DIARY
When Hackett’s Paw Lands On My Knee
Hackett is my mother’s cat. He is 11 years old. When he was 5, he felt incredibly unhappy inside the house, looking out the windows, meowing until he was brought outside. He loved the outside cat life. He became part of a gang of cats, had a few babies until he was neutered at 6…
Green Grace
For my sister’s birthday we met her in an island 5 hours from the city she lives in today. We walked in the forest near the opening of a road and found greens covering the side of the road, it was always summer in the island but underneath the trees, were the greenest greens that…
I think I’ve been Waiting
Today, I felt incredibly lethargic before I took lunch. Perhaps I was hungry, it is 3pm and I had a late breakfast. I found out a month ago that I was not producing enough cortisol. Apparently, cortisol is not just a stress hormone (contrary to what I thought), it also helps you get moving, get…
River Walks
A conversation with a friend from 05 January 2024. “…It was really beautiful. I mostly did post production work. But it has been inspiring. In the work, but also in the everyday life. The mother of the director I am working with remembered that I loved persimmons. So she stocked up a box for me.…
A Cup of Home
I spent the last two months of 2019 until January 2020 in Bogota with Anna in the house she grew up in. At that time, I was in the middle of editing “Last Days at Sea”. The edit felt like a never ending mystery, something that I could see in my mind but could not…
The Heaviest Snow Since 1981
I rushed out of bed to open the window as soon as I read Yoonsoo’s message: “Omg there’s snow.” Never mind that I was in a T-shirt fit for filming in Manila’s summer heat. I did not wantTo miss a secondOf this beautiful snowKnowing that it would evaporate before we knew it We kept the…
Forgetting
This morning, I forgot the password to my laptop. Just yesterday, all I had to do was graze my hand on the keyboard and my fingers would move by themselves. But this morning, I touched the keyboard and my fingers have forgotten where to go. After the 10th character, they searched aimlessly at the top…
Distance Between Two Bodies
I realise I haven’t written anything here lately. My notebook is full of daily notes though. Over time my relationship to this space has changed. But some things I want to re-start again. Just like writing, freely. Finding a home in a new city is tough. But I never had that trouble before. I loved…
Dream – Life
Dream – Life I wish I had known sooner That I was already livingthe lifeI thought I could only dream of Thatthe futureI had been waiting to arrivehad always beenhere.
The People We Were
Last night, I had a dream.We were living in Lisbon in a sunny apartment. It was the end of the day and we were about to go for dinner at a park.Lately I’ve been thinking about the time I spent in Lisbon. I would ride my bike everyday to work. The bike lanes were new…
Mga Kaibigan (Friends)
I take a lot of photographs but it often takes me months before I see them again after the moment of taking. I mostly photograph people around me. I used to think that I would have a life as a photographer but right now, that’s not the life I have. Today I found these photographs…
A Tiny Box
In March 2017, Marta, a former teacher of mine arrived in Lisbon. She had been to Colombia and told me that my friend Anna sent a package for me. When I had met Marta, she handed me a tiny woven box, that fit in my palm. In it was a note and a pair of…
About today
“For the tender flower — I think of you. So far away. Where ever you are.” Many months ago, the biggest fear I had, were no match for the realities of today. These days, in the time of difficulty, in the face of a New Corona Virus, taking away those we love, and putting…
Being Here
Sometimes, I catch myself wondering how I got here. So many plans I had made, that lead me somewhere else. It’s as if I built my plans as destinations when they were really steps toward where I was supposed to end up. I learned the past years that people can be generous — enough to…
Swimming in the Sea
When she was pregnant with my sister, she travelled on a boat with our father to go to an island a couple of hours away. In the middle, they met a storm and the engine broke down. They were lost at sea for 4 days. After that she stayed clear of the ocean. She stopped…
A Curve in the Sky
I left Lisbon almost suddenly. My lease was up in a week, and my internship at Terratreme had just finished. Winter was leaving. I knew it because I began to sweat profusely during my bike rides to work – that never happens in the winter. In winter, I’d bike in the biting cold morning. Eventually…
The Last Years
If I never again encounter a period of life such as this one, I will carry the last two and a half years with me the way trees carry their years — surrounding their strongest part, allowing the ones that follow to supersede it, but always always, carrying it there, somewhere, below, hidden in plain sight,…
A Portrait of Anna
A series of portraits that I’ve taken over the years, of the people who are part of me.
Budapest is Waiting
In January we moved to Budapest. It was winter and the first morning we spent in the city was one of the few days of snow. Winter was an exciting concept because I’ve never really experienced it but it was also very alien. It felt like the city was alien to me or, that I…
The Train to Szentendre
We moved to Hungary last month. We had to get used to the place so we decided to get out of Budapest for a day. Ida and I were searching for a subject for our first film exercise. So we took a train to Szentendre. Next to us were two men engaged in a conversation and a…
Why We Photograph
July 2016 I went to Paris with my friend, Whammy in the summer. After breakfast, as we paid the bill, I noticed a man reading, with his full concentration on a book. I went up to him and said “Hello sir, do you speak english?” — “Yes.” — “May I take your photograph?”, I asked. “What for?” he asked…
Halloween In Brussels
It has become sort of a tradition, that we do a little Halloween get together. I can’t really say it’s tradition, because at this point, it had only been the second time we’ve done it. But we’ve been around each other for so long. Doing all sorts of things together (unafraid dancing included) that I…
Bus Ride Home
When we moved in to our new flat that’s a few meters short of being in the city, the first thing that I worried about was going home. There was one bus that took us straight to school. It wasn’t the shortest bus ride but over the past months, I enjoyed taking it. It was…
Paris was good
I took very few photographs of Paris. I had V with me, an analog camera Krish bought at a cash converters shop fifty steps away from his house in Arroios. When he told me about V, I thought it was excessive. But 8 months into the future, V is my only companion on my way…
Two Weeks in Viana do Castelo
Last week, I found myself in Viana do Castelo again. I was there in transit, waiting for the next bus that would bring me further up north. It was the place where the fourth edition of DocNomads first had their fieldwork. It was, where we made our first films as a class. That was in the…
Happy New Year
This was what my new life looked like. I first saw it through a tiny window in an airplane. Two years ago, on New Year’s eve, I sent an application for a scholarship to a Documentary Film Directing Program. I had no certainty on anything, but I had decided to just give it all I’ve…
Christmas Night 2015
I wrote this message last Christmas. Look! We’ve come this far. “I seem to want to write to you every chance I get! I must tell you how much I appreciate your patience with these things 🙂 Boa Tarde!”
