Always Wandering

I was selected to do the 5-day black and white (B&W) challenge on Facebook. Simply put, the game forces the nominee to post B&W photos for five (5) consecutive days. For each day, the nominee will then pick someone else to do the same thing. While shooting in color is how most of us in the digital era started and saw images (in print or otherwise), B&W photography is temperamental. Easy on the settings; but difficult on the tone to convey.

Day 1 is portrait photography.

“Audience with a Centenarian” (Batanes, January 2011)

104 years old at that time, Mang Marcello Hostallero is the oldest resident of Sabtang Island. Here he is whiling the day away, and keeping busy by his lonesome outside his house in Chavayan.

Day 2 is landscape photography.

“A Beautiful Destruction” (Mt. Pinatubo, March 2012)

Breathtaking and devastating at the same time, Mt. Pinatubo’s crater lake is a stark reminder of Mother Nature’s play on turning her powerful fury into a magnificent display of beauty.

Day 3 is nature photography.

“By the Beach” (Bali, February 2013)

A banten (traditional Balinese offering) can be seen almost everywhere in the island of the gods. The most unlikely place I have seen one is perched precarioulsy on a cliff face. Its solemn symbolism of worship striking in contrast with the mad beating of the waves below.

Day 4 is architectural photography.

“Of Stillness and Shadows” (Sydney, August 2014)

This is one of the many happy accidents I have when armed with Piggy. The dynamism of the elongated shadows is a divergence with the stilllness of the iconic Sydney Opera House.

Day 5 is street photography.

“The Boss” (Seoul, October 2014)

It was impossible to miss him. He was standing in the middle of the busy street with a big tarpaulin banner mounted on his back. He had a portable mic and a set of speakers amplifying his messages of doom and redemption. Like an almighty one, he loomed over the crowd milling around him.