images from Manila

I made it through Manila ok, but with a blown hotel budget I couldn't do much of anything in Cebu City except look to get out as quickly as possible and get to Santa Fe - it is what it is, as we say....and I'm just trying to make it work.

On my 2nd. day in Manila I noticed my throat was getting sore, and when i got to Cebu City a few days later it was a full blown sore throat with ear ache, and I remember in both cities at the end of the day wiping my forehead with a tissue and looking at all the black soot & dirt, and it's then you remember how toxic & polluted the air is there, and that's what you're breathing into your lungs every day.

In Cebu City my voice was completely gone, and all that was left was a whispery painful rasp, and as soon as I got to Santa Fe I really needed to rest and to not speak, and still I knew I had to get out to Mama Helen's house to see what became of the re-building after last June's Typhoon.

My voice is now back and my energy's coming back, so I've been editing images in Photoshop in Santa Fe and I'm feeling my way back into things here, so all is well.

In Manila I saw Edna and her husband Nelson - still homeless and sleeping/eating on the sidewalk; they have their own spot where no one seems to bother them, and Nelson gave me a huge smile when I saw him, and later that day I brought them both dinner from Ana's Momma's store - pork chops & rice.

I did this image this morning, and asked myself what Nelson could have been thinking about when I shot the image (he wasn't aware I was right there, and I disappeared quickly so as not to bother him)

Manila Philippines: Olympus E-1, Olympus Zuiko 14-54mm f/2.8-3.5 Digital: 1/800s f/6.3 at 14.0mm iso100






























I kept thinking that he doesn't have much to look forward too on the streets.

Thanks for reading today,
PJAMES