The Place of Contrast

Still a few hundred meters from the coast of this unusual Cove, our boat’s roaring engine doesn’t bother me from watching in anticipation the quite unusual place in my country gets closer and closer. The landscape looks more like that of the Northern Hemisphere where the weather permits the healthy growth of the pine trees along the icy cold beaches. Although pine trees are common in high altitude places in the Philippines, seeing it near the tropical beaches is too unusual for my sight. The contrasting beauty of the place stunned me longer than I expected. Even before I set my foot in the white grainy sand of the beach, I already planned carefully my shots. Landscape photography is always about good timing and POVs.

I want to dedicate this post to the best SciFi author in the world who is one of my inspirations when I took my engineering course back in college. Michael Crichton (October 23, 1942 – November 4, 2008)

Anawangin Cove is part of San Antonio which is a 4th class municipality in the province of Zambales, Philippines. According to the 2000 census, it has a population of 28,248 people in 6,483 households.

San Antonio was formerly just a hunting lodge where hunters from the northern towns of the province would stay to rest. The first Ilocano families from the Paoay area of Ilocos Norte arrived in 1830 and founded the first settlement that grew into what is now the town.

I want to thank Xavier for lending me his 2 extra batteries, charger and Sigma 10-20mm lens. I owe you big time with this one. Thank you to BlueLion as well for the tripod. It’s a big help man!