Travel for me is not just getting from one point to the other but passing through and connecting different places in a loop.
Early one morning, just before sunrise, I woke up early to take a short walk and take photos along the shore where a fishing boat was beached into the shallow water for a few days already. After a few minutes of seeing, composing, setting and clicking, I started to notice a group of fishermen starting to pull at a rope. They were trawling the shallows and this got me curious since I haven’t seen this before.
Be careful of what you wish for, it might come true. For many years, Cuyo is a fascination. A sprinkling of islets between Panay and Northern Palawan, I have wondered many times about its isolation, its people and the rich religious cultural heritage found on its soil. It all started way back more than a decade ago when I used to collect butterflies.
It is not only old churches that I am fascinated with but I find Spanish colonial era cemeteries, and to some extent, those during pre-war period with their wonderful architecture very interesting. When I get to places, after asking about the churches, I follow it up with: “Is the cemetery here old?”
In the Visayas, and possibly in the entire country, Iloilo has the best samples of colonial era, as well as pre-war cemeteries.
The church in Silay City, Negros Occidental. Built around the 1930s, the original structure, now a ruin, can be found just beside the present church.
In October of 2006, I visited the remote islands of Cuyo and Culion in Palawan for a photography assignment and passed Negros and Iloilo in transit. This is my account of that journey.
This is the 4th of a series. No doubt about it, I’m a sucker for old churches. That’s why when I travel, the first place that I go to see is the church, especially if it is colonial era. Not to pray, but to admire these architectural wonders as well as to take photos or do some documentation. I always find time to make my own visita iglesia.
For religious heritage lovers, Iloilo and Negros are must go to places in the Visayas. The former is a showcase of the Augustinian legacy as Panay island was where this pioneering order made its mark while the latter was administered by the Augustinian Recollects. Of course, like in other parts of the country, several of these churches have undergone various restorations and renovations that it is now impossible to see still untouched structures.
The San Sebastian Cathedral of Bacolod City.
Dominating the downtown area of Bacolod City is the Cathedral of San Sebastian. I do like its architecture: lofty and solid but elegant as well. Its lines and curves pleases the eye.
An impromptu game by the roadside.
In October of 2006, I visited the remote islands of Cuyo and Culion in Palawan for a photography assignment and passed Negros and Iloilo in transit. This is my account of that journey.
This is the 3rd of a series. While wandering around Valladolid in Negros Occidental, a stone’s throw away from the colonial era church, I chanced upon two men in their backyard holding their fighting cocks readying these for a short game to test their birds’ ferociousness. Well, it was just a fun sport and I think with my camera on-hand, they were more than happy to “show off”.
A typical jeepney in Bacolod City
In October of 2006, I visited the remote islands of Cuyo and Culion in Palawan for a photography assignment and passed Negros and Iloilo in transit. This is my account of that journey.
2nd post of a series The reason I made a detour in Negros was to check out the Masskara. Of course, I was able to get an access pass so that I can enter the dance grounds as well as see it for myself. It was really fun, very colorful but after a few hours, the constant loop of one music used by the performers was just driving me crazy! I was able to take around 4 gigabytes of photos in RAW but unfortunately, a few days later, a technical glitch I made with my Epson P-2000 erased it totally! Unrecoverable! Darn! It was one of my major blunders as a photographer. But fortunately, it was not an assignment. Anyway, I still was able to save some of what I have.
A fisherman trawling the shore in Valladolid, Negros Occidental.
For many years, I have set my eyes on the remote island of Cuyo, borne out of curiosity and fascination to this sprinkling of terra firma, located at the northern edge of the Sulu Sea basin between north Palawan in the east and Panay in the west. When the book project Philippine Church Facades by Pedro Galende, OSA, materialized, the fortress churches of Cuyo and Culion were included in the list to be photographed and so, I requested and got the assignment to travel to these places.