Viernes Santo 2008, part 2

Tableaux

Aside from singular standing icons, there were a few tableaux paraded during Good Friday at Talamban. These are biblical scenes which consist of 2 or more images. There could be more than three tableaux but it was difficult to cover everything in the little time I had.

First, there was the Pieta which is a relatively new addition to the Talamban lineup and owned by a local councilor Nestor Archival. Unquestionably, its design was derived from Michelangelo’s marble masterpiece. I must admit that in the photograph below, I was more interested in presenting the colorfully garbed lay ministers playing the “Apostles” during the Good Friday proceedings than the Pieta or the Santo Entierro in the background.


Canon EOS 350D Digital, 1/500s, f/5.0, 190mm, ISO 800, +2/3EV
the Pieta tableau and the Santo Entierro, as framed by the lay ministers dressing up as the Apostles during the Good Friday procession, Talamban, Cebu City
phototip: Bring life to procession shots by framing them with people.


I was only able to shoot one other tableau, which I think is The Third Last Words. Conveniently parked in front of the school gate, the Crucifixion features the Crucified Christ, the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mary Magdalene and St. John the Evangelist. I took a few frames and below are 3 versions.

The first photo was an attempt to isolate the Mater Dolorosa (Grieving Mother) and the Crucified Christ. I tried to eliminate St. John from the frame but not completely so as the halo could still be seen at the right border of the frame. However, I like how the late afternoon sky came out clean and blue.


Canon EOS 350D Digital, 1/1000s, f/18, 50mm, ISO 100
the Crucifixion tableau, Good Friday procession, Talamban, Cebu City


The next picture incorporated Mary Magdalene in the frame. I tried several angles but this time, the background proved to be the distraction. The windows of the house across the school stick out sorely.


Canon EOS 350D Digital, 1/640s, f5.0, 95mm, ISO 400, +1/3 EV
the Crucifixion tableau, Good Friday procession, Talamban, Cebu City


I like the last shot best. It was not taken near the image but was shot some 20 meters away, on higher ground (the church is on a hill overlooking the parish school). There were however, too many streamers and painted murals on the walls. Given no alternative, I tried to present them as a religious context to the scene. I also believe that the high angle managed to illustrate the excitement of the dense crowd just when the procession was about to start.


Canon EOS 350D Digital, 1/500s, f/5.6, 240mm, ISO 800, +2/3EV
the Crucifixion tableau, Good Friday procession, Talamban, Cebu City


Santo Entierro

Ask any Filipino what the climax of the Good Friday procession is and you’ll get a unanimous answer: the Santo Entierro (the Holy Burial or Haya in Cebuano). The parade rightfully reserves a central role to the Santo Entierro as a penitential commemoration of the Jesus’ sacrifice in Calvary.

Talamban’s Santo Entierro, I’ve been told, is owned by the family of the late Vicente Leyson, a former barangay captain, and is as old as the church that was established in the 1960s. As called for by custom, the Santo Entierro is placed in a hearse adorned only with white flowers, linen and lamps although the wooden carroza is painted in gold, which came out remarkably photogenic in pictures.


Canon EOS 350D Digital, 1/125s, f5.6, 40mm, ISO 800, +1/3 EV
the Santo Entierro just before the start of the Good Friday procession, the San Isidro Parish Church, Talamban, Cebu City, the Philippines
phototip: The classical golden section is an effective composition.



Canon EOS 350D Digital, 1/320s, f5.0, 40mm, ISO 800, +1/3 EV
the Santo Entierro just before the start of the Good Friday procession, the San Isidro Parish Church, Talamban, Cebu City, the Philippines
phototip: Photographing the photographer is interesting when the subject is a woman of cloth!


the Veneration

The procession began a little past 5:30 P.M. Following a route that was around 4 kilometers long, the procession only started to file back an hour later. Because of the thick crowd, it took another 15 minutes for all of the carrozas to get back in the school grounds. As expected, upon arrival at the parish school yard, there was a rumble as people elbowed each other to get the flowers adorning the carts, especially that of the Santo Entierro. Belief is that they are miraculous having been blessed in the act of the procession. These flowers are often incorporated in cure-all elixirs called in the vernacular as lana (oil) or haplas (salve). I pity the carroza marshalls for they cannot never really save the flowers but only safeguard the icon from vandalism or damage.

