Time to celebrate! Ang buhay ay parang gulong. Sometimes you see debris. Other times, pyromusical.
This year, the 5th of the Philippine International Pyromusical Competition is my second to watch. This year is special though. I get to be in MOA for 3 Saturdays, I get to see the 5th year 3 times too. I did watch Spain and UK on February 22. Che was generous enough to offer me the patron seat with dinner. Since I was solo, and the table was shared with strangers, I did not eat much. But I feasted on the fireworks right before my camera eye. I was back in Manila on March 15, a Saturday. Went straight to MOA. Arrived late. Canada was playing, I did not catch up Finland. I was still in Manila on March 22, Saturday. Rhea’s clan watched the show, a swooping PhP19,500 went up the air along with the fireworks. Che’s family had a reservation for 4 in Watami Japanese Restaurant, 2nd level, MOA where the view I thought was better than by the bay. I requested Che that we swapped location. She had to leave her family and join Rhea’s group because me myself and I must now watch the pyro from a different view. I take pictures, period. So Che off went to MOA bay. Hugs to the two – Rhea and Che. I was pampered by these 2 sweetest girls in the world! But here’s the catch! The March 22 schedule is the last day of the pyromusical. The Philippines, being the host, and being the winner of similar competition held in other countries, presented its winning entry. I heard ooohhhhs and aaahhhs. That was really flattering and bias since 98%, my guess, of those who watched were from the Philippines (hehehe). They showed “I LOVE MOA” in fireworks. Christmas Parol, one similar to Pampanga’s, burst in fireworks. Flagpoles of the different participating countries burst in fireworks. Sarah Geronimo sang and her skies burst in fireworks. And I did not see the I LOVE MOA, I did not see the PAROL, I did not see SARAH. All because I swapped location from the bay area to the 2nd level. Beeeh. Of all the entries I watched, I pinned the best pictures from the Philippine pyro. This year, Canada won. But more than all their winning entries, I emerged as the winner. Nothing now can stop me from celebrating life. Cheers to friends who never stop believing in fireworks. Cheers! I used to hear the words pyrotechnics or fireworks display or simply fireworks, but my first to hear pyromusical. I already saw lots of fireworks display in Japan or watched it in youtube, but this one is just so amusing and beautiful as it is. Just, you know, kind of OMG! G for goodness. The Philippine International Pyromusical Competition is already in its 4th year, and this is the first time I got the opportunity to watch. I expected lots of fire - the word being pyro speaks lots of it. My piece of opinion? Well, they just painted the dark sky with lights and colors. And OMG! The Philippines hosted this World Pyro Olympics and was held at SM Mall of Asia. The event lasted from February to March, usually with 2 competing countries participating every Saturday. Musical scoring was contributing effectively in the overall drama of fire at work. I could feel exactly the soothing caresses of China’s pyro display with its sentimental music scoring each explosion of fire in the sky. Not to mention the territorial disputes over Spratly (now I already mentioned it), China’s performance was more of saying, let’s make love, not war, then sings a lullaby. I was more touched than awed, but I was still awed. Australia, being the 1st runner up during last year’s, was expectedly beautiful. I focused on my photography technicalities I missed some spectacular fire displays. My lens not wide enough, my position not near enough, or not far enough, or should I be on one side – I totally forgot about my heart, I forgot about the music. By the time I turned my head to adjust my location, I heard people saying, ohhh wow! And puff! And I so think I missed Australia’s best fire arrangement. That’s the consequence when shooting for others. I realized I should shoot for the love of shooting. Since that night was a show of fire, fire dancing was apt for entertainment before the show began. Those kids must have been playing with fire at an early age. Tickets were sold at 1,500 for the seaside view and dinner. I could just imagine a prenuptial shoot: couple sharing a table with fresh flowers as centerpiece while they hold hands and look at each other’s eyes, oblivious of the magnificent display of lights and colors and sounds behind them. There’s a 100-peso ticket for the general patronage and a free viewing if you only want to see the after effects of fireworks. My 1,500-peso ticket was sponsored by a very generous friend, Sangkay Gil and his wife, Jessie. Of course, let me thank Che too for actually reserving another 1,500-peso ticket for me, unused. While I thought of a 500-peso ticket, with only a barricade away from the buffet area, Che was kind of saying what would I see with 500? Such people deserved to be mentioned here for not minding the 1000-peso difference for a full view of pyro display. Thank you, guys, for the privilege. I got my eyes alive feasting the colors of fire in the sky. I could settle now for more coffee in the future – be it Starbucks or barako or 3-in-1. |
boris p pascubillohe writes to affirm desiderata's with all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. he makes photographs to shoutout that when God created this homeland, He saw that it was good. Archives
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