"A picture is worth a thousand words ..."

Free ebook Smashing Magazine 5th anniversary offer

2012-01-28T06:45:00.000-08:00

This free ebook contains the best articles that have been published on Smashing Magazine in the last five years. It is available in PDF, ePUB and Mobipocket formats. Topics include:

Thirty Usability Issues to Be Aware Of
Ten Principles of Effective Web Design
Clever JPEG Optimization Techniques
Typographic Design Patterns and Best Practices
Ten Useful Usability Findings and Guidelines
Setting Up Photoshop for Web and iPhone Development
The Ails of Typographic Anti-Aliasing
Mastering Photoshop: Noise, Textures and Gradients
Better User Experience With Storytelling
The Beauty of Typography, Writing Systems and Calligraphy
Web Designers, Don’t Do It Alone
Making Your Mark on the Web Is Easier Than You Think
Responsive Web Design: What It Is and How to Use It
I Want to Be a Web Designer When I Grow Up
Persuasion Triggers in Web Design
What Font Should I Use?
The Design Matrix: A Powerful Tool for Guiding Client Input
Why User Experience Cannot Be Designed
Dear Web Design Community, Where Have You Gone?
Make Your Content Make a Difference
Two Cats in a Sack: Designer-Developer Discord
Print Loves Web

“Time is Nothing” (time lapse video of 25,000 miles across 17 countries in 290 seconds)

2012-01-27T14:52:00.000-08:00

Photographer Kien Lam visited 17 countries in 343 days to create this time lapse video. He rode 19 planes, 58 buses, and 18 boats in his travels. He shot 6,237 pictures in all.

Background music is “Places and Faces” by his brother William (Metaphysika Sounds).

Visit the Around The World FAQ page.

“Pictures work better than text”

2011-11-20T16:20:00.000-08:00

When Steve Jobs introduced the MacBook Air as “the world’s thinnest notebook,” one slide showed a photograph of the new computer on top of an envelope, which was even larger than the computer itself. That’s it. No words, no text boxes, no graphs, just the photo. How much more powerful can you get? The picture says it all. (The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs by Carmine Gallo, pages 99-100)

The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs

View more presentations from Carmine Gallo

Landscapes, Volumes 1 and 2, by Dustin Farrell

2011-10-13T16:40:00.000-07:00

“Every frame of this video is a raw still from a Canon 5D2 DSLR and processed with Adobe software. In Volume 2 I again show off my beautiful home state of Arizona and I also made several trips to Utah. This video has some iconic landmarks that we have seen before. I felt that showing them again with motion controlled HDR and/or night timelapse would be a new way to see old landmarks.” (Read more details of Farrell’s equipment and methods or view the video in HD at Vimeo.)

Free e-book on photography

2011-10-02T15:39:00.000-07:00

Scott Bourne’s Essays On Inspiration, Creativity & Vision In Photography

From Essay #4 Storytelling Part 2 (page 21):

You see ALL communications and ALL media - whether they be centered around radio, television, motion pictures, blogs, podcasts or photography - revolve around story. Story is everything. If you get that, you'll be a better photographer.

If you need help getting to the point where you are a storyteller, you can use a vision exercise that I often talk about called SAS - which stands for Subject, Attention, Simplify.

How to create word clouds

2011-05-30T16:03:00.000-07:00

“Word cloud websites are great ways to create colorful interesting graphics that have lots of impact but are not much work to create. Though many programs are available to do this, this video gives you a brief overview of Tagxedo, a program that not only creates colorful Word Cloud, but makes it easy to save them and use them in other programs, something many of the other programs don’t do.” (From Yvon Prehn) Tagxedo turns words -- famous speeches, news articles, slogans and themes, even your love letters -- into a visually stunning word cloud, words individually sized appropriately to highlight the frequencies of occurrence within the body of text.

With Tagxedo, you can:

make word clouds in real-time, and respin, and respin to your liking
save the word cloud as images for printing and sharing
look at all variants of the clouds in a gallery (see screenshot above), and pick the one you want for further tweaking or saving
choose from many different fonts
use local fonts (e.g. downloaded from Font Squirrel, DaFont, FontSpace, or your own hand-drawn fonts)
quickly switch between different colors and themes
constrain the cloud to selected shapes (heart, star, cloud, oval, etc)
use images as custom shapes (e.g. Reddit Alien) [premium feature]
use words as custom shapes (e.g. "USA", "Love", "Joy", "I LOVE YOU") [premium feature]

The Power of Words: Change your words, change your world

2011-04-26T20:23:00.000-07:00

Free PDF about online journalism

2011-04-14T20:21:00.000-07:00

“Journalism 2.0: How to Survive and Thrive, A digital literacy guide for the information age”, by Mark Briggs (Assistant Managing Editor for Interactive News, The News Tribune)

PDF English version now available for download; also available in Spanish or Portuguese. You can also order hard copies.

Topics include: Chapter 1: FTP, MB, RSS, Oh My

Chapter 2: Web 2.0

Chapter 3: Tools and Toys

Chapter 4: New Reporting Methods

Chapter 5: How to Blog

Chapter 6: How to Report News for the Web

Chapter 7: Digital Audio and Podcasting

Chapter 8: Shooting and Managing Digital Photos

Chapter 9: Shooting Video for News and Feature Stories

Chapter 10: Basic Video Editing

Chapter 11: Writing Scripts, Doing Voice-overs

For continuing discussion of new technology for journalists, check out Mark Briggs’ Journalism 2.0 site.

Free e-book on website design and usability from U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

2011-04-08T20:22:00.000-07:00

Throughout your Web design or redesign project, you should take advantage of what is already known about best practices for each step of the process. The Research-Based Web Design & Usability Guidelines (PDF, 20.64MB) brings you these best practices compiled through an extensive process of research and review. (From usability.gov)

You can also download specific sections of the book:

design process and evaluation (PDF - 1.9MB)
optimizing the user experience (PDF - 9.1MB)
accessibility (PDF - 2.4MB)
hardware and software (PDF - 2.8MB)
the homepage (PDF - 12.1MB)
page layout (PDF - 21.9MB)
navigation (PDF - 13.1MB)
scrolling and paging (PDF - 4.5MB)
headings, titles, and labels (PDF - 7.8MB)
links (PDF - 17.1MB)
text appearance (PDF - 11.2MB)
lists (PDF - 6.6MB)
screen-based controls (widgets) (PDF - 15.1MB)
graphics, images, and multimedia (PDF - 16.8MB)
writing Web content (PDF - 11.0MB)
content organization (PDF - 10.1MB)
search (PDF - 9.1MB)
usability testing (PDF - 1MB)

How To Use Plain Language on a Government Website on Howcast

Call to Cairo: The night has a thousand eyes

2010-12-10T00:01:00.000-08:00

Call to Cairo from Oliver Wilkins on Vimeo.