Only the Santo Entierro gets the honor to be ushered inside the Church. It was laid in front of the altar. Automatically, people flanked the image at three sides and the lay ministers had to move in quickly to form queues and maintain order.

Photographing the scenes of veneration was difficult as the jostling madness could not give me any clear shot. Fortunately, I saw that the stairwell leading to the choir loft was not locked. Nobody really minded me sneaking up and settling my tripod. The view from above was perfect. My telephoto lens is not really that powerful nor sharp but it is serviceable on occasions like this one.

The weakness of the 75-300mm 1:4-5.6 II USM lens is nevertheless obvious. Grain can be an issue especially with a crop as severe as the one below. The flickering shadows are actually the moving lines of the worshippers who kissed the image in a span of 20 seconds.



Canon EOS 350D Digital, 20s, f/29, 230mm, ISO 100, -1/3 EV
the Santo Entierro, during Good Friday, the San Isidro Parish Church, Talamban, Cebu City, the Philippines
phototip: I chose a narrow aperture to achieve an exposure of 20 seconds. This allows me to make the worshippers filing to kiss the Holy Body “disappear” into indistinct but ghostly shadows.


Getting a clean shot of the chaos was a challenge. I had to time a shot wherein the Santo Entierro would not be totally covered by people during the exposure. I also composed a frame that juxtaposed the snaking queues against the others worshippers who chose to say their petitions in silence on the pews. Below is one version in full saturated colors.


Canon EOS 350D Digital, 25s, f/22, 49mm, ISO 100, -1/3 EV
the queue to kiss the Santo Entierro, San Isidro Parish Church, Talamban, Cebu City, the Philippines
phototip: Time the shot to ensure that the photo gets a clear view of the subject, the Santo Entierro.


The photo below is the actually the same as the one above, only that I cropped the scene closer to the Santo Entierro. The conversion to black and white allows clearer isolation the subject, as the eye is ultimately led towards the subject of veneration.


Canon EOS 350D Digital, 25s, f/22, 49mm, ISO 100, -1/3 EV
a closer crop of the queue to kiss the Santo Entierro, San Isidro Parish Church, Talamban, Cebu City, the Philippines

When I left the church that night, I realized that not like in the past, I was not really able to walk through the procession. Playing the photographer prevented me so. But documentating is not just spectating. I left with a renewed sense of belief that recording acts of faith is an active affirmation of my own.

Viernes Santo 2008, part 1

Indulging the photographic itch is difficult when you have an infant. Parenthood makes me reassess my priorities. I could no longer do things that I take for granted in the past. On-the-spot vacations can no longer be and everything have to be planned ahead. Even a trip to the mall needs a game plan – where can we change diapers? what if she fussed and cried? This Holy Week then, I was in a quandary. I traditionally would like to check out old churches, as it is the time to photograph antique icons which only get the light of day this time of the year. Too bad. This year would be different. I am homebound.

With the Holy Week almost over, I had to muster all of what’s left of my sapped energy to attend the local procession in Talamban, where I settled since I got married last year. I was not expecting anything grandiose as the parish is relatively new. The church is probably at most 40 years old.

But Talamban isn’t exactly a small community and I was not disappointed. Traditions remain deep-rooted in Catholic Philippines and the Viernes Santo (Good Friday) procession was a fulfilling spiritual exercise and an enjoyable photographic journey.

Imahen

I counted at least 9 images and 3 tableaux in the procession, all of which can safely be assumed as private patronages of families living in Talamban. There were no century old antiques although the Santo Entierro does look old.

As I took the pictures I realized one glaring fact, that the icons of the holy women were not identified. When I got back home, I then checked into my “reliable” source of local iconography- Flickr’s own Semana Santa Filipinas which has a lively discussion thread on the women in the Passion of Jesus regularly featured in Holy Week processions. My thinking was that I could identify the images based on the religious symbols that they bear. Wrong!

I soon realized that in the Philippines, where folk Catholicism is strong, symbols and attributes are a confused jumble. While symbolism as a rule, is based on the Bible, it too can be derived from legend and myth. As a result, the representation varies on the location here in the Philippines. Iconography traditions, while not scant, most probably evolve over the centuries and apparently have been left rather too losely for the santos maker and owner to interpret. To complicate matters, religious attributes actually change according to the day of the Holy Week, so some images are adaptable as are the objects they hold. Who is to guarantee that when old icons are turned over to heirs, the original paraphernalia are not lost and replaced with the correct ones?

