The Junkyard Shoot

I was driving through Iligan City on my way home to Zamboanga when a good friend, "Al Bugs" called me and invited me to shoot with him. He is known to have instant model contacts so there was no hesitation in me when he made the offer. It was almost four in the afternoon when we met the models and drove off to a junkyard that was just a stone's throw away from the City's east-bound bus terminal.

The yard was full of junk. Old and new cars, some with government plates on them were slowly eaten up by ferrous oxide. I was wondering where all this junk came from and what they were doing in this place. A few strides along the strip gave me the answers. The City's traffic division had its office there and all the vehicles that were rendered useless in an accident were brought there. Cars, jeepneys, trucks and even a '08 Ford Escape that had a good head-on banging were rotting there.

That place was just a perfect location for a shoot. Just next to the traffic division was an army camp. Battle-tested soldiers cheered on as the models started posing. One came near and tried to ask for one of the models' mobile numbers. It took less than a blink of an eye to make Al strike a deal- mobile number for some poses with his service firearm. That was the easiest way to disarm the soldier! I guess the "Abu's" should change their tactics then. LOL! Too bad for soldier boy, Ms. model gave him a random mobile number!

Ever wanted to distract traffic? here's what you should do:


It was fun to shoot but without strobes, the sun was dictating the duration of our session. We ended up in Chowking (thanks for the food, Al) and realized we did not have a "group hug" just before we parted ways.

A Minor Room Shoot

I had worked in the Operating Room and Delivery Room for two years. It is a work area where one has to think twice about sterility before touching anything. The sterility of everything inside plays a big role in the success of the surgery performed and negligence can even end a patient's life.

Ever since I got into photography, I have always played with the thought of shooting in an Operating Room because the idea of neglecting the sterility of the area and equipment just for one time always lingered inside my head. Not that I wanted to cause harm to any of the patients, but just the thought that not everyone has the opportunity to do a shoot inside the OR.


Working in a prestigious plastic surgery hospital where patients come from all over the world has even made the idea of shooting more appealing to me. (just to me) I have resolved to do the shoot without the knowledge of supervisors because I knew that I would get a big NO from them. All I needed was the perfect timing and the right models who would cooperate and who knew what not to touch inside the room.

Alas, an opportunity to do my somewhat evil desire has come! One of the minor rooms in the ER was scheduled for general sterilization the next day and that meant that no cases were to be done in that room all night.
If an emergency case came up, it had to be done at the other room. My models? I got a registered nurse and a practical nurse who also loved the evil thought I had. Lucky me!

Plans were laid and at 2 am when the supervisor was up in the 10th floor and my colleagues were in their somnolent, drowsy mood at the counter, with my lookout (one of the models' brother who was on duty) in place, we snicked into the room and had our 30 minutes of shooting.

At 5 am, a team came in and started the sterilization process, leaving no trace of bacteria we brought inside.