Philippines 2019

Around Puerto Galera, Mindoro (Muelle port) and Malasimbo Music Festival

I just got back from a three week trip to the Philippines. I grew up in the Philippines and I still have a lot of ties back home. I try to visit every two or so years but it’s been three years since my last visit. As always, I bring a camera with me. This is the first time in a really, really long time that I’ve brought back film cameras. I decided to bring back two film cameras, my Mamiya 7II (with the 65mm lens) and my Olympus Stylus Epic (same camera as the Olympus MJU II).

These photos were taken around the Barangay of Muelle. It’s a few kilometers from White Beach in Puerto Galera. I was in Mindoro to attend the Malasimbo Music Festival but I made sure to make some time to use my cameras out here. I only got the bring out the Mamiya 7II right before I left, I felt I got some decent shots with it, I think I was able to shot a roll and a half of Kodak Portra 400. I did bring my Olympus with me to the music festival and I did take a couple of more photos with it.

Looking back at my experience of shooting in this location and later on in Manila is that I wish I brought a wider lens for my medium format camera. I like traveling light so I decided to just bring my 65mm lens. It’s a great lens but I forget how tight and crammed things are back home. The 65mm in the 6x7 format comes out to roughly a 35mm focal length in the 35mm medium. But next time, I’m probably going to bring my 50mm and 80mm lens.

Anyways here are some of my photos from my trip.

35mm, Olympus MJU II/ Stylus Epic

These photos below were taken with my Mamiya 7II with the 65mm lens. I was using Kodak Portra 400, scanned with my Canon 5D Mark IV and processed in Lightroom with Negative Lab Pro.