There are some symbols though which are irrefutable conventional knowledge. The handkerchief with the imprint of the face Jesus is unmistakably carried only by Veronica. No arguments there. The white linen and vial of perfume/container of spice is almost always clutched by Mary Magdalene.

Then symbols becomes convoluted. Who’s the one with the broom? the navete (incense boat) and cuchara (spoon)? the incensario (incenser/incense burner)?

In the Philippines, the woman with the broom is most likely Maria Jacobe. Peculiarly, she is often differented as a person distinct and separate from Maria Cleofe. However in biblical texts, it seems that Mary of Clopas or Cleophas (or Maria Cleofe here) is the Greek equivalent of the Latin Maria Jacobae. I guess it doesn’t hurt to have more than one representation of the same Mary! There are also towns in the Philippines where Salome, another holy woman, carries the broom. Then there is Martha who also carries household items, like, well, the broom again! And in Talamban such is the case.

For more interesting variations of the attributes of different saints, the Semana Santa Filipinas flickr pool offers a listing of common Philippine icons replete with texts and photo samples. A lot of the discourses are in Tagalog though but they are worth the read being both colloquial and erudite, sometimes to hilarious results.

The following are the various depictions of the holy women in Talamban. As always, I captured them in a photographic perspective so I am sharing some phototips in framing the icons esthetically.

[March 24, 2008 note: A good friend assisted me in the identification below. He’s Glenn Leyson, who is a “lumad” or native of Talamban and whose family now cares for a San Juan handed to them by the Son-Escuadro family. Other Leysons in the area own the Nazareno, the Agony in the Garden and the Santo Entierro (Haya). Thanks Glenn for the help!]


Canon EOS 350D Digital, 1/400, f/5.0, 120mm, ISO 800
the images of Veronica (Porcia family) and Maria Magdalena (Codoy family), Good Friday procession, Talamban, Cebu City
phototip: The assembly was in the local school so the background of buildings, electric wires could be distracting. Try to set an image against another, if possible.



Canon EOS 350D Digital, 1/640s, f/5.0, 180mm, ISO 800
the image of Maria Magdalena of the Codoy family, Good Friday procession, Talamban, Cebu City. She holds the telltale white linen and bottle of perfume although these appear to be more appropriate for Easter Sunday’s Salubong/Sugat
phototip: Billboards could be offputting but I make it work by using a virtue signage as an allegory for the saint.



Canon EOS 350D Digital, 1/500s, f/5.0, 190mm, ISO 800, +2/3EV
the image of Martha, Good Friday procession, Talamban, Cebu City
phototip: For me, the simplicity of the icon’s garment and broom implement calls for a plain backdrop so I chose an angle and focal distance which set the image against the blank part of the wall.



Canon EOS 350D Digital, 1/160s, f/5.0, 135mm, ISO 800, +2/3EV
the image of Maria Salome of the Entece family, Good Friday procession, Talamban, Cebu City
phototip: The carroza light bulbs can be unsightly. To make the lamp “disappear”, I chose an angle where the lamp aligns with the sleeve fold.



Canon EOS 350D Digital, 1/250s, f/5.0, 130mm, ISO 800
an image of Maria Cleofe, Good Friday procession, Talamban, Cebu City
phototip: In here, there is practically nothing I could do with the light fixtures anymore but the perspective was chosen to create the palm behind the cart as an attractive frame.


Prosesyon

I began taking pictures at 5PM just when the carrozas started to arrive and assemble in the parish school grounds adjacent to the church. Shortly thereafter, at 5:35PM, the procession began. The sky was getting dark. Processions, by tradition, are candlelit so they start before sundown in the Philippines.

All carrozas in Talamban are carts on wheels. They are hand-drawn. Yet there is no paucity of volunteers to help push the carts, which can be difficult considering the varying levels and conditions of the pavement.



Canon EOS 350D Digital, 1/100, f/5.0, 18mm, ISO 800, +1/3EV
pushing the carro of Salome (?) out of the San Isidro Parish School, Talamban, Cebu, the Philippines
phototip: To exaggerate the action, use a low and wide camera angle.

