// field archive

Photography

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Photography is where The Gemini Protocol meets the physical world. Light, place, timing, weather, motion, and chance all leave their mark. Some subjects cooperate. Some stare back. Some fly away before the shutter agrees.

These images begin in reality, captured through a human eye, preserving small moments, quiet places, fleeting expressions, and fragments of the world before they disappear.

In the Protocol, photography bears the weight of dreams.

// Featured capture

From the physical world

A tern hangs mid-flap, one wing swept high above its back and the other extended outward, its head angled down hunting for fish

Fish Hunting

BirdsRiversideBlack & White

Somewhere along the Marikina River, Marikina City · Mar 27, 2025

The tern hangs mid-flap, one wing swept high above its back and the other extended outward, its head angled down, scanning the river's surface for potential breakfast.

Fujifilm X-T4SIGMA 100-400mm F5-6.3 DG DN OS | Contemporary 020400 mmf/6.31/1,400ISO 800

Captured moments

// From the archive

Open any frame for a larger view, field notes, and capture details.

Avant!

Binulasan Beach, Infanta, Quezon · Apr 20, 2025

They sallied forth on their trusty paddleboard steed, brandishing noodle nunchucks, ready for whatever wave crossed their path. Her squire, magnificently blasé.

Just Napping

Binulasan Beach, Infanta, Quezon · Apr 20, 2025

A quiet paddleboard moment close to the beach. Zoomed in from shore for a closer frame. 👀

Here It Comes

Binulasan beach, Infanta, Quezon · Apr 20, 2025

Anticipation can become its own kind of nourishment. Sometimes its own downfall too, when you’ve built too much myth around what’s coming. And when the waves finally arrive, they crash differently for each of us.

Meeting Halfway

Dinahican Fish Port, Infanta, Quezon · Apr 19, 2025

They met halfway and seemed to pause there, one vessel calling across the water, the smaller boats waiting as if for permission to move. “Stay right there, and don’t come any closer,” may have been the warning. Maybe some distances exist for a reason. Get too close and you risk colliding—or perhaps discovering that the distance was the only thing keeping you apart.

Sunset Haze

Dinahican Municipal Fish Port, Infanta, 4336 Quezon · Apr 19, 2025

Moored fishing boats bringing home the day's haul. Most of the catch is sold directly at the fish port market. I was here for it, and the view.

Strider

Somewhere along the Marikina River, Marikina City · Apr 12, 2025

She strode with purpose, she strode with care, she strode and I just watched… till the pain in my butt flared.

Morning Assembly

Marikina River, Malanday, Marikina City · Apr 12, 2025

One scoots over, one falls off and gets back up, one just keeps yapping. Then there’s always one who prefers to keep his distance, but still remain within the circle. It’s not that he hates the company. More like he never knows what to say.

River Hands

Binulasan beach, Infanta, Quezon · Apr 12, 2025

The old man paddled slowly, inspecting the green water crops. Behind him, the day’s harvest rested in the shade, kept fresh from the sun. The hushed river made the whole scene feel almost reverential, like some quiet ritual passing through. One of those nearly killed me once. I got my revenge—with soy sauce and vinegar.

Crossing the Reflection

Marikina River, Marikina City · Apr 12, 2025

Egrets may not be as graceful in flight as the terns sharing the river sanctuary, but they carry an unmistakable regalness as they cross the water — broader wings, slower gestures, and a kind of deliberate authority that makes every pass feel ceremonial.

Before the Dive

Somewhere along the Marikina River, Marikina City · Apr 12, 2025

She’s spotted her target on the river surface and now she’s lining up the approach. Wings set, eyes locked, body dropping into position — one clean dive away from either a meal or a very wet reset.

Skimming

Somewhere along the Marikina River, Marikina City · Apr 12, 2025

A meeting of two souls: one, a tern driving forward over the river at 1/2000s, suspended for a fraction of a second against the blurred grey water below; the other, a guy with a very long lens trying his best to keep up.

Fish Hunting

Somewhere along the Marikina River, Marikina City · Mar 27, 2025

The tern hangs mid-flap, one wing swept high above its back and the other extended outward, its head angled down, scanning the river's surface for potential breakfast.

