Fish Harvest, Macatbong, Summer of 1977

This photograph, taken with a Kodak 135mm box-type instamatic camera, has rich painting-like tones, making it one of my old favorites. Even the posing gives that 'moment- snatched' effect.

Saccharine Nordic Beauty

Donna S, Finnish-Norwegian friend who encouraged me greatly to continue with the ardous task of unrelenting study and adjustment in first year medical school when she was studying to become a nurse. There were no cellphones then and the texting phenomenon was still a long way off...Letters handwritten in ink and handcrafted gifts were regularly exchanged, low-tech but exuding a sweetly familiar scent, human warmth and tenderness unlike the cold and impersonal liquid crystal 
display...

Hagonoy Bash, 1959

Daisy, Marichu, Fe, myself, mother, Hermie and Butch

Our Time Will Come ! Remembering Tatay...

Gutsy and full of spunk, this fighting pair is ready to claw its way to the top of the heap in life's arena where relations are conveniently forgotten... It is sad but it is real - Darwin was right all the time (survival of the fittest), Steinbeck too when he said that a man can be great and kind but he must get there first ! Grrrrr...

On this sad day we remember with fondness our dear Tatay ( who always said blood is thicker than water) who will surely be proud of us when we finally win our biggest battle !

La Mer

Pacific Ocean, Dingalan, Aurora Province. Joshua and Max and a playmate reenact man's adventurous inclinations.

Nadine and our 40-year old indian mango tree

Time flies so fast. It really seems just like yesterday when as kids we used to frolic in these very familiar surroundings. Every tree was known to us and the time of fruit-bearing was greatly anticipated. Mangoes, guavas, camachile, duhat, and tamarind were regular fare. We knew like the palms of our hands every nook and cranny, even where the birds wove their nests and regaled us with their birdsongs and multi-colored eggs, which we poached once in awhile. We were one with nature, albeit with the characteristic "amoy-araw" after a day's rambling through thickets and rocks, cogonal patches and rivulets, where the trickling of clear water was a familiar and soothing sound. We collected flowers and leaves, seeds, fruits, mushrooms and marveled at nature's rich diversity. Spiders, snails, cocoons, butterflies, colorful birds, fish, damselflies and dragonflies, crickets and beetles were a regular treat. Occasional encounters with wasps and ants and the inevitable wheals they made were considered a normal part of such pulses of activity. At night when we moved about in gasera-lit rooms, a peek through the windows would reveal steady lights from distant houses and flickering stars and fireflies. Under one mosquito net we dreamt after recounting the day's misadventures amidst the incessant croaking of frogs and soporific hum of cicadas...

Grandfather's College Days

Gregorio Espinoza (back row, fifth from left) and classmates at the University of Manila College of Law. Note the posing characteristic of a bygone era. An air of seriousness, direction, and purpose. Isn't it true that those who sneer at these now rare traits actually do not possess these characteristics and are merely sourgraping and rationalizing their mediocrity?

Mother

It's really sad to see an old ancestral home give way to the inroads of modernization, something which many people mistake for progress. In this magical kingdom I had secret hiding places where everything seemed big and I was small, dwarfed by the walls, cabinets, chairs and tables from which emanated a distinctive woodsy scent complimented by the sweet smell of camia and ilang-ilang flowers picked by trusty and reliable Nana Bina, our man Friday who stayed with us until her death. When I came back to visit before it was remodeled, the walls, cabinets, chairs and tables did not appear big any longer and I kept on wondering how in the world could they have appeared so huge compared to myself?