Navotas

From My Photo Blog

This picture is Loretta's favourite from travels in the Philippines. It is a picture from the house where I stayed in on the illegal slums built over Manila Bay. The sunsets there are just beautiful. As the evening faded, people milled around and they settled down for the night, children played on the planks. The houses don't have electricity and whole families will sit around a candle to have their dinner - a pityful amount of rice for the poorer families. But, you don't see that in this picture. You see the people as they are - laughing- happy and not bitter - in what they call home.

For this picture, the exposure was tricky. I simply used the widest angle I could, composed the picture, and tried not to overexpose the sky or underexpose the boardwalk. In the end I had to brighten the dark portions a little with post processing and there are some blown parts in the sky, but it works. It's interesting because of the people and the place. The beautiful sunset is an interesting contrast. The leading lines and rule of thirds I hope add to the composure.