I didn’t know it would be this big, as it is only 2 days old. Oh well.
Do join if you a passion for non-hipster, non-elitist photography.
Jay Javier
Camiguin was never part of my must-see places list. That list was short, and it always had been Batanes on top, and the rest of the entries are a blur. but since I’ve been there already -would love to come back, though- I had to go somewhere else.
And then photographer-friend Jay Javier just had to tell the RFilipinas group that his assistant won’t be available for a Camiguin workshop he’d be conducting. Somehow, I got the part.
So that makes this one FREE trip #2 for this year. And it doesn’t even relate to my actual work at all.
I also do some other stuff than podcasting, you know.
My photos for the Isla Verde, Batangas trip middle of this month are still not all scanned, save for the colored, panoramic shots.
So here’s the story:
It was an RFilipinas out-of-town trip, and gladly the destination was unfamiliar territory to almost all of us: an non-resort island reached by a two-hour boat ride, a spit away from Puerto Galera. Minus the unexpected hours-wait for the boat commute in the morning when we arrived in Leah Beach, the early afternoon arrival at the place proved to be a nice surprise: the beach water was clear, the sand was white though rocky, and no tourists were on sight.
The house we stayed in was meager but ultimately homely. A few hours rest and we went for a quick trek around the island. The vegetation here was different from everywhere else, where coconut (my familiar recall of Quezon) or mango (my more familiar abode of Bulacan) trees tower above all. We then headed for the beach, which was really a few steps away from the house. Once you realize that saltwater is actually very salty and goggles would help, and that you’ve finally realized how you’re newly-bought board shorts wasn’t such a bad purchase, that only means you haven’t had sand between your toes for a very, very long time.
Straight from night-shift work last Thursday, I headed off to Binondo via the LRT2, and WALKED from the Recto station. I wasn’t even sure the path I was taking was the right direction, but once I saw Ongpin, I was relieved. While treading that street though, I realized this really wasn’t a short walk at all.
The rest of Rangefinder Filipinas was at Starbucks Binondo, and it was amusing that the same people who were there last year were the same ones that showed up this morning, considering that we were expecting new faces.
Uro showed me the proper way to load my Horizon 202, which saddened me, as I did have two unprocessed rolls that I’m not sure if I still want to get developed now; those rolls were filled with test shots anyway.
I know its been weeks, but let me tell you the story of how I spent my day in Quiapo during the Nazareno Feast.
Having planned ahead, I spent the night at the office, made sure I had a satisfied tummy, and went off to the LRT2 Cubao station to drop myself off at Recto. I was a bit restless though, as I’ve left most of my conveniences at the office: I was all analog. No DSLR, no cellphone, didn’t even bring my watch.
A small number of the RFilipinas group showed interest in going to the event, so I spent the early morning, around 9AM, on the lookout for any of them, while I took snapshots of every interesting scene I could find. This was indeed one of the major photo-op’s of the year where you didn’t have to travel very far.