...so I ask...uhmmm...have you ever been...

A couple of days ago, I was asked about why I used the word "experience" after my name for the photographic workshops I conduct here and there.  I initially thought about just giving a very straitforward and nonchalant answer but decided to go for something in the direction of the pretentiously profound, so I answered, "have you ever heard of Jimi Hendrix?"

As the person inquiring was not a day over thirty and had not really been into rock music, Hendrix was not even on the periphery of her consciousness. I just asked her to type Jimi Hendrix on the google search bar the next time she goes online, and just add the word "experience" after it.  She hasn't gotten round to it yet.

As for me, once upon a time about 15 years ago, there was a band doing the manila gig scene that i'd read about or occasionally run into called "The Aga Muhlach Experience".  Although I never had the chance to share a performance with them, they were made a little bit more famous by their choice of name.  Unfortunately, Aga Muhlach, who has the same name and was probably the inspiration for theirs, was not a part of their band, and eventually asked them to stop using his name for the band... and that was the end of that.

Now, going back to Jimi Hendrix, in an excerpt from an interview about "the experience", he says "...it's not really about you and your experience..." "what i'd like to ask is... uhmmm..have you ever been experienced..?"

And so, not really intending to cast an air of mystery to the name anymore, our workshops are called "The Paul Yan Experience" mainly because each batch goes through some memorable "experience" during the course of their workshop.  It is the anticipation of that particular experience which causes the workshops to be quite popular and endearing to all the participants.  Come to think of it, it is the "experience" part which sets the workshop apart from everything else.  I will leave it at that, and just let the photographs speak for itself. 

postscript:  eagerly awaiting contributions from three writers;  Shanon and her take on Real Coffee's Calamansi Muffin; and Potpot & Tess/Peter's collaborative piece on their Boracay experience.

postscript 2:  I have already prepared my own images of the boracay experience.  expect it to be posted soon.  and i assure you, it will be worth the wait.

postcript 3:  the boracay experience will be having a recap party and it is being organized by potpot.  if you do not know how to get in touch with him yet, he has a link on this page.  you may also reach him through his facebook.

postscript 4:  I'd like to take this opportunity to thank the following for making this event truly memorable:

* D24-K Foto for providing tremendous trade support for all my activities, throughout the year

* Shuji Kida Salon our ultra high-end beauty services partner 

* Professional Image Works (prolab) my official printing partner

* The Olympus Showroom, Annex North Edsa, our trade sponsor

* Kamille & Grace, of The Tides Boracay, our hotel partner, for taking care of some of our vip's

* Boracay Regency, Astoria, La Carmela, & Shenna's for taking care of our other vip's

* Jay & the other staff of Le Soleil's beach buffet dinner for giving my team our BEST MEAL EVER

* Carla of Discovery Shores, for making the experience of being bumped off an airline a shared adventure,
* Shanon & Aurice of Nueva Ecija, for being the only other persons who nearly lost their luggage

* the SEAIR staff, for doing everything humanly possible to get me to Boracay ahead of everyone else, even if in the end I ended up arriving after everyone else, 30 minutes before the sunset, and causing me to lose out on our first shoot sked...

* Peach of Wave 89.1, & Shierdan of CameraGeekTV, our media partners

* Uly, for arranging all airline & hotel accomodations; Sini, for consistently being my most professional model; Manilyn & Lourdes, for being so dependable.

and of course to all the participants, for sharing the last days of November with me.

and to everyone who has browsed this site in the past 40 days.  site traffic has doubled and is about to reach 2,000 hits.  to everyone on the three continents (asia, the americas, and europe) who has paid us a visit recently, thank you for your support.  I hope to reach the 2,000 hit milestone before christmas.

Jesus Paul C. Yan

for The Paul Yan Chronicles