An Ode to My Kit Lens

Because I am talkative in person, pen, and (hopefully) in photograph- and since I feel guilty flooding Facebook feed with my essay-like posts, I might as well put this into better use. 

I just turned a year older several days ago and I've decided that this year, given my abnormally high tolerance for awkward and bizarre situations, I'm subjecting myself to some personal as well as social experiments. I guess this blog is one of them.

I'm hearing Macklemore singing Cowboy boots in the background.

"Hold the night for ransom as we kidnap the memories"

Macklemore, I swear, someday we'll have coffee together, talk about thrift shopping, Air Jordans, real love, ceilings (that can't hold us?), and life. But for now, you can sing beside me as I write this.

"Sit around the table and use those years as the centerpiece"

I am now 23, and my camera just turned  1.

My kit lens, my one and only lens for a year, died of fatigue last December. I was devastated. 

Not everybody appreciates the lens that comes with the camera's body. They'd of course, go for the "better" and (unsurprisingly) more expensive ones. But if little old Kit is all you can afford, it's time to withdraw from the Gear Game early on because you're never going to win. 

And winning was never the point anyway. Some of us just want to tell stories.

I'm just really happy taking photos, learning more about the craft as I go (since I don't have the luxury of formal training), exploring the different realities lived by people simultaneously as mine, and recording them. 

I often run short of words and I tend to be forgetful. Taking and creating images have become my way of telling stories- theirs and mine. 

Later on I found out that if your lens can't zoom in as much, you move in closer. If your lens isn't fast enough, take your time in that area to get your photo. If you don't have money to buy new equipment, maximize what you've got. 

Not only do you learn to adjust, you also learn to quit making excuses.

Often people find it weird and/or amusing that a random bubbly girl suddenly pops in their barber shop or in a terminal station and suddenly starts hanging out. Sometimes they tell me "kakaiba trip mo ah!" or they genuinely ask me "Wow Mali ba 'to?" We both start laughing and I just tell them "Oo Kuya/ Ate pasisikatin kita!"

Eventually everyone will move on because, well, that's really just how it is. I enjoy that moment of awkward-to-ease. I just found the perfect excuse para tumambay at maki-chika (to hang out somewhere and talk) :|

There is a certain level of comfort as well as respect in interaction, and it fascinates me so much that one can learn a lot about people by simply being present and suspending judgment. Also, I unlocked a whole new level of kapal ng mukha (boldness- not sure if translation is correct). Haha!

Some say, in order to take "real" photographs, invisibility is the key. Unfortunately (but not really), that's not for me. 

A friend who's an expert in business made me realize that we can actually bank on our supposed "flaws" and turn them to our advantage. Sometimes, these flaws aren't even flaws to begin with. After all, much of our lives are lived inside our head.

What if, instead of pressuring the world to conform and consume, we work with the "flaws", the "weird", the"quirks" and understand them enough to turn them to an advantage. Anyway if this falls short as an advantage, at least we've gained new ways of seeing.

"And acquaintances turn to friends, I hope those friends they remember me
Hold the night for ransom as we kidnap the memories
Not sure there is a way to express what you meant to me
Sit around a table and use those years as the centerpiece"

For the past 23 years of randomness (and getting away with it), the Universe has been really generous in giving me experiences, both good and painful, and I'm thankful for each and every one of them. After all, this is how we learn to relate and form deeper connections with people and our community.

 I'm also deeply thankful for the people in my life. I'd like you to know that you are all wonderful :)

I guess this year I'm graduating to a new lens.

special thanks to Jeremy Agsawa for this last photo :)