Text by: Kimmy Baraoidan Photos by: Chris Quintana and Kimmy Baraoidan “Si Tatay Dagsa daw nasa UPLB. Nakatambay daw s’ya sa UP gate (Tatay Dagsa says he’s in UPLB. He’s staying at the UP gate),” said my friend Chris in a text message. As luck would have it, I was just around the area, on…
Text and Photos by: Chris Quintana A throng of what could be the country's best skaters has gathered on a Saturday afternoon, August 29, 2015, at Backyard Skatepark in Sta. Rosa, Laguna. Elder skaters perched on the adjacent bar drown the humidity with cold beer as they cheer and jeer the young ones arriving and…
Text by: Kimmy Baraoidan Photos by: Chris Quintana and Kimmy Baraoidan Longevity and endurance are hard to come by these days with fast-changing times, disposable things, and instant everything. Embercore built itself from the ground up. Since 2007, the group has been putting piece by piece together with buckets of sweat, long hours of practice,…
Photos by: Sonny Yabao Text by: Kimmy Baraoidan Is this real or just a dream? I thought when I saw these images of Sonny Yabao that he took during this year’s Lent. His photos always have a dreamlike quality to them. And most of the time these dreamlike images border on nightmares, which would haunt…
Text and photos by: Chris Quintana "Yeah, take me to the old church," I told the tricycle driver on the way to the fishing village of San Antonio in Bay, Laguna. I'm pretty sure I'm not going to see tourists there, I thought to myself, the village being a quiet fishing community, though it is…
Text by: Kimmy Baraoidan Photos by: Chris Quintana and Kimmy Baraoidan Every Good Friday, most places become ghost towns, but Pakil, a sleepy town on an ordinary day, comes to life. The town plaza is teeming with tourists from all over and with vendors selling almost everything from religious charms to animal-print leggings. Walking around…
Text by: Kimmy Baraoidan Photos by: Chris Quintana and Kimmy Baraoidan Fascinated. That’s the first word that comes to mind when I think about my first Elbikon experience. I love to read, but I devour mostly novels and nonfiction books. My only exposure to local comics would be the ones that I see on newspapers,…
Text by: Kimmy Baraoidan Photos by: Chris Quintana and Kimmy Baraoidan An LED sign screams the word “Tattoo” from a window on the second floor of a small building next to a church. The building’s ground floor houses a small eatery full of employees from the mall across during lunchtime. The smell of freshly baked bread and…
Text by: Kimmy Baraoidan Photos by: Chris Quintana Summer is coming to a close, yet the heat is still unforgiving in the small town of Los Baños, Laguna. The trees are at a standstill, so still that not even a light breeze is blowing. The sticky, heavy air makes moving such a chore. Then, out…