OUR AWESOME PLANET

A Raining World Pyro Night @ Hooters

I was amazed that the Canada's World Pyro performance continued despite the heavy rains. The Genki umbrella was cool and we were able to use it as props for our shoot. My brother, Rommel was able to take a shot of the lightning above. He was experimenting on taking the fireworks with lightning.

Some additional tips for the World Pyro:
1. The WPO will continue rain or shine. It seems to be raining every Saturday night these days.
2. It is also very interesting to take World Pyro shots with lightning in the background.
3. For Genki umbrellas would be perfect for the World Pryo either to use it to watch the show or use it as props.
4. All the restaurants in the San Miguel by the Bay offer a very good view of the Pyro.
5. If you want to get a good parking spot in San Miguel by the Bay, better to go by 5pm to get a slot. By 6pm, it becomes very difficult to get a parking spot.


The rain stopped already before the 9pm performance. I was bored with the monochromatic performance of France.


We were not able to execute this properly but the idea was to have a Hooter Girl with a Genki umbrella in the foreground and World Pyro in the background.


We tried the super hot 911 wings while waiting for the fireworks. The wings still failed our expectation because it was not too hot at all and something is missing in the taste of its wings.


I was able to talk to Madel and Rhya about how they felt about the Hooter's comments in this blog post: Hooters Philippines. I learned that most of them came from Fridays The Fort and some were just hired because there were limited people applying to be a Hooters girl. In 100 days, they will be evaluated and so expect to hopefully see new girls after that period.

Text and Photos by Anton Diaz. Copyright 2008.

World Pyro Olympics 2008 - Summer Fireworks

UPDATE: Check Out World Pyro Olympics 2009!


DEFINITIVE GUIDE TO AWESOME WORLD PYRO EXPERIENCE 2008
Text and Photos by Anton Diaz. Copyright 2008.

Finally, the World Pyro Olympics is all set for all Saturdays of May! Thanks to Henry Sy's SM Mall of Asia and Pepsi for sponsoring this year's World Pyro! You should watch this because you have not seen any fireworks like this in your lifetime. Each year gets even better than the year before. If you can only watch one Saturday, I would suggest that you don't miss May 3 -- China and Germany's show; May 24 -- Australia's Show; or the Philippines Finale on May 31. For the first time, La Mancha will attempt to do a pyro-musical show that you shouldn't miss.

This year, the main stage of the World Pyro will be in the center of San Miguel by the Bay in Esplanade. I would recommend that you reserve your seats now (as in today). I would recommend all the 2nd Floor Entertainment Mall restaurants specially the center ones. It is best that you reserve the table outside overlooking the Bay Area. Also, I would recommend Padi's Point and Pier One areas if you want to hang out and party with friends. It took me almost an hour to collect the contact information from all the restaurants for OAP readers (see below). Expect to spend P500 - P1,500/ head for the entire night. I just talked to all of them last night and you can still conveniently reserve your spot.

If you don't plan to watch, avoid the Mall of Asia area at all cost -- all Saturday evenings. It will be super traffic -- please share this with your family and friends.

WORLD PYRO SATURDAYS OF MAY

May 3 WORLD PYRO OLYMPICS! | Mall of Asia, Pasay City | 3rd World Pyro Olympics
7.30pm China's The Glorious Group -- Its sensational pyrotechnic out-door sky painting concerts have no rival. In last year's WPO, I can hear the ooohhs and aaahhs throughout their presentation.

9.00pm Germany's Nico Lunig Event -- One of the leading and most requested pyrotechnics company in the globe.

May 10 WORLD PYRO OLYMPICS! | Mall of Asia, Pasay City | 3rd World Pyro Olympics
7.30pm Canada's Pyro Studios

9.00pm France's Fetes et Feux

May 17 WORLD PYRO OLYMPICS! | Mall of Asia, Pasay City | 3rd World Pyro Olympics
7.30pm Italy's Parente Fireworks

9.00pm Venezuela's Venefuegos Fireworks C.a.

May 24 WORLD PYRO OLYMPICS! | Mall of Asia, Pasay City | 3rd World Pyro Olympics
7.30pm South Korea's Hanwha Corporation -

9.00pm Australia's Explosive Productions Pty Ltd- 1st World Pyro Olympics Champion. They produced the designs used to win the 2005 and 2006 Gold Medals at the World Pyro Olympics.

May 24 WORLD PYRO OLYMPICS! | Mall of Asia, Pasay City | 3rd World Pyro Olympics

7.30pm Fellowship of Fire - Collaboration of all Countries with Philippines

9.00pm Philippines! La Mancha Pyromusical Grand Finale -- This is what I was waiting for... Pyrotechnics choreographed with music!

World Pyro Olympics Revised Schedule

Related Posts: Tips for an awesome World Pyro Experience

Here is the revised schedule for the World Pyro Olympics! It was postponed to after Holy Week. Tickets will be available on the first week of March.

MARCH

Best Time to go watch and shoot the awesome Manila sunset!
Start of the Donsol Season in Bicol!

17-23 MORIONES FESTIVAL | Marinduque
Re-enact the story of Longinus, a Roman centurion who speared the crucified body of Jesus Christ.

17-23 HOLY WEEK! | Philippines
Philippines' most sacred week!

20 HOLY THURSDAY!
Commemorates the Last Supper of Jesus Christ with the Apostles.

21 GOOD FRIDAY!
Commemorates the crucifixion and death of Jesus at Calvary.

23 EASTER SUNDAY
Celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ

30 FEAST OF THE DIVINE MERCY | Philippines | Plenary Indulgence for Divine Mercy Sunday
The soul that will go to confession and receive holy communion shall obtain complete forgiveness of sins and punishment!

