Sa asul na walang hanggang,
Nang ang mundo ay bata pa,
Lumilipad at kumakanta
Ang adarna na kay ganda!
mula sa Adarna ng Dulaang Sibol


I had not picked up a camera in quite some time now, and so I was more than happy when Mr. Pagsi asked me to take some photographs of Dulaang Sibol's November production of Adarna.

I remember that it was also in Sibol, eons ago in high school, that I first got to tinker around with a camera. (It was my sophomore year, to be exact.) My dad had just given me his rickety, but ever-dependable Canon AE-1 (which was older than me), and so, to put it to good use, I'd lug it around school and take pictures of anything that moved (or didn't, even).

As with every beginning, there was a lot of adjustment and experimentation. I knew nothing about shutters and f-stops, film speeds and focal lengths! But my pictures came out pretty okay (that is, they came out at all!), a bit underexposed, but passable.

I thereafter became the unofficial Sibol photographer. I'd make little scrapbooks of Sibol events, and shared the pictures with my fellow Sibolistas. (Actually, I think someone even took those scrapbooks without permission, and now, I don't know where they are! Those were two years of memories! But I still have the prints.)

It was at that about that time when Mr. Pagsi decided to re-stage Sinta!. I was tasked with taking the publicity shots. I really didn't know much about taking pictures in a theater, about flash photography, and whatnot! I ended up using one of the old Sibol spotlights to increase the lightlevel in the theater, but, naturally, it was really warm and unpleasant. I pretended to know what I was doing.

So, for around two hours one evening, the entire cast of Sinta! posed for my camera, trying to look wistful and lovely under klieglights and heat! Problem was, when the pictures came out, they were all underexposed! There wasn't much light in the theater, and apparently, I had the shutter speed all wrong!

That was really a trauma. I remember going to Mr. Pagsi's house crying because I felt that I screwed up big time!

Whenever I took stage pictures after that, I'd still use my Canon, but I'd always have an idiot camera with me, just in case— the point and shoot type that automatically uses the flash when needed. Just to be safe. (It cost much more to develop the pictures, of course, but the security of knowing that at least some pictures would come out more than made up for the cost.)

So, I guess it's but fitting that, after such a long time, I resume my old tasks using a camera which (to me) is a cross between my old Canon AE-1 and the idiot camera I used as back-up. Finally keeping up with the times, my dad bought a Sony Cybershot DSC-V3, which I call the seven-megapixel idiot cam. Nothing still beats a good old shutter-camera! But I guess, for now, it serves its purpose.

The pictures aren't perfect, of course. But I was happy with the fact that, like those good old high school days, I was again pointing those Sibol floodlights at those hapless actors, all the while clicking away with wild abandon, adjusting shutter and aperture now and then, and freezing the moment for eternity. I think Virgil said it best: forsan et haec, olim meminisse juvabit— sometimes, remembering brings joy.

* * *

It's been a while since I bought something pricey for myself. I think the last one was this laptop computer, which wasn't much of a gift since I needed it to write my JD thesis. This time, I've pretty much decided on getting an SLR camera for myself. Fortunately, a friend of mine who had gone on a vacation to the United States bought a new SLR himself, and I, being the gaya-gaya that I am, became enamored with his Canon EOS 350 D. All the reviews I've read say that it's a good entry level SLR. It comes with eight-megamixels, and everything else that's found in a standard SLR. Unfortunately, it costs PhP 59,950 plus 10% VAT!

I've asked people who will be coming home this Christmas to scout around for a better deal in the States. We'll see how this all pans out. Hopefully, come Christmas time, I will no longer be using the seven-megapixel idiot cam!

* * *

Dulaang Sibol is celebrating its 50th Anniversary this year, and as part of its year-long celebration, the group is presenting a Sibol Classic: Adarna, a rock-opera telling of the popular folktale of the mythical Ibong Adarna. While retaining some of the central songs, the score has been entirely overhauled. I've heard the first act, and quite honestly, it didn't sound all that shabby! And being a folktale, I image the costumes to be uniquely local and intricately made by hand. Mr. Pagsi is pretty excited about the project.

Opening night is on the 18th of November, and runs for the whole month, every Friday and Saturday, 6:30 p.m., Tanghalang Onofre R. Pagsanghan - Dulaang Sibol, Ateneo High School.

Do watch. I'm sure it'll be food not only for the senses, but also for the soul.