I am not one who can estimate crowd number but the procession was almost a kilometer long from end to end. People, from the religious to the curious, also lined up along streets so an attendance of four to five thousand was most likely.


Canon EOS 350D Digital, 1/250s, f/5.6, 75mm, ISO 1600
the Good Friday procession just as it emerged into the streets, Talamban, Cebu, the Philippines
phototip: To capture a comprehensive view of the procession, find an elevated vantage point. I shot this from a skywalk (an elevated pedestrian cross “bridge”) so I can see at least 5 processional carts from end to end.



Canon EOS 350D Digital, 2.0s, f/29, 42mm, ISO 100
the Good Friday procession just as it emerged into the streets, Talamban, Cebu, the Philippines
phototip: Long exposure in daylight can be manipulated by chosing the narrowest aperture (f/29) at the lowest ISO. The relatively slow shutter speed of 2 seconds capture the fast-moving pace of the procession amidst the transfixed street audience.



Canon EOS 350D Digital, 1/320s, f/5.6, 80mm, ISO 1600
Basco port, Batanes, the northernmost province of the Philippines
phototip: On the other hand, a fast exposure is necessary to freeze the various expressions of the crowd, especially upon passage of the centerpiece of the procession, the Santo Entierro. The ISO was pushed to its highest value at 1600 to prevent blur.


Processions are a community effort. No roads are sacred and for an hour and a half, traffic was brought to a standstill. The scene in Talamban is repeated in all parishes in the country and anyone who takes to the streets at sundown during Good Friday already knows what to expect. There would only be a few motorists anyway as after all, Viernes Santo is a sacred day when Christ has died. In the past, it is taboo to get out of the house, except of course, if you went to church.


Canon EOS 350D Digital, 25.0s, f/36, 49mm, ISO 100, +1/3EV
the Good Friday procession literally stopped the traffic at Talamban, Cebu, the Philippines
phototip: The lines of traffic, the candlelight procession and even the power cables may be a mess but these can convey motion if taken in long exposures, especially during sunset.


to be concluded in part 2: tableaux, Santo Entierro and the Veneration

the Cacing Diaries #5

day 32

Saturday morning and I have little to do. I just bathed Cacing and she was genki, which in Japanese means active. (My wife works part-time as an online Japanese-English translator so I’ve picked up a word or two). I was itching to do some baby photography and lighting is something that I have been struggling with all the time in the limited confines of our home. My wife also castigates and forbids me from using flash as it could damage her developing retinas so I am dependent on ambient light. Today however, the sunlight was soft and directionally streaming through the door of our home into the living room. Perfect!

I set her up on all-white sheets, prettied her up with her white headband and prayed that she’d stay jolly and playful. If she were cranky, she could be too much to handle.

One challenge is for her to look at me. Only a month old, she still could not really focus her eyes. So waiting is part of the game and I have to be quick in clicking the shutter when she did.


Canon EOS 350D Digital, 1/160s, f/1.8, 50mm, ISO 200, +1/3 EV


I tried to work the various angles. Problem was she kept on turning side to side and swaying her hands like a snow angel. Finally, after egging her repeatedly to look the other way, she gave me her modelic poses. As I told my wife, Cacing's Tyra moments were worth the wait.


Canon EOS 350D Digital, 1/200s, f/1.8, 50mm, ISO 200, +1/3EV



Canon EOS 350D Digital, 1/500s, f/1.8, 50mm, ISO 400, +1.0EV


Cacing is also small. (Infants are!) I could not do a real closeup as I don’t have a macro lens. The picture below was a crop. I hope I’d be able to get some proper gears in the future as I would like to do much more.


Canon EOS 350D Digital, 1/320s, f/1.8, 50mm, ISO 400, +1.0EV


day 33

Another Sunday, another chance. I am veering into concepts already.

The idea was to capture a travel-ready baby.

The problem is to catch Cacing in a good mood as typically she doesn’t like confined spaces. I don’t want to start a crying fit. With her mom’s blessing and supervision, I prepped my cabin bag first. I fluffed it with a few pillows. Next, I strategically placed paraphernalia like a shaver, a camera (my wife’s prosumer Canon), a toothbrush set, among others.

