In The Philippines, everyone celebrates Holy Week to a whole new level. While the rest of the world decided to party it up in Boracay and Palawan, My friends and I had a blast in my hometown, Cebu.

We started our crazy week by going to Talima Beach in Olango Island on Wednesday. 

We also got the best massage. It was so good, I passed out right after.

Right after our afternoon in Talima, we took a boat back to Cebu and drank at Tiki Bar, Bigfoot. Sadly, no photos from that.

Holy Thursday was spent in Crimson Resort with our favorite, Bea Osmena.

We had the best pizza, with the worst service. Good times. Thank you for the invite, Bea!

Good Friday was spent in Ben’s house, which has an indoor pool, an amazing view of Cebu City and a very stubborn cat.

It’s a good thing Ben lives right next to TOPS. He’s so VIP, he got us all in for free!

Budoy from Jr. Kilat now runs a little bar up there called Budoy on Top.

Being the huge Harry Potter fan she is, Carla couldn’t resist taking Dumbledore’s shot. Budoy put it up in flames, chanting “Such the Dumbledore!”

After Tops, Kiss cooked us all a mean dinner, and like true slobs, Natalie and I passed out right after killing it.

And that pretty much was the end of good friday.

We had Black Saturday lunch in CNT Lechon, and boy was it good.

Then we headed to my second home, Casino Espanol de Cebu. A country club I’ve been going to ever since I was a baby.

Then Dinner at Cafe George.

Drinks at Jokers, where we played some pool and watched a Liverpool game.

The night before I left for Manila, my friends and I took over Goomba.

And you know what the best part about this whole week? I hardly spent any cash. You have got to love island living.

Good times, Cebu. I’ll be back soon. 

Two sundays ago, my friend Vito Selma, invited me to a trip to Camotes. Before finding out any of the details, I had already said yes.

This is why: One, Vito invited me and I can never say no to that; Two, I was in desperate need of a tan and a vacation; Three, I’ve never been to Camotes and I was up for the adventure.

To get to Camotes, you have to make your way to the Danao pier, which is roughly an hour away from Cebu City. 

After a two hour boat ride, we finally made it to Camotes.

And it was beautiful! The photo above shows the view from my room.

Our hotel had an infinity pool that we killed lots and lots of time in.

Camotes island had incredibly beautiful white sand beaches, which we obviously took advantage of. It was Boracay minus the people.

Camotes also holds the biggest lake in Visayas and Mindanao, which is around 700 hectares, and is shaped like a guitar. Lake Danao, so breathtaking.

We also got to visit Timubo Cave, which was practically in the middle of nowhere.

It was damp and dark, and I felt like I needed a helmet to avoid getting my head cracked open. So I never made it to the bottom, which supposedly had a pool with crystal clear water.

So I talked to this silly billy instead.

We went all over Camotes in this sweet ass ride.

We stayed in Camotes for 3 days and 2 nights, and I spent the grand total of PHP1500, which is around $30. Insane right? It really is more fun in The Philippines.

And just when I thought the trip was over, we see lots of dolphins swimming around our boat ride back to Cebu. I could not think of a better ending to the trip.

Thank you, Camotes. I needed all of that.

The other day, I uploaded an album on my facebook like page of photos of me at work. Going through them brought me a lot of memories and made me realize that I am happiest when I take photographs.

Everyone asks me what got me into it in the first place, and I always say I was the type of kid that liked to remember everything. So I took pictures. They weren’t fantastic ones, but they did the trick.

When I got to college in Manila, I met Tara Almario, who is one of the founders of Lomo Manila. She basically opened my eyes to a different way of documenting my life.

Here’s a photo she took of me with an Action Sampler!

Lomography was fun, but it didn’t stick around with me very long.

I eventually started hanging out with Vito Selma, who always took such beautiful photos of all our friends. Everybody loved him and I would watch him work and get inspired. He had an amazing eye. I remember thinking I wanted to be just like him.

