Kiss The Sun

Sometimes, all you need is some beautiful light and an hour to do absolutely nothing, with friends who will not judge your photography skills and who will not slap you after instructing them to sit on the ground.

Joy Mercado

Sisters Joy and Yen Mercado

When you're lucid, you're the sweetest thing.

It was an unplanned surf trip, the kind that makes you hop on the bus half-heartedly, thinking of the shitload of work you left in the office, and the big possibility of your mom scolding you for yet another weekend not spent at home.

But friendship is friendship at all costs. One of my closest friends in the surf circle is going to LU and I cannot not go because I haven't seen her in months. Also, I was still hungover on my birthday weekend so to fight the urge to go back was simply pointless.

But life indeed has a way of surprising you. To this day, I still consider this gloomy June weekend as the time I got stoked the most. I was laughing (note: laughing, not smiling) so hard during my rides that I keep on losing my balance and getting wiped out. And under that overcast San Juan sky, with a borrowed Canon telephoto lens, I took my first surf shots and immediately, I fell in love with surf photography.

It was a dull and dreary afternoon and there was no speck of beautiful light when I started shooting Benito. He is, however, a surf photographer's dream. His cross-steps and nose rides more than made up for the lack of sunshine.

This was also the weekend I met Tito Tonet, president of the Manila Surfers Association, "tito ng bayan", MSA wingman, race car driver (during weekends) and one of my most favorite people in the surf circle. He would always scold me for paddling like a girl, but he would also be there to cheer me up whenever (I look like) I'm on the verge of crying in the line-up. Hehe.

Some more snaps of LU locals Jhenard, Ricky and Peryong shredding it out in the beach break.

I'm ending this post looking at blunt magazine's 4th issue on my bedside table. Last year, I was looking at their photos online and I told myself "someday, I'll shoot like these guys." Maybe I will. Maybe I won't. All I know is, the sound of the shutter makes me happy, and I don't mind spending hours to get the perfect shot and I will always be excited to learn new things about this little invention made to capture light, and I'm not stopping any time soon. 

Back to regular programming soon,
Miccah