Francis William Bourdillon (22 March 1852 – 13 January 1921) was a British poet and translator best known for his poem “The Night Has A Thousand Eyes.” While the poem speaks about the power of love, the first line “The night has a thousand eyes” fits so nicely with this time lapse view of Cairo, Egypt by night. Anyway, Bourdillon’s poem goes like this:

The night has a thousand eyes,
And the day but one;
Yet the light of the bright world dies
With the dying of the sun.

The mind has a thousand eyes,
And the heart but one;
Yet the light of a whole life dies
When love is done.

Writing for the Web (tips and techniques)

2010-10-02T12:28:00.000-07:00

Great, useful research by Internet guru Jakob Nielsen from “Alertbox: Current Issues in Web Usability” on how users read on the Web and how authors should write their Web pages. Numerous topics include:

How users read on the Web
How little do users read? - users spend 4.4 seconds for every extra 100 words on a page
F-shaped pattern for reading web content, as seen in eyetracking studies
American English vs. British English
Twitter Postings: Iterative Design
Writing style for print vs. Web
Write inverted pyramids in cyberspace
Eyetracking of people reading email newsletters
Low-literacy users exhibit different behaviors
PR and press releases on corporate websites (103 design guidelines based on usability studies of how journalists visit company sites)
Blah-blah text: Keep, cut, or kill?
Email newsletters (165 design guidelines: scannability even more important than for websites)
Writing transactional email and confirmation messages
Long vs. short articles as content strategy
Microcontent: writing headlines, page titles, and email subject lines
Teenagers on the Web: poor reading skills and low patience levels mean that text has to be ultra-concise for teens and that more information must be communicated in images
Tagline blues: what’s the site about?
Passive voice is redeemed for Web headings
World's Best Headlines: BBC News
Use old keywords when writing to be found by search users
Show numbers as numerals when writing for online readers
Nanocontent: the first two words of links and titles
Company name first in microcontent? Sometimes!
Kindle Content Design (writing for Amazon.com’s e-book reader)
iPad and Kindle Reading Speeds
Information pollution
Distributing Content Through Social Networks and RSS (Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, LinkedIn, and RSS)
Corporate Blogs: Front Page Structure
Intranet usability, including guidelines for intranet content, news on intranets, HR manuals, and how to present information about projects, teams, and individuals on intranets
Full paper documenting the original research from 1997 (long): Concise, SCANNABLE, and Objective: How to Write for the Web (unfortunately this paper was written for print and not online)
Case study: Applying Writing Guidelines to Web Pages improved usability by 159% when rewriting sample pages from a popular website
How to write “About Us” pages for a company's or organization’s website

Free online books library for students, teachers, and the classic enthusiast

2010-03-01T07:22:00.000-08:00

Read Print offers over 8,000 absolutely free online books by 3,500 authors at your fingertips. Warning: The surgeon general reports that having these many free books at your disposal can be highly addictive.

Top Authors: Agatha Christie, Charles Dickens, Edgar Allan Poe, George Orwell, Jane Austen, Louisa May Alcott, Mark Twain, O Henry, Oscar Wilde, Robert Frost, William Shakespeare

Top Books: 1984, Animal Farm, Hamlet, Jane Eyre, Paradise Lost, Peter Pan, Pride and Prejudice, The Canterbury Tales, The Great Gatsby, The Invisible Man

Categories: Essays, Fiction, Non-Fiction, Plays, Poetry, Short Stories

Browse by author’s last name: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y

Liberty’s thoughts

2010-02-26T18:46:00.000-08:00

Liberty Rose Ayon was one of my Advanced Composition students a month ago. Besides the article posted below, you can read other entries in her blog.

my poignant reality (December 24, 2007, 6:15 AM)

i think the Christmas Spirit has gone somewhere but visit me

i can't help but feel nothing

a few months before the calendar showed December, i felt a little apprehensive for i kind of expect what this month will be for me...i am once again feeling and living the real-what-my-life-is...believe it or not, but behind this smiling eyes are tears roaming just around the corner...
i am really sad...

sad that i won't be spending this Christmas Eve with my mom and dad...

sad knowing that my big brother will be spending his Christmas Eve alone too...

sad that i am not even brave enough to let my tears show...

sad that i dare not even talk about and with the 'elephant in the room'

sad that i have to end and remember this year marked with a broken friendship

sad that separation is a reality way too painful

sad that i am sad

yet, i know that Christmas is not about emotions and capturing all the shiny glittering lights engulf you into feeling that wonderful Christmas Spirit...Christmas is more than that...it is remembering how God showed His love by giving Jesus to us...Jesus, Who came as a Babe to become the Man that will die on the cross for our sins...

God must have been sad too to let His Son leave Him and come to this world...

i have to feel this now though...ignoring this feeling would just lengthen this state...

but like everything else in this world, this will end too...

this will end
...

Remember a missionary this Christmas

2009-12-10T00:27:00.000-08:00

Missionary Christmas

Christmas was special when he was a child,
food and presents and carols and smiles.

Tree decorating was great family fun,
and cold nights by the fire watching old reruns.

But then one day God spoke to his heart,
and he gave up his culture to make a new start.

Now taking the Gospel to far off lands,
his Christmas is different than what he had planned.

The weather is sticky, with stench in the air,
the needs that surround him are terrible to bear.

Instead of carols and Christmas bells,
he hears chanting and the casting of spells.

The childhood dream of Christmas in the snow,
was left at the altar when he decided to go.

If only the ones who he left behind,
would remember his face during this special time.

And send him a note, or a word of thanks
or maybe even something he could put in the bank.

Then Christmas would not be so tough this year
and even for the missionary it would “good cheer.”

©Wayne Dillard 2004
www.prayercentral.net

Picture no. 19 (series): Learning to see

2009-09-03T08:39:00.000-07:00

Way back in 1989, I enrolled in a fifteen Saturday black and white photography course in an art school. For the first assignment, the instructor asked the class to use one roll of film to shoot lines, shapes, form, textures, etc. On your own, therefore, using whatever camera you have, shoot as many pictures as you can of lines, shapes, forms, etc. This exercise will teach you how to break down an image into the different elements.

Later on you can combine these elements into a photograph that appeals to your own sense of beauty. Hopefully, other people will share your joy and sense of fulfillment over the pictures you have taken. My idea of beauty, if you care to know (please, please), is embodied in the Japanese ideal of “elegant simplicity.”

