Thursday, March 1, 2012

The Filipinos under Spanish Rule


Unification of the Philippines under the Spanish Rule

Spain ruled the Philippines for more than 300 years. Prior to the Spanish colonization, the country was consisted of independent and well-organized villages called barangays. Each barangay was headed by a tribal leader, who later formed part of the elite ruling class called the Principalia. Under the Spanish rule, the independence of the barangays was gradually lost as Spain’s political system was introduced into the country. During the Spanish regime, the people became highly centralized under the influence of the Catholic Church. However, despite the unification of the region, people started to build resentment against the Spanish rule (Garcia & Cruz, 2005).

Resistance to Spanish Rule

The government restrictions and control made the lives of the native Filipinos extremely hard and difficult. People started harboring grievances and began clamoring for independence from the control of Spanish rule. However, the early revolts have failed because Filipinos were not united in their struggle against the Spanish colonial rule (Garcia & Cruz, 2005).

Struggle between the Masses and the Elites

During the time of Spanish regime, the Filipinos were divided into two social class groups: the masses and the elites. Filipinos were made to fight one another by their Spanish colonial masters. In fact, in trying to free themselves from the Spaniards, they failed to realize that they had a common enemy, and that together they could better stand against the Spanish colonial rule.

Masses under Spanish Rule

Masses were struggling for true justice, true equality and true freedom of the country. They organized the separatist movement the Katipunan in order to make known their nationalist sentiments. Masses were largely composed of petty clerks, laborers, peasants and uneducated Filipinos who possessed primitive ideas which were often fanatical and influenced by traditions and religious beliefs.

Elites under Spanish Rule

The elites were composed of educated Filipinos who were influenced by western ideas. Like the masses they also struggled for radical changes but not because they wanted to redeem the country's mortgaged sovereignty and a final break up from social slavery but because they wanted to be treated equal with the Spaniards. In effect, they used the masses for their own interest and gave rise to a nationalist sentiments that would focus on the abuses of the Spaniards particularly the friars. Unlike the masses, they wanted a rather peaceful rebellion against the Spaniards, that they used pen and paper to agitate nationalist sentiments among the masses.

Revolution waged by Masses and the Elites

The masses staged a revolution challenging the establishments, disordering society and believing in taking arms rather than relying on divine providence. In contrast, the revolution of the elites was rather peaceful because they used pen and paper in their revolution against the Spaniards instead of holding arms in the battlefield to fight for freedom.

References:

Garcia, Carlito D. & Cruz, Cynthia B. (2005). Rizal and the Development of Filipino Nationalism. Madaluyong City: Books Atbp. Publishing Corp.

Constantino, Renato & Constantino, Letizia R. (1975). The Philippines: A Past revisited (pre-spanish--1941). Vol. 1. Manila: Renato Constantino

Monday, June 21, 2010

MMS 112: Pioneers and In Depth

Tim Berners-Lee’s idea of creating a user-friendly interface has fueled the potential of computer communication to go beyond its expectations. And this gave us a whole new web experience. Just like what Tim Berners-Lee hoped for, media together with web encourages the people to share and at the same time use their creative ideas in hand. Therefore, this once a monotonous web environment has now changed into a more creative and interactive social space.

Web seems to have gone as far as it can go. However, these are just the beginning, since web still has rooms for improvements and further developments. Today, web introduces a whole new social system. In fact, due to the birth of World Wide Web, a powerful global communication link has been created. And since building links and relationships with the people is a gateway to better interaction and collaboration, collaborative social media have been created. Therefore, people from different parts around the world are now closely linked and connected to each other. Hence, web’s popularity has now become immeasurable.

Here are the audio or visual images which illustrates Tim Berners-Lee’s work:

The Invention of the World Wide Web


Jukes, L. & Hollywood, B. (Producer). (2005) The Invention of the World Wide Web [Television Broadcast]. Retrieved June 18, 2010 from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IQFjTnDozo

A short explanation of what makes the World Wide Web work



LeFever, L. (Producer). (2009, October 28) World Wide Web in Plain English [Video File]. Retrieved June 18, 2010 from http://www.commoncraft.com/world-wide-web




Distance communication has been enormously difficult during the earlier days. However, due to the birth of World Wide Web, a powerful global communication link has been created. This powerful global communication network made the social media popularity quickly proliferate worldwide. In fact, there are lots of social network sites that allow individuals around the world regardless of age, sex, religion, and culture to build interactive and collaborative relationships with one another. Therefore, there are more interesting cultural and social things happening on the net nowadays.



