Sandy feet, the sound of waves, jump in the water when it’s hot, then dry off in the sun.

Sadly, my pair of black shoes, shoes I’ve had for around 10 years now through high school orchestra, college, work in Indiana, and now this dance, have sacrificed themselves for the cause. By the end of shooting, the foam in the soles had disintegrated and fell away in both shoes to join the rubble of the storm drain.

And if you ever want to trip someone out, make a photo mask of their face and wear it when you meet them. Even better when they’re looking away, and then you say “Hey, look at this” and there they are staring at their own face. It’s a strange, confusing mind melting moment.. Thankfully the earth was not destroyed in the process!

Don’t need much to have fun. With only a trike and their companionship, Keisha and Jaer played outside my apartment in the Philippines with the exuberance and imagination that little kids innately possess, and only few adults hold onto.

Song is “We’re Going to be Friends” by Jack Johnson

Who needs an iphone and fancy shoes?

More Photos.

Beaches, booze, ooze, girls and ghouls.

The paradise island Boracay is being invaded by waves of foreign monsters, eroding the natural beauty until nothing is left but the facade of human spectacle. Boracay is where tourists show up for the week expecting to relax, get sucked into the night life, stay up all night, and end up leaving the island more exhausted than when they came. It’s where death goes to have fun, and people turn him down.

The extremes come out into the open, like day to night. It is a resort where people save up money to spend their vacation, it is also an island where some of the locals don’t have enough money to get off the island. There are only more tourists to come.

Here’s a New York Times article that goes into Boracay a little more in depth: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/11/travel/11Next.html

Music is “Traffickers” by The Reflecting Skin.

I found a giant in the Philippines, and her name is Tren.

The Karst peaks along the Li river made me realize that the misty mountains depicted in Chinese ink paintings actually look as magical in real life. Located in Yangshuo, Guangxi Province, China. Shot with a Sony HX1.

Music by the Gorillaz “Hong Kong”

When I was in India, especially when purchasing something, I could never tell if I was getting a “yes” or “no” response, because of the way they tilted their head for “yes” instead of nodding. Seconds would go by where I would repeat, yes? And they would respond in the same fashion, and I would repeat…yes?

I noticed similar differences in the Philippines, so I put them all together in this schnazzy little video!

Thanks to Kumar, Krishna, Brinda, Maz, Janis and some randoms on the street for sharing.

Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center (CPDRC) gives one of the most surreal performances I have ever seen the last Saturday of every month. If you ever intend on being in Cebu, Philippines, I’d say skip this video and watch it live!

However, if for some reason (like you’re halfway around the world) you can’t make it out to this tropical island, I hope you enjoy my addition to the whole Michael Jackson/Inmates/Dancing/Thriller/Ladyboys/Youtube canon at least a tenth as much as I did seeing it live.

Shot it all with one Sony HX1 Cybershot camera.
Music by Caravan Palace.

Without a doubt one of the standout performances — rocking it out to oldschool Pachelbel’s Canon.

CPDRC and me!

I have since returned to Manila for a weekend, so instead of hanging out at one of the largest malls in the world I set out to Pasig River to finally capture what had been burned in my mind.

Of course I didn’t find it. Who knows if I looked at the wrong parts of the river or if my mind exaggerated what I saw over the years beyond the actual sight. No, walking along the river I didn’t find the riches of the malls or the skyscrapers. What I found was even better. It was in the laughs and the basketball games and the babies and the smiles and everyone who wanted a photo. This time I hadn’t simply seen a view of a river from the highway, I had actually walked along the river.

Right at the end, right before my friend and I had to leave in order to catch our flight, I saw something very close to what I had originally been looking for, where the river itself traces the path from the murky depths to the riches in the sky.

When I got back home I decided to sit down and instead of looking for the image, to draw it out.

The “12 year old’s version” as my other friend described it:

And just for kicks, I played around with the one photo a little bit:

The whole process got me thinking. Have a goal — have some out of reach abstract destination to reach, and see where it takes me.

No one need beware this flying beast.