Last August, that’s right back in 2011, I was able to spend an afternoon in the classrooms and studios of Ballet Philippines at the Cultural Center of the Philippines. The teachers and the students were very gracious to allow me to photograph them during their class and practice sessions. It isn’t the first time for me to photograph dancers. However, it was my first time to photograph them during a class.

One of the sessions which I joined was expression and improvisation class. It became a learning experience for me as as I started to listen to the teacher’s instructions and anticipate the next moves of the dancers.

Thank you again to Ballet Philippines, the principal dancers, the teachers and the students. Looking forward to photographing all of you again.

Last Monday, I accompanied my wife to get her NBI clearance (something like a record check for Filipino nationals). We went to the main National Bureau of Investigation office on Taft Avenue in Manila.

I decided to make a photo-day of it. I took my camera along to shoot the old part of Metro Manila. The images in this post are a record of what I saw next to the Supreme Court, near the NBI office and a block away from the Manila Doctor’s Hospital.

There was this group of people protesting in front of the Supreme Court. They were demanding that the public know how much are in politicians’ bank accounts. There were vendors lamenting that fish balls need more oil to cook rather than squid ones. There were children running around the street, naked. There were people hurrying to get somewhere while the traffic was going nowhere.

All in all, the scene and the experience of watching it  was pretty messed up. And as the title of this post says, I’m not really sure where we (me and the people of my dear country) are heading.

The groom’s men at Camille and Brianne’s wedding roll out the yellow carpet ahead of the couple’s grand exit from the ceremony. 

I always am in search of good burgers. So I must share this wonderful blue cheese burger from Brother’s Burger. If you find yourself in Manila go get one. 

The last time I was in Baguio What’s Up by the 4 Non Blondes was playing almost non-stop on the radio. The lines—And so I wake in the morning / And I step outside / And I take a deep breath and I get real high / And I scream from the top of my lungs / What’s going on? / And I say, hey hey hey hey / I said hey, what’s going on?—is seared on my mind. Every time I hear that song I see Baguio, I remember the room I stayed in at the Teacher’s Camp, the smelly horses near Wright Park.

I remember Baguio the way it was in 1993. That’s how that city has been sealed in my mind. And I wish Baguio forever stayed like that. Because it’s not. It’s crap. It’s a mess. I don’t mean any disrespect from anyone from that city. But the city is a mess.

That was just a long way to say that one of the few highlights of my recent trip to Baguio was the Baguio market. See the pictures above. The place is insane. Pretty. Insane.

The past weekend I found myself in Baguio City for the wedding of Camille and Brianne. Both of them grew up in Baguio, although Camille now lives in Melbourne (this is how I know her). The wedding was held at the Baguio Country Club, by the green, surrounded by pine trees. This is the happy couple making their happy exit.

Warm one minute, windy the next.

Mike and I were walking around Melbourne, just looking. We made our way up Flinders Lane just in time to see this gust of wind and this lady cross paths. It was fast and I guess Mike and I were the only two who saw this happen. You can see his version on his stream.

Autumn indeed. About time.

Over the weekend just past I found out that there are more than just a few people who have been caught by this couple. Some not just caught–they are in fact jealous. Here they are once more. Indeed worthy of the attention since they did all the work.

This song should be playing in the background:

My romance doesn’t have to have a moon in the sky
My romance doesn’t need a blue lagoon standing by
No month of May, no twinkling stars
No hide away, no softly guitars
My romance doesn’t need a castle rising in Spain
Nor a dance to a constantly surprising refrain
Wide awake I can make my most fantastic dreams come true
My romance doesn’t need a thing but you
My romance doesn’t need a thing but you

Fuji Neopan 1600

Okay. Let me just state: I am not one for grand public displays of affection or emotion (specially on flickr). But just for this day (Valentine’s) allow me this post. Let me also add, I am surrounded by numerous lovelorn friends who in their thirtysomethingness are in a combined state of panic-insanity-melancholy-anxiety that has recently brought on a flurry of extended phone calls and calm-me-down sessions.

So here, as the title says, let me join in the chorus of those whose love is unrequited: this post goes out to the person I have not yet met.

Here I Love You
by Pablo Neruda

Here I love you.
In the dark pines the wind disentangles itself.
The moon glows like phosphorous on the vagrant waters.
Days, all one kind, go chasing each other.

The snow unfurls in dancing figures.
A silver gull slips down from the west.
Sometimes a sail. High, high stars.

Oh the black cross of a ship.
Alone.
Sometimes I get up early and even my soul is wet.
Far away the sea sounds and resounds.
This is a port.
Here I love you.

Here I love you and the horizon hides you in vain.
I love you still among these cold things.
Sometimes my kisses go on those heavy vessels
that cross the sea towards no arrival.
I see myself forgotten like those old anchors.
The piers sadden when the afternoon moors there.
My life grows tired, hungry to no purpose.
I love what I do not have. You are so far.
My loathing wrestles with the slow twilights.
But night comes and starts to sing to me.

The moon turns its clockwork dream.
The biggest stars look at me with your eyes.
And as I love you, the pines in the wind
want to sing your name with their leaves of wire.

***

The unknown lady seen in Centre Place, Melbourne, Australia.