All of the photos below were shot on February 19, 2025 (Wednesday) at the Pasig Local Rain Forest Park. I stayed in the area for an entire hour from 10:15 AM to 11:20 AM to take the photos. I used an outdated Sony DSC-WX500 that I borrowed from my sister. It has an optical zoom function that helps me a lot and might also be the reason why most of the photos I took were muddy and low-quality images. I tried my best to determine which three photos were best. When looking at photos, or at least photos that speak to me or make me feel and think of certain emotions and thoughts, I often ask “What was the need to take a photo of the scene?” to myself. This will be the mindset or attitude that I will be presenting further down in this activity.

I think this photo of a butterfly (I don’t know what species it is from) is the best one I took from that day. It was inside the butterfly garden of the park. I think the contrast between the butterfly and the flower gave it enough reason to take a photo of it. I also think the colors of both the butterfly and the flower make the two of them stand out from the hazy green and grey background that was the butterfly cage. Although I have to be honest, my images appear muddy or noisy because I used quite a bit of the camera’s optical zoom capabilities. I was at least two meters away from the butterfly as it sapped the nectar of that flower. I was also in a lower position as the whole thing happened. I also had the camera in manual exposure mode, which I think contributed to the muddy quality of the images since the camera does not do well in low-light situations. I also opted not to use a flash, because I heard those were bad for animals, and that I wasn’t alone inside the garden.

Now, why did I think the scene was worth taking a photo of? Simple, I was amazed by the size of the butterfly in that garden. It was the biggest one I had seen inside the cage, and probably the biggest one I have seen in my life yet. I also think I failed (more like I know failed) to capture the size of that butterfly. None of the photos I took greatly translated the sheer size of that butterfly. I consider this a failed attempt, but I also think this is one of the best photos I took from the whole session just for the composition of the shot alone.

The next best photo I took from that day was this old man sleeping on top of one of the benches in the lounge area that is also a part of the pathway of the park. I was sitting at the direct counterpart bench when I took this photo. If I have to estimate it, I think I was almost five meters away from the sleeping man. The line of broken tiles below are the guard rails for the fountain of that lounge area. I took advantage of that part of the area as a guide to straighten up my shot. I had quite a few failed attempts on this one, but I think it resulted in the second-best photo of my entire session. Again, nailing down the composition of the shot, regardless of having the camera focus on the broken tiles of the area. 

I thought the scene was worth a shot because of one thing: the old man’s feet, or more precisely the bottom of his feet, his soles. His soles were so clean that it made me surprised. It was so clean it also made me think why was I even looking at his feet. I took a look at my soles that day and they weren’t as clean as the old man’s. Granted that I didn’t wear shoes that day, but so was the old man. He also did not have his own pair of flip-flops lying around near him. It was quite a mystery to me who is this old man resting in this place. I just thought he was such a subject that I cannot even give any guesses on who he is and what exactly was he doing there—besides resting. It didn’t feel right to call him a homeless man as well as think he was a staff of the park. This mysterious vibe that I saw from the scene was quite the highlight of the entire time I was at that park.

The last one is this sitting area surrounding the amphitheater at the center of the park—all of the pathways lead to this area. The sitting areas have dedicated chess boards as seen from the photo. I originally wanted to take a photo of the stage but students were practicing on it—probably for a school play—and they were so loud that it made me not want to take a photo of them. Instead, I decided to take a photo of the part of “architecture” surrounding the stage.

Again, being honest, I wish I could have done more to take advantage of the “Rule of Thirds” when taking this photo. I couldn’t find the right angle that will make the photo divided into three sections that are the sitting area on the left, the pathway in the middle, and the grass area beneath the stage. But of all the attempts I made for this scene, this one turned out the best. But again, I don’t feel anything from this photo. I wish I had a subject sitting down in the area or standing on the pathway to give the photo a more compelling appeal. It just turned out good enough to make it to the top three, or maybe I just really take bad photos which makes the standards easy to reach.

Other Photos

I know the activity only said to post the top three, but I think showing the other photos I took would help support my decisions on why those three were chosen. The following are what I think the next best four are. I will just show the photos in a smaller size and explain why they cannot replace the one above in two to three sentences. The text above passed the 400-word limit of the activity.

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