#82 Grass is Greener

www.PostcardsFromManila.com

Crossing the Dalton Pass on our way up north, we found ourselves in baranggay Caliit-liitan in Aritao, Nueva Vizcaya. Caliit-liitan means "something very small" but the valley around it was anything but. As we stood in the middle of the valley staring into the horizon, fields of tomatoes and onions followed our gaze all the way to the distant foothills, about as far as our eyes can see. You can lose yourself staring into the yonder, surrounded by a sweet fragrance in the air, and dreaming of far away places and lives that could have been... But don't believe the myth that the grass is always greener somewhere else. Nothing can be further from the truth. Live today. Enjoy.

(Pixel-peepers: Shot with a tripod mounted low on the ground, f/8 28mm. A polarizer helped darken the sky and reduce the glare on the onion stalks. To truthfully retain the correct shade of green on the stalks, I allowed the clouds to blow out. Luckily, my raw converter recovered some of the highlights.)

Where in the world is Aritao, Nueva Vizcaya?

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Say hello: Bobbyw59@yahoo.com

But wait, there's more...

For those who've asked to buy prints of my postcards, you may purchase them directly from master printmaker Arnel Murillo (murilloarnel@yahoo.com), one of the country's foremost fine-art printmakers.  Arnel uses archival inks and museum-grade paper to ensure his prints will not fade. You will not be disappointed. (All my images are provided gratis to help showcase the beauty of our country. But if you feel generous, you can join me in helping uplift the lives of the Children of Payatas.  No donation is too big or too small. Get in touch with Father Aldrin Suan at aldrinsuan@yahoo.com of the Vincentian Missionaries in the Philippines. As always, thanks and enjoy.)

#81 A Spelunker's Secret

www.PostcardsFromManila.com

On the island of Batan, a part of the municipality of Rapu rapu in the province of Albay, is an underground cave with a secret. We arrived at the Pototan caves by boat and climbed up a flight of steps carved onto the side of the cliff. The cave entrance itself didn't impress but it was what we found within its belly that got us wondering about its past.

It was pitch black when I took a time exposure of the cavern's interior. Those reddish marks on the cave roof, they're actually ancient coral skeleton. This means this cave was once filled with seawater that supported living corals. But when? Beats me. But it must have been at a time when sea levels were much higher than it is today, or when the island itself was once somewhere under the sea. Maybe you can help this postcard find us a resident marine archeologist or an unemployed coral taxonomist. But for now I'll assume we've stumbled upon a secret from another time. Enjoy.

(Pixel-peepers: I mounted my camera on a tripod, set it to long exposure, and "light-painted" the entire cave ceiling. Light-painting with a puny lamp is often an exercise in futility, but beggars can't be choosy.)

Where in the world is Batan Island, Rapu-rapu, Albay?

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Older postcards at www.PostcardsFromManila.com

Say hello: Bobbyw59@yahoo.com

But wait, there's more...

For those who've asked to buy prints of my postcards, you may purchase them directly from master printmaker Arnel Murillo (murilloarnel@yahoo.com), one of the country's foremost fine-art printmakers.  Arnel uses archival inks and museum-grade paper to ensure his prints will not fade. You will not be disappointed. (All my images are provided gratis to help showcase the beauty of our country. But if you feel generous, you can join me in helping uplift the lives of the Children of Payatas.  No donation is too big or too small. Get in touch with Father Aldrin Suan at aldrinsuan@yahoo.com of the Vincentian Missionaries in the Philippines. As always, thanks and enjoy.)

#80 Our Comfort Zones

www.PostcardsFromManila.com

We all have our comfort zones, fortresses beyond which we rarely stray. Could we be missing something?

We were on Badian Island off the western coast of Cebu, in a small cottage that looks out over the Badian Channel. The waterway itself is narrow and so shallow that you can literally walk across at low tide. In the distance is the Mantalongan, an imposing mountain range rising to nearly a thousand feet above sea level. The sun rose from behind those mountain tops today, an experience that will be hard to forget, followed by a simmering mist that hovered over the water's surface all morning. The view is as beautiful as it is calming.