To cut time, I did some test shots of the bag to determine the proper exposure settings. Then, I promptly settled Cacing inside the bag for a few seconds. The rest is up to her as you certainly could not coach a baby to pose and smile. Take it from me, a month old infant would not take directions. I tried and failed!

The first attempt lasted only a short 10 seconds as we had to pull out Cacing when she started to squirm. Attempt number 2 also failed. This was the third attempt. Still not the best take – I don’t like the background, the angle of her face and the overall color scheme – but I am learning.


Canon EOS 350D Digital, 1/13s, f/5.6, 48mm, ISO 800, +1/3EV


Cacing now seemed upset. Time to pack up. There will be other opportunities…

Sunrise Moments

People can either be night owls or early birds. I’m definitely the latter. In high school, I did my schoolwork only at dawn as I preferred to sleep early in the evening. Waking up at 4AM never has been a problem. I never was one who had to be dragged by my parents to get up on my haunches. My own wakeup jolt was simply the cold bath. Like most Filipinos, we do not have heated plumbing!

The glory of muscle memory is that like clockwork, I still wake up around 5:30 AM. I even arranged for my work hours to start at 7AM so that I can leave early as well, at 3PM. When I took up photography, this habit turns out to be an advantage. Sunrises, like sunsets, are a natural draw to hobbyists. Colors could not be more spectacular and light could not be more soft.

Here are some of my sunrise moments I would like to share to you.

May 6, 2006, 6:15AM

Sunrises can be surreal. An overexposed long exposure shot can create dreamlike seascapes. Warmified to pink, the water appears like fog where the hut floats on.


Canon EOS 350D Digital, 25.0s, f/32, 38mm, ISO 100, +4/3EV (cropped)
huts on the sandbar of Manhuyod/Bais, Negros Oriental


April 21, 2006, 5:50AM

Occasionally, it is a daunting task to head out early for dawn shots. Places would generally be isolated so safety can be an issue. Not in Batanes though. It is a truly peaceful place. A backwater in terms of development but there lies its appeal too- it is a rustic idyll settled in its own pace and time.


Canon EOS 350D Digital, 0.50s, f/22, 22mm, ISO 100
Basco port, Batanes, the northernmost province of the Philippines


Oct 21, 2006, 5:39AM

The photo was taken when sunrise was still about 20 minutes away. The beach was dark, empty but no less hospitable. I already took a picture of this lifeguard station with my point and shoot several years ago with my point and shoot and I just felt like retaking it with my dSLR. In the latest version, the hut came out like a lamp in the absence of scale reference. I think, my wife – then my girlfriend – captured a better version with her prosumer camera!


Canon EOS 350D Digital, 1.00s, f/14.0, 30mm, ISO 100
Geger Beach, Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia- my version



my wife’s version



an old 2004 point and shoot version


Oct 23, 2006, 5:40AM

Two days later, I was at it again and of course, I dragged my wife with me too. We went to Pura Bias Tugel in an isthmus like projection in Nusa Dua Beach. In the runners’ promenade, I lurked around to catch silhouettes of joggers but I my timing was shot. As the sunrise was fast approaching, I had my wife walk in front of me and produced this sexy shot. Yes, I am biased!


Canon EOS 350D Digital, 1/125s, f/5.6, 46mm, ISO 200, -2/3 EV
my wife at Pura Bias Tugel, Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia


March 19, 2007, 5:25AM

Sunrises offer unbelievable colors, even without any post-processing. Here is an early morning shot of the eastward facing bay in Maria, Siquijor, straight out of the camera. I had to bump up the exposure to enhance the mirror quality of the still waters.


Canon EOS 350D Digital, 2.5s, f/22, 55mm, ISO 100, +4/3EV (as-is, no post-processing)
Maria, Siquijor, the Philippines


November 11, 2007, 5:28AM

One time in 2006, I was spending a lazy dawn photoshoot in Geger Beach when I noticed that a lot of people were flocking in the beach rather early. I belatedly learn that it was the celebration of Banyu Pinaruh, an auspicious date to cast away offerings and ritually bathe in the sea. As I failed to capture the rites in 2006, I made it a point to catch it last year. It must have been so cold to take a dip in the beach that early in the morning!


