Day 119: Nightswimming

Day 119:

Swimming without the sunburns. :p Entirely different allure altogether. Different but beautiful nonetheless.

Day 118: Couple Getaway

Day 118:

Let's run away, just you and me. Maybe not so far away. Maybe just around the corner. Maybe a few hours drive away. Maybe a plane ride and a boat away. Just enough for us to forget about everything messy in our lives. Just enough for us to be us. However far or near that'd be. To be reminded of who we are. For me to tell you how much I missed you all this time.

Day 117: Streetlife

Day 117:

I took this also during the wednesday market.

As a photographic study... I like the feeling of depth. :D That's it. bow.

Day 116: Face of A People

Day 116:

Face of a People.

Trinkets. Tourist souvenirs. Reminders of places that foreigners go to. A form of self-orientalization by the natives. These things that people buy at inflated rates, are not so much reminders of places themselves, but places that may be created in the imagination by ourselves, or the people who visit. We are who we are. But we are also who we show ourselves to be. When we look at what we say to be "natively" filipino, or what is filipino, how much a part of that is really who we are, and how much of that is born out of a need to distinguish ourselves from the "others" who visit us?

Just a thought.

Day 115: Comfort Food

Day 115:

I took this at the Dumaguete Wednesday Market.

On this hot summer day... wouldn't a scoop of ice cream be great... specifically, that street-found "Dirty" ice cream? :p

Day 114: Independence

Day 114:

This is a picture of my brother. He loves the water. This is his independence. (somewhat. :P) This in a pool probably 8-10 feet deep. But he doesn't really care. He jumps into the water, and waddles around with an awkward dog-paddle from edge to edge. He also ventures off short distances when we would stop for snorkling. He apparently isn't afraid of the open sea.

Day 113: Lifeline

Day 113:

SCUBA diving... is one of the funnest, often misunderstood "extreme" sports. To be honest, (I speak as a PADI Certified Advanced Open Water Diver of 3+ Years) to be a diver... you don't need to know how to swim really well. You just have to be comfortable with the water. Enough not to panic as you go down above your head. Swimming is a plus for sure! But do you need to handle 1km of freestyle.... naaah. Do you have to be fit like an athlete? Naaah. Look at me. I'm fat. I'm not really fit. Is diving a life threatening sport? Well... if you aren't careful, and you don't follow the rules, it can be. As long as you do the necessary checks, you should be fine! Just get a physician's clearance for the ears, or any patent morbidities, to be sure. But for the most part, diving is a leisurely, slow-paced scenic tour of the reefs.

Bleh. Go diving. :P Dive Philippines!

Day 112: Floating Vendors

Day 112:

In Dumaguete, Philippines, there's this wonderful protected dive area, the Apo Island. It's a small island, surrounded entirely by beautiful reefs. There's no electricity in the island. Everything has to be shipped in via bangka to the island. Often, tourists, whether snorklers or scuba divers on their surface interval, would dock at the main beach. Sometimes they'd go down to eat at one of three resorts. More often, they'd eat their baon on the boats.

The people on the island noticed this set up wouldn't do for business. They're versatile and creative vendors! It wouldn't do to wait on the shore with a stall and some shirts! Most of the vendors here, who sold shirts, sarong, or other trinkets, would ride little boats (boatlets even) and come aboard the tourist boats, showing their wares.

More creatively there's even a form of credit here. If your a tourist who'd come back another day... you could get your shirt early (because rarely do people bring money when they're planning a day of swimming), and pay to the boat-boys, or the next time you'll come around!

Day 111: Touchdown

Day 111:

I took this photo, as we were waiting our turn for the runway. We were going to Dumaguete (Wonderful place!). Although air travel is still the safest way to travel (statistically), there is still this fear. For so long as you're airborne, 35,000 feet in the air, with nothing underneath you, there's a chance of... horrible things. And until you feel that reassuring jerk, that rumble and bass-filled noise that the plane has landed, you don't feel too... well... too grounded.

Day 110: Transit

Day 110:

People come and go. We meet them. We drift a part. Some people fade away into the nothingness of forgetting. Some people stay. Some we remember faithfully. Some people, we distort into a glorified memory of themselves. Some people, we make up. Some people, we wish didn't go.

Apologies!

Hello everyone!

I think at this point, it is obvious, that for a number of reasons... My posting in my project 365 had stopped... I apologize. I know I can do better. Rest assured that my project will go on! :D I may not have taken a photo a day, but I will show you 365 shots and thoughts by the end of this year... starting today therefore, I shall be posting at least 2, maybe 3 photos per day, until I reach the appropriate count (current count: Day 132; deficit of 23)! Thank you for your continued support! :)

Berbi