To take pictures or not? ( camera or rocks?)

Traversing Mt. Guiting-Guiting (Sibuyan, Romblon)

To be or not to be... a photographer or a just a climber?

Either you can't have a best shot or you will not always be satisfied with somebody's shot. That will happened only if you are not holding a camera or if you are a photographer and someone has a camera and he/she keeps shooting at you.  Or, you have a camera, but it is inside your backpack, and you are on the edge of a cliff of a mountain, with both of your hands holding on to something that will keep you from falling. Are you going to get your camera and take a dangerous shot or you will just be a climber and let somebody with a camera take a shot at you?

Traversing Mt. Guiting-Guiting can test you as a photographer and a climber. Imagine trekking for more that 10 hours for three days, exposing yourself for more than 6 hours to a more than 35 degrees celsius direct heat from the sun, carrying more that 10 kilos on your backpacks and climbing and descending close to 60-90 degrees edges of the mountain... plus big boulders of rocks as your path on going down... and with more than 3 peaks of deception on your way up and down the mountain. Three liters of water will not be enough for a day. And you can't free your hands from the wall rocks on your way down and always blaming yourself for not taking the shot or deciding between exposing yourself to the heat or exposing the camera lens to a light.

Good thing I did not bring my heavy and bulky film camera, instead, I brought a lighter and compact digital camera. With a camera just larger than my palm, with Sony Cybershot, you don't have to worry about your aperture, shutterspeed and ASA settings. Composition will be there, also proper lighting and some principles of taking photographs... but not in the mountain like G2, one of the toughest mountain to climb. All you have to do is point and shot with your right hand while holding on to a rock with your left hand. Or... let someone hold the camera and enjoy the climb and sight.

by: kapreng barako