Pictures from the Front Page is a collection of Philippine-related photographs that I have amassed throughout the years. Most of them are my own photographs. Since 1980, I have been toting a camera (or two) with me wherever I went. I don't know what it is, but it seems like I have this pathological need to document in pictures anything I do. I started with a 110 Kodak instamatic camera (remember those?), then went through a series of SLRs - an Olympus (one of the early OM series), a Canon (I think it was an AE then), a Nikon (one of the early Fs) and for a time, a Russian-made camera which was actually pretty good. These cameras I mostly borrowed from friends or from work except for the Canon AE which was my brother's.Later on, I bought a Pentax point and shoot, a forerunner of the IQZooom that fit into my pocket. This one I used for years and had good experience with it ... but it got destroyed when sand got into its innards (I was shooting on a beach in the East coast). As a replacement, I got an Olympus (Stylus Zoom 140) which is a wonderful small camera, with good lens especially for shooting zoom.
In 1994, I had access to a Kodak consumer digital camera that didn't really take good pictures of people but was ok with scenery. That got me hooked but at that time, digital cameras were beyond my budget! In 1997 or so, on a lark, I bid low on a Fujifilm DX7 at uBid.com when online bidding was still in its infancy and won. The camera was totally utilitarian, it took ok pictures but you still know that the pics are from a digital camera. It was quite disappointing at the start. However, I got better with it when I really learned how to use it. I even was able to take scientific-grade pictures that I submitted to a science journal using its built in macro lens. In no time I was using the camera exclusively. Unfortunately, I dropped it, its battery compartment lid got shattered. Duct tape worked for awhile but the camera eventually gave up on me.
Since I was very satisfied with the Fujifilm DX7 (though it was one of their low-end cameras at that time), I decided to upgrade to a mid-range camera with the same lens as the DX7. I read somewhere that the Fujifilm camera lenses (Fujinon) are superior to most, so I decided on a Finepix 2400Zoom, also from Fujifilm. Again, for this one, I lucked out as I was able to buy a floor model for almost half-price! I am still learning how to use it - it has its quirks that I haven't quite tamed yet. For example, I still need to learn how to take pictures without flash - invariably, the result are always "action" shots with the subjects in the act of "moving." But when I get lucky, the results are stunning. You only need to see the pictures of flowers in this webpage to see what I mean.
Which brings me to the flower and plant pictures. Most of the plant and flower pictures in this collection were taken here in Chicago. Everytime I see something, be it flowers or any other thing, inanimate or living, event or non-event that reminds me of home, out comes my camera and a-clicking I go. So you will see in this collection, pictures that may not be necessarily of the Philippines, but will remind you of the Philippines.
In additon to my own, many pictures came from my e-mail pals, most expecially, Todd Mazur, formerly of La Union up in Northern Philippines, who ran the guided hiking tours of Northern Luzon and who now lives in Tasmania, and the good people at Princessa Holiday Resort in Aborlan, Palawan who sent me tons, and I mean, tons, of pictures of Palawan (please go to their website at www.princessa.com).
Other pictures came from friends and relatives in the Philippines or from relatives who went home to the Philippines for a vacation. Still others were submitted by readers who wanted to contribute to this growing collection, some of whom, their names I forgot. So if you are one of those who submitted pictures and whose name/e-mail I forgot, please e-mail me so I can correct the acknowledgment. To all of you, many heartfelt thanks.
There is no organization to the pictures. I load them as soon as I have them. Someday, maybe I should organize them into topics, but right now I don't have time to re-organize them.
Enjoy!
Ken Ilio
www.tribo.org
www.filipinolinks.com
January 22, 2002
Chicago, ILBy the way, the images are protected by copyright. Please don't screw our copyrights. If you must use any of the images in any form, I request adjacent credits i.e. the image(s) must be accompanied by an acknowledgment to filipinolinks.com next to it. Please e-mail me for more information. Thank you.
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