So back in 2007, I bought my first DSLR.

It was my boyfriend and I was in love. We’ve been inseparable ever since. (Photo by Jose Perfecto)

(Behing the Scenes “Gator Rocks”, Photo by Miki Giles)

It took me awhile to figure out exactly the kind of photography I wanted to specialize in, so I thought the best way to discover that was to take it up in school. 

And I got to do all sorts of photography— 

(Shoot for FUSHU shoes, Instagram photo by Beatriz Borja)

From product to architectural. I’ve probably done itall thanks to the wonderful program they have at the College of St. Benilde.

I even got into making short films, thanks to Miss Connie Macatuno. (Behind the scenes “Sex Today”, Photo by Miki Giles) [VIEW VIDEO HERE]

AND I climbed Mount Pulag, and trust me, it was not easy. (Photo by Miguel Beltran) [VIEW BLOGPOST HERE]

(Dennis Araneta posing next to my work, Photo by Alecks Mutuc)

Studying Photography was the best decision I ever made. It was such a crazy move to my parents, especially because this was my third course already. The first two were Advertising, and then Multimedia Arts, and I wasn’t doing as well as I hoped.

(Behind the scenes “814AM”, Photos by Miki Giles) [VIEW VIDEO HERE]

But I have absolutely no regrets going through all that trouble because I finally found something I was good at and loved doing. I took my camera almost everywhere I went.

In events, sometimes I’d shoot in the most uncomfortable outfits. Like heels. (Photo by Miki Giles)

I even shot in costume! (Photo by Fabgelous)

Around February last year, I shot my first prenup for Tara and Alex and got excellent feedback on my work. That’s when I realized I had a real knack for shooting people over everything else. (Photo by Cholo Hermosa) [VIEW FULL SET ON FACEBOOK HERE]

It wasn’t until I took up a fashion photography class, when I figured out it was exactly what I was best at. And really, I have Mr. Erickson Jao to thank for that. Thank you for all the ridiculous projects that pushed me over the edge. They were life-changing.

(Shooting Miki Giles for “Almost Famous”, Photo by Valerie Tilos) [VIEW FULL SET ON FACEBOOK]

(Shooting a major mafia shoot in B-side “MOB SQUAD”, Film photos by Jack Flaminiano) [VIEW FULL SET ON FACEBOOK HERE]

(Shooting Jeanelle Bantigue [VIEW PHOTOS HERE] and ETC’s Kim Jones as Katy Perry [VIEW PHOTOS HERE]. Photos taken by Josh Bantigue) 

Because I was broke most of the time, I had to find ways to create all my school projects at low cost. I shot all my friends, basically using all their good looks to my advantage… and because I knew they’d do it for free.

During this period, I also built the most incredible team which carried extremely talented people— like Joey Alvero, my light director; Mark Familiara, genius hair stylist; and my default makeup artists, Chiara Daez and Andy Tonda.

(Photo taken by Valerie Tilos)

but it was really the tandem of me and my friend, Carla Villanueva, who is an amaaaaazing stylist, that really brought my photography to a whole new level. I worked with her better than anybody.

When class was finally out of the way, Carla and I did more creative shoots together. For more than a year, we helped build each others portfolios and the outcome was brilliant. Not necessarily perfect all the time, but we were definitely growing from one shoot to the other. 

(Behind the scenes from my second published editorial “WOLFMOTHER”, Photos by Natalie Payne) [VIEW FULL EDITORIAL HERE]

I finished all my studies back in December, which means I am done with school, happy and fulfilled. Ever since I finished, I’ve been getting calls and e-mails here and there asking me how much my rates are, and although I went to school for this, I never really know how to answer that question.

Truth is, I love taking photos so much, I would do it for free :) But we all know I can’t do that because I’ve got b b b b billz to pay.

I have no idea where my life is headed next, but I can’t wait to find out. 

Whoever you are, wherever you are, whatever you’re doing— I hope you’ve found your happy place too.