A Dermatologist's Nightmare

Marikina City · Mar 16, 2025

Ah, the moon... Ah, ...the moon. 😂🌔

Still Watching

Marikina City · Mar 9, 2025

Ichigo in profile, watching something beyond the frame while 400mm of glass turns an ordinary afternoon into a study of fur, whiskers, and one very attentive eye.

A Brief Opening

San Mateo, Rizal, Philippines · Sep 27, 2024

A pale sun holds its shape within a brief opening in the clouds. Warm light spreads across the sky, while a towering bank of gray rises beneath it and darker clouds gather at the edges.

I Swear I Saw a House

Famy–Infanta Road, Laguna–Quezon · Jul 8, 2024

Shot from a bridge along Famy–Infanta Road, looking back toward the lower slopes we’d just descended. The mist and compressed ridges made the trees look like they were hiding a house that wasn’t there.

Between Boats

Dinahican Fish Port, Infanta, Quezon, Philippines · Jul 7, 2024

A small green boat moves through the waters of Dinahican Fish Port, passing a larger fishing vessel where crew members gather among ropes, outriggers, and sacks of supplies. Across the busy harbor, each boat carries its own rhythm of work and waiting.

Between the Lines

Dinahican Fish Port, Infanta, Quezon, Philippines · Jul 7, 2024

At Dinahican Fish Port, fisherfolk rest and gather aboard fishing boats crowded with bamboo outriggers, fuel containers, and a web of blue rigging. Every rope seems to lead somewhere; every boat holds a different moment of the day. Beyond the overlapping hulls and busy waterfront, the hills of Infanta recede into the haze.

A Little Room to Breathe

Abiawin, Infanta, Quezon, Philippines · Jul 6, 2024

A small bird pauses on a weathered stump in Abiawin, Infanta, surrounded by a soft expanse of green. With its head turned and plenty of open space around it, the little visitor seems perfectly content to let the afternoon pass at its own pace.

Little Sentinel

Abiawin, Infanta, Quezon · Jul 6, 2024

Light rain had been falling for a while. The bird stayed on the post, spreading a wing and picking through its feathers as though the drizzle had turned the whole place into a bath.

Lunch Break

Abiawin, Infanta, Quezon · Jul 6, 2024

A Yellow-vented Bulbul pauses on the rail with lunch still firmly in its beak.

Black-and-white panning photograph of a road cyclist leaning low over the handlebars while climbing through the Sierra Madre mountains in Tanay, with the background streaked by motion blur.

Against the Grade

Sierra Madre, Tanay · Jan 4, 2024

On a climb through the Sierra Madre in Tanay, I waited by the roadside for this cyclist to come nearer, timing my pan as he battled his way up the slope. A few riders had already passed before him, and a few more followed behind. Back then, I wasn’t a cyclist yet—I was simply watching through the viewfinder, trying to capture the effort and movement of the climb. A few years later, when I started riding these same Sierra Madre roads myself, I finally understood what I had photographed that day: the burning legs, the heavy breathing, the quiet 頑張って (ganbatte—keep going) inside your head, and a mountain that never seems particularly interested in getting any flatter.

Boy and Sea

Binulasan Beach, Infanta, Quezon · Jul 17, 2022

He surfaced, adjusted his goggles, then disappeared beneath the water again, searching the shallows for whatever the sea had left behind.

Lifeline

Binulasan Beah, Infanta, Quezon · Jul 17, 2022

A banca rests just offshore while a mother steadies her child in the shallows. Two kinds of lifeline, sharing the same frame.

Rules of Engagement

Binulasan Beach, Infanta, Quezon · Jul 17, 2022

Two kids locked in simulated warfare, trading compacted beach sand across the foreground, while another group is busy digging a hole, because what’s one more hole on a beach? Everyone else carries on with their own morning at the shore.

Light in the Valley

Marilaque Highway, Sierra Madre, en route to Infanta, Quezon · Jul 16, 2022

Morning light breaks through the haze over a valley in the Sierra Madre, photographed during a stop along the road to Infanta.

The Road to Infanta

Marilaque Highway, Sierra Madre, en route to Infanta, Quezon · Jul 16, 2022

A roadside warning on the steep Sierra Madre descent toward Infanta, Quezon. “Check brakes. Low gear.” Sensible advice for what comes next.

Morning Swim

Binulasan Beach, Infanta, Quezon · Jul 1, 2022

Two boys take a quiet morning swim beside a resting banca, while the sea barely stirs against the shore.

