June 2007 Archives

Lisa & LetLet, photographed in Cebu Philippines: 2005 & 2007

I've been away for the past week, working security for a PGA Pro Golf Tournament - leaving at 5:45am and returning at 8:15pm each day, and I really wanted to be able to post & write at least a few days during the Tournament, but it really became impossible with the stress of a long day in the hot sun, and the fact that I was working sick each day with a kidney infection that left me really fatigued at the end of the day...so I apologize for not being able to post.

On the weekend I did manage to see a doctor on the golf course who wrote me a prescription for an antibiotic, but wasn't even able to get it filled until tonight, so I'm just getting to sleep a little & I'm sure I'll be fine soon.

At this Tournament I've worked for the past 12 years, I've always had a fantastic working relationship with the municipal Police Department in charge of the event; I have 2 of their Officers constantly with me at my post where I wrangle Players, PGA officials & their vehicles, and I love seeing & working with them each year as they're fully aware of my travels to the Philippines and of my photography, and they always want to be filled in on my latest adventures there.

One of my very good friends who's a Sargent on the Force with two children of his own has always been interested in my photography and involvement with children in-need in Cebu - specifically with Lisa & LetLet's Family, really fell in love last year with the top image in the montage above, taken in 2005 - and he asked me for the 8x10 print in my portfolio I had with me, and I gave it to him (he's matted & framed it and displays it in his living room)

He's really grown to care about what I do for Lisa & LetLet's Family, and at the end of last years Tournament gifted me resources to let me buy all their food & meals for an entire month, as well as a special shopping trip to a local Cebu clothing market where I was able to get new clothes not only for Lisa & LetLet, but for their entire Family of 7 children - something I would otherwise not have been able to do without his specific personal involvement.

On Wednesday past I presented the Sargent with an 8x10 double matted & framed glossy of a montage I'd made for him with Lisa & LetLet's 2007 images, as well as their Mama Milagros and baby sister Joanne's images in appreciation for his support last year, and yesterday before the Tournament ended, he made a trip out to my post to see me before he left, and gifted me the exact same amount to be used for the Family when I see them again in November 2007 - I was so thrilled, I didn't know what to say - I thanked him repeatedly, we shook hands & hugged, and later that day his wife & 2 children stopped by as they had been doing all week, to wish me well for Novembers 2007 trip, and to ask if it would be ok if the kids sent Lisa & LetLet some letters & cards, and I told them Lisa's Family would be thrilled to get airmail from them.

Thanks for being patient in waiting for the new posts; I just wanted to write about some of the specific ways a few of my close friends choose to get involved with helping to support a few Families in need in the Philippines, primarily through seeing my photography.

PJAMES

Olympus E-1, Olympus Zuiko 14-54mm f/2.8-3.5 Digital: 1/125s f/5 at 54.0mm iso400

Usel photographed at home on Bantayan Island, which is depicted in the lower image - a very small & simple bamboo & coco wood dwelling with no electricity, running water or amenities whatsoever, as the children must sleep outside under a bamboo covering.
...I spend a LOT of time here with her family daily, helping as much as I possibly can.

Good Sunday Evening,

I haven't been feeling well this week, and really couldn't get to edit images & write much, and the week prior I'd been working overnights, so I again was trying to get my body back on regular day/night hours, so I appologise for the lack of posts.

Last week I did receive an interesting email from a children's charity org that wanted "to use my photographs on their website AND also the same images in a hi-resolution format, in a few different types of printed materials, in exchange for a photo credit".

They also invited me to participate in a Gallery auction to take place in Austria this coming December 2007, by donating prints to raise funds to benefit their charity.

I won't name the .org and embarrass them, but I did check out their website and it looked to be a total mess (unorganized, ambiguous; nearly impossible to navigate)

...usually when a business contacts you after finding your work online and only offers a "photo credit" and nothing else, they're simply looking for free stock photography, and are hoping you're so excited about getting published that you'll just give away your work for nothing.

Whenever I'm contacted by orgs wanting my images to benefit their organization, I only have one simple request, and I've never been turned down in the last few times it's happened.

I simply state that I've had real-world relationships since 2003 with the very people & children I've shot & published here, and I also state that I'd be willing to forgo a professional licensing fee for multiple images (that can get expensive when talking about them wanting to use your work both online AND in print), in exchange for them donating a small fee equal to 4 or 5 50kg sacks of rice for these Families who's images they are interested in, to promote their own causes.

