Hello friends. Sorry if it seems like I’ve been away for a long time! There is a reason other than laziness…I’m in Manila!

The Philippines is a country I’ve been to a few times so I’m quite familiar with it by now.

No, I’m not Filipino. Not that I wouldn’t want to be. I’m just not! 😊

But I do have family members who are. And so whenever I get a chance to go to this beautiful and fascinating country I always make sure to pack up some goodies to shoot with.

For the first installment and probably many thereafter, the photos are mostly from the iPhone X and the 16.3mp Ricoh GR.

I used them to complement each other, not as competition. However, I can now affirm my past statements that the iPhone X can completely perform as my only point and shoot digital camera. In fact, I honestly feel that I don’t even need the GR for this trip.

But of course, I know you guys want a “real” camera so I brought it along 😊

In the past, I have taken Leica, Rolleiflex, and bulky Canon cameras and L lenses, but this year I kept it light with compact but capable cameras.

On previous trips, I focused more on close, intimate portraits which was the reason why I brought equipment like the Rolleiflex and Canon L lenses. This year, I wanted more street and environmental portraits.

Don’t worry film fans I haven’t abandoned you! I brought with me two of the greatest Camera Legend film cameras, which I can’t reveal at the moment 😀

I am sending the films to The Darkroom lab as I shot color film this time and I’m taking no chances on processing them myself. I find I always get ugly blotches and spotting when developing color film. That’s a process I want to master but haven’t been able to yet.

Anyway, I’ll have more photos coming soon. Have a great day good peeps! 😎📷😘