Landscape: Zambales (Anawangin)

After being postponed for a couple of weeks because of non-stop rains, the 2nd day of our landscape class under Richard Larrios, finally pushed through. We left early, early morning, and the weather was gorgeous — the sun was searing hot, and there was no cloud in sight. After a 3-4 hour drive (I can’t be sure since we were asleep most of the way), we finally got to Pundakit in Zambales, where we had breakfast, then rode a teeny boat to our first destination: Anawangin.

I’ve heard so much about Anawangin, and I’ve seen some of the most beautiful photographs of this place, so I was stoked. When we got there, an unusual beach lined with pine trees greeted us! Pine trees on the beach? It was a stunning sight.

Our landscape guru Richard, then guided us away from the beach and into a swampy area, which is actually the tail end of a stream that emptied into the ocean. It was beautiful. If you stayed in the sand bar like some campers there, you would’ve been sandwiched by a freshwater stream on one side, and the saltwater ocean on the other.

We found a nice fork in the stream and took our photos there. Our gear definitely earned their keep this trip. Our tripods were knee deep in water the whole time, our shorts were soaked to our undies, and all our camera stuff were baking under the sweltering sky and marinated in mists of saltwater from the ocean.

But every minute was worth it. I decided to shoot in I.R. because of the haunting landscapes. It had an almost eerie feel to it, which matched the eerie golden hue of my I.R. Of course the star of the show was that boat and that stump that were there, just begging to be photographed.

I didn’t want to leave. It was so serene in the area, and I half expected to see an elk emerge from behind the trees and take a sip of the cool stream water. But you also had a feeling of some chainsaw-wielding maniacal serial killer behind the bushes, waiting for someone to pee so they could whack them and turn their skin into human leather coats. Take your pick.

I was also able to take a picture of our guru, Richard, as he sat under a tree, like some enlightened teacher, and the I.R. made it seem more mystical than it actually looked.

We had a quick styro lunch of resilient adobo that had the consistency of a brick, and rice that was mildly warm, not because it was freshly cooked, but because it was under the sun the whole morning. Sigh. All for the love of photography. But better that than not bringing food from the resort because there was no source of food anywhere. Had we not brought any, we would’ve been eating SAND-wiches. Get it? Sand? Sand-wiches? No?

Anyway, I decided to devote one post to each of our 3 Zambales destinations. Next stop: Capones Island!

(Thanks to Fritzie Lee for this group pic!)