Natalie Quintos Uhing was an artist. 24-carat artisan in body, mind and spirit. The lady behind the “SmallestForest,” a now defunct blogsite of avant garde arts and crafts. Married to Kris Larson, the man who sailed the world on an engineless junkyard boat. So they were sort of a “John and Yoko” pair. Living in […]
Read More NAT QUINTOS UHING: IN MEMORIAMJun Jacolbe is not my mentor. Not even my idol. I don’t really know the man. But he transformed the way I view photography forever. Unwittingly. One day not too long ago, I sat on a banquet table across this gray-haired gray-goateed stranger, eavesdropping on his conversation with another guy about black and white street […]
Read More PARTING SHOTSometimes you will close your eyes and see the place you used to live when you were young – The Killers
Read More GOODBYE GOLDEN DAYSSampaloc is no place for a mahogany tree. Attorney Rafael Cortes knew this so well he surrendered his sapling to me one day in 2004. There’s just no spot for it in his space in Dos Castillas street. To Tanza, I took the young tree. Where the ground shreds traces of a once farmland. Very […]
Read More MOMENTS OF SILENCEWe have photographers starved of photo competition. On October 21st, an unusually large horde of Canonistas showed up at the 2017 Canon Photomarathon. In spite of the five-hundred-peso registration fee (where there used to be none). Five hundred PHP is dizzying, my dear. This year’s turnout — considering we Pinoys would always opt for anything […]
Read More I HAVE MY CANON WHEN I HAVE NONESick in bed with no visitors. On the bright side, I won’t have to report for work today. On the downside, another leave credit spent. On the upside, I get to be served like a king. With the chow of my choice. On the downside, everything tastes dull. On the upside, I don’t get to […]
Read More DELIRIUMSilence came upon me hearing my teenage señorita surmise about her late grandfather: “perhaps Lolo is far away now, he is no longer making any signs.” Paramdam is special to us bereaved ones. Sort of a pride and joy. To sense Tatay trying to keep in touch in any way is a consolation. Everybody wants […]
Read More SENDOFFI have never really hugged my father. It’s only now that I’ve put my arms around him. But that’s to help walk him up to the bathroom. The pain has reduced his range to barely a few steps off of hospital bed. We are in the closing days of his final stand vs the big […]
Read More PHOTOWALK BAGUIO CITYCaloy is the best haircutter in Malate. I can trust him with my head even with his eyes closed. He moves from one place to another. And — as always — I would find him. Another shop. Another rate. Trouble is he never runs out of stories to tell, and it slows him on the […]
Read More COMPOSURELiving the ordinary days with passion.
Read More THE MONKEY’S FLYING START IN THE YEAR OF THE MONKEYOld folks used to tell about whenever babies look beyond you and giggle, they’re being touched by an angel. I think babies are angels themselves; their wings diminish as their limbs start to grow. When Michelangelo saw an angel in a marble, he immediately carved it right out of it’s stone. Anyone can be an […]
Read More MARBLE TOWNWhen hell becomes workplace, heaven would be just across the street. Five hundred miles more and it’s vacation. Vacay. Heaven. I looked back at the city and I see zombieland. Nice to be back to human flesh again. How do you savor every minute of it? You can’t save time in a bottle. But you […]
Read More IF YOU CAN’T SAVE TIME IN A BOTTLE