We're tempted to stay in the cool cozy indoors, sit back, and just enjoy the grand view. But the world looks very different up-close. To see the world, we need to step out of our comfort zones, into the new, into the unknown, and into destiny. Who knows what tomorrow brings? After all, we're much like what they said about ships in a harbor: they're safe there, but that's not what ships are made for. Enjoy.

Where in the world is Badian Island in Cebu?

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Older postcards at www.PostcardsFromManila.com

Say hello: Bobbyw59@yahoo.com

But wait, there's more...

For those who've asked to buy prints of my postcards, you may purchase them directly from master printmaker Arnel Murillo (murilloarnel@yahoo.com), one of the country's foremost fine-art printmakers.  Arnel uses archival inks and museum-grade paper to ensure his prints will not fade. You will not be disappointed. (All my images are provided gratis to help showcase the beauty of our country. But if you feel generous, you can join me in helping uplift the lives of the Children of Payatas.  No donation is too big or too small. Get in touch with Father Aldrin Suan at aldrinsuan@yahoo.com of the Vincentian Missionaries in the Philippines. As always, thanks and enjoy.)

#79 A Farmers Market

www.PostcardsFromManila.com

You have to look hard to find a Farmers Market in a big city, but here in Sagada in the Mountain Province, it's everywhere. I like poking around them, if only to see what's for sale, because that tells me a lot about the place and the people who live there. (Like what? Like what grows in the hills around them, like what they eat and what their cost of living looks like, etc.) I only saw two stalls selling red meat so I'm guessing the local diet is quite healthy. In the photograph, I counted 12 different types of fruits and vegetables, in a state far fresher than what you and I can find at our local produce market... ah... what we give up for our urban lifestyles... Enjoy.

(Pixel-peepers: This market stall was partially shaded, creating a range of brightness exceeding the capacity of my digital camera's sensor. When in doubt, I normally expose for the brightest areas even if it means part of the scene melts into the shadows. Good raw conversion software can recover up to one full stop of shadow detail without destroying the photograph's tonality. Now, if only we were shooting film...)

Where in the world is Sagada in the Mountain Province?

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Older postcards at www.PostcardsFromManila.com
Say hello: Bobbyw59@yahoo.com

But wait, there's more...

For those who've asked to buy prints of my postcards, you may purchase them directly from master printmaker Arnel Murillo (murilloarnel@yahoo.com), one of the country's foremost fine-art printmakers.  Arnel uses archival inks and museum-grade paper to ensure his prints will not fade. You will not be disappointed. (All my images are provided gratis to help showcase the beauty of our country. But if you feel generous, you can join me in helping uplift the lives of the Children of Payatas.  No donation is too big or too small. Get in touch with Father Aldrin Suan at aldrinsuan@yahoo.com of the Vincentian Missionaries in the Philippines. As always, thanks and enjoy.)

#78 Living near Paradise

www.PostcardsFromManila.com

What if you lived within a stone's throw of paradise?

We were in Coron in Palawan paddling our kayaks inside the Twin Lagoons, mesmerized by the clear skies above, the glass-like water below, and the limestone cliffs that define our country's last wild frontier. You can travel the world in search of paradise, but you don't have to look very far to find it right here at home. Our coasts are truly among the best there is, where one day the world will beat a busy path to our door. With air travel so affordable nowadays, paradise is barely an hour away from the city, a literal stone's throw for a world traveller. What are you waiting for? Enjoy.

(Pixel-peepers: I was on a partially submerged bamboo raft struggling to keep up with them kayaks. A dreaded slip-up and the sea will swallow my gear, but it's not the time to be squeamish. Sparse fast-moving clouds mean the direction of the light is always changing. Although that makes manual exposure difficult, the result can astound. 28mm at f/8, pola, and some highlight recovery within CS3.)

Where in the world is Coron, Palawan?

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