I've always believed it's only fair that I should be able to have something to directly benefit the KIDS (FOOD, etc) whose images they want to use, since using their images will directly benefit THEIR organization, and each & every time I explain my position, it has always turned out positive...and my kids get rice &/or clothing, instead of me going to their Families and saying "...look what a good photographer I be - your images were published by ABC.org & I gave my work away in exchange for this lovely little photo credit...I don't have much to give you this week, but aren't I a great photographer???"

Their email response came back a flat out NO (which they are entitled to say) but truth is, I was still surprised because they'd asked for so many images from me....they never offered so much as a dollar for a single meal, or a small box of clothes, something - anything.....if they had, I surely would have tried to at least work with them on some level in donating one of my prints, or giving them a few images for web use only, etc.

Seems they were just out to service themselves trying to get free stock photography off the web - they've obviously been to the stock agencies online and have seen what those costs are.

The text of the emails is below on the link; makes an interesting read.

Last month on the pBase.com main page, I'd noticed my Bantayan Island sunrise/sunset gallery had popped up on the pBase Popular Galleries Page, in the company of other Popular Galleries.

It's made me happy as I've always worked hard on that gallery, especially when getting up at 5am to shoot the sunrise before my other daily projects, and making the effort to get back to the Sugar Beach area from where ever I was by 5pm/5:15pm to be able to shoot the sunsets.

pBase was my very first online presence as a photographer, and I've always showcased my Project Rice images there and also directly link here from various images of Bantayan Island, of Lisa & LetLet, Rosa & Edison's Family, in my pBase Galleries.

Thanks for stopping by,
PJAMES

Dec.6, 2006: Bantayan Island, Cebu Philippines
LittleFish and her son Kalle photographed at home.

Just a quick post to let everyone know that LittleFish has texted me, saying that she has enrolled back in High School, and has started her first days of classes earlier this week.

She sent me a yahoo message from the internet cafe, where she is trying to learn computers & the WINXP OS, as her class was working on a project necessitating some internet time.

here's her messages to me online a few days ago:

rosalinda: im starting schooling na kuya 2day.
PJAMES: today you start????...wow thats such good news
rosalinda: ders a program thats why im here in netcafe 4 a wile.
PJAMES: ohh good!
rosalinda: im happy kuya that i came 2 school na.
PJAMES: and Im so proud of you Rosalinda for going back to school....Ill try to pay for it when I see you in Nov.2007
rosalinda: u know kuya im so very thankful 2 u coz u trying 2 help me.
PJAMES: its ok
PJAMES: you're my little sister & I try to do what I can
PJAMES: yr a good girl
PJAMES: and yr my family also

I told her I was very proud of her decision to go back to get her Diploma, and she's very excited about being back in school - read her posts below from the last 2 weeks for the complete story update.

I also told her that I would find a way to pay for her schooling, books & supplies, and the black shoes needed for her school uniform (I know she doesn't have black school shoes, she's got one pair of sneakers & one pair of sandals)

Many Thanks for reading today,
PJAMES

From the Summer 2007 booklet by Project FIT, which addresses the needs of the homeless
in General Santos City, Mindanao Philippines. (pages 1 & 2 pictured below)

June 2007: 3 of my images from the Philippines were licensed & published by Dave Crockett in Utah who heads up Project FIT - a private Charity project collecting and distributing clothing & necessities to the homeless and in-need in General Santos City, Mindanao Philippines.

A very noble and necessary project indeed; please call Dave at (435)592-2814 or email him: dave@crockett.net
if you'd like to donate clothing (new or used), other items specified on pg. 4 of the booklet below, labor or services for the people & children of General Santos City Philippines.

Clothing & needed items that David's crew collects will be shipped by freight to the Social Development Center in General Santos City, Mindanao in November 2007.

Maybe readers here can network with their own Family or a few friends to assemble even a small clothing box to ship to Dave - I know he would certainly appreciate it greatly.