Web allows individuals around the world to build amazingly interactive and stronger collaborative culture among the people. Therefore, greater collaboration and participation of people among and across the geographical borders creates various productions of open-source media products that benefit not only people in specific geographical locations but the global audiences as well.

Friday, May 28, 2010

Exquisite Photo Journey Continues

Honestly speaking, I was quite worried at first thinking that I won't be able to maximize my learning experience due to the limitations imposed by my Olympus IR-300 digital camera. Just like what I have expected, I had to struggle with its various limitations. It was also unfortunate that I wasn’t able to borrow an entry level DSLR camera from a friend of mine. However, I had to stay optimistic in spite of all the impossibilities. So, I decided to concentrate more on improving my photographic vision in order to continuously learn how to take good shots. Therefore, instead of simply relying on my camera, I had to make decisions on how to use it better. Finally, after going through all those trials and errors, I was able to figure out how to maximize its use. So, instead of shooting from afar I had to get closer to my subject and continuously learn how to incorporate the elements of light and composition all together. Honestly, it was quite challenging at first, but good thing I was still able to become more productive day by day. In fact, without even realizing, I got a passion for street photography. Therefore, even though our photography class has come to an end, I'm planning to continue my exquisite photo journey. :)

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Photos Taken During My Street Photo Journey

These are my favorite photos that I've taken during my three weeks of street photo journey. I really still can't believe that summer classes is almost over. Indeed, time is running so fast these days! However, though it was a rather fast and short semester, I was still able to achieve and learn many things :)

Without further ado here are the photos...

Cainta, Rizal, 2010

Cainta, Rizal, 2010
Antipolo City, Rizal, 2010


Antipolo City, Rizal, 2010

Antipolo City, Rizal, 2010

Antipolo City, Rizal, 2010
Antipolo City, Rizal, 2010
Antipolo City, Rizal, 2010
Antipolo City, Rizal, 2010
Antipolo City, Rizal, 2010
Cainta, Rizal, 2010
Pasig City, Rizal, 2010
Cogeo, Rizal, 2010
Cainta, Rizal, 2010
Cainta, Rizal, 2010
Cogeo, Rizal, 2010

Taytay, Rizal, 2010
Antipolo City, Rizal, 2010

Antipolo City, Rizal, 2010
Cainta, Rizal, 2010

Sunday, May 23, 2010

More Post-processing Techniques

Adding two more post-processing techniques to the list :)

Imitating the Dave Hill look

Before


After


My first try of the lomo effect

Before



After


Friday, May 21, 2010

Journey through the Lens

Admittedly, at first I was so preoccupied with tremendous amount of pressure that I had to take good photos. However, greatest photographers like Henri Cartier-Bresson and Steve McCurry motivated me to learn and improve my photographic skills further. My camera has given me an opportunity to create an even more intimate connection with the people in various places. In fact, visiting the cities and towns of Rizal province has also brought me greater photo opportunities. And, after revisiting the same places over and over again all my fears have gone away. In fact, I often looked like a cat scampering after a mouse when I was photographing people on the streets. Unfortunately, the biggest problem that I have often come across is when the people were generally too eager to pose and smile at the camera. This basically makes shooting extremely difficult as it ruins the perfect candid moment. Nevertheless, this made me seek for better opportunities to get good shots. Through constant practice, I also recognized my limitations better and have also become more watchful of my own errors. In fact, without even realizing, I was actually exhausting all my energy on street photography. :) Photography not only causes frustrations in life but it also brings happiness. And more importantly, it also gives me very rich learning experiences that I will never forget.


Here are some of the photos that I've taken



I'm usually really bad with timing, but this tells us the otherwise :) It was such a luck...



I had to get off my car right on the middle of the street in order to take this shot. However, it's so unfortunate that the dog was so hyperactive at that time!




One of the shots that I've taken during my first street photo journey.



I liked the color of their clothes quite contrasting to the background :)

Friday, May 14, 2010

Post-processing

We've been doing various post-processing techniques from simply cropping images to other effects such as HDR and Motion Blur for the past few weeks and now here are my takes :)

Crop
Before & After


HDR
Before & After

Motion Blur
Before & After