Canon EOS 350D Digital, 8.0s, f/13, 18mm, ISO 200, +2/3EV
the Banyu Pinaruh ritual, Geger Beach, Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia

the Cacing Diaries #4

day 18

It all started Sunday dawn and without warning. Cacing cried inexplicably without a break. She turned purple red. Have you ever seen a newly born piglet or mouse? That was her color. We were at our wits’ end. Nothing worked- milk feeding, singing, rocking, massaging… After about 5 minutes, she stopped. We hoped that was a one-off thing, after all, we are new parents and we didn’t have any experience.

Wrong. More episodes of intransigent crying bouts hounded us several times that Sunday. My wife could not help but cry as well. I actually believe that I could endure seeing my daughter cry for a prolonged period– I read somewhere that crying is a healthy sign – but what if there is an more insidious underlying malady? I checked her hands, feet and body for any sign of insect bite, trauma, or heaven forbid, broken bones. None.

There was only one other explanation: colic.

Now, colic is one of those mysterious conditions which science still cannot fully elucidate, appearing in the 2nd week of life and disappearing before the baby turns 4 months old. In extreme cases, colic causes incessant crying in extended periods following the cruel rule of 3s: more than 3 hours of crying for more than 3 days for more than 3 weeks, for about 3 months!

For want of explanation, stomach gas buildup is often attributed as the most common cause and studies have shown that in almost half of the cases, this may be true. There is also no cure. A tactic which worked for us in one occasion, say swaddling the baby close to the chest, whispering a shh sound on the ear, burping her upright, exposing her to white noise like the sound of a running electric fan, would suddenly be ineffectual the next.

We barely could sleep.

day 19

Second day. We were tired and helpless. Worse of all, alarmingly, my wife started channeling her inner Brooke Shields and fancied herself to have been sucked into post-partum depression. She said she could now fathom why there are cases of mothers killing themselves and their babies in an uncontrollable bout of depressive rage. We joked about it and were glad that she was far from this nadir.

Well-meaning friends volunteered various remedies. Bigkis or a fabric wrap around her waist- done. Socks- done. More rigid and prolonged burping- done. We almost tried aceite de manzanilla, a traditional oil used to expel gas but our pediatrician already warned us against potential burn hazard so we did not. Still, no appreciable response.

We counted our blessings that Cacing’s case was only mild, for her crying spells were only short-lived – say, less than 10 minutes? – but no less intense. Most probably, we dissected, hers is the gas-related as she would stop crying after she a loud burp or fart. (Infants have no etiquette).

At this stage we already resigned, well, almost. The strange thing with colic is that in between the crying spells, she remained an angel, as these pictures would attest.


Canon EOS 350D Digital, 1/30s, f/5.6, 55mm, ISO 1600
Here is her princess and the pea moment..



Canon EOS 350D Digital, 1/8s, f/5.6, 55mm, ISO 1600, +1/3 EV
A mummy moment for an all wrapped up Cacing....

day 20

We continued to ask around.

Finally, at work, people began asking us to switch milk brands. Cacing needs more milk than the breastmilk that my wife can provide and it is possible that Cacing may not be able to digest fully the formula milk we use. We were using Similac Eye-Q and among the various alternatives available, I eventually picked Nan probiotic.

At the onset, the difference of the two mik was clear. Similac is creamy and viscous. Nan is thin and watery. When we made the switch early in the evening, we prayed and crossed our fingers. Almost instantaneously, Nan actually worked! The next time she cried, she was appeased more quickly and she passed gas easily.

Miracles do happen.


Canon EOS 350D Digital, 1/2s, f/1.8, 50mm, ISO 100
Sleeping soundly....


day 21

Anticlimax. It took almost 24 hours for her stomach to eliminate traces of her old milk. Soon enough, Cacing’s disposition turned normal. Life, as we know it, goes on.



Canon EOS 350D Digital, 1/30s, f/1.8, 50mm, ISO 400
Cacing in her playful mood. She often jerks and stretches her now 60cm frame.



Canon EOS 350D Digital, 1/200s, f/1.8, 50mm, ISO 200
A baby needs her vitamin D so we try to expose her daily to early morning sun. This shot was taken after one of her sunbathing sessions. The natural light was just too good to pass photographically.



Canon EOS 350D Digital, 1/60s, f/1.8, 50mm, ISO 200
This is my entry in the recently concluded Cebu-Sugbo February photocontest, Red. I am happy I won, as the prize is flickr pro account and mine is expiring by May.