Subliminal

Why do I take photographs? It's a basic question but until now I have no concrete answer.

Like the photograph above, I do not have a real and logical reason why I took it, it was just an impulse of pushing the shutter. Perhaps it's the subconscious, it's the inner self telling me something.

Perhaps taking photographs is like listening to Barry Manilow with a subliminal message when played backwards.

ephemeral

So here we go again. I just have to start shooting again although I sometimes find my photography lacking in essence---plain empty and shallow. Just like this one, an image absent any meaning. A surface without an underlying substance. Soul less, an empty shell just like my hollow head.

Phrarachwang ca pid

Bangkok is a chaotic beauty like my Manila. It's easy to get lost in her lively and labyrinthine streets. An intertwining mesh of the ancient and modern. It may be fair to say that Bangkok is the Buddhist twin sister of my Catholic Manila. From her stifling traffic, her weekend and night markets, and to her red light districts, I felt at home in her humid embrace yet I failed to fully comprehend her mystery. 


Definitely, I am going back to Bangkok.

Jala Jala

A joy ride led us to a sleepy town in Rizal beside Laguna Lake. It's called Jala Jala. The place was so serene that it immediately placed me into daydream mode. And I don't know, Jala Jala got a Chang Chao-Tang surrealistic feel to it--or, should I say, mood. Here, I took a few snaps with my Zorki which was then loaded with a Tri-X. I should have taken more pictures but I was more absorbed in experiencing the scenery.

Have been listening to Smashing Pumpkins lately

No matter where you are
I can still hear you when you drown
You've traveled very far
Just to see you I'll come around

When I'm down
All of those yesterdays
Coming around

No matter where you are
I can still hear you when you dream
You traveled very far, like a star

And you are
All of those yesterdays
Coming around

Is it something someone said?
Was it something someone said?

Yesterday the sky was you
And I feel the same
Nothing left for me to do
And I still feel the same
I wish, I wish I could fly
I will, I will try
I will, I will
Goodbye

--Drown, Smashing Pumpkins

Lobo

There is nothing extraordinary in the scene below. However, I saw in it  a special warmth that reminds me of my childhood. Everything was so simple and carefree. I thought life should really be like this. How come later in life we became so distracted with various unnecessary desires and anxieties? As adults, we have the propensity to forget the essentials – the things that really matter. However, seeking the things that matter is a conundrum. We either got lost or end up in a moral cul-de-sac.

By the way, as if it would really matter, I took this photo while wandering in Bacolod City with my Zorki 4.  It was loaded with a Lucky 200.



 

  

A rural girl named Claire with her pet, Bagnet

Prusisyon

Religion is a recurring theme of mine. Perhaps, I equate it to faith. But it is clear (or not so) to me that faith and religion are two different concepts. For me, religion got something to do with organizations engaged in the practice of faith. It is something tangible; something you can grasp. On the other hand, faith is invisible and beyond the logic of science. It is the substance behind the form.

Reset

One day at the Hall of Justice.

                                                                   

Muta

What is apparent is not necessarily the truth. Our vision is often blurred by the myriad distractions and deceptions around us. Thus making the truth beyond the grasp of our comprehension. Nevertheless, many of us still chose to accept the visage that stood before us and accept without really understanding what lies beneath the surface.

Party Dog

Somewhere in Intramuros, Manila

Taken with a Zorki 4, Jupiter 12/Kodak BWCN400

Women's Right of Suffrage

Taken with a Pentax Spotmatic/Kodak Gold 100

Murakami's Shade

"You should give up looking for lost cats and start searching for the other half of your shadow"
                                   -Otsuka's advice to Nakata (Haruki Murakami, Kafka on the Shore)

Taken with a Pentax Spotmatic/Kodak Color Plus 200

Manaoag

(All photos taken with a GRD IV/High Contrast Mode)

Medium

So, this is my first post. I guess I will be using this blog to share my photographic sojourn.Nothing really serious as photography is just something I do on my free time. By the way, the following are my main cameras - a Pentax Spotmatic, a Zorki 4, and a Ricoh GRD IV. I love the nostalgic feel of analogue but I do still believe in the convenience of digital. 

Perhaps in the next posts, I will probably write more sense. I hope.