As a kid, I was very much fond of those old photo albums that had hot air balloons on the cover. Their colors and height always amused me. That is why when I learned that another Hot Air Balloon Fiesta (HAB) was coming, I was very ecstatic. The Digital Photographers Philippines (DPP) website had a raffle promo wherein they would make some Photographer Passes available for purchase. Yes, for purchase as nothing seems to be free these days. In fairness to them, it wasn't their event anyway as it was mainly a Caltex/Chevron one. I won't mention the price, but the package was a good deal since the pass included a souvenir shirt and 500php Caltex gas card.
I signed up and luckily, my name was chosen. The event was going to be held in Clark Airfield, Pampanga. The pass which I had won and purchased was for 2/11/11 which was a Friday. However, since I was going alone via public transport I figured that a weekend trip would be better since Fridays are known for ruthless traffic in Manila. I went online in DPP to see if I could trade my pass for either a Saturday or Sunday and bingo, there was one willing to trade his Sunday pass for a Friday one.
On February 13, 2011, I got up around 2:00am and took a cold shower, packed my stuff and headed out to the Victory Bus terminal in Pasay City. Finally, the Wayfarer's first mini-adventure for 2011. I left Manila bound for Dau Terminal at around 3:30am. Based upon my calculation, it was enough for me to get there on-time to capture the first light of the day. I arrived at Dau Terminal at around 4:45 which wasn't bad. It was a cold morning a the wind was a bit too strong for my taste. From there I took a van going to Clark Airfield along with other tourists. After getting off the van, the wind was still strong and I got worried that weather would not cooperate. When I reached the entrance for the photographers, the sky became a bit visible and to my dismay, I could already tell that it was going to be an overcast morning.
At the distance, you could already see the sunlight peaking between the clouds. I was not blessed with the clear sky as I was hoping for but what can I do? Sometimes as a photographer, you just have to deal with what's there in front of you. As soon as the guards let us in, I rushed to the field and snapped my camera like a mad man. A mistake to some extent because I had so little time to fix my composition. I guess I was really worried for the little sunlight available to me that I sacrificed the composition and timing of the shots I made. Light is important in photography but composition is not be left out. So, here are some the photos I took and I do hope that you enjoy them.
As a final note, I would like to say that experiencing something like this becomes more beautiful when shared. I was there looking at the spectacular colors with absolutely no one to talk to. I do like the thought of being a lone adventurer but when you're there at that perfect moment, sometimes the magic just fades away easily when you're all by yourself. Thanks DPP and Caltex/Chevron. Cheers everyone!
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