My Illuminati brother, Paolo Sy, took amazing photos of my darling sister and fashion blogger, Conci, with my darling nephew, Magnus, in preparation for her second baby, Elroi! These are just some of the raw shots and I’m already happy with the outcome. I’ll blog about the edited ones when they come along.
I cannot wait to spend a bunch of time with my family and friends. So many delightful things are happening. My sister is having her second child. One of our cousins is getting married so a lot of our relatives from the United States will be flying in. My best friend and brother is also getting married (and I am stressing about my best man’s speech)! Best of all, I will get to enjoy all the happenings, Christmas, New Year and the weddings with my Mahal!
After reading through Pulitzer-winning, former-undocumented immigrant Filipino Jose Antonio Vargas’s My Life as an Undocumented Immigrant, I found myself taking stock of my situation right now and reflecting on some of the reasons why I got here and why am still here.
I’ll depart from photography a little bit and talk about something the main reason why I am able to do some photography here. I don’t write about it that much, but am a graduate student in arguably one of the best and most popular universities in the United States. I can huff and puff about my education and my experience but end of the day, love brought me here, and love is keeping me here… No doubt.
Just a few more months and I will be with more of my loved ones. I may not have been blessed with the looks, nor the smarts, nor the talent, but the things that I know I have the best of are friends and family.
I couldn’t do a baby post without bragging about my awesome nephey, Magnus! He’s the cutest little boy in the Clemente-Navarro world right now.This photo was taken when he was a little over 1 year old… Now he’s almost 3! Time flies by so fast!
Magnus Rex Mr. & Mrs. Martin & Mericon Navarro Marikina, Philippines
During my last trip to California (Daly City and Los Gatos area) for my friend’s wedding, I was staying at a friend’s friend’s house (wow, that’s a lot of friends). Our hosts, Toni and Gerard, were so gracious and hospitable and since they had a cute little bundle of joy, I decided to shoot their kiddo as a token of my appreciation.
Gavin Mr. & Mrs. Gerard & Toni Gundayao Antioch, California
It’s the time of our lives where your closest friends start the more advanced chapters in their lives. It’s funny, I can still vividly remember worrying about playing basketball during our recess break, what to buy in our high school cafeteria, now we are flying thousands of miles attending each others’ weddings.
Congratulations to one of my brother of choice, Arni, for snagging such a sweet, sweet young lady, Cheska!
I was only able to sneak in a few shots because I was playing groomsman, but I did my best to give what little gift of art I have to the wonderful couple. Here goes my commentary:
Here’s Arni and best man, Chubax, just goofing around at the Toll House Hotel. Pretty hotel in a very nice area!
Then we moved to one of the best wedding venues I’ve been at, The Radonich Ranch at Los Gatos California. It was really a farm and a ranch converted into an events venue. Nice!
A little bit of Arni reflecting just a few moments before the guests start filing in.
Look at the happy couple!
And as the sun set on the wonderful ceremony, gorgeous venue, awesome food and even better friends and family, the joy that the newly weds feel for each other overflows to a point that even I cannot wait for my chance to exercise my freedom to choose the person I will spend the rest of my life with…
Mr. & Mrs. Arnold & Cheska Valentino Radonich Ranch, Los Gatos California 13 August 2011
And before I unleash a torrent of photography-related blog posts, I’d like to close the personal stuff first with the birthday of my Kate!
The weekend long celebration was filled with friends, food, art and entertainment! We pre-gamed at Casa de Kate with her best friend Jessica. After pre-gaming, we headed to dinner at Fish Tag, which is a great place for fusion sea food if you feel like eating facny. An awesome burlesque show at Tiad on the Upper West Side where Gotham Burlesque had a bevy of talent for the night ensued! We closed out with another drink at an Irish pub nearby, Mallachey’s.
The next day, my Kate and I had a brunch cruise going ground Sheepshead Bay, Brighton, Coney Island, Verizano and back.
After all that walking around for the campus and museum visits, my Kate and I took my cousin, Isabel, for a walk over the Brooklyn Bridge with a treat at the end… Grimaldi’s Pizza!
One of the other places I took my cousin is of course the MoMA. My cousin Isabel likes art and the contemporary art collection of the MoMA just keeps getting better and better. I’ve been to the MoMA more than any other museum and not once have I been bored walking around there.
Like I told you, as soon as I have a few minutes to just sit on my ass, I’ll let you know about my fun-filled week!
My 16-year-old cousin is preparing for her college by doing a few campus visits. And I was the one responsible for taking her around some of the New York campuses. We went to Pratt, SVA, Columbia and Fordham. Let me just tell you that I am not a fan of standing up, let along walking!
In between, of course we had to swing by some of my most favorite places, like the Met featured here.
I haven’t been blogging because I’ve been visiting in Dallas and In St. Louis. It was fun hanging out with my cousins again! For now, let’s start with our first day in Dallas where we went to:
The Dallas World Museum
The Sixth Floor Museum (where JFK was allegedly shot)
