Formula Drift

Sony A7 ■ f/6.3 ■ 1/1000 ■ ISO 100

Ash and Denisha bought tickets for us to watch Formula Drift as a Father’s Day gift. It was held at English Town, New Jersey, about an hour drive from us. We arrived at the racetrack just half past 1 in the afternoon, we looked for parking and it was full.

There were a lot of spectators, but it was not that bad going through the gate. It was surprisingly organized. There were a lot of pop-up vendors and car shows. We walked around to check out some cars and grabbed a free cold drink from Taco Bell.

We then walked to the bleachers to find seats, and we should have brought some umbrellas because the sun was beating down on us. It was not a real race, but rather 2 cars riding side by side on a figure of 8 track doing drifting. There were judges who were looking into how drivers use the track to drift. What is amazing was that the cars running side by side drifting without hitting each other.

I took out my camera and attached the 200mm lens to take pictures, however, since we are seated behind a fence the pictures showed wire fencing. Instead of using the camera’s auto focus for faster shooting, I opted to manually focus on a distance where the cars travel. Later I decided to go closer to the fence and found a spot where I could stick my camera lens out. I managed to take several pictures through it without showing the wire fence.

It was a fun day at the track spending time with my daughter and future-son-law. Click here to see pictures I have taken from the track.

Graduation

Sony A99 ■ f/4.5 ■ 1/500 ■ ISO 100

I wanted to share these pictures I have taken of my kids’ graduation pictures. I have compiled high school and college pictures, I would also have included grade school, however, I need to dig deeper in the vault which may be a challenge. I will probably update the album when I am able to find them.

As a parent, I consider myself fortunate that both my kids graduated in college. It may not be the major we wanted for them, but more importantly, they chose what they liked and finished it.

Let me tell you a story that happened when I used to live in the Philippines. My parents used to rent bed space to college students, and they had a student who went to the university daily and came home in the afternoon. He did this for 2 semesters. On Sunday, he would be in his military uniform, since it was a mandatory requirement to attend half-a-day training. We just found out afterwards that this student did not attend any of his classes, including military training, when his parents came to collect his things and told my parents that he will not be coming back for the next school year. Looking back, I cannot imagine how much money was wasted, not to mention time. What was the student doing all those times? What the parents must have gone through financially and emotionally?

My opinion, as a parent we cannot ask our children to be what we want them to be. All we can do is guide them, teach them (I think showing them is better) how to be an upright person, and take responsibility for everything that they do and learn from them. Easier said than done.

Graduation is a milestone in our lives, a chapter in a book for some and skipped for others. However, it is not a measure of success or failure. One cannot guarantee that you will get your dream job but try to get a job. It may not be financially rewarding at first, but it may just be a steppingstone to a better one.

Let me share this quote from Dale Carnegie, “Success is getting what you want. Happiness is wanting what you get.”

2025 Engagement

Sony A7IV ■ f/4 ■ 1/160 ■ ISO 100

My daughter and Ash's engagement party was held a week ago.  It was a simple one, but I was surprised to effort decorating their backyard, not to mention the food that was prepared.

My participation was on the day of the party to assist, however, as I walked into their backyard, there was this gorgeous backdrop and a tiki bar being finished. Zina, Ash’ mom was so busy for the past weeks transforming her vision to reality, we were just there to help.

We finished decorating and arranging the backyard around noon to go home and get changed and come back again late in the afternoon.

Attendees were just family and their closest friends. I had a fun time, and I could not wait for their wedding in Mexico.

I brought my camera and a single speedlight mounted on a softbox. Please click here to see the pictures.