AURORA | Aniao Islets at Baler’s Digisit Bay

Tuesday, November 08, 2011

Rose from bed late, ate breakfast late, and went off the road late; that’s what happens when you don’t get enough sleep.

Typhoon Chedeng arrived with blasting winds, forcing power shutdowns throughout the whole province of Aurora; the gang was up through the night, drinking coffee (we were unable to buy alcohol, every store was already closed), munching on super chili peanuts and swapping stories. Suffice it is to say, the planned sunrise shoot at Digisit Bay was held off.

An hour or so later and we were passing roads strewn with tree branches and rockslides as we winded down to Barangay Zabali. The sky was still overcast and clouds were having a marathon above our heads.

Craggy rock formations along the sea swept past our view; we’re late, but we’re finally here.

I can definitely see why photographers frequent Digisit Bay; this is a rock haven for landscapers. The place is just littered with huge earth-toned rock formations, and sandwiched between still waters and crashing waves are the small Aniao islets.

Looking forlorn against the grey stormy skies, two of them stand side by side together, looking like twins battling the mighty waves of the Philippine Sea in unity. This is one of the iconic locations in Baler and I was distraught with panic as to how I would be photographing them.
The place was so tragically poetic, craggy lonesome islands topped with bare trees, pounded by heart stopping waves; all this blanketed by a grey moody sky.

Digisit Bay’s kilometer long beach is directly assaulted by the Philippine Sea, but is a good diving and snorkeling site during calmer seasons. Our local friend says that there’s a fantastic sea wall right below that hosts a plethora of marine life you’d only see in Animal Planet.
The twin islets can be accessed by foot as it connects to the mainland through a pebbly sandbar as the tides ebb. There are a couple of huts there, but I assume these are for people guarding the area as they’re quite small and bare.

The possibilities for photographical compositions at Digisit Bay were endless. Unfortunately, my mind somewhat froze and I really don’t know what happened. I left the place with regret and feeling unfulfilled; I know that the pictures I took were not up to par. I guess it was a case of too many options; I got drowned in covering everything all at once.
I promised myself to revisit Baler again if only to be given a chance to photograph Digisit Bay again. I felt I didn’t give enough justice to its majestically tragic landscapes with my cameras and lenses; take two Digisit Bay please.

 

    Digisit Bay
    Barangay Zabali
    Baler, Aurora
    View Location on Google Maps

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19 comments

  1. Ang taas talaga ng standards mo, I think you did well, look what you've made out of what were presented to you, simply beautiful :)

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  2. gandang ganda na nga ko sa pictures e.

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  3. sige.. makapag-plan nga ng Baler, Aurora field trip :)) sama kayo :)

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  4. nakarating ako dyan pero syempre di ganyan kaganda pics ko hehe! love the second photo!

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  5. Ang buhay traveler..kung san san nalang tlga namamasyal! SARAAAP! Unlimited inspiration sa min ang mga kuha mo kuya!

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  6. Sir Christian talaga low profile, ang gaganda nga po ng mga pictures eh, the storm had given you the other side of the coin, of the same one coin.

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  7. ganda naman ah! sabi nga ni claire eh "ang taas ng standards mo"...

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  8. reminds me of Bulag Island in Coron. Another stunning photos here! Lahat ng klase ng effects a. Pang mayaman na ang blog mo. hahaha!

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  9. bossing, anung filter gamit mo dito? kaya ba yan ng nd8? ganda nice!!

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  10. Claire, Michi, Joni, Blissfulguro
    Salamat! I'm glad you guys still find them beautiful.
    Parang may mali kasi sa mga shots ko eh hehe, di natutumbok yung gusto kong mangyari :P

    Batang Lakwatsero
    Sama ko! Kelan yan?

    Adventurousfeet, Kim, Elal
    Thansk po! That second pic I think is yung pinaka maayos ko hehe

    Mitch
    Salamat! Nilibre lang kasi kami ng officemate namin na taga jan kaya napadpad ako ng Baler hehe

    Malditang "Kura"cha
    Wah di pa ko nakapunta ng Bulag Island ah! Ay teka di kaya Bulog Dos Island yung sinasabi mo? :)

    Eli van Ingen
    Ahehe but this time, we were just goofing around :P

    Ca de Ramos
    Most of the long exposures, I used an ND106 filter. For the cover photo, it was handheld (but I wish I used a tripod an a filter instead. The cover can be done using an ND8, but the long exposure ones cannot (I even had to resort to setting my camer to f22 to get my desired shutterspeed even with my ND106).

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  11. ay oo nga bulog Dos nga. hahaha! lol! Anu ba yun..

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  12. Hmm akala ko magkalapit yung islets na yan yun pala medyo magkalayo sila. beautifuls pics

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  13. wow... these pictures, amazing! they made mine like they were taken by preschoolers LOL. my friends and i just went to baler recently, i look at our pictures and think our cameras did not do the place justice. but yours certainly did.

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  14. Kura
    :)

    Estel
    Medyo magkalapit lang din po :)

    Marjorie
    Thanks! But I think I can still can do better, tinamad kasi ako mag tripod nyan eh ehehe

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  15. Kakapunta ko lang last week. Hahaha Ganda nga nya pero syempre mas maganda sa kuha mo :D

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  16. Elal
    Wow kasama ka rin sa Project Dora? Inggit ako! :)

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