Stories of locals

Jenni
Jun 9, 2018
3 min read

During my trip to the Philippines, I confronted myself to the local life. As a millennial, I felt that I had to share paradise moments of myself in the Philippines. Being active on social media, sometimes influences me to take pictures in a certain way but also to post certain type of pictures. Just a camera and my interest for photography, I wanted to capture what my eyes saw in a non-touristic way. Here I present you "Stories of locals", a collection of my attempted photographs in the Philippines.

Eyes of wonders, Santa Fe

This little baby reflects how I was feeling when I encountered my roots - familiarity and fascination in the middle of stoic adults. I wanted to go back to the innocent Jenniffer. As Arnaud Desjardins said: "An adult is one who has lost the grace, the freshness, the innocence of the child, who is no longer capable of feeling pure joy, who makes everything complicated, who spreads suffering everywhere, who is afraid of being happy, and who, because it is easier to bear, has gone back to sleep. The wise man is a happy child".

Traditional housing, Gilutongan Island

With friends of the family, we rented a boat to visit 2 small islands in the Visayas. One of the Island was Gilutongan Island. The Philippines are known for its white beautiful beaches, tropical view and holiday's vibes. But as anywhere in the world, there are the media image and the reality we don't show. Far away of the gray buildings I know, the extreme online connectivity and the luxury of the western side, islander kids were playing with stranded boats next to old traditional housing, on the basketball court made of sands or even with the touring boats in the water.

Passing by, Gilutongan Island

Speaking of media image, I find fascinating how a captured moment can be interpreted so wrongly from the reality. Critics against media are understandable regarding the subjectivity of the images shown. Nonetheless, misinterpretion is inevitable. Arrogance of tourists passing by, a lady doing the laudry in a small hallway, the way she looks at them, like a parallel of the poor and the rich. When I reminisce that time, I never though my picture could be interpreted that way. She just looked up, we were just passing by... but we were actually also locals.

Enjoy Poverty, Gilutongan Island

Naming this picture after the documentary 'Enjoy Poverty' of Renzo Martens, a film establishing that images of poverty (wars, diseases, disasters,.... matters that interest the Western world) are a source of revenues that the poor rarely benefits from. Taking pictures of people we don't know, who has the right on them? The ones in the picture or the photograph that took this moment in photo? A clear debate that "Enjoy poverty" tackle and that myself I am confronted too.

Little Red Ridding Hood, Bantayan Island Here's another photograph of islander kids playing in the water. What caught my attention was how fearless they jumped right in to the sea from the harbor bridge despite their young age. Even with such a jaw dropping view, those pre(co)cious swimmers were stealing the spotlight!

Pusong Pinoy, Bulacan

My family from Cebu came to Bulacan to visit us and taught me how to braid coconut leaves to make puso, a delicacy from Cebu made of rice steamed in a heart shape woven coconut leaf. Puso also means "heart".

The tricycle driver, Carcar

On our way to the Kawasan Falls, we stopped in Carcar City for a CR-break. While waiting for others, I was impressed to see so many tricycles. The "tricycle" is a common public transport in the Philippines. This public motorcycle has a 2 to 4 seats sidecar that are colored regarding their route. One short trip cost about 10 pesos. This is a portrait of a random tricycle driver I saw in Carcar counting his coins while smoking a cigarette.

Laundry in the river, Kawasan Falls

A long path leads to the Kawasan Falls, next to it there's this turquoise green river in which I couldn't help but notice locals doing their laundry. This is something usual in the Philippines, if not in a river, the laundry is still (partially) done by hand.

Handmade crafted souvenirs, Caohagan Island

Crafted objects can be found anywhere. From bracelets to household items, the diversity of handmade goods is rich. I feel like it is a big business there. Caohagan is just a small example. But I also remember Colon Street in Cebu where you can find clothes/shoes shops as well as crafted goods.