The Digital Creativity Niche

A week ago exactly, I was in photography paradise–that is if shooting tropical spots is your thing. In the past, I’d think only of Boracay when they say “nice beaches” but the weekend at Panglao, Bohol made me think otherwise. Panglao has that little touch of “wild” in it that commercialized Boracay has long let go of in favor of souvenir shops and the nth bar in every imaginable sandy space.

There’s so much to shoot at Bohol–from historical sites to forests… There’s something for every photographic palate, except if you want to shoot urban skylines and skyscrapers. This place is about nature, old churches, Philippine history, Chocolate Hills, white sandy beaches, and more. I like Bohol because even if it is one of Philippines’ tourist destinations, it has retained that wonderful provincial feel in its place. The laid back calm drapes around you the moment you step on its shore.

I think that traveling the Bohol roads is a wonderful experience because it’s as if every five minutes of the trip means getting to see water in different natural forms and lush trees, mangrove, palms and more palms. It is afterall the Calamay country — a popular Bohol delicacy that is a coconut-derivative.  Armed with a Canon 400D with 75-300mm lens, here’s what happened:

Day 1

I arrived earlier than the whole class because I came from Cebu. I took the Oceanjet trip frm Pier 1 in Cebu to Bohol and arrived at around 8pm in Tagbilaran, Bohol. We waited for Willy — the driver who’s assigned to pick us up. We waited and waited not knowing he was also waiting for us. He didn’t carry a placard or something and he did not have our number–it’s a miracle we found him really. We made a quick stop at BQ Mall to buy Shakers’ Mudslide!!!

We arrived at Tierra Azul where we were supposed to have a reservation but there was a miscommunication and the resort was fullybooked so in the last minute, we checked in at the two-storey Korean resort, Charlotte Beach Resort. We’re glad we did by the way.

For P2000 a night, you can already book your whole family and get a spacious room with a large bathroom, a fridge, a porch or a balcony (depends if you get the room in the second floor or not), huge windows and a magnificent view of the beach. That price also comes with breakfast already–American.

There’s a nice bermuda-grass-covered lawn with recliners for the sun worshipers before the white sand starts leading you to the blue waters of Panglao. Did I mention there’s a monkey in the lawn? Oh and yeah, lots of jolly Korean neighbors. We were the only Filipino guests there.

It was a Saturday night when we arrived so the beach slept late. The neighboring Bohol Divers Resort beckoned us with their lights and live music. I had my favorite Blue Margarita and Cosmopolitan while I drink in the party in my eyes. There were so many tourists having a grand time, one cannot help but be swept away into thinking PARTY in all caps all through the night.  We slept at around 2am and bummer, the electricity went out so we had to open the bay windows. It was a good thing our room’s in the second floor because I cannot sleep with wide-open windows that open directly to-whom-it-may-concern. The warmth from the sand kept the air from freezing us in our sleep.

Day 2

My growling stomach reminded me that it’s already morning and that I haven’t had any decent food the night before–we only had Oceanjet sandwiches for dinner. At 6am, we made our way downstairs to wait for our food only to find out that it won’t be served until 7am so, we picked our cameras and decided to shoot the Bohol sunrise and yes, the monkey.

We had our breakfast and we waited for the whole DC89 (Devcom Photography) class to arrive. While we were at it we decided to take a look around and shoot.

The class arrived at around lunchtime then we set off to shoot at the Loboc River. I forgot the name of the floating restaurant we were in but the experience was good because we had live music while we were enjoying our food. The singing manong gave us ambient music in the forms of bossa and Buble.

A Bohol visit won’t be complete without a Tarsier visit. It’s like when you say “Tour Bohol” it means “Take a Tarsier and Chocolate Hills shot to prove you were there.” So we went there and “harrassed” these tiny mammals with our cameras. I didn’t think they were bothered at all. I gather they’re used to the camera clicks and just wanted to get it over with.

We travelled a rather interesting road on our way to the famous Chocolate Hills. There were zigzag parts of the road and forest-embraced portions. The man-made forest interested me because it looked so neat like it came out of a movie set. I wanted to stop and shoot there but we had a schedule to keep so we went to the Chocolate Hills and much to our dismay, the rain came pouring on us. We still took shots of the overcast skies and the famous hills.