I've done this so many times myself for homeless children & Families, so I speak from a very personal experience -
homeless & destitute people must try to make due with almost none of the simple comforts in basic clothing that most of us all enjoy - it's very hard to stay clean, and to keep what little clothing they have clean, so when you give a homeless person something as simple as a new t-shirt, pair of sandals, or pants/shorts, their eyes light up like a child's on Christmas morning, and it can give them back some of their dignity when they are able to look more presentable.

I'm also going to put a clothing package together for David's project with personal clothing of mine I don't happen to wear anymore, as I left most of my own summer clothes behind in Philippines.
...I'm also going to ask my 3 nephews to contribute their own clothes they've outgrown, so I'll have a good variety of items to send to David's cause.

pages 3 & 4 of the Project FIT booklet:

Excerpts from David's emails to me are in the link below:

My good friend and photographer Kevin Weir who I've spoken about here before has been working in Kuwait, and recently traveled to Thailand & Philippines last month.

Kevin & I were trading emails while he was in Manila last month, and he was keeping up with all the posts here - so I asked him if he would make the time to go visit Rosa & Edison's Family in Manila, and he immediately agreed.

I texted Rosa on the Family cell phone & told her to expect him on May 26, 2007 and I also asked Kevin if he could shoot some photographs, which are published below.
...Kevin gave me permission to also include his email to me where he explains his visit, where along with his girlfriend Shelia they both brought the kids to Robinson's Mall for a big dinner at Wendy's - he says the kids were absolutely thrilled with that, and I'm thankful to Kevin for visiting them for the first time ever, and for doing something nice for them.

Kevin told me that the burns on Rosa's hands were healing nicely with minimal scarring, and he also spoke of Edison having a brother, Francis who's pictured in the 2nd. montage.
...In the years since I've known Rosa's Family I was never aware Edison has a half-brother (Edison's Mother/different Father) so learning of Francis was very interesting, and I hope he's there when I arrive back in Manila in November 2007.

camera: Fuji FinePix S1Pro

camera: Fuji FinePix S1Pro

Here's Kevin's email to me with more images, on the link below. (images updated June 5, 2007)

April 24, 2007: Manila Philippines

Olympus E-1, Olympus Zuiko 14-54mm f/2.8-3.5 Digital: 1/250s f/2.9 at 20.0mm iso200

Rosa showing me the burns to her hands that I referred to in the anniversary post below.

I arrived back in Manila on April 23 and immediately went to see Rosa's Family; her friend Anna went to fetch her as soon as she saw me, and Rosa came out to show me that she'd been burned by scalding water earlier in the day - I was shocked to see her hands slightly swollen, totally red and covered by what looked like tomato juice, seeds & all.

She explained to me that Auntie Josie had nothing to treat her burns, so she applied a crushed tomato to her hands as that's all she could do - and Rosa's hands were now blistered and very painful, so I immediately asked Josie & Willie for permission to take her to see a doctor, and off we went to the clinic, where Rosa was seen and given an expensive antibiotic ointment for preventing infection - I also went out and bought a lot of gauze bandages & tape so she could keep the burns covered, and told her she needed to change the dressings at least twice a day, and to not get them wet, etc.

The image above is from the next day when the swelling had gone down, and the burns were clean & dry - Rosa did a great job in following my instructions for burn care, and her hands were really painful for the next few days but thankfully there was no infection.

My good friend & fellow photographer Kevin Weir had given me some funds to use for Rosa's needs when I got to Manila; I'm just thankful I was able to arrive from Cebu ahead of schedule with extra time to spend with her Family, and I'm deeply grateful to Kevin for paying for her clinic treatment as well as for the Family's food that week.

Update: June 2, 2007

I've done this for Rosa & Edison before after arriving in Manila in the past - below are images from November 2005 when I arrived to find them both with severe eye infections, like a pink-eye infection.

I shot a few frames of the kids as soon as I'd arrived & immediately noticed Rosa's eyes were nearly swollen shut, and this disturbed me - Tito Willie came right over & said they'd both caught some sort of eye infection possibly from the dirt & pollution of where they lived although he wasn't sure.

I knew they had no money for a doctor's visit but it was clear they had to be treated right then & there, so I got them to a doctor who did prescribe an antibiotic eye ointment to be administered 3x daily, and both infections did eventually clear up, but it took an entire week of medication as I remember.

November 11, 2005: Manila Philippines

Thank you for reading today,
PJAMES