Practical Photography Lesson From Typhoon Ondoy

A shot of the empty NLEX tollbooths

Typhoon Ondoy taught me a practical photography lesson: Always bring with you your digital camera when traveling because interesting subjects do not schedule appointments. Some barge through your door unwelcome. The wrath of typhoon Ondoy sprewn across Metro Manila and nearby provinces in Luzon was a great example, and photography instructor. (This post does not intend to downplay the grim picture Ondoy has painted. But since this is a blog on photography, please pardon if the focus is on photography scenes.)

Skeptical of the unreliable Pag-Asa weather forecast, hubby and I headed for Metro Manila from Cabanatuan City at 8:30 A.M. last Saturday to spend the weekend with friends and family. Reading our own weather barometer, by feeling the wind and looking up at the overcast sky, we decided to leave our dSLR camera behind because we thought we will not have the time and great subjects (since it was dark) to take pictures.

The domestic violence acted out by the abusive wind battering the trees along the Gapan-Olongapo Highway could have been our cue to turn the car around and spend the weekend at home cozily watching DVD's and each cradling a bowl of steaming instant champorado while Ondoy would be rampaging outside. But we pushed on and negotiated our way through swaying and fallen branches and trees, positively thinking that we were leaving behind the predicted weather tantrum in the province. Little did we know, it was organizing a huge 'street party' to welcome us. Well, huge is an understatement because they say that it was the first time that Metro Manila experienced such incessant rainfall for hours.

Had we brought our Canon EOS 1000d along, the trembling trees begging for mercy from the raging but invisible wind would have made an interesting photography tableau. Regret number one. And more to count.

Just when we were about to enter Metro Manila from the North Luzon Expressway nearing lunchtime, traffic was stalled for hours, leaving hundreds of stranded motorists and travelers hungry. The rows of four-wheeled vehicles of all types sprawled across southbound and northbound NLEX would have been interesting patterns to capture using our exiled dSLR camera. Regret number two.

As the hours stretched, many, armed with umbrellas and raincoats, walked out of their vehicles, battled the wind and rain and walked on the expressway, an act which would normally be a traffic law violation. Several minutes later, they came back bringing bread, cups of noodles, bottled water and beverages and brand new umbrellas which they bought from a tiangge somewhere. What's amazing about Filipinos under this kind of circumstance is their/our sense of humor. They were wearing their smiles under their umbrellas as they waged the storm. Regret number three was this human interest photography subject and the colorful umbrellas skewed by the tumultuous wind.

To keep tempers from flaring due to hunger, I also humored hubby by comically inhaling the delicious aroma of charbroiled burger from the now-empty Hotshots burger plastic bag after every bite of Shamrock otap from Cebu. The pack of otap we had was supposedly a pasalubong for his mom. We had candies for dessert and two out of the three bottles of iced tea we brought along, which I resisted guzzling for fear of a full gall bladder. Earlier, we saw bottles of what seemed to be urine poured out from a car window. That turned on our light bulbs and I eyed the glass jar that contained the candies and mentally put it on reserve, if worse comes to worst. While hubby studied the aperture of his empty iced tea plastic bottle, but decided on just 'facing the wall' if need be. Imagine what photography subjects we could have taken?

Anyways, after hours of waiting, an enterprising tambay suggested to us that for P50, he will guide us to a shortcut going back north since EDSA was really not passable due to flood. Realizing that going back home was the wisest thing to do under such circumstance, we took the P50-route to freedom, and hopefully to our 6:00 PM lunch at our favorite NLEX oasis, Shell. Or so we thought...

An empty NLEX tollbooth was a rare phenomenon. So we captured the scene using the camera of my cellphone. The panoramic capability of our Canon dSLR would have made a huge difference. Lost count of regrets. This time, you do the pointing out, please.

Not only was the tollbooth's emptiness rare, it was also deceiving. Before reaching the Valenzuela exit, frozen traffic blocked the entire north-bound expressway. Gamely we waited for several minutes, looking forward to steaming noodles from Chowking or hot and crispy KFC, or whatever it was that qualified as decent meal. Until the several minutes became hours. I was glad I cannot really take a snapshot of "time".

Then, to our relief, the vehicles started moving . We learned that what halted traffic was the flood which trickled from Valenzuela. We had not covered a great distance when traffic again halted to a standstill. For hours. And then the stop-go routine continued everytime we neared the exits to Bulacan (Meycauayan, Marilao, Bocaue, and Tabang)

When we reached Petron, it was jam-packed with vehicles and stranded travelers. So we stuck to our plan of having lunch hopefully at 10PM in Shell. In the meantime we had another helping of otap as appetizer. But just as we were a short distance away from our oasis, traffic stood still, but never did time. So we reclined our seats and dozed off while many individuals from both genders alighted their vehicles and peed in the shadows. I had already emptied my bladder into the glass jar in the backseat. Could have been interesting digital camera shots!

After some dream time, the driver of the car beside us woke us up because traffic was then starting to crawl. And when we did, we saw the yellow light of our oasis at a distance. Aside from us, only a Starex was on its way there. To our dismay, we realized, the Starex included, that Shell was closed because it was flooded, the pool of water in the dark gleamed against the headlights, while our stomachs grumbled louder. Another interesting dSLR shot it must have been.

After tensely crossing the last but deepest flood at the Tabang exit, we rushed our way to Total, our last hope. It was there that we hit the toilet and ate our most sumptuous 430 AM lunch, err, dinner, err, breakfast, oh whatever that was!

Then we zipped the remaining way home, glancing at the fogged Mt. Arayat and the yellow-orange sunrise rousing the Central plains to start the day. Both postcard-potential camera shots. Uh-oh! Regret seemed to hitch its way through our entire journey of spending the weekend inside the car.

What a way to learn a basic digital photography lesson!

To read my other blog with a post related to typhoon Ondoy, please visit OpinyongPinoy.
If you want to know how you can be of help to typhoon Ondoy victims please visit How To Help by Manuel L. Quezon III.