All my life, I have only owned 4 cameras. Imagine me traveling with only a disposable cam before. No wonder I had very few shots — all blurry — back then when everything was an adventure. Many first times then, largely undocumented. A pity.
Twilight in Donsol, Sorsogon, Philippines
I owned my first digicam only in 2004. Away with trips to the photo shop to have my films developed. Away with photo albums. These days, we simply just snap away and store what we like and delete the rest. I look at others and at times, feel envy watching them change their lens, set up their tripods and the like —- all for a better shot. I don’t have that option. My bad neck and shoulder won’t let me carry all that weight around my neck nor balance that cam even with 2 hands. Thanks to many photo editing apps, I am now able to “improve” even bad shots taken on a whim.
BenCab Museum Garden in Baguio City
Traveling around the Philippines, I began to appreciate my new Canon G12. It’s light and easy to operate. I set the cam on automatic and it makes all the decisions for me. Other times, I pretend to know my stuff and tinker with the camera. I sometimes end up with better shots but most of the time, you couldn’t tell whether I set it on automatic or not. 🙂
The Face Masks @Balaw Balaw Restaurant in Angono, Rizal
There is no reason to complain. I do not have to tote around a heavy DLSR and adjust my lens or set up a tripod. God knows I’d easily lose patience and interest if I have to go through all these steps just for a good shot. It is enough that I find something worth photographing as a memory aide so I can revisit my fond memories anytime I choose. When I am in the mood, I would choose an angle or several angles to take a photo. Often, I love taking distant and close-up shots of a place. Human interest shots are swell, but they come and go. One has to have quick hands to get the cam ready or you lose the moment. I have been lucky with a few. But they are few.
The Street Vendors of Quiapo, Manila
Wish there were more.
Sheltered, Educated, Loved. These are the boys of St Martin de Tours in Bustos, Bulacan.
lifeisacelebration 
Superb photos, very nice!!! Cheers Nonoy Manga
Donsol! Nice pictures you shared here! Thanks! I would love to visit Donsol to dive there!
I bought a new camera too. It’s somewhere in between the point and shoot and the big fat DSLR things that have fancy lenses. My camera has point and shoot technology, but you can also add lenses if you want to. I feel it’s a nice compromise.
I’m with you – I prefer a small point and shoot camera when I travel.
I agree that bringing an SLR can be a bit burdensome. I usually bring one myself, but the small point and shoot camera is more handy. There are also certain trips, that I just leave the cameras at home. These days, it seems like there’s an overemphasis on taking photographs just to be able to post it on FB, blogs or instagram. I miss the times when you took photos for the sake of preserving memories and actually print them out for albums and scrapbooks to leaf through with friends and family.
As they say, it’s not the cam, it’s the photographer. Your shots don’t scream P&S. That twilight shot is amazing! Galing ha. I’ve heard Canon is tops – a good match to your artistic eye. No lugging of humongous camera equipment for me too. Nunca, haha! I also like human interest shots, but I’m mostly hesitant snapping photos of strangers. How do you do it furtively? 🙂
Most times, I ask. Or distant shots talaga and then I just zoom in and crop. With kids, easier. They know they’re being photographed and don’t give a hoot.
I also don’t own a DSLR. I find it too bulky but I won’t complain if friends would lend me one. But ever since I started travelling, I’ve always carried a P&S cam with me because of 1) no budget yet for DSLR 2) much easier to carry when backpacking. hehehe. The great thing about P&S these days is that they evolved so much that their outputs can rival the quality of DSLRs. G12 is a powerful P&S cam Tita. Glad you liked it and glad you’re enjoying capturing those precious moments 😉