Firefly360's Blog
A Collection of Published 360VR Articles and Personal JournalsAbout this Blog & the Author
Firefly is into 360-degrees virtual reality (VR) panoramic photography. We pioneered full 360VR panoramic photography in the Philippines and have over 8 years of production experience. We envisioned this technology to empower the real estate and the local tourism industry to better advertise their developments and properties, for both domestic and international markets, online and offline. For more information on our services, please visit: Our Website
360-degree panoramas are made from a series of stitched digital photographs taken in a short moment of time. While editing is employed in its creation, care has always been observed to prevent the manipulation of the images leading to a distortion of truths.
This blog started as a collection of published articles for www.inquirer.net, and as far as I’m aware, is the very first news organization to utilize 360VRs in the Philippines, which made this writer, rather proudly, the first ‘virtual journalist’ in the country.
Past and current contributions include: abs-cbnnews.com, spot.ph, theasiamag.com, and newsbreak.ph
This writer continuously strives for 360VRs to be fully accepted in mainstream journalism; believing in its inherent attributes, its interactivity, and being an alternative/new media to bring the reader closer to the news. International news organizations has started to experiment on VRs as a new form of media, leading it are CNN.com, NYTimes.com, and Washingtonpost.com, particularly with their coverage of President Barrack Obama’s inaugurals.
The author is a member of the Voyage of the Balangay’s crew that sailed around the Philippines and Southeast Asia in replicas of the ancient wooden balangay boat with the aim: to rekindle the maritime consciousness of the Filipino people and relearn the glorious histories of our ancient ancestors. Together with the 1st Phil. Mt. Everest Team, members of the Phil. Navy, Phil. Coast Guard, Sama boat builders of Tawi-Tawi, and volunteers from Butuan, the entire balangay crew was individually given an Award of Merit and declared Honorary Butuanon in recognition for this achievement.
As a panoramic photographer, our 360 panoramas have also been exhibited in Plymouth, UK last year during the ICCI360 Festival, as well as in this year’s just concluded Masters of 360 Panoramic Photography in Palmela, Portugal and will be presented again in Dali, China, showcasing the best of what our country has to offer in terms of heritage, culture, and hospitality.
The author is also a past speaker for Photoworld Manila 2009 organized by The Federation of Philippine Photographer’s Foundation (FPPF).
Advocacy works for government agencies included: Philippine National Shrines wherein we traveled from Ilocos to Zamboanga and shot the shrines of Rizal, Bonifacio, Juan Luna, Mabini and other National Heroes with the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP). For the Department of Tourism (DOT), some of our works are currently presented in the website: www.experiencephilippines.org. And just recently, a 360 Virtual Tour for the National Museum in bridging the “old” to the “new.”
Lastly, some of our best 360VRs of the Philippines are incorporated in Arounder Touch, an application that Apple has installed by default to all the iPhones and iPads being sold in the US and European market.
At Firefly, we believe in tourism, and how this single industry alone, the benefits of which can trickle down to the lowest echelon, be a solution for our nation’s progress, development and employment; we are committed to promote Philippine tourism, the outcome of which, our people can all enjoy.
I’m an IT consultant, commercial 360VR photographer, freelance journalist and a strong advocate of Philippine tourism.
This website came online on 2/14/2009.