The human eye and the camera see things differently

Charles Darwin, father of evolution, once said, “When I think of the complexity of the human eye, I shudder.” With the interplay of rods and cones which enable it, among other things, to distinguish numerous shades of colors, the human eye is so enormously complex that evolution fails dismally in explaining it. (Incidentally, two books I highly recommend to you are “Fearfully and Wonderfully Made” and “In His Image” by Philip Yancey and Dr. Paul Brand. These books are about the wonders and complexities of the human body.

A basic principle you have to understand and always keep in mind is that the human eye and the camera see things differently. This is why, a lot of times, we get disappointed with the results of our pictures. Whenever we look at the subject we want to shoot, we always see a “focused” image, that is, a sharp image from foreground to background. This is because the eye, even without us consciously knowing or doing anything about it, adjusts itself to focus on whatever we are presently looking at, excluding other details in the scene. The camera cannot do this.

If you’re using a manual focus camera, you have to turn the focusing ring until you get the right focus, that is, the image appears sharp and clear as you look at it through the viewfinder. With autofocusing systems, you just depress the shutter release a little bit and the camera automatically adjusts itself to focus on your subject.

The difference in what the eye and what the camera see oftentimes result in a photograph that contains a lot of clutter or distracting details, which we didn’t notice while looking at the subject through the viewfinder. Take a look at the picture to the left (a choral competition) for example. When I was looking at the scene with the camera, I didn’t notice all the students at the background because they looked fuzzy or out of focus in the viewfinder. The camera however recorded everything - the performing students, and all the distracting details in the background.

Notice for example the picture of my cute nephew JR. (He’s cute because he looks like me!) Please notice that while JR himself is sharp and clear, the background details are deliberately blurred and out of focus.

Professional photographers oftentimes derisively use the term “record shot.” Hey! “Derisive” is such a big word; I’d better check my dictionary to check if I got the spelling right! The term “record shot” is used to describe certain pictures that simply have to be taken for record purposes (to be redundant about it), or because the person paying for the photographer’s services simply wanted to have certain subjects shot. Meaning, there is nothing artistic in the subject matter or in the technique used; the photographer simply pointed his or her cameras at the subject, and took the shot.

Photographs have the power to convey a mood or share your insights with others

If you are using your camera just to do record shots, you are definitely missing out on what photography is all about as an art form. Photographs have the power to convey a mood or share your insights with others. All you really have to do is to begin seeing things, not just looking at them. Remember what the fox said to the Little Prince? “What is essential is invisible to the eyes; one must look with the heart.”

Photographers can see beauty where other people can only see mundane, crass, everyday things. Photographers, like all truly creative artists, have learned, as Walt Whitman (the father of free verse, the poet of democracy) once wrote, “to see beauty in a single blade of grass.” Wow!

Ways of developing your creative eye

The question most of you must be asking desperately by now is, “How? How do I develop this visual awareness, this creative eye?” While some people are blessed with innate artistic talents, most of us can learn how to be creative with a camera. As Ernst Haas once said, “If art is aristocratic, then photography is its democratic voice.” The following are some of the techniques in developing your creative eye.

Look at the picture to the left. Since you can’t turn your computer monitor upside down, stand up and then look at this picture with your head upside down. I know it’s a little bit acrobatic but hey it’s worth it! You will know what this picture is all about. The image of the trees, students and building are all repeated as reflections in the water in the foreground area. (This is probably the best picture I have ever taken in my life.)

I took this picture shown above way back in October 1989. I’ve noticed previously that every time it rained hard, the front area of the gymnasium of Rizal High School in Pasig would become flooded and there would be reflections on the water of the trees and that building on the background. I decided that this would make a good subject for a photograph. And so I brought my beloved Canon AE-1 Program everyday with me to school, and waited for the rain to come. I brought along my camera every day for one month, and it didn’t rain for one whole month! And so one day, I simply gave up and left my camera at home. Guess what happened? It rained hard that day!

I went home after the lunch break (pizza!), got my camera and loaded it with Negrapan (a black and white film manufactured in Spain). I knew I couldn’t use color film because the water was muddy brown in color; with monochrome film, it didn’t matter. I didn’t have a zoom lens at that time and so I used my Canon FD f/1.8 normal lens. I got back to school at around four in the afternoon. I focused on the reflections, and because it was late afternoon, I was forced to use a slow shutter speed of 1/30 sec. with an f/5.6 lens opening, for the right depth of field. (Later on we’ll discuss shutter speeds, lens openings and depth of field.)

Pay attention to details! When you’re just starting to learn about photography, don’t consider anything too small, too trivial or too insignificant. The folk dancer in picture above has a V-shaped black ribbon on her costume; notice how the out of focus highlights on the background form an inverted letter V.

Pay attention to details! When you’re just starting to learn about photography, don’t consider anything too small, too trivial or too insignificant! If you look hard enough, you will notice that cute ribbon tied to my student's shoe buckle ... you know how vain girls are! I was able to take only one shot before my student kicked me away!

How many pipes are there in the picture above? Two. How many boys are standing up? Two. How many boys are sitting down? Two. How many boys are looking towards the right? Two. How many boys are looking towards the camera? Two.

Look at paintings; watch good music videos. Look at comic books on superheroes; they have brilliant colors, subtle shadings, clean and dynamic lines. By the way, which superhero works as a photojournalist? Peter Parker, a.k.a. Spiderman!

Read poetry, short stories and other creative fiction, and then visualize in your mind the ideas, emotions expressed in them. One time, after reading Tennyson’s poem “Flower in a Crannied Wall,” I took my camera and for nearly a week, shot a lot of walls. I couldn’t find a single flower in a crannied wall but I did find a lot of small plants, a lot of moss between cracks in the walls, and our neighbors had a jolly good time watching me inspecting and shooting close-ups of walls in our compound!

Practice visualizing things. In the novel “The Heart is a Lonely Hunter” written by Carson McCullers, Mickey, the main character, wanted desperately to learn how to play the violin. She drew a violin on a piece of cardboard, cut it out and then listened for weeks to the classical music being played by a neighbor. Wow, talk about visualization! What happened? Did Mickey become a world-class violinist? Of course not! What do you think this is, real life? Get real! This is fiction! Mickey became a waitress at the end of the novel.

Look for symbolisms and relationships. I took this picture way back in 1986 during the original EDSA Revolution. What are the symbolisms here? The soldier is the defender of freedom and democracy (symbolized by the Philippine flag in the background) and the child he’s carrying is the beneficiary of that freedom and democracy.

