Sunrise in Dawis
What I know for sure is that every sunrise is like a new page, a chance to right ourselves and receive each day in all its glory. Each day is a wonder. ~Oprah Winfrey
All posts tagged: Davao del Sur
Lotus in morning mist
The lotus flower represents long life, health, honor and good luck. In Buddhism, lotus flowers symbolize purity of speech, mind and body rising above the waters of desire and attachment.
Stars on the sea
“Memory is very important, the memory of each photo taken, flowing at the same speed as the event. During the work, you have to be sure that you haven’t left any holes, that you’ve captured everything, because afterwards it will be too late.” – Henri Cartier-Bresson
Bagobo kids
“Making one person smile can change the world – maybe not the whole world, but their world.” Bagobo Kids Tibolo Tribal Village © Jojie Alcantara Foot of Mount Apo, Barangay Tibolo, Davao del Sur Taken in 2010 * * * *
Wandering Child
“I know not how I may seem to others, but to myself I am but a small child wandering upon the vast shores of knowledge, every now and then finding a small bright pebble to content myself with.” ~ Plato
Ethnic beauty
The first time I caught sight of her, she was carrying a baby. She said it was her grandchild so I was surprised because she looked so young despite the lines on her face. But this Bagobo tribeswoman up in the remote hinterlands of Kapatagan obliged me with such a genuine smile that even with freckles and no makeup, she is strikingly beautiful. I took this photo of her when she was looking out the window of her hut. 2008 © Jojie Alcantara Kapatagan, Davao del Sur
Great expectations
“Today expect something good to happen to you no matter what occurred yesterday. Realize the past no longer holds you captive. It can only continue to hurt you if you hold on to it. Let the past go. A simply abundant world awaits.” ~ Sarah Breathnach, Simple Abundance: A Daybook of Comfort and Joy Start your day right by flushing your self of the negatives. Then smile. Keep your back straight, hold your head high. You may be down right now, but a little push in the positive direction serves to kick start what can be a long, depressing, stressful day. You can get by when you change your attitude towards living each day. Live in a space of thankfulness. Others have shorter life spans, and fell short of counting their blessings. Took this photo right before sunrise (which only peeked a bit through heavy clouds) at Sta.Cruz, Davao del Sur. You can view more of my seascapes here.
Stepping stones or stumbling blocks
“Teachers who inspire realize there will always be rocks in the road ahead of us. They will be stumbling blocks or stepping stones; it all depends on how we use them.” ~Author Unknown Woke up at 4am today to travel thirty minutes to an isolated beach destination and welcome the sunrise. A drizzle came, so I knew the sun wouldn’t be peeking in. I concentrated on the rocks instead. Because of the slight rain, the rocks were quite slippery and dangerous. It was very hard to maneuver over them while carefully holding cameras and a tripod. These stepping stones became almost my stumbling blocks. Several times, I almost slipped and fell. It was a crazy thing to do, to struggle forward towards slippier, wetter, rockier areas just to get a vantage point. Like all crazy photographers, I wanted a shot that will satisfy me. But the journey, rain and all, was worth it. All I needed to do was focus on my goal.
There may be a reason why you stumbled upon my page today.
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.
Lake Rosario panorama
Best viewed in large image here “It is a pity indeed to travel and not get this essential sense of landscape values. You do not need a sixth sense for it. It is there if you just close your eyes and breathe softly through your nose; you will hear the whispered message, for all landscapes ask the same question in the same whisper. ‘I am watching you — are you watching yourself in me?’ Most travelers hurry too much…the great thing is to try and travel with the eyes of the spirit wide open, and not to much factual information. To tune in, without reverence, idly — but with real inward attention. It is to be had for the feeling…you can extract the essence of a place once you know how. If you just get as still as a needle, you’ll be there.” ~ Lawrence Durrell, Spirit Of Place: Letters And Essays On Travel Lake Rosario is situated halfway up in the Mount Apo Protected Area Park, at a higher elevation blessed with cool climate …
Live in a space of thankfulness
“I live in the space of thankfulness – and I have been rewarded a million times over for it. I started out giving thanks for small things, and the more thankful I became, the more my bounty increased. That’s because what you focus on expands, and when you focus on the goodness in your life, you create more of it. Opportunities, relationships, even money flowed my way when I learned to be grateful no matter what happened in my life.” ~ Oprah Winfrey
The one who cares
“When we honestly ask ourselves which person in our lives mean the most to us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a warm and tender hand. The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing, not curing, not healing and face with us the reality of our powerlessness, that is a friend who cares.” ~ Henri J.M. Nouwen, The Road to Daybreak: A Spiritual Journey
Embrace the calm
“This benefit of seeing…can come only if you pause a while, extricate yourself from the maddening mob of quick impressions ceaselessly battering our lives, and look thoughtfully at a quiet image…the viewer must be willing to pause, to look again, to meditate”. ~ Dorothea Lange Sunrise in New Argao, Malita, Davao del Sur Photography, Jojie Alcantara
Hanging on
“Sometimes you need to hang on to someone else’s hope, someone else’s peace and sanity while yours is under siege. Do it. Courage, hope, faith, sanity, peace…they all come and go. Borrow them from someone else’s supply until your own comes back in”. ~Linda Mundy
How to treat a difficult child
Today’s Parenting Tip: Treat a difficult child the way you would your boss at work. Praise his achievements, ignore his tantrums and resist the urge to sit him down and explain to him how his brain is not yet fully developed. ~ Robert Brault
Unexplored paradise and the Grinch
Sitio Colagsing, Barangay Tanglad, Sta. Maria Davao del Sur Photography, Jojie Alcantara Once upon a time, residents of Sitio Colagsing used to take small boats to get to the other side of town. Children ride bancas to reach school. With a newly developed road, they can now travel by land. Colagsing has a hidden paradise of long beach strip with sands like fine powder. At the end of the coastline, there is Colagsing Point, which has a small cave and a jutting rock the shape of head with a face like that of The Grinch. They call it “Lungag Bato” (Cave Rock). Excerpt from my article “Hidden Wonders of Sta. Maria”: There’s a tempting getaway from stress and urban hub in a matter of two hours or ninety six kilometers south of Davao City. All it takes is a bus or private vehicle for a smooth and scenic ride to a little municipality called Sta. Maria in Davao del Sur. How do you know that you’re there? After a panoramic vista of Malalag Bay over …
The Scene Stealer 