postcards and the Philippines

I was searching postcards on google a week ago to find out if there are any other businesses that sell or produce postcards in the Philippines, aside from the ones sold in bookstores which seem sort of unreal to me. I mean I know some or even been to some of the places featured there but I don't get a homey feeling from them. Not unlike how I imagine postcards from overseas are. They sort of bear the essence of the places or scenes featured (but don't take my word for it - I haven't been anywhere overseas). And the white backgrounds and borders and the perfect images seem to me to just focus on the commercial aspect of postcards. So that's what got me searching for one. And in the second page of search results, I find this guy, Bobby Wong Jr and his site Postcards from Manila.

He goes to different places all over the country - not just the usual tourist destinations - and captures scenes and landscapes that I rarely see in photos of our country. I never even imagined I could see scenes like those here. Just goes to show the naivete I still have regarding photography and that you only need to frame the scene right and capitalize on the effect of light and nature AND have to have good timing too to create photos that astound. It's a visual feast.

Salmon skies in Coron

The right timing of fishermen coming to shore and the late hour rendering this vivid blue scene

Even though I've never been to Batanes or the Mountain Province or South Cotabato, I still feel an affinity towards the scenes he has captured. The Filipino identity in his photos surges in my blood and the shots are not just some distant place detached from myself. I don't know if I'm making sense here. I just want to say that his photos feel familiar and even sort of remind me of home (in the country/Motherland sense) even though I have never been to these places.

Mr. Wong also sometimes tells how he was able to capture the scenes he does and even gives out tips that I only ever found out now. His pictures compelled me to read every writeup. I went through all of his posts during the latest hours of Sunday going into the wee hours of Monday. After that, I just wanted to go off to various points of the Philippines and chase my own sunrise and sunsets too. If you are going, take me along with you. Right now, I feel that all these planning beforehand wastes time when I could be living the moment already. Time is so freaking short and we spend a lot of time doing things we would probably forget, so he says. That's the bug brought about by his images biting me.

Just go anywhere. Look up, look down. And be prepared to marvel at the wonders of nature.

Oh yeah, I wanted to have the prints but the contact person hasn't replied yet. I wanted to give them to friends and engage in a bit of postcrossing myself and his pictures would just be wonderful to showcase the beauty of the Philippines.

All photos are by Mr. Bobby Wong Jr. Just head to postcardsfrommanila.com and you can have a copy of his images for free.