Khalifa Stadium: Main Venue of The 15th Asian Games

The newly redeveloped Khalifa Stadium will be the main venue for Opening and Closing Ceremonies and Athletics events as well. This is the main venue for the next Asian Games which will be held here in Doha, Qatar. And I am proud to say that many OFW's like myself played major roles in this project from conception to construction. Our office is the primary consultant and I am one of its Project Architects (ehem!). It's been a year now since it was completed. The Qatari government gave it baptism of fire when it opened in December of last year for the final match of a national football tournament. I only supervised the architectural aspects of the project. There were other works done by specialists from different parts of the world. For example, structural design of the two gigantic arches, one supporting the teflon roof and the other acting as a counter balance and supports events lighting, was done by Ove Arup & Associates. To those who are not familiar with the name, they are the structural engineers of the Sydney Opera House. The soft opening last year was spectacular and I can foresee that the Asian Games events will be even more of a spectacle. I am here right now and I would be crazy if I'd miss that. I hope to see and meet the Philippines representatives here in December 2006 during the games. Thank you all and see you at the Games :)

Sony Ericsson W550i

So this is the little fella I used for the snaps featured in the previous blog. I bought it primarily because it's a walkman (with outstanding audio quality) and can carry enough music to keep me entertained during my trips to and from my place of work. The camera feature was secondary. But now I'm discovering what a handy feature it's camera is. I'm not that all surprised. I mean, Sony is an electronics giant - with enough experience in creating great hi fi stereo and has made it's share of contributions in the development of digital photography. But I'm a Canon shooter and have never had a Sony digicam before. This, I would consider my first. What I loved about it is its ease of use and speed. I can simply draw the phonecam and shoot in 3 pushes of its buttons. It doesn't have a dedicated button to start the camera (it does have a button dedicated for shutter release, though) and that's understandable because Sone Ericcson markets this model primarily as a walkman phone - the camera is just an extra feature. But still, I've become used to it and can now shoot quickly. I love this phone. I know it's not perfect and Nokia loyalists will raise an eyebrow but it serves my needs at the moment. I think my next phone will be another Sony Ericsson.

More Fun with a Phonecam

originally uploaded by alexdpx.

Here's another sample of what you can do with the tiny lens in your phonecam (or camphone, whatever you choose to call it.) I know optical zoom is extremely rare but without it, you get to expand your creativity by experimenting with composition possibilities. With zoom, we often times tend to just zoom in or out and just don't bother about the subtleties of photographic composition. In this example, I was interested in the center of this teflon roof only but without zoom, the marble wall (part of a scenic elevator shaft) will always be there so I might as well include it and this is the angle I chose.

Or, just take a picture of whatever you fancy.

Like this Lamborghini Gallardo, which I found in a basement carpark. I can't stare at it for too long or try to experiment with different angles or people might suspect I'm making plans to steal this car. A quick snap is all I need to capture an image of it and let people know I'm simply appeciating its beauty.

Having Fun With Your Phonecam (Or Is It Camphone?)

Who would have thought that the technology of communication and photography would be fused together in one gadget. Years ago, this was not even James Bond stuff. But here it is and it has become so popular that people don't mind the price. Why would they, when it gives them the freedom to communicate and capture the times of their lives and share them. But other than that, which is the obvious, I think it also made something else readily available to many people. And that is expressing their artistic side through digital photography. Let's face it, in the days of film, a common individual would not dare take a picture of a beautiful sunset, nor a cute puppy, nor a delicious looking food on the dining table. No! Film cameras are limited to 36 shots at the most and most people would reserve them for taking pictures of their families or friends during a birthday party or an outing at the beach, a scenery maybe but still, with their loved ones in the picture. Times have changed and the phonecam offers freedom in photography that your old "instamatic" never has before. With virtually unlimited number of shots, and being able to carry them anytime anywhere, you should really try to explore with pictures. A good one (as a camera) would have a resolution of 2 Megapixels or, if you can afford it, get one with 3 Megapixels. But one with 1.3 Megapixels should turn some pictures that are decent enough.

Just shoot anything that you find interesting. Anything can be a subject. For example, a bunch of pens. Take a picture just because of the different colors. Or be creative, move your cameraphone around and try to explore different angles by using the LCD screen preview. Whatever you do, have fun with it. Don't be afraid you'd take a bad picture. Remember, you can always delete when the pictures don't turn out alright.