The following photographs are divided into two groups: the larger photographs are of an area in the Philippines known as Barangay Guadalupe Viejo and are contrasted with smaller photographs, taken in and around Makati City. The Guadalupe photographs were taken within a one block area on the streets Bernardo, Carballo, Progresso, and Coronado during several visits to the area. Because these photographs were taken with a small pocket camera in many cases, the quality of the photographs are not perfect, but the subject matter more than compensates.
The barangay or village of Guadalupe is sandwiched between the more affluent areas of Makati, Rockwell, and the newest developed area of Fort Bonifacio. As the development of high-rise condos encroach, it's just a matter of time before Guadalupe is also developed, and what one sees in these photos will be gone forever.
I enjoyed photographing the area because of the friendliness of the people, especially the children, and what they do, I assume, to make their difficult lives livable. The small individual shops, grocery stores, men working on their jeepneys, kids playing in the streets, stand-up-only restaurants, card games, funeral wakes in the street, and the home of many jeepney owners all make for wonderfully rich photography. The smaller contrasting photographs taken in Makati, however, could be photographs from almost anywhere in the world, and although interesting in their own right, lack the raw quality of the ones from Barangay Guadalupe Viejo.