Hit the road, Jack

Tomorrow begins my sojourn back to the Philippines, the first in almost a decade. Half the time, I can hardly believe it.

As much as I hate the term “Developing Nation” (there’s nothing wrong with calling it a Third World Country), the moniker is incredibly apt. Metro Manila has been developing at a near-exponential rate, and in the past nine years, the topography of the cities has changed drastically. It will be a homecoming to an unfamiliar place.

One thing that I’m especially excited for is the fact that this will be my first time back since getting serious with my photography. Even though I had already been shooting for four years when I went back in Christmas of 2000, it was mostly at a hobbyist level. I developed my own shots, but it was always just for my own benefit and never with the thought that I might one day do it for a living.

I’ll be heading back with all my gear, roughly $8,500 worth of gear. And while by professional standards that’s barely a drop in the bucket (hell, that’s hardly a D3x and a good lens), to someone who has yet to make any serious coin off his photography, that’s a king’s ransom.

I bring it with me happily, though, because I cannot wait to go trigger-crazy back in the Philippines. I just hope the 200gb on my hard drive is enough. I brought a second drive, but I was hoping to use that for backups, not overflow storage.

This trip is going to be amazing.