For Sale

Marikina River Park, Marikina City · May 7, 2022

A cyclist came down the road balancing a carton box across the handlebars, “FOR SALE” written on it in Pentel pen. Garage sales are uncommon in this part of the world, but every now and then you get a seasonal riverside sale. I never found out what he was selling.

A balloon vendor at a crowded riverside fair looks back toward the camera while holding a long pole attached to a cluster of colorful character balloons overhead, with the setting sun glowing behind him.

Balloon Vendor at Sunset Fair

Somewhere along the Marikina River, Marikina City · Apr 23, 2022

The balloon vendor pauses mid-step and glances back, one hand raised to steady a bright cluster of balloons above him as the evening crowd gathers along the river and the sun slips toward the horizon.

A balloon vendor holds a large cluster of brightly colored cartoon-character balloons above a group of pedestrians. The balloons fill most of the frame against a pale blue evening sky.

A Sky for Sale

Marikina River Park, Marikina City · Apr 22, 2022

A small crowd moves along the street beneath an even bigger crowd of cartoon characters floating overhead. For a moment, the balloon vendor has the most colorful piece of the sky.

A dramatic sunset glows behind silhouetted trees, cranes, and high-rise buildings, while dark clouds stretch across the evening sky.

Last Light Over Concrete

Riverbanks Center, Marikina City · Aug 22, 2020

The sun slips behind a skyline of cranes and unfinished towers, turning an ordinary evening into something that feels almost post-apocalyptic.

A Little Yellow

Marikina River Park, Marikina City · Aug 15, 2020

August rain cast a gloomy veil of “I-shouldn’t-be-out-here” all over the place, but the yellow Sunny pickup kept calling me. So I came.

Where the Meadow Ends

Caliraya, Laguna · Aug 2, 2020

The grassy edge of Caliraya gives way to the reservoir and its old intake structure — a meeting point between landscape and infrastructure.

Motorcyclists ride along a curving mountain road beneath a bright green hillside in Tanay, with dense trees, blue sky, and large white clouds filling the landscape.

Noise Beneath the Hill

Sierra Madre, Tanay · Jul 26, 2020

A group of motorcyclists cuts through the quiet green slopes of the Sierra Madre in Tanay, their engines carrying across the road below. The hill towers above them, calm and almost indifferent to all that noise.

A bright green, grassy hillside dotted with small trees and shrubs rises beneath a vivid blue sky filled with large white clouds. A weathered wooden post stands at the right edge of the photograph.

Where the Green Meets the Sky

Sitío Inalsan, Barangay Pinugay, Baras, Rizal, Philippines · Jul 26, 2020

Sunlight washes over a hillside of brilliant green as towering clouds drift across the blue sky. A quiet landscape from a morning spent photographing the countryside.

A cyclist wearing a black helmet and blue jersey rides an orange road bicycle along a sunlit road. The cyclist remains relatively sharp while the green trees behind him streak horizontally from the photographer’s panning motion.

Keeping Pace

Sitío Inalsan, Barangay Pinugay, Baras, Rizal, Philippines · Jul 26, 2020

Shot at 1/80 of a second while panning with the cyclist, keeping the rider in focus as the passing trees dissolve into streaks of green. An early experiment in capturing motion with the Fujifilm X-T4.

Pares Point

Bayan-Bayanan Ave, Concepcion, Marikina City · Jul 19, 2020

This place always intrigued me. It’s part of a popular chain, but somehow this branch always seemed quiet—warm lights, dark walls, and just enough glow from inside to keep pulling my eye back to it. I’ve photographed it. I’ve admired it. I still haven’t eaten there. 😂

Yellow, Green, & Cat

Bayan-Bayanan Ave area, Concepcion, Marikina City · Jul 19, 2020

Just walking along the avenue, hunting for interesting diners to shoot. Apparently, Ate thought their diner wasn’t colorful enough, so her shirt volunteered as backup. Not sure the cat agreed, though.

1/60 Against the Blur

Tanay, Rizal · Jul 12, 2020

A rider cuts through the Tanay countryside at 1/60s on the shutter, held just long enough against the green blur of the rice fields and mountains.

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VEL first signal · Velintra's Dream

Collaborators

LISE narrative development

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