Happy Halloween!

This year's Halloween was very different for me.. Didn't go to the province cause I was on duty. So dead tired from walking and going around by myself, but who am I kidding? I love taking photos :)

A few snapshots from my weeks..

October has been a month of growing and learning for me.. I did a little story on the UN's World Food Day, and the theme this year is Food Prices: From Crisis To Stability (my photo of feet got featured in EPA's Editor's Choice Newsletter with the caption 'World Foot Day.' Haha!) To be honest, that day was kind of difficult and I didn't know what to shoot. That's the difficult part about trying to be a photojournalist and having to submit something everyday--you have to be creative and you have to listen closely as to what's happening with the world. When I'm on duty, I usually don't know where I'll be going. It's usually a surprise. And though that sounds pretty fun, it's also quite stressful if you don't know what to cover. There's always this fear of not having anything of good quality to submit... But I'm learning!



I also got to witness a very painful exodus of a community of shanty homes.. They tried to put up a fight, but most of them were resigned to packing their belongings and leaving. I find myself crying a lot while I shoot when I see things like this, and the most I can do is to ask you to join me in saying prayers for them, as they fight to keep their homes. It is truly difficult to keep composure while shooting things like this, but I do hope that being able to share their stories helps in some way.

(The last photo appears in Yonhap News, Korea)


I also went up North to this community by a river--they were just starting to rebuild their homes, but most were still in ruins. This boy just caught this fish with his bare hands, I saw him do it!


A lot of the time, I witness things that are heavy, but I also find that in all these dark stories, I find small moments of peace and kindness.. Like that photo before this paragraph (the silhouette). That's Minerva--she volunteered to be my guide as I wandered alone in a community of informal settlers by the river. I had to document what happened to their homes, and in that picture, she was showing me what was left of her home. All that trash washed up by the shore, and the waters totally destroyed the houses, but I felt no bitterness from her, and she was still ever ready to help a stranger.



On a lighter note, I just want to share one last photo of panties hanging at a school that was turned into an evacuation center. A brand new way to use blackboards, I suppose! I took this picture cause I just thought it was silly, and it ended up in the front page of the EPA Site, and in photos of the day of the New York Times Site!

Also, sorry for not being able to update this! To be honest, I got a tad bit frightened of the sudden traffic my blog received. Haha! Also I got into a weird post-grad phase of just wanting to stay home cause I was so down from not knowing what I'm doing with my life. Seriously, nobody tells you how difficult transitions are! I think I just need to get out of the city, and hopefully I will, soon!

Hope everyone's having a great week. :)