We “raided” a local souvenir shop and got ourselves shirts and other things that only tourists would buy. On our way back, the sun laughed and decided to show up. Darn. The blue skies stretched out and we just thought of the beautiful photos we could have taken WITHOUT getting soaked to the bones.

We visited Baclayon Church and took lots of photos of the church, and the seaside area in front of it. We made our way back to Panglao and was supposed to get ready for the White Party. I got my white dress ready BUT the rain again fell and I decided against wearing it. So I put on a white sweater over my white tank top–nothing fancy really. The boys won in the presentations contest. They had to take off their red undies for it, haha! What would a Filipino party be like without singing? This class has lots of singers so they might as well do a little videoke-ing on the host’s laptop.

We found our way to the Bohol Divers bar and had my Blue Margarita… Experienced Sex on the Beach and Orgasm–the drink versions, and tried other drinks from the menu. We went back to our room to get the Mudslide and share it to everyone. I don’t know about everyone there but I sure did have a grand time and I ended up talking to dogs by the beach before retiring.

Is that what they call intoxication? Bohol therefore was intoxicating–or some other chemical blend that resulted to what I did that day, but boy, it was fun.

Day 3

The sun was already high in the skies when I decided to say “Good Morning.” I went out and saw my classmates having breakfast already. Picking up our cameras, we had breakfast first then set off to the nearby rocky parts of the beach and took lots of photos. (See Gallery for these)

We learned again that there was a miscommunication because the Koreans thought we’d only be there for two nights, so we had to move out of our room and booked at Bohol Divers Resort. And yes, once again, I’m happy because for three nights, we experienced different rooms, and each room is better than the last one.

That afternoon we went to shoot at the Hinagdanan Cave and then went to the Bohol Bee Farm to take photos of, yes you guessed it, bees. Of course, that’s not the only thing that the Bohol Bee Farm has to offer. They also have pools, lots of flowers and plants, and accommodations for tourists. We ate flowers for snacks. Yeap, we did, so look out Mom, your bougainvilla’s going to be gone soon. We went to Daois Church later, where the miraculous water is, and I forgot to bring my bottle. Dratz.

The seaside was also a wonderful sight. There was that nice souvenir shop near the church and I wanted to go to the seaside but we had to leave as soon as possible.

We had an educational stop at The Ramasola Studios. We met the owner and we were awe-inspired by his team’s creativity. I think I’ll make a separate post about our trip at the Ramasola. We had a quick dimsum-ish dinner at JJ’s then we went back to Panglao to savor our stay at the Bohol Divers. I had a long peaceful sleep that night and I woke up early the next day wishing that we could stay one more day but I had promises to keep. I had to be in Cebu that day and the car was already waiting at 8am.

We rushed to the pier and waited at the airconditioned lounge. There were blind men entertaining us there with their songs.

Luggage check: 2 bags, a plastic bag with heavy but delicious Divina’s Calamay, a huge pack of peanut kisses, keychains, shirts, tarsier plushees–in conclusion, HEAVY.

With heavy bags and light hearts–we took one last look at Bohol. We boarded the Oceanjet en route to Cebu and in my mind I know that I’d definitely go back to Bohol. There’s still so much to see and shoot.

So the website owner(s) signed the contract, nods at the design then leaves you for some time. You uploaded the site and when he/she sees it, he/she goes aghast “Why is it blank? Why does it look that way? Where are the pictures? The articles?”

To the web developers: do not forget to indicate in your contract that it is the responsibility of the owners to give you materials for their websites like original or stock photos and articles, unless otherwise stated.

To website owners: we are developers of the site. More often than not, we do not necessarily have all the materials and articles to fill in the blanks of your website. Have a heart or at least consider this analogy: we are carpenters of your online houses, don’t expect us to pick out the curtains and which vase matches the table runner in your kitchen. Therefore, we wait for your content or you could hire somebody to get content and hand it over to us.

It is also important to note that we cannot just grab good-looking photos and nice articles onlinee. They are copyrighted.

Do not expect your site to be complete if all the content you had in mind are not yet handed over to the developers. Consider also the complexity of the job you are asking for–developers have reasons as to why they have time frames like 3 months or several weeks.

Bottom line is, the rapport between the developers and the client is important. If the contents of the website are all ready, the development of the site would relatively be faster.