YUGOSLAVAN
We went on a road trip last Easter, my friends and I. It was a long one, and we crossed country borders in a car. Yali and I were particularly ecstatic. If you live in an archipelago, crossing borders while driving is not an idea you entertain a lot, and for Yali, she says she…
Viszontlátásra Giovanni Gallotta
I remember coming home one night. “Fuck it’s so cold. Fuck Fuck My boots are so heavy. Malayo pa ba? This building is so creepy. Is anybody home..” Then I stopped midway to check if there was light on one of the windows. I saw one. “Ah! Boan’s home!” Since then, I formed this habit.…
Budapest is Waiting
In January we moved to Budapest. It was winter and the first morning we spent in the city was one of the few days of snow. Winter was an exciting concept because I’ve never really experienced it but it was also very alien. It felt like the city was alien to me or, that I…
From Far Away
I was surprised at how many people were already there. The train leaves at 07:45H so I arrived at Keleti very early. The ride was about two and a half hours long. I haven’t gone to another country via train, this would be the first time.I used to love trains and thought I’d gotten over…
In a Few Months
“I used to get a lot of sunsets like this back home but this one is special. You see, I’ve never experienced winter in my life. We have a lot of rain and often floods that devastate many of our lives. But winter is another thing. I don’t think anyone is ever ready to face…
Amigos
Ingrid is back in Lisbon. At this moment, they might be having coffee at a kiosk near Gianluca’s house. I’m not there now, of course, so I tried to look for photographs of us from when I was in Lisbon. These photographs were from one of those lucky Sunday afternoons when the ‘Sunday Plan’ actually…
The Train to Szentendre
We moved to Hungary last month. We had to get used to the place so we decided to get out of Budapest for a day. Ida and I were searching for a subject for our first film exercise. So we took a train to Szentendre. Next to us were two men engaged in a conversation and a…
When Bappy became Chaplin
I think it was Sunday when I arrived at Bappy and Anja’s in Intendente. It was a long walk from the metro and it was raining. Somewhere among the labyrinth of houses was a Lidl, that was supposed to be a shortcut, but I ended up opening a door that set the alarm for the…
A Month Ago We Were Strangers
I am back to studying and last month, I met my classmates. We were strangers then. We had a ‘Welcome to Nomad-hood’ party at a bar that used to be a brothel, it isn’t one anymore, but it kept some parts of it. It’s a wonder how a pole can reveal so much about people’s dancing…
INABEL: Modern Design from A Centuries Old Tradition by AVA
We filmed and edited the Kickstarter video for AVA and Tweetie De Leon Gonzales’ Inabel Collection. VIDEOGRAPHY TEAM Camera Operators: Venice Atienza, Judd Figuerres, Gino Jose, Marco Limjap, Caloy Soliongco Editor: Venice Atienza Musical Scorer: Len Calvo Produced By: Venice Atienza, Caloy Soliongco
Chasing Vegetables in Makati: The Corner Tree Cafe
After posting old photographs last night, I got to reconnect with one of my friends from Uni. We decided to have lunch at this vegetarian restaurant in Jupiter Street called “The Corner Tree Cafe”. It’s a little cafe that stands on the curve of a street with a tree right beside it, thus the name. I’ve…
Davao and Making Friends in 2009
I’m on a roll here! I sent rolls to be developed last week thinking that I’d have my photographs from HK by this week. I end up mixing them all up and now I have photographs that I’ve completely forgotten about in my hands! This was from the week I spent in Davao in 2009.…
Goodnight Scooby
I bought 2 yards of orange fabric the day before yesterday. I was thinking of going as Velma for Halloween. Scooby was already in the hospital for 4 days then. I kid and tell my friend “I’m doing this because I don’t know if I still have next halloween.” — I was right, only, I didn’t…
Lost and Found
Last year, I went on a trip to visit my sister. The final episode of Pinoy Hoops aired that week. There was anxiety on the thought of having to start again. There were many things I wanted to do. Photography was one of them. I haven’t been taking photographs for months before that. It felt…
Lessons from Losing
I lost 4 years worth of photographs. I’m still trying to find a way to bring them back to their original state but for now, all I have are fragmented versions. I don’t know why I never got to share these but seeing them now, in this way, seems like I’m looking at them straight…
Tokyo Sunset
From the journal: Watching an old couple at the 45th floor view deck. The sunset is marvellous – but I think I’m seeing something more beautiful than the sunset. Two people, possibly at the edge of their lives – watching in wonder like they’ve never seen a sunset before. Surprising how a tiny moment with…
VENICE DE CASTRO ATIENZA 