WEEKEND TRIP

Music recommendation:

Outerhope – Twenty years from now
Gregory Alan Isakov – Second Chances
This playlist

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Last weekend consisted of: a two-hour drive to Laguna, an afternoon boat ride, countless portraits with a stunning view of the Caliraya lake as the background, a foggy morning, and, most of all, the silence that made us unaware of the home that we had back in the bustling city of Manila.

My last semester in my third year in college ended about two weeks ago and it may seem that I can finally have freedom in my grasp (lol at the irony), but no. We’ll be having our internship this summer and I have to admit, I feel a bit anxious about it. Alright, not a bit—I feel it quite immensely.

I feel as if time has passed by too fast. From one moment, I’m as dazed and confused as my fellow freshmen on our first day of college, and the next, we’re fixing documents, choosing which firms we would apply to, etc. It’s as if we’ve stepped into a magical portal that immediately transported us to the future.

I’d like to stop the drama here; I’m not even graduating yet. Plus, it’s irrelevant with the new set of photos I have in here.

This two-day vacation was what I wanted and needed. All those times I studied late for exams or did homework, I listened to indie folk playlists which made me want to go on spontaneous adventures. This trip wasn’t spontaneous per se but it’s enough. I hope that I will be able to do that soon.

There are so many other things that I want to share in this online space but I’ll reserve that for future posts.

Also, before I conclude this entry, I made a video diary about our trip. I considered vlogging, as in me talking to the camera about our endeavors, but hearing my voice on a video would give me constant cringe attacks that will most likely make me regret ever doing it.

VISITA IGLESIA 2015

I know I've complained several times about how much I want to leave Manila and just go to the beach or go hiking, etc, but going to seven churches in a day made me want to turn on the air conditioner and stay indoors forever. Yesterday's heat was insane! That sounds like a total understatement but just trust me. It's the usual Philippine, summer heat that makes me feel like I've done something morally awful because the universe is torturing me.

But I'm thankful, nonetheless, that we went out of town. At least I had a new collection of photos.

By the end of the day, I made a mental note to myself to not bring the 50mm lens when going to trips. It's hard to take photos, especially when the target subject is only a few feet away from me.

SOMETHING NEW: PART II

II.

Black Saturday

(On the road; 4 AM)

We left Manila at 4 AM and arrived at Nueva Ecija 2-3 hours later. Again, I sat at the passenger seat and took as many photography-worthy pictures of the road as I can (I also took a bunch of obligatory 'looking out the window' photos for a sort of dramatic effect or for a cover art for an 8tracks indie + chill + roadtrip playlist)

Our main destination that day was Minalungao but we did a stopover at my cousins' house. We had breakfast then left a few minutes later.

There are two things that you should know about Minalungao: the crowd and beauty of the river and limestone walls. 

We arrived at 8 AM and we had to park our car 100 meters away from the main site because it was already filled with cars and tricycles and, of course, people. If you don't believe me, here's a picture of how the place looked like when we arrived:

Then by 12 noon, it looked like this:

I wasn't exaggerating when I said that the place was crowded. I can just imagine those who owned the cars in the picture above having a hard time leaving the place. The heat that time was also insane. While some of my family members roamed around and traveled to the other side of the river, I willingly stayed in our cottage with fear of getting severely sunburned. Also, I wasn't able to bring slippers so I didn't want to make my shoes filled with sand either.

But because I wanted to do some photography mojo, I went outside and took some photos of the river and the limestone walls.

After lunch, my family left and my dad and I stayed in the cottage. I read some Archie comics and ate watermelon to pass the time.

We left at 2 PM and here is the continuation of my road pictures.

PHEW! And there we have it. Again, I need practice with photography and editing. I want to shoot portraits so if anyone's willing to be my model, contact me through any of the links in my 'connect' page. I will reward you with love and food.