There was a time when I was to visit Batanes for something like the 10th time when my wife who has never been there asked ” Is there a place in Batanes that you have not seen? The interview went like this.
” Um.. No”
“Did not photograph?”
“Umm…. No”
“So why do you keep going back there?”
” Ummmm…..To be with Rudy?”
That didn’t come out right. I still don’t know how I made it to the airport in one piece and not find all my things out on the street when I got back but the reason given was just partially true . The other reason aside from Rudy is the place. I fell in love with the place the first time I went. It has become my comfort place. It was love at first visit in 1986. I kept on returning with Rudy de Leon almost every year.
Batanes has become my Yosemite. I found solace, quiet joy, pleasure in just watching the scenery unfolds, people doing their usual, casual everyday chores. Children playing, swimming, jumping off the pier, riding the waves which are plentiful any time of the year. The azure sea, dolphins leaping in unison, craggy hills and mountains. Cloud formations, sudden rains, sudden rainbows, Cattle, goats horses and other livestock roaming freely and seemingly well fed grazing in naturally well manicured pasture lands. Stone houses at least a foot thick, to withstand super typhoons. First floor is for animals during storms, upper floor for everything including storage of onions, garlic, dried Taro leaves, Arayu , Dibang etc. Old churches in quaint, picturesque little towns, fresh pandesal every morning, camote cues of ten different species and walking distance from a scenic view anywhere you are. In short, Batanes is my second home.
But this article is not about Batanes. It is about what to shoot after you have been to a place so many times.
We have all experienced this problem and tried to solve it in many ways. Try to change the time, season or month. Try to change the lens, wide or super zooms. We have all applied these things, but the question is what do you do after all this?
My solution is to keep on staring, concentrating or focusing until something, pardon the pun, clicks. It is like a runner reaching the limit of his strength, to get his second wind, he must keep on running until the endorphins in his brain kicks in and then all pains disappear, He keeps running until he reach another wall. If you stop and rest, that’s it. You have lost your momentum and your desire. So if you see me doing nothing except sitting on my portable tripod chair, I have not stopped or rested, on the contrary I am meditating. Meditating on the scenery before me, falling asleep sometimes, natural aging process. But once in a while I come up with photos I like.
This works for me, but I wonder if I can apply this to other things like my Golf? Or my wife?? And vice versa??? Perhaps we can find new things about each other. Just meditating….
Narcing
This article was originally posted by Narcing dela Merced in the CCP yahoogroups.
Visit his online gallery at ( http://www.cameraclubph.com/narcingdelamerced )