I Heart Makati.. I ♥ Philippines.. I ♥ Being Free..

Last Saturday, together with our F21 friends join the big event of Ayala Land called "I Heart Makati.. I ♥ Philippines.. I ♥ being free photo contest". In this event there are 3 classes that you can choose to participate but all contestant must have signed up and registered online at http://www.iheartmakati.com/ from June 9-17, 2010. The 3 categories are: Photography Club Members Photo Contest, On-The Spot Photo Competition and My Makati Memories Photo Competition. Our group joins in 2 categories, the OTS and Photography Club Contest. We sign-up online and pick up our ID's at Ayala Land Office. On the Photography Club Member Competition is open to all members of photo organizations and camera clubs. There are mechanics in this contest that  you need to follow like all photos shall be taken only during the contest period from June 09, 11am up to June 19, 12noon unfortunately we are not able to capture pictures during the given period of time because we are too busy from work, so we decided to meet last Saturday as early as 7am to take photos for our entry. There are also 3 categories or theme that you need to pass, the Lifestyle, Business and Architecture, Landscape and Skyline. In this contest, you are not allowed to do post-processing; entries should be submitted before 4:30pm on June 19 in digital JPEG format with minimum of 1 MB per file and the most important is entries should be submitted accompanied with a duly-filed up Photo entry and Undertaking form.

This is good opportunity to capture the Makati Central Business District since in Makati they don't allowed taking pictures of the Buildings but since we have an official ID as well as letter from Ayala Land, we are free to take photos of all buildings and establishment in Makati but we can only take pictures within the boundaries of the vicinity map printed at the back of our ID's. There is an incident where one security guard of Robinson's Summit gets my name because he saw me taking photos of their building, but since I have permit he allowed me to continue what I'm doing.

In this event, we don't pay anything that is why we are happy that we are able to join in this occasion. After we took lots of pictures along Ayala, we decided to go back at PSE to have our free breakfast. Yes! you heard it right, they provide us free breakfast, lunch and pm snack.

Ayala Land provides other scenery that you can take pictures. They offer some models and animals in Ayala Park. I really enjoy taking pictures even though the sun burns my skin. I was shocked when one woman asks me to take some pictures of her son who enjoys playing with the animals; she told me that they are not aware about this event that is why they don't bring camera. I grant here request and took some photos of her son and send a copy through email to send it to her husband who works at Saudi. Look he enjoys playing with the animals.

After shooting, our group decided to submit our entries; we pass our 3 best photos for the PPO category. All of us was starving that is why we chose to have our lunch before continuing shooting for the next event or the on-the spot contest. The food was great; I have nothing more to say!

After having sumptuous lunch, we rest for a while and start our photo shoot again. This time the contest is divided into 3 categories, the Kids, Hobbyist / Enthusiast and the Professionals. All photos shall be taken only during the contest period June 19, 11am to 4pm only with the same mechanics as the Photography Club Contest. This time we chose to take photos at Greenbelt part. The sun is getting hotter and we are in sweat but no one stop in shooting. After an hour, we decided to go back at PSE to have some rest and listen to emcee while we saw that the pm snack is ready to serve. We take our merienda and rest again and again.

We decided to wait for the result before leaving the event hall, the heavy rains starts to fall but we are patiently waits for the result until they present the fire dancers for us to entertain while we are waiting.

Finally, around 6:40pm the emcee announce the winners, unfortunately no one in our group wins but we are all happy because even though we didn't win, the experience in this event will always be remembered and be treasured for the rest of our lives.