Look for symbolism and relationships. I tried to say in the picture to the left that students (represented by the bags) were waiting for the building to be finished. I know, I know, it’s really corny!

Practice doing still life. These milk cans were rusting away near a santol tree. I’ve seen them several times before but I felt that they needed something else to perk up the image. I looked around, saw an old rubber doll my cute nephew (who looks like me) had outgrown, and placed it inside one of the milk cans.

What does this discussion have to do with learning English through creative writing? Well, you will find out that different people see different things even when viewing the same photograph. This makes writing through the use of pictures a very interesting class activity.

You can also teach your students (if you are a teacher) or learn as a student how to think critically. Try this activity: Teach Them To See - Higher Level Thinking And Tasks Through Photojournalism

Through the distance ...

2009-08-10T19:45:00.000-07:00

“And Mizpah; for he said, The LORD watch between me and thee, when we are absent one from another.” (Gen 31:49)

“Is the Lord going to use in a great way? Quite probably. Is He going to prepare you as you expect? Probably not. And if you’re not careful, you will look at the trials, the tests, the sudden interruptions, the disappointments, the sadness, the lost jobs, the failed opportunities, the broken moments, and you will think, He’s through with me, He’s finished with me, when in fact, He is equipping you.” (The Mystery of God’s Will, by Chuck Swindoll)

Daily writing tips for students, teachers and others

2009-02-13T17:08:00.000-08:00

Whether you are a student, teacher, an attorney, manager, or blogger, writing skills are essential for your success. Considering the rise of the information age, they are even more important, as people are surrounded by e-mails, wikis, social networks and so on. It can be difficult to hone one’s writing skills within this fast paced environment. Daily Writing Tips is a blog where you will find simple yet effective tips to improve your writing.

Categories include Book Reviews, Business Writing, Competitions, Expressions, Fiction Writing, Freelance Writing, General, Grammar, Grammar 101, Misused Words, Punctuation, Spelling, Vocabulary, Word of the Day, and Writing Basics.

Most popular articles are: 40 Yiddish Words You Should Know; The Impotence of Proofreading; 6 Foreign Expressions You Should Know; Let the Word Do the Work; 10 Rules for Writing Numbers and Numerals; 50 Incorrect Pronunciations That You Should Avoid; 12 Greek Words You Should Know; 34 Writing Tips That Will Make You a Better Writer; Gross Writing Errors on the Web; Creative Writing 101; Latin Words and Expressions; Usage That Provokes “Blackboard Moments”; and 44 Resume Writing Tips.

You can also measure your writing skills with DWT’s monthly updated tests. Current tests include Vocabulary Test 1, Spelling Test 1, Grammar Test 1, and Vocabulary Test 2.

You can get DWT via RSS Feed, or by email, and stay tuned for your writing tips!

Free photos for Christian publications

2009-01-05T06:51:00.000-08:00

ChristianPhotos.net is a leap of faith. Everything is free - you can download high resolution stock photography for Christian purposes without having to pay anything - expenses are covered by donations and ads. The photos can be used freely in Christian advertisements, program booklets, bulletins, invitations, newsletters, religious education materials, flyers, posters and any other project for which photos are needed. The vision of ChristianPhotos.net is simple: it wants to help churches to publish better material for spreading the word of Gospel. You can also submit your own photos.

Photo categories include Religious, People, Animals, Scenery, Plants, Macro, Artistic, Objects, and Uncategorized.

Apply now for a free account.

Picture no. 18 (series): Clouds and nostalgia

2008-12-21T18:04:00.001-08:00

These two pictures show the athletic oval and the Main Building of Rizal High School, Pasig City, Metro Manila.

In the 1990’s the Guinness Book of World Records credited the school as the largest high school in the world, with its enrollment reaching a high of 26,000 students at one point in time.

I took the sepia-toned picture in 1995 and the colored picture in 1996. If you are a beginning photographer wondering how you can get great cloud shots, you can simply fit a filter (polarizing or graduated) on the lens of your single lens reflex camera.

Way back in 1969, I was a first year student in Rizal High School. Back then it was better known as the Rizal Provincial High School. Anyway, what I remember most about those youthful days was the Field Demonstration held annually in the oval. The most popular song in the Philippines at that time was Joni Mitchell’s song “Both Sides Now.” Some of you may be familiar with the famous lines from that song:

Bows and flows of angel hair and ice cream castles in the air
And feather canyons everywhere, I’ve looked at clouds that way.
But now they only block the sun, they rain and snow on everyone.
So many things I would have done but clouds got in my way.

I’ve looked at clouds from both sides now,
From up and down, and still somehow
It’s cloud illusions I recall.
I really don’t know clouds at all.

I don't know about you but for me, sepia-toned or black and white pictures can evoke nostalgia better than colored pictures. Posted below are some quotations about nostalgia:

Owens Lee Pomeroy: “Nostalgia is like a grammar lesson: you find the present tense, but the past perfect!”

Author Unknown: “People seem to get nostalgic about a lot of things they weren't so crazy about the first time around.”

Bill Vaughn: It’s never safe to be nostalgic about something until you're absolutely certain there's no chance of its coming back.

Florence King: “True nostalgia is an ephemeral composition of disjointed memories.”

Lou Reed: “I don't like nostalgia unless it's mine.”

Ted Koppel: “It becomes increasingly easy, as you get older, to drown in nostalgia.”

Doug Larson: “Nostalgia is a file that removes the rough edges from the good old days.”

Will Rogers: “Things ain't what they used to be and probably never was.”

Picture no. 17: Serendipity

2008-12-10T03:29:00.000-08:00

I took this picture way back 1991 or 1992. After a lunchtime siesta, I got up, went out of my room and then I saw these stuffed toys just hanging around. I got my beloved Canon AE-1 program camera with an FD 50 mm f/1.8 lens. I centered the stuffed toys in the viewfinder and filled the frame (this is a basic technique in photography).I’m sure the girls among you will agree with me that this picture is probably the cutest picture in the history of photography!

Picture no. 16: The toys and joys of childhood

2008-11-26T18:28:00.000-08:00

Eugene Field (September 2, 1850 - November 4, 1895) was an American writer best known for writing poetry for children and humorous essays. Some of you might have come across his melancholy poem “Little Boy Blue” with such lines as:

The little toy dog is covered with dust,
But sturdy and staunch he stands;
And the little toy soldier is red with rust,
And his musket moulds in his hands.
Time was when the little toy dog was new,
And the soldier was passing fair;
And that was the time when our Little Boy Blue
Kissed them and put them there.
“Now, don't you go till I come,” he said,
“And don't you make any noise!”
So, toddling off to his trundle-bed,
He dreamt of the pretty toys;
And, as he was dreaming, an angel song
Awakened our Little Boy Blue---
Oh! the years are many, the years are long,
But the little toy friends are true!

