TABLE FOR ONE

January 3-4, 2019, APSACE _Gallery (Makati, Philippines)

February 25, 2019, M1-5 Lounge (New York, USA)

The host at the cafe looked as though he didn’t hear me correctly the first time, so I said it more defiantly: Table for one, please.

If I wanted to count my film camera, which never left my hands, I would have asked for a table for two. Maybe even a table for nine if you wanted to count the rolls of film I had with me. However, I decided early on that there would be no room for digital photography at the table. With digital, there’s a tendency to devote more time editing a photo than actually taking a good photograph. With film, it was the exact opposite.

When I first landed in Europe, I was probably more nervous to use a film camera than navigating my way around cities I had never been to before. There was no plan to find the most photogenic scenes in Denmark and Switzerland—I just showed up to places with my Canon AE-1. Although I distance myself from my subjects, I always look for how they interact or complement each other. Having to depend on 35 frames and natural light makes you tend to see things a little bit more differently.

Anyway, the host gestured to me and said, “Pick any seat you like.” So, I chose the table with the best view.

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Click on the photographs to enlarge