My first encounter with black-and-white was not during this love affair, but was, in fact, about a year and a half ago. I used a disposable Rollei Retro400. It was a decent set, with a stunning contact print I used for this piece, but I did not feel this kind of awe and wonder—the kind that I feel for the Ilford XP2 Super 400!

I bought a roll in HK to try out, but I used a roll that I forgot Tim gave me to try out, since I expressed interest in black-and-white. It’s processed with C-41 chemicals, so it’s easier to find labs that will develop your rolls. Anyway, I love it in the night-time. Look how awesome that street shot is. I was on the MRT Quezon Ave. station bridge.

Whenever I thread in a new roll of film, my sister is usually the test shot. :)

Route 196. Agh, it’s so amazing and moody. I just used a Lomography LC-A+ on these shots. Surprising result for a truly dark and lightless environment.

Selena of Slow Hello.

My brother in his room. Such a great mood, I love it.

Iniko!

Babysitting totem pole with Isabel and Iniko.

First shot, and last shot! For some reason, I love how the negative looks like crinkled. Now my problem is—WHERE DO I GET MORE ROLLS?

Nona Garcia’s Somewhere Else

My dad’s show is opening on Saturday at Finale, which reminded me of my backlog from July 11, which was when the shows of Nona Garcia, Pow Martinez, and Pipo Alido collectively opened at the same venue. Sorry I’m posting these at a time when you can no longer see them up, but here I go anyway.

Because it was my brother’s birthday, my sister came along with us to see the shows, after we all had dinner together. This is an unnatural thing. Here she is, playing Pocket Planes:

And again, from afar:

Pipo Alido’s O

Pow Martinez’ Sploshing

Nona Garcia (detail)

Pow Martinez (detail)

I have realized that I have to be a little bit more adventurous when it comes to making stuff—writing, making art, designing, everything. Sometimes, it just all becomes a little repetitive and a bit redundant. I have a very good feeling that I won’t have much to lose when I try something new. Even if it doesn’t quite work out, I would taken away a lesson from that—which is basically, don’t do this wrong thing again!

I think I also need to be more adventurous with clothes, as I am almost always in stripes, navy, and grey.

And I need to remember to keep my eyes peeled for beautiful things like the texture of this floor…

Or this private moment…

Or this quiet place.

I shot a few photographs when I was at the shoot for Chalk Magazine’s August feature, Bright Young Manila! Weirdly enough, it has taken me this long before dipping my toes into my black-and-white film, not counting my disposable Rollei. Anyway, it was a positively gloomy day, but I like my pictures more dour than sunny, so it was pretty much perfect.

Joseph, our awesome photographer! Toff said he was part of last year’s list, and I completely get it. I’ve been a long-time fan of Joseph’s. Check out his blog, which is filled with so many beautiful things.

Me! I showed him how my LC-A+ worked. He got the focus right on the first try, plus managed to create a lovely vignetting. Because he is amazing.

We were (unsuccessfully) playing with multiple exposures, though. I can never remember which to take a photo of first—the pattern or the subject?—so this is what happened.

Hannah and Steph, filling out these questionnaires the Chalk team made for us. You can read them at the Chalk tumblr, but they’re uploading them in trickles over the duration of August.

The hairstylist wore mismatched sneakers! Obviously, I have a sucky sense of focus, but I think it’s still a pretty good picture.

All of us, plus the team, hanging around Arturo Luz’ paper clip. :) Except, I guess, I’m not in the frame.

I am Bright Young Manila! Hehe. The issue is in stands now, so get a copy if you can :D

So it’s the first of August and here’s a recap of most of the things that have happened to me lately, which are of the ‘cool’ variety. But first, let me get the ‘lame’ things out of the way. Last Sunday, I discovered that my laptop stopped working, and had a panic attack because it seemed to be a hard drive crash, since the PRAM boot that Marb taught me didn’t work. I took it to the shop the next morning (with my dad, because he is nice) and it turns out that the files are retrievable. I had the trackpad fixed, too. I was thinking of getting a new laptop, but it turns out I don’t need a new one just yet.

Plus, Mercury’s in retrograde. Yep, I checked. Can’t be too careful.

Secondly, I have been attacked with a bad case of the sniffles and the onset of something fever-like, after getting caught in the rain quite a few times in the last couple of days. I never really believed that rainwater could cause me sickness, since I used to try and get deliberately drenched in the rain when I was in grade school, so I wouldn’t have to go to class. It didn’t work then, but it works now. That must mean that I’m getting old. The other bad part about the second thing is that I had to cancel some appointments today. On the upside, Teen Wolf marathon?

Anyway, on to the good things! I was recently a part of a shoot with some talented visual artists for Chalk Magazine’s feature story, Bright Young Manila. They gathered a bunch of talented young ‘uns and some pioneers of their respective crafts and industries, shook them all in a metaphorical bottle for a tall drink of greatness. It felt odd but nice, having been a part of it. I’m sure Hannah felt the same way! The August issue’s available in news stands already.

Yup, I am aware that I look like a monochromatic shark with giant hair.

Also mentioned on 26 people you might not be following but probably should, which was part of the special 26th anniversary issue of The Philippine Star. Yay!

So, this was sufficiently boring. I’m sorry.

I saw a bunch of pretty things today. Because it was sweltering hot, I decided to edit the colors of these pictures a little bit. I couldn’t believe how hot it was! I work from home and I almost never have to go out into the sun, so this was a bit of an unwelcome familiarity, harkening back to my days as an Atenean, when we would have to endure the heat and attempt to concentrate on class, despite the lingering stickiness.

This is a picture taken by Karen B that I cropped and colored. I like it a lot, because it looks it’s in mid-motion, and it looks somewhat like a painting.

Ryan & Garovs, some of my favorite creative people and one of my favorite couples. (That was a confusing sentence.) I met Trish, too, who I had known on the Internet for a long, long time, but never actually met until today.

I liked this picture because of the helicopter, but it made me realize how much I truly hate big-ass billboards along major Manila highways.

Window Pane-esque patterns on my pants, from the stickers on the car window.

And trees that look prickly.

I haven’t done any of these in a while, so here is a Currently, where I am consuming a spinach artichoke type of sandwich and a Hojicha tea frappuccino with earl grey tea jelly. Mmm.

It’s been a long day, and it’s not yet done, but I’m thankful for the change of scenery because it really does get a little bit lonely being me sometimes.

An assortment of photographs from the past few weeks. I miss having visual records of my days.

Mara and Leloy, after a dinner meeting on The Manila Review.

Post-Iceberg’s snack with Toff, Joseph, Steph, and the Chalk team.

White polka-dots on navy by Gabby, Sarie & Nan.

Petra Wolfhead.