I took the picture above in the early 1990’s. I used Kodak T-Max black and white film (if I remember correctly) and my beloved Canon AE-1 Program camera with a Vivitar 28-210 mm zoom lens. I first saw the rusted cans of baby milk products but I felt that something was missing. I looked around the area and then I then saw an old rubber doll that my nephew (five years old at the time) had discarded. I placed the rubber doll in one of the cans and then I shot this picture.

Free online resources on creative and journalistic writing for teachers and students

2008-10-15T19:25:00.000-07:00

WritingFix is a global resource for Writing teachers and students with hundreds of free interactive writing prompts, lessons and quality resources for classrooms where writing is taught, not just assigned.

Some of the interactive writing prompts are:

Daily Writing Prompts
Interactive Writing Prompts for K-6th Grade
Right-Brained Writing Prompts using serendipity and creativity to launch a piece of writing
Left-Brained writing prompts
Writing Lesson of the Month Network for teachers around the world

“The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe”

2008-09-20T03:19:00.000-07:00

“The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe” from C. S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia has become a beloved classic the world over. Four children walk through a seemingly ordinary wardrobe into the magical land of Narnia. A fantastic adventure begins to unfold as Aslan the Great Lion is pitted against the evil White Witch. Battles are fought, heroes are made, and one of the children has committed a crime that demands the death penalty... What will happen? Take off on an adventure you never imagined ...

Listen now to “The Narnia Story” or download the MP3. (If you have trouble extracting a zipped file, you may need to install a free program. Just click this link to download a free copy of ZipReader.)

Picture no. 15: Footprints in the corridor

2008-09-06T02:33:00.000-07:00

I took this picture sometime in 1991. A group of students on their way to our school’s Speech Festival had covered their whole bodies from head to foot with some sort of powder. As they walked barefooted, they left footprints along the corridor. I hesitated shooting the footprints because I wanted to save my favorite black and white film Kodak Tri-X for the Festival. But I eventually decided to shoot two pictures (this one) and another from the opposite side. Moments later, our school janitor mopped away the footprints.

I am sure you have heard the song “Footprints in the Sand” several decades ago. (No, I am not referring to the Leona Lewis version which I will discuss below.) It became number one in Billboard’s Gospel chart and then crossed over again as number in the pop charts. The song used a poem of the same title as its chorus. Several writers have claimed authorship of this poem, namely, Ella H. Scharring-Hausen, Mary Stevenson, Floyd Keeton, Burrell Webb, Carolyn Joyce Carty, and Margaret Fishback Powers. Whoever the real author may be, here is a version of the poem for your reading and writing pleasure:

One night I had a dream.

I dreamed I was walking along the beach with God and across the sky flashed scenes from my life.

For each scene I noticed two sets of footprints in the sand, one belonging to me and the other to God.
When the last scene of my life flashed before me, I looked back at the footprints in the sand.

I noticed that at a time along the path of my life there was only one set of footprints.

I also noticed that it happened at the very lowest and saddest times of my life.

This really bothered me and I questioned God about it.
“God, you said once I had decided to follow you, you would walk with me all the way, but I noticed that during the most troublesome time in my life there is only one set of footprints.

”I do not understand why in times when I needed you most, you would leave me.”
God replied, “My precious, precious child I love you and I would never, never leave you during your time of trials and suffering.

When you see only one set of footprints it was then that I carried you.”

Wikipedia describes the Footprints poem and its influence in this way:

Footprints, also known as Footprints in the Sand, is a popular allegorical text written in prose. There are three versions of the poem all with the same title but different authors. While critics have debated the literary merits of the piece, it has been enormously popular worldwide, especially among American Christians.
The text describes a dream, in which the person is walking on a beach with God (in some versions, specifically identified as Jesus). They leave two sets of footprints in the sand behind them. Looking back, the tracks are stated to represent various stages of this person's life. At some points the two trails dwindle to one, especially at the lowest and most hopeless moments of the character's life. When questioning God, believing that God must have abandoned his follower during those times, God gives the explanation: “During your times of trial and suffering, when you see only one set of footprints, it was then that I carried you”.
A song based on the poem, called "Footprints in the Sand", was written by Per Magnusson, David Kreuger, Richard Page and Simon Cowell and recorded by Leona Lewis. It appears on Lewis's debut album Spirit which debuted at number one in nine countries, including Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, United States, Ireland, New Zealand and Germany. It also holds the record for the biggest digital album sales in a week ever for a new artist, male or female.

Lewis’ “Footprints” song is SportRelief charity's official anthem for 2008. There is also a complimentary "Footprints In The Sand" ringtone. Click the picture to view the video. The lyrics of the song are posted below:

You walked with me
Footprints in the sand
And helped me understand
Where I'm going

You walked with me
When I was all alone
With so much unknown
Along the way
Then I heard you say

(Chorus)
I promise you
I'm always there
When your heart is filled with sorrow
And despair
I'll carry you
When you need a friend
You'll find my footprints in the sand

I see my life
Flash across the sky
So many times have I
Been so afraid

And just when I
Have thought I'd lost my way
You gave me strength to carry on
That’s when I heard you say

(Chorus)
I promise you
I'm always there
When your heart is filled with sorrow
And despair
I'll carry you
When you need a friend
You'll find my footprints in the sand

When I'm weary
Well, I know you've been there
And I can feel you when you say

I promise you (you)
I'm always there
When your heart is filled with sadness (when your heart)
And despair (and despair)
I'll carry you
When you need a friend (need a friend)
You'll find my footprints in the sand’

(I promise you)
(I'm always there)
When your heart is full of sadness (sadness)
And despair (And despair)
I'll carry you (I'll carry you)
When you need a friend
You'll find my footprints in the sand.

Picture no. 14: “Sunrise, sunset, sunrise, sunset ...”

2008-08-21T18:57:00.000-07:00

A lot of you may be familiar with the Broadway musical “Fiddler on the Roof” from which the song “Sunrise, Sunset” came from. The chorus of the song goes like this:

Sunrise, sunset,
Sunrise, sunset,
swiftly fly the years,
one season following another,
laden with happiness
and tears.
Wikipedia summarizes Fiddler’s history, distinctions and awards:

The original Broadway production of the show, which opened in 1964, was the first musical to surpass the 3,000 performance mark, and it held the record for longest-running Broadway musical for almost 10 years until Grease surpassed its run. The production earned $1,574 for every dollar invested in it.

