Rough Groove

simbahan.net

I’ve always been fascinated with the colonial period and heritage churches of the country and even before doing the Facades book project for San Agustin Museum, which, by the way, will be launched this 30 August during the International Book Fair, I have already traveled and started documentation work on the existing old churches. Alarmed by the current condition, seeming neglect and lack of sense of history by most people wherein such structures are being demolished, renovated to the point of losing its charm and identity, and thus our heritage, I’ve been planning of making a site dedicated on Philippine heritage churches and other related structures like colonial era cemeteries, forts, watchtowers and convents.

Simbahan is this site wherein I will be featuring these structures in order for people to know the rich built patrimony that we have but sadly, slowly losing. There is a need to know what we have and what we have lost so that we will know what will be preserved and/or restored. Such lofty ambitions but I think with this attempt, I can make a difference. As of now, it’s more of a blog but I will add more information into it and come up with a content managment system (CMS)-type of site using Wordpress. Like salagubang.net, for the meantime, posts are once a week.

Palitada Seminar Workshop

Palitada Worskhop Seminar
San Agustin Museum
17 – 18 May 07

Seminar workshop on the significance of the Church Palitada

The paleta is, in Spanish, a wooden instrument, of triangular form and with a handle, used by the masons to apply the mortar and hold together the stones or bricks of a wall. In the Philippines it was transformed into palitada, referring not to the instrument used bt to the action done with it, the application of a trowel full of plaster to the walls. Thus the revocado of lime in Spanish became the palitada in Filipino, known in Mexico as the skin of architecture. Our seminar is addressed to all of you, custodians of historical and ecclesiastical buildings, architects, masons and people concerned with the restoration techniques.

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In Pampanga and Bataan

0215H and my slumber was interrupted as the now familiar alarm tone of my W850i broke the silence of the night. Well, other than the whir of the electric fan, that is. Just less than three hours sleep and I have to get up, take a shower and leave for Pampanga and Bataan to take photos of the facades of three churches: San Fernando and Angeles in Pampanga as well as a reshoot of Orani, Bataan. These are busy places, cities (those in Pampanga) wherein even before the break of dawn, the streets are already coming to life with jeepneys already abuzz to take passengers to their destinations. Places wherein if I have to wait for that specific time of the morning when the sun is at a beautiful position to cast its warm light at an angle, I won’t be able to provide a full frontal and solitary facade with nary a soul or a machine in front, unless I do post production work via Photoshop. While I can confidently say that I am very much capable doing this, there are limitations with doing this kind of work.

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Sleepless

A minute short of 1800H and I am still awake 36 hours straight without sleep. If not for the said deadline of the church pics that I was to submit today for the book project, I would’ve had my slumber last night. Instead, I was awake the whole time since 0600H yesterday when my phone clock alarm went off, trying to cover as much church facade and details as I can. As of last count, I have covered 94 churches nationwide and have already finished 80 of that. More…By finish, I mean having postprocessed a church facade with the corresponding details that ranges in number between 3 to 11! That’s 89% completion and as of now, I already have around 588 PSDs (that’s photoshop documents and just 1/4 of that I have done in previous weeks). More »

La Union, 5 - Balaoan

..continued from La Union, 4 - Luna

Just along the highway in the seeming busy town of Balaoan, is another imposing and beautiful church that is quite unlike the rest of the churches that I’ve visited in this trip or even in the rest of La Union that I’ve passed by, saw in books or visited:

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