Tadlac Lake, Laguna: Taking a Break from Work and Catching a Sony / Sunny Sunrise

Tadlac Lake Sunrise, Laguna • Handheld Sony A6000 + Samyang 12mm f/2

Just want to share a hand-held sunrise shot taken during a break from photoshoot assistance work for a friend in Los Baños, Laguna.    Location is Tadlac Lake, formerly known as Alligator Lake, about two hours travel from Manila.  A good time as any to test the Sony A6000 paired with a Samyang/Rokinon 12mm f/2 lens (so I've taken the mirrorless path after more than a decade shooting with Nikon).  

After typhoon Domeng and the rains caused by the habagat (southwest monsoon) we were blessed with a day of intermittent drizzles, squalls and somewhat sunny conditions on days 1 and 2 of the shoot; we were entertaining thoughts of a milky way night sky over the lake (not!) but nonetheless, the heavens cleared up on the morning we were set to wrap up work.  Among photographers, we share this universal joke akin to Murphy's Law -- the weather improves just when you are leaving.   Very much like what they say about life, it's "weather-weather" or in the vernacular, pana-panahon lang.  May my season finally come then.

Snapshots: The Visual Poetry of Horses Running with the Sunrise

Pardon my cliche-ish thinking but Susan Boyle's version of "Wild Horses" kept playing in my head as I watch this spectacle -- when hoof met grass, kicking off dust as sunlight filtered down a distant mountain.  You don't have to be a poet to know you're playing audience to something special, a brute and primal yet graceful display.

Was somewhere south for an out-of-town shoot with a video crew and even as I kept entertaining the sandman in the wee hours of a Saturday morning and thinking I need more rest after a 4-day bout with fever, I did indeed woke up before the sun rose, before the horses trotted out to limber up for the morning.  Bittersweet to realize I haven't touched my camera for months and my skills maybe rusty.  But seeing a fleeting, hauntingly beautiful moment like this, I think muscle memory and instinct just kicked in.   Witnessing this visual poetry made me glad I didn't leave my 2-pound Nikon 80-200/f2.8 lens at home.  Another working weekend but what the hey, who says you can't find a bit of solace out there with the horses, the mountains and the sun?