists like me, inspiring yet saddening to be discovered posthumously. We are so moved by the stunning photography that this quiet, reclusive nanny has sprung upon us unsuspectingly. And yet, where now is the privacy she so wished until her end?
Vivian Maier’s works are gaining recognition worldwide, yet the artist isn’t there anymore to accept or decline her fame. This very private person who grew old alone and died alone suddenly has her life exposed to the world, a past she so mysteriously guarded when she was still alive.
“Do not stop thinking of life as an adventure. You have no security unless you can live bravely, excitingly, imaginatively; unless you can choose a challenge instead of competence.” ~ Eleanor Roosevelt
“Opportunities are everywhere and so you must always let your hook be hanging. When you least expect it, a great fish will swim by.” ~ Og Mandino
“It is with hope that each sunrise I give her cheers her more today than yesterday, and that she will accept my messages of hope and love. This is for a very outrageous character who gives everyone around her a renewed zest for life just as she does.”
“There are no more committed people on the planet than surfers. We fall down a lot. We turn around, paddle back out, and do it over and over again. Unlike anything else in life, the stoke of surfing is so high that the failures quickly fade from memory.” ~ Gary Sirota
“There are times to stay put, and what you want will come to you, and there are times to go out into the world and find such a thing for yourself.” ~Lemony Snicket, Horseradish: Bitter Truths You Can’t Avoid Chanced upon this driftood washed ashore as I waited for my sunrise in Whitesand Beach, San Ignacio, Manay, Davao Oriental © Jojie Alcantara
Wikipedia explains synchronicity to be a state of being simultaneous; an apparently meaningful coincidence in time of two or more similar or identical events that are causally unrelated.
“Waves are inspiring not because they rise and fall, but because each time they fall, they never fail to rise again.” ~ Anonymous
“Photography is not like painting. There is a creative fraction of a second when you are taking a picture. Your eye must see a composition or an expression that life itself offers you, and you must know with intuition when to click the camera. That is the moment the photographer is creative. Oop! The Moment! Once you miss it, it is gone forever.” ~ Henri Cartier-Bresson, the father of modern photojournalism, on his concept of “The Decisive Moment”
The Scene Stealer 