Rough Groove

The historic Oslob church and convent burned yesterday!

I just got news that the 160 year old stone church in the town proper of Oslob including its convent were burned to the ground yesterday! What a great loss and I am very much saddened that this beautiful church suffered this preventable loss. Investigators say that it was caused by a short circuit. Unfortunately, it cannot be returned even if the townspeople planned to erect another one.

Lamentable! This is not the first time that it burned. In the 1950s, the fire was smaller compared to the one yesterday. Now, I’m am more fired up in fastracking my church documentation before we lose another one. By next week, I should visit this site.

Visita Iglesia at simbahan.net

Currently being featured at simbahan.net is a series of posts devoted to churches that are found in Cebu, Bulacan and pre-war Manila in time for the Semana Santa or Holy Week visita iglesia tradition. This practice goes back to the early Roman times when Christians visited 7 major churches in Rome. In the Philippines, it was introduced by the Spanish colonizers.

The series starts with a short introduction of the visita iglesia. It is then followed with 13 colonial era churches founded and built by the Augustinians in the city of Cebu and going down to the southeastern part of the province. Colonial era churches in Bulacan then follows. Paying homage to Intramuros, I have included a pre-war visita iglesia in the walled city with its now long lost major religious order churches.

Series 52: La Naval de Manila

A new series is starting at Binary Silver on the recently concluded La Naval de Manila celebrations that marked the centenary of the canonical coronation of the image of the Nuestra Senora del Rosario – La Naval de Manila. Consisting of 22 photos, it covers the reenactment as well as the procession on 4 and 14 October.

The series is also available as a multimedia slideshow at my portfolio site while an accompanying post in simbahan.net gives a historical background on this much observed tradition.

This is also featured at Pinoycentric.

Series 50: Philippine Church Facades

As part of promoting the new book Philippine Church Facades, I’m starting a new series at my photoblog Binary Silver. Twelve stunning photos of colonial churches used in the said book are featured with two churches per image covering north, central and south Luzon, Metro Manila, Visayas and Mindanao.

Philippine Church Facades book launching

Finally, the much awaited book, Philippine Church Facades has been launched last 30 August at San Agustin Museum in Intramuros, Manila. What a long wait for us photographers (me and Erik Lacson) for this moment to come.

May 2006, we started this project and 15 months later, we have seen the product of our efforts. I have enjoyed doing this book as it brought me to many places and colonial churches that I’ve always wanted to visit.

This is what I call a dream project as my love for travel and religious colonial architecture has converged with my passion for photography. While the book is not perfect in all aspects, this is something that I am happy about considering that my first foray in professional photography resulted in this valuable tome on Philippine religious colonial heritage.

Photo right, Father Pedro Galende, OSA, director of San Agustin Museum and author of the book signs a patron’s copy.

Photo top, cover of the book with a stylized photo of the beautiful church facade of Pakil, Laguna.

More on the book can be found at Simbahan.