#289 The Mamengo

Some jobs are more important than others. We all know that. And today on the rice terraces of barrangay Cababuyan in Hingyon, the most important job belongs to the mamengo. The Ma-meng-who?

Five percent of their annual harvest will be set aside as seeds for next year's planting. So does it make sense to choose the very best? Enter stage right: Eliza the mamengo. On harvest day, her job is to walk ahead of the pack and select the biggest, healthiest, and most vigorous-looking seed bunches. The cream of the crop. This ensures next year's harvest will have all the qualities of the best, and none of the worst. It's a practice handed-down through the generations. Darwin would be proud. Enjoy.

(Pixel-peepers: To isolate your story amidst a busy composition, try using the biggest opening on your lens. The resulting narrow depth-of-field will leave your main subject in stark focus, while blurring everything else around it. Bokeh-licious.)

Errata: Cababuyan is in Hingyon, not Banaue as the photo caption indicates.

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For those who've inquired about buying 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, help me uplift the lives of the Children of Payatas.  No donation is too big or too small. Get in touch with Fr. Aldrin Suan at aldrinsuan@yahoo.com of the Vincentian Missionaries in the Philippines. As always, thanks and enjoy.)

#288 A Straight Line

The shortest distance between two points is a straight line, right? Here in the Ifugao hills, it doesn't seem to matter.

Take a look at today's postcard. The road starts somewhere on the upper right hand corner, then it winds, curves, and loops until it comes to a bridge on the lower left hand corner of the photograph. After crossing that bridge, it loops, curves, and winds back to nearly where it started, before taking a sharp left and disappearing into the next hill. Wouldn't it have been simpler to just build a long bridge, cross the chasm right then and there, and spare us from all those dizzying turns? Who knows!?? Out here, we're just happy to drive these winding roads... with the wind in our face... while we soak in those awesome views. Enjoy.

(Pixel-peeper: When confronted with a grand landscape that is wider than your widest lens can handle, consider taking multiple photographs while panning from left to right, and then digitally stitching them into a single seamless panorama. When done right, it's like magic.)

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Past postcards at www.PostcardsFromManila.com

Say hello: Bobbyw59@yahoo.com

But wait, there's more...

For those who've inquired about buying 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, help me uplift the lives of the Children of Payatas.  No donation is too big or too small. Get in touch with Fr. Aldrin Suan at aldrinsuan@yahoo.com of the Vincentian Missionaries in the Philippines. As always, thanks and enjoy.)

#287 Generations

Some say the current generation of upland farmers will be the last, because their children are better educated and want a better life. I say not.

This is Lily. She and her husband own several terraced rice fields here in Cababuyan in Banaue. Her husband inherited them from his father, and one day she expects to pass them on to their children. Her children are all educated, have jobs in the city, one even has a career in North America. None are interested to live a life like theirs. So why do I think this won't end with them?

We arrived on harvest day, the one day of the year when Lily's annual crop need to be reaped. Forty people showed-up to earn just P200 each (about $5.) These folks likely also sowed these fields six months earlier, or helped tend the dikes between then and today. Clearly there are enough of them around... those who don't own any rice fields... but still need to live off the land.  So even if the landed few seek better pastures elsewhere... someone here will till what they leave behind... and these fields will go on. Because life always finds a way. Enjoy.

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Past postcards at www.PostcardsFromManila.com

Say hello: Bobbyw59@yahoo.com

But wait, there's more...

For those who've inquired about buying 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, help me uplift the lives of the Children of Payatas.  No donation is too big or too small. Get in touch with Fr. Aldrin Suan at aldrinsuan@yahoo.com of the Vincentian Missionaries in the Philippines. As always, thanks and enjoy.)

#286 The Ruins of Sungsung

In the town of Uyugan in Batanes lie the remains of a small community called Sungsung. As legend goes, sometime in the 1950's a series of tsunami's rose from the sea and wiped them out, stone houses and all. What remains today are rubble piles, most of them still in the shape of homes laid to waste. You'd think their stone houses were built to withstand precisely this kind of onslaught, but nature can be a formidable adversary. Enjoy.

(Pixel-peepers: We drove past these ruins on a previous trip, the sight of which piqued my curiosity. I dreamt of returning one day to capture its story for posterity. A few minutes combing the ruins, I thought the raw composition of rocks in wanton disarray might be one way to convey its violent past. So be it.)

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Past postcards at www.PostcardsFromManila.com

Say hello: Bobbyw59@yahoo.com

But wait, there's more...

For those who've inquired about buying 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, help me uplift the lives of the Children of Payatas.  No donation is too big or too small. Get in touch with Fr. Aldrin Suan at aldrinsuan@yahoo.com of the Vincentian Missionaries in the Philippines. As always, thanks and enjoy.)