The show was highly acclaimed and nominated for ten Tony Awards, winning nine, including Best Musical, score, book, direction and choreography. It spawned four Broadway revivals, a successful 1971 film adaptation, and has enjoyed enduring international popularity. It is also a very popular choice for school and community productions.

I took this picture sometime in 1989. I purposely framed the setting sun between the metal frames of a water tank in the foreground and the antennas in the background. Because I focused on the sun itself, the metal frames on the foreground became out of focus. Please remember that when taking pictures of the sun, do not place it dead center. Follow what is known as the “Rule of Thirds”. Please surf to my Campus Connection blog to know what this rule is all about.

When used as the inspiration for an essay, the setting sun usually evokes emotions of loneliness or serenity.

Picture no. 13 (series): The joys of high school

2008-07-06T14:54:00.000-07:00

The pictures above show a high school class having fun during their picture taking for the school annual. Why don't you try writing captions for these pictures? Notice that one of the guys at the top row started everything when he pushed off his classmate.

How to give better presentations (The Morgan Freeman Rule)

2008-06-30T17:39:00.000-07:00

Great video on how to give better presentations, using Hollywood movie posters and discussing, among others, the Morgan Freeman Rule

PresenTired: "The Voicemail" from Scott Schwertly on Vimeo

Picture sources from the Internet

2008-05-17T01:08:00.000-07:00

I am not sure if you can freely use the pictures from the websites listed below. You have to inquire from the webmasters regarding this matter. Anyway, if you are an ESL or EFL teacher, you can probably tell your students to browse these websites and then write essays based on pictures they like.

[1] Live pictures of the world from outer space (see brilliant and real time pictures sent by satellite cameras; zoom in on your country)

2] "Splendid Pictures Around The Net" by fizdane (for the absolutely gorgeous pictures of delicate butterflies, please click here)

Picture no. 12 (light and shadows)

2008-05-15T01:12:00.000-07:00

The acacia trees in the picture above, I’m told, have been part of Rizal High School in Pasig since the early 1900’s. The school was established in 1902 by the “Thomasites,” the first group of American teachers who came to the Philippines after the US gained possession of the Philippines from the Spaniards.

I remember studying under these trees when I was a high school student in the 1970’s. I remember being chased around these trees by a lot of pretty girls. Hey, what can I say? I owed a lot of people a lot of money in those youthful days!

Fast forward from the 1970’s to 1991. I was then working in my alma mater (which is Latin for “pure or chaste mother” if you care to know). I wanted a picture that would express the idea that these trees have been silent witnesses to the lives of thousands of students who have studied in this school over more than ninety years. (Rizal High School has been credited in the Guinness Book of World Records as the biggest school in the world with over 26,000 students. But as of schoolyear 2006-07, its enrollment went down to around 8,000. Reason is, a lot of the annexes have become independent high schools.) I wanted to express the idea that while some things may come and go, these trees will always be there.

Using my Canon AE-1 Program SLR camera and my favorite black and white film (Kodak Tri-X), I focused on the nearest tree, centering it on the viewfinder. I loved the interplay of the late afternoon sunlight and the shadows on the trees and the wall. I felt however that there was something missing from the picture, and so I waited. Then I saw two students walking behind me. I raised my camera, and when they were just a little beyond the shadows on the wall, I took the picture.

These students provide the photograph a sense of scale in that we can estimate the size of the acacia trees through them. They also provide a sense of action; notice that they’re walking together in perfect cadence. The acacia tree and the boys both cast their shadows on the wall, and these provided the photograph with the sense of permanence and change I wanted to express.

Picture no. 11 (series)

2008-04-24T07:31:00.000-07:00

In these pictures, I asked my Class 1990 yearbook staffer Eric to pose by the dike at the back of Rizal High School in Pasig (formerly credited in the Guinness Book of World Records as the world’s biggest high school). I was on the 3rd floor of a building with my beloved Canon AE-1 Program camera fitted with a Vivitar Series 1 70-210 mm.

I wanted to express the contemplative mood and loneliness a senior normally goes through as graduation time comes near. I just wanted two elements in my picture - Eric and the still waters of the Marikina River flowing behind the Rizal High School campus in Pasig. The first two pictures of the scene below were the ones I needed to express what I wanted.

But then, I saw the tugboat coming from the left. I switched on the power winder of my camera. I shot about 20 frames all in all as the tugboat passed Eric and created ripples on the water. Serendipity! I had a photo essay which could be used to illustrate life cycles, transient moments, peace and serenity, consequences and change!

If you mouse over the pictures, the captions (or the alt text) will appear for about five seconds. If you continue to move your mouse over the picture, the caption will stay visible. Enjoy!

Pssst, Eric! It has been eighteen years since 1990 when I asked you to pose by the dike. You can move away from the dike now, and go on with your life, okay?

Picture no. 10

2008-02-23T15:45:00.000-08:00

“In the face of all aridity and disenchantment, love is as perennial as the grass.”

I took this picture in November 2006 in Tagaytay City, south of Manila which is the capital city of the Philippines. Baguio City, several hundred miles north of Manila, is known as the Philippines’ summer capital because of its very cool climate. Tagaytay, however, runs a very close second as a tourist destination because of its cool climate and breathtaking views.

To my mind, the selection that best suits this picture is the poem “Desiderata” by Max Erhman. This poem in the minds of a lot of people was written anonymously and was found inscribed in Old St. Paul’s Church in 1692. The truth however is that Erhman (1872-1945), a lawyer who obtained degrees in English (DePauw University) and Philosophy (Harvard), wrote this poem in 1927. “Desiderata” is Latin for “something desired as essential.” There is a controversy as to whether “Desiderata” is copyrighted or already part of the public domain.

“Desiderata” by Max Erhman

Go placidly amid the noise and the haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible, without surrender,
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even to the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story.
Avoid loud and aggressive persons;
they are vexatious to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain or bitter,
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs,
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals,
and everywhere life is full of heroism.
Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love,
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment,
it is as perennial as the grass.
Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.
Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.
You are a child of the universe
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.
Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be.
And whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life,
keep peace in your soul.
With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.

Hey, why don’t you try writing your own essay based on this picture? As I mentioned in the Welcome post, if you are an ESL or EFL teacher, you are free to use the pictures in this blog for your classroom activities, provided the proper credits are give (please see the September 21, 2007 post).

