Ever since the pandemic/lockdown started, I dedicated a good portion of my time going through all my archives. Instead of focusing on creating new projects, I used the time to study my work, and even find pieces that I didn’t think carried any value back when I took them. A lot of rejects just needed to be edited with better tools, or were simply rejects just because it was not conservative enough to my standards back then or the curation of photographs of that year.

In the process of looking through my archives, I’ve also found a good number of shoots that I completely forgot doing. As an example, this editorial for Esquire Philippines we did back in 2016.

The concept of this fashion editorial revolved around an Esquire Man and his marionette son. The objective was to photograph the duo with a day-in-the-life-of theme, applying the daily tasks a father would do to take care of his son. Considering that this was a fashion editorial, choosing a marionette doll instead of a young boy was the simple move that separated it from being a lifestyle type of shoot. It was just the right addition of weird in other words.

For this layout, we find our father figure doing the homework of his sleeping son. To give a sense of evening in an enclosed space, I wanted to light up the fixture above the dining table. Initially, we tried to mount my speedlite inside the fixture itself, but because of its translucent design, the black speedlite was visible. So we placed the speedlite on the table, facing up at the fixture. The fixture would serve as a bounce, where it would receive the light and because of it’s color, would bounce back to spread on the table. The translucent design also allowed the light to go through and add light to the room. To hide the speedlite, we placed it behind a stack of books and a skull. A secondary light with a softbox was placed to the left of the photo, pointing at a while wall to flood the room with light. Considering that the shoot had to look like a home, going overly dramatic with lighting would counter the theme.

This other layout was themed around a weekend at home, having breakfast while watching TV. My main light was set with a softbox, on the right side of the photo. A white bounce board was resting diagonally right outside the frame by the kitchen counter, to bounce off light from the main source and lessen the shadows on our male subject. My speedlite was placed above the refrigerator, aiming at the ceiling to flood the space and lessen the drama.

One of many reasons the print era of publications in the Philippines was so good was that magazines had to conceptualize shoots/content that would both be visually aesthetic while subtly selling a product, while almost always working with a tight budget. This mindset brought in only the essential people—passionate creatives with a DIY mindset all in to create some good shit. Partnerships with locations were built, collaborations with different people were invested in; all under the reputation and trust of a credible magazine. But despite all that, there was always a shortage in budget to pull off strong concepts. And so, the shoot concept bid was always given to the one that provided the best narrative, the best use of resources, the most detailed breakdown of the talents involved, the best representation of the magazine, and the one that stood out the most.

Photography by Artu Nepomuceno
Direction by Paul Villariba
Styled by Clifford Olanday
Produced by Miguel Escobar