APRIL

The Peak Time in Boracay.

5 WORLD PYRO OLYMPICS! | Mall of Asia, Pasay City | 3rd World Pyro Olympics
China (2nd World Pyro Olympics Awardee) vs. Germany

12 WORLD PYRO OLYMPICS! | Mall of Asia, Pasay City | 3rd World Pyro Olympics
Japan vs. Canada

7 BATAAN DAY (ARAW NG KAGITINGAN) | Monday
In lieu of April 9, Bataan Day

19 WORLD PYRO OLYMPICS! | Mall of Asia, Pasay City | 3rd World Pyro Olympics
Italy vs. Venezuela

26 WORLD PYRO OLYMPICS! | Mall of Asia, Pasay City | 3rd World Pyro Olympics
France vs. Korea

MAY

3 WORLD PYRO OLYMPICS! | Mall of Asia, Pasay City | 3rd World Pyro Olympics
Australia (1st World Pyro Olympics Champion) vs. Philippines! The Grand Finale

No More World Pyro...

I was sad when I learned that there won't be any World Pyro Olympics for this year. What happened? I was looking for more info from the net and I can't find one. Have you heard anything about why they decided to cancel World Pyro this year?

Congratulations to UK -- 2nd World Pyro Olympics Champion!

Congratulations to UK - 2nd World Pyro Olympics Winner!! Congratulations to China, who won the People's Choice Award!

Not only did we got the best view last January 7, Sunday of the World Pyro @ Highland Steakhouse, we also witnessed the Champion of the 2nd World Pyro Olympics! Now, the official website of World Pyro Olympics is down so I'm sure most of you are wondering who won during the last World Pyro championship.

Now there was a confusion. In the website, Germany was the first to show their fireworks @ 8pm followed by UK @ 9.30pm. But in the flyers and in the posters, it was UK first and Germany as the last. So now, I am confused which was UK and Germany. I called La Mancha and was told that the flyers and posters were correct. Indeed, the UK show was the most creative one with the awesome finale! They were the ones with the screeching sperms and slow rocket ships fireworks which was imitated by the Philippines as well. See super-exposed shot below and this is the only time I was shooting at 1600 ISO instead of 100 (ouch) .

Congratulations to China for winning the people choice award! I would argue they could have won the contest because of their elegant display and kung-fu like graceful show. Congratulations!!

World Pyro Olympics Finale: China and the Philippines

Helen Sia and friends.

What a grand finale! The China show was colorful and elegant; it is like watching a Fireworks Show directed by Ang Lee. The fireworks keeps on changing colors; it mesmerizes you. It is very graceful... very asian...never boring and each sequence is a thrill to watch. We were situated directly in front of the barge in the special viewing area (P500). I was also with a big group around 25 people all-in-all and it was a mini- Our Awesome Planet EB.

We should be proud of the Philippines and indeed, it was unforgettable. I love our own version of the screeching sperms, slow rocket fireworks, and the finale of hanging lanterns -- I have no doubt that we could win in this contest. It was also a perfect time for fireworks portrait and after 5 days of shooting the World Pyro Olympics, I almost mastered the technique. Thank you also to all the Friends of Our Awesome Planet who joined during the WPO finale!

Lennie and Lito

World Pyro Olympics: Denmark and Canada

The World Pyro Olympics last night was different:

The traffic was easy.
Both fireworks started exactly on time 8pm and 9.30pm respectively.
There were only a few people who watched the show.
Both Denmark and Canada were just standard big fireworks which was disappointing, relatively.
I can't believe that I left my spare battery so I was not able to take decent firework shots.
Our view was fantastic, directly in front of the barge since we are in the special viewing area.

I'm sure today's world pyro will be more exciting because everyone is expecting that China's show will be a prelude to Beijing Olympics Fireworks. Also, we will support our very own as the finale of the entire World Pyro Olympics.

My fearless WPO vote?
People's Choice would be Germany.
The winner will be:
1. USA
2. China
3. United Kingdom

Check out the view from the special viewing area below...

WPO Fireworks Photography Tips!

This is it! Last day of the World Pyro Olympics and I know most of you are coming today on the last day of WPO. You don't have time to experiment on taking firework photos and you got only two chances: One, during the much-awaited China Pyrotechnics show and two, for our very own Philippines Exhibition Show!!

Here are the ultimate tips on Fireworks Photography updated with some of my learnings from the earlier shoots:

1. Bring a tripod. If you are serious in taking clean firework shots, then bring or borrow a tripod. Otherwise, you'll get blurring, bleeding, or shaking shots of the fireworks.

2. Use Bulb, f8 or f16. For SLR cameras, use manual mode, Bulb settings as your shutter speed, and either use f/8 or f/16 as your aperture. Once you use the Bulb setting, you will have the creative freedom to determine when to close the shutter or not. Use f/8 throughout the fireworks show and start using f/16 during the finale.

3. Learn from overexposed fireworks. A good shot of the fireworks is usually clean and colorful. If your photo came out white, it is overexposed and keep a mental note of these mistakes (how long you exposed it, etc.)

4. Frame with a good foreground. Anybody can take a decent and even by-chance shot of the fireworks. What makes a winning fireworks shot is a good framing and a good foreground. A foreground could be silhouettes, lovers watching the show, people taking photographs, etc.

5. Use ISO 100. I've made this mistake a couple times already where I set my ISO to 1600 and all my fireworks shot came as over exposed. Use the less sensitive ISO setting in your camera.