Picture no. 09

2008-02-18T11:04:00.000-08:00

“Youth is not a time of life”

General Douglas Macarthur, on his seventy-fifth birthday (January 26, 1955), gave a speech to the Los Angeles County Council, American Legion, Los Angeles, California. During that speech, he quoted a poem about youth and growing old. It has become a classic since then, oftentimes quoted by elderly people celebrating their birthday, anniversary or special occasions. Since Gen. Macarthur quoted the poem without attribution, people have oftentimes thought that he wrote the poem himself. However, that poem was actually written by Samuel Ullman (1840–1924).

The version most often associated with Gen. Macarthur goes like this:

Nobody grows old merely by living a number of years. People grow old by deserting their ideals. Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up interest wrinkles the soul. In the central place of every heart, there is a recording chamber; so long as it receives messages of beauty, hope, cheer, and courage, so long are you young. When the wires are all down and your heart is covered with the snows of pessimism and the ice of cynicism, then, and then only, are you grown old.

The original version by Samuel Ullman however goes like this:

Youth is not a time of life—it is a state of mind. It is not a matter of red cheeks, red lips and supple knees. It is a temper of the will; a quality of the imagination; a vigor of the emotions; it is a freshness of the deep springs of life. Youth means a temperamental predominance of courage over timidity, of the appetite for adventure over a life of ease. This often exists in a man of fifty, more than in a boy of twenty. Nobody grows old by merely living a number of years; people grow old by deserting their ideals.

Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul. Worry, doubt, self-distrust, fear and despair—these are the long, long years that bow the head and turn the growing spirit back to dust.

Whether seventy or sixteen, there is in every being’s heart a love of wonder; the sweet amazement at the stars and starlike things and thoughts; the undaunted challenge of events, the unfailing childlike appetite for what comes next, and the joy in the game of life.

You are as young as your faith, as old as your doubt; as young as your self-confidence, as old as your fear, as young as your hope, as old as your despair.

In the central place of your heart there is a wireless station. So long as it receives messages of beauty, hope, cheer, grandeur, courage, and power from the earth, from men and from the Infinite—so long are you young. When the wires are all down and the central places of your heart are covered with the snows of pessimism and the ice of cynicism, then are you grown old, indeed!

Hey, now that you have read what Gen. Macarthur (or Samuel Ullman, to be accurate) said about youth and growing old, why don’t you try writing your own essay on this topic?

Picture no. 08

2008-02-10T23:30:00.000-08:00

I took this picture some fifteen years ago during a choral interpretation competition in Rizal High School in Pasig City, Philippines. This school was once credited in the Guinness Book of World Records as being the world’s largest high school, with its total population at one point in time reaching up to 26,000 students. Several years ago, however, the school’s annexes became independent schools and the population of the main campus dwindled to around 8,000.

Anyway, you will notice that the faces of the students in this picture (except for about two students) are masked by dramatic make-up that complements their all-black attire. A selection that is very appropriate for this picture is the poem “Please Hear What I’m Not Saying”. This poem has had several variations floating around in the Internet and in print publications, oftentimes reported as having been written anonymously. However, the original version of this poem was written by Charles C. Finn. For more of his poetry, please visit Finn's website. Below is the original version of the poem as written by Finn.

Please Hear What I'm Not Saying

Don't be fooled by me.
Don't be fooled by the face I wear
For I wear a mask, a thousand masks,
Masks that I'm afraid to take off
And none of them is me.

Pretending is an art that's second nature with me,
but don't be fooled,
for God's sake don't be fooled.
I give you the impression that I'm secure,
that all is sunny and unruffled with me,
within as well as without,
that confidence is my name and coolness my game,
that the water's calm and I'm in command
and that I need no one,
but don't believe me.

My surface may be smooth but
my surface is my mask,
ever-varying and ever-concealing.
Beneath lies no complacence.
Beneath lies confusion, and fear, and aloneness.
But I hide this. I don't want anybody to know it.
I panic at the thought of my weakness exposed.
That's why I frantically create a mask to hide behind,
a nonchalant sophisticated facade,
to help me pretend,
to shield me from the glance that knows.

But such a glance is precisely my salvation,
my only hope, and I know it.
That is, if it is followed by acceptance,
If it is followed by love.
It's the only thing that can liberate me from myself
from my own self-built prison walls
from the barriers that I so painstakingly erect.
It's the only thing that will assure me
of what I can't assure myself,
that I'm really worth something.
But I don't tell you this. I don't dare to. I'm afraid to.

I'm afraid you'll think less of me,
that you'll laugh, and your laugh would kill me.
I'm afraid that deep-down I'm nothing
and that you will see this and reject me.

So I play my game, my desperate, pretending game
With a façade of assurance without
And a trembling child within.
So begins the glittering but empty parade of Masks,
And my life becomes a front.
I tell you everything that's really nothing,
and nothing of what's everything,
of what's crying within me.
So when I'm going through my routine
do not be fooled by what I'm saying.
Please listen carefully and try to hear what I'm not saying,
what I'd like to be able to say,
what for survival I need to say,
but what I can't say.

I don't like hiding.
I don't like playing superficial phony games.
I want to stop playing them.
I want to be genuine and spontaneous and me
but you've got to help me.
You've got to hold out your hand
even when that's the last thing I seem to want.
Only you can wipe away from my eyes
the blank stare of the breathing dead.
Only you can call me into aliveness.
Each time you're kind, and gentle, and encouraging,
each time you try to understand because you really care,
my heart begins to grow wings --
very small wings,
but wings!

With your power to touch me into feeling
you can breathe life into me.
I want you to know that.
I want you to know how important you are to me,
how you can be a creator--an honest-to-God creator --
of the person that is me
if you choose to.
You alone can break down the wall behind which I tremble,
you alone can remove my mask,
you alone can release me from the shadow-world of panic,
from my lonely prison,
if you choose to.
Please choose to.

Do not pass me by.
It will not be easy for you.
A long conviction of worthlessness builds strong walls.
The nearer you approach me
the blinder I may strike back.
It's irrational, but despite what the books may say about man
often I am irrational.
I fight against the very thing I cry out for.
But I am told that love is stronger than strong walls
and in this lies my hope.
Please try to beat down those walls
with firm hands but with gentle hands
for a child is very sensitive.

Who am I, you may wonder?
I am someone you know very well.
For I am every man you meet
and I am every woman you meet.

Picture no. 07

2007-12-25T07:36:00.000-08:00

As we explained in the Welcome post, we will be posting pictures in this blog on a regular basis. As a good way of learning how to write in English, you can write descriptions, narrations, dialogue, expositions, etc based on your thoughts and feelings about these pictures. For a good discussion on how to describe pictures, please read the article “Picture Description” from http://www.ego4u.com/.

As a review, here's how you can use pictures and this blog to teach and learn the English language:

[1] You can compose short essays about any of the pictures we will be posting, e-mail them to us, and we will publish them in this blog. (You can also use the "Comments" form at the bottom portion of this post to send us your essays.)

[2] Other ESL and EFL teachers and students from around the world can then read your essays and give their comments on your grammar, coherence or unity of ideas, style of writing, and areas for improvement.

[3] We will just publish your essays without your name or e-mail address to protect your privacy and prevent spam. You can just give a general description about yourself like nickname, age or school level, gender, country, etc.

As a beginning student of the English language, you can expect to make a lot of mistakes. However through what other ESL and EFL students and teachers say about your writing, you can really learn the English language. Below is an example of how to use this blog.

The joys of photography

World literature tells us the tragic story of Faust who vowed to bargain away his soul if he could find one perfect moment of happiness. He would eternally forfeit his soul if upon finding that one perfect moment of happiness, he would utter the words, “Stay, you are so beautiful.” He couldn’t find that happiness in his relationships, in society, in achievements, but he did find it in a small village by the sea, with the sun setting down, and mothers calling upon their small children to come back to their homes. In the simple joys of these village folks, Faust found his one perfect moment of happiness. At last, he said the words, “Stay, you are so beautiful!” and his soul was eternally forfeited.

Photography has the power to capture not only our perfect moments of love and happiness, but also searing images of cruelty and poverty. It has the power to preserve in a rectangular frame the beauty of a thousand sunsets, the joys of parents seeing their child just learning how to walk on its own, the sublime happiness of students graduating after four years of hard work and sacrifice.

Unlike Faust, however, we do not have to bargain away our souls in order to capture our perfect moments of happiness. We only have to pick up our cameras, look at the world through the viewfinder, and as life passes before our lenses, capture these perfect moments of happiness on film, as we say in our hearts and minds, “Stay, you are so beautiful!”

Picture no. 06

2007-12-24T10:05:00.000-08:00

I hate it when schooldays are over. There’s a dreariness in the air that depresses me. Even the rooms that once were filled with laughter are now empty and bare, the fine dust gathering on the wooden chairs, the windows shutting out the light from the dying sun.

Outside the once green grass now turns to deep brown in the parched ground, the trees bare of any leaves, their twisted black branches reaching upwards toward the sky in vain supplication for a little rain. The wind blows and creates swirling clouds of dust that sweep the school grounds and the empty hallways that once echoed the sounds of hurrying feet and young, excited voices.

School days are over, summer is here.

We’ve said our final goodbyes to our dear friends a thousand times, not really wanting each goodbye to be the last and final sad farewell. We cling to our friends, we hold hands tightly as we walk around the school one final time; we visit the rooms that were once our safe and secure refuge from the harshness of life.

We go through the paces of graduation practices, and laugh at the silly mistakes we make. But deep inside us, we feel a cold hand clutching our hearts, knowing that each day brings us closer to the moment when separation from our dear friends becomes inevitable, a moment steeped in profound sadness and absolute finality.

We close our eyes and hope that time can stand still; we will hold this day like a precious diamond in our hands, hold it up and reflect upon its exquisite beauty. If only time can stand still, we will forever be happy, together …

ALL ETERNITY FROZEN IN A SINGLE MOMENT OF YOUTH.

Welcome!

2007-09-21T21:15:00.000-07:00

More than the mechanical recording of events, photography has the power to convey a mood or share our insights with others. It has the power to capture not only our perfect moments of love and happiness, but also searing images of cruelty and poverty. It has the power to preserve in a rectangular frame the beauty of a thousand sunsets, the joys of parents seeing their child just learning how to walk on its own, and the sublime happiness of students graduating after years of hard work and sacrifice.

Photographs (whether our own, those of others, or cut out from newspapers and magazines) can be a very effective way of teaching and learning the English language. Joep van der Werff, in his very informative article entitled “Using Pictures from Magazines” from The Internet TESL Journal, discusses how pictures can be a good source of material for practicing speaking, listening, writing, vocabulary and grammar. In this article, van der Werff relates the inspiring story of how one student overcame his shyness and reluctance to participate in the English class through an activity involving pictures.

In the right hand sidebar of this blog, you can see links to various resources on the Internet on the use of photographs in the teaching and learning of English.

We will be posting pictures in this blog on a regular basis. As a good way of learning how to write in English, you can write descriptions, narrations, dialogue, expositions, etc based on your thoughts and feelings about these pictures. For a good discussion on how to describe pictures, please read the article “Picture Description” from http://www.ego4u.com/.

If you are an ESL or EFL teacher, you have permission to use these pictures in your classroom activities. However, you cannot use these pictures for commercial purposes or post them in the Internet. Proper credits must also be given. Unless otherwise directed, please use this credit line: "Photo by Atty. Gerry T. Galacio; all rights reserved; used with permission."

Here's how you can use pictures and this blog to teach and learn the English language:

[1] You can compose short essays about any of the pictures we will be posting, e-mail them to us, and we will publish them in this blog. (You can also use the "Comments" form at the bottom portion of this post to send us your essays.)

[2] Other ESL and EFL teachers and students from around the world can then read your essays and give their comments on your grammar, coherence or unity of ideas, style of writing, and areas for improvement.

[3] We will just publish your essays without your name or e-mail address to protect your privacy and prevent spam. You can just give a general description about yourself like nickname, age or school level, gender, country, etc.

For example, you can write a description of your feelings as you look at the solitary branch against the sunset above. Write about the glorious sunsets in Boracay when you went there last summer. Write, for example, about how you felt, what you thought about as you and your family spent time together along the beach.

You can use the picture above of the guy up on a tree to learn how to write dialogue; notice that the girl with a white T-shirt is looking up at the guy, and there’s a heart-shaped piece of paper with the words “Happy Valentine” on the tree.

Nurture the “spark of divine fire” within you

Martha Foley’s short story “One With Shakespeare” chronicles a young girl’s exquisite discovery of her talent for writing. Through the encouragement of her high school teacher, the girl realizes that just like Shakespeare, she also had that creative potential, that “spark of the divine fire” as her teacher described the talent for writing. She begins to savor the emotions, the expressions, the ideas her words could bring forth. She begins to learn how to create memorable images in the mind’s eye through words. Looking out the windows of the library, she sees the flower filled trellis and her mind is filled with images of “black sentinels against the sky.”

Whatever your talent may be (photography or writing), nurture and share that spark of the divine fire within you.

Some pictures to start with ...

Okay, now that you know how this blog works, why don't you try out your writing skills with these pictures?

Picture no. 01

Picture no. 02

Picture no. 03

Picture no. 04

Picture no. 05