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Capturing what words often miss because some things can’t speak,
but the memories, Chico, they never lie.
"BACK TO WHERE IT ALL BEGAN "
by Jermaine Lobo
May 11, 2025 | Plaza Macabebe, Pampanga | Canon Rebel T3i | Layered in Photoshop
After 3 years, I returned to where things all began. Back to the alley where, years ago, I captured a moment that clung to me like a second skin: two children shielding themselves from the rain beneath a scrap of fabric. I had named it “Soaked in Reality”, a photograph that still etched itself into my memory even though it was taken during my senior high school years. It was one of my best and one of my most human.
I came back not just to revisit the scene but to find them, the same children, perhaps older and maybe stronger. I had imagined a follow-up with a visual echo of the first photo but this time with a trace of hope. Yet, they weren’t there.
28 mm, ISO-800, f/4, 1/80sec | Edited in Lightroom
The alley remained but altered in subtle ways only someone who’s walked it a hundred times would notice. New walls on the right side, new rust on the left, and changed silence. I asked around about those kids. In small towns like this, faces are still maps and memories are communal. So fortunately, I found their former daycare teacher and she remembered those kids well. But her news was not what I’d hoped for…
the children had dropped out of school.
It hit harder than I expected. I had hoped to find progress and some sign that things had gotten better not just for them, but maybe even for myself as a photographer. Instead, I found quiet, and absence. But maybe that’s part of the story too because not every return brings closure. Some just remind you that time moves on, with or without you.
What do I do now with this new photo? Does it still hold a story worth telling? To the casual eye, it might appear ordinary because it’s just a quiet street, power lines stretching across the sky, some puddles scattered on the ground. But to me, it echoes with meaning. It’s the space where something once happened, where those kids once stood, and where a story used to unfold.
And in that stillness, there’s something more. Something that reflects the very essence of this assignment:
Returning, Reflecting, and Peeling back the layers of photography with this course.
It’s a moment caught between past and present and perhaps, that’s the most powerful story of all.
Just as I wrote in my very first assignment in this course, I had no idea what I was doing when I took that photo of the children in the rain. All I knew was that it made me feel something and it stirred something real. I was chasing instinct back then.
Now, in this final assignment, I still lead with emotion but I carry more than instinct. I carry an understanding of composition, of timing, of balance. The kind of tools I didn’t have before.
April, 2022 | Plaza Macabebe, Pampanga | Canon Rebel T3i | Kit Lens
For this image, I used the golden spiral which is my favorite discovery from this course. I’d never used it before, not once this whole term. But here, I used it to imagine where the children might have stood if they had been there again. It helped me frame the shot in a way that draws the eye inward into the memory, into the absence. I don’t know but I feel like there’s something quietly powerful about the composition, the way something so natural can also be so mathematical.
This photo is a turning point for me not just because I went back to a familiar place, but because I also came face to face with who I used to be. The version of myself who first walked down that alley was more hopeful, more unsure, and still figuring out how to turn feelings into photographs. I think I needed to meet that person again to see how far I’ve come.
But through this course, I’ve learned to slow down. I don’t just take pictures because something looks nice anymore but I stop and ask...
what does this mean? what is this really saying?
That shift didn’t happen overnight and it was built through the lessons we had each week, through the steady pace of learning, and especially through the critiques I got on my "Soaked in Reality". I still remember what Alexandra Dayo said about that photo and I kept those comments in mind while working on this last assignment.
Critique by Alexandra Margarette Dayo
This version takes into account Alexandra's notes about cropping especially with the rule of thirds and diagonal composition.
Thanks for that, Alexandra : ) Though I’m sorry, that was the best rain texture I could create without ruining the quality of the main subject.
Just as I remember how those kids lacked something such as support and guidance, I realize now that there was something I also lacked during this course. And that, I think, was truly connecting with my classmates. I do wish I had joined the synchronous class and forums more often because that’s something I regret. But even just reading how Professor Al and the other students thought and felt about their work under “Critique Corner: Composition and Exposure” forums taught me a lot. Their exchange of ideas stayed with me and I know I’ll carry those lessons into every photo I take from here on out.
Just like this one, this photograph carries a bittersweet tone. The rain has stopped in the alley and in some way, that mirrors how I feel now. Clearer, more steady. Back then, I was soaked in everything new like emotions, confusion, and curiosity about photography because I didn’t fully know what I was doing. Now, I feel more grounded. The rain has passed for now but I know storms still come.
That’s what learning is, it doesn’t stop just because the skies clear. But this time, with no rain falling, I had the “chance” to really think about how I composed the image. And that quiet moment reminded me of what this course gave me which is the “opportunity” to learn, to be guided, and to receive thoughtful feedback. That structure and that access is a privilege.
And then I thought about the kids of how they didn’t get that same chance. Maybe if they had, they’d still be in school. That thought stayed with me as I stood there framing the shot. It reminded me just how powerful education can be and how it doesn’t just teach but it can save.
This experience also reminded me to be a little gentler with myself. I didn’t always speak up in discussions and I didn’t always know what I was doing. But I kept showing up by submitting my assignments, kept writing my blog, and kept lifting the camera to my eye. And over time I started to see more not just in what I was photographing but in who I was becoming.
I plan to keep photographing long after this course ends. Over the term break, I’ll be working with a friend to create themed shoots and keep adding to my e-portfolio because I don’t see this as an ending. I see it as a place to return to--like that alley--not because I’m stuck but because something meaningful happened here. Something worth holding onto.
In that way, my final photo for this course feels like a reset. A quiet loop back to the beginning only now I see with different eyes. It may not be the boldest or most striking image in my collection, but it’s the truest. Right now in my very last assignment in this course, truth matters more to me than perfection.
So, this is how I want to close my blog. Not with something dramatic but something quieter. A photograph that leaves room for what could have been and what still might happen after this course. A story that isn’t finished. A day without rain. A frame full of absence yet somehow still full of meaning.
Thank you, Prof. Al for your guidance, patience, and insight through your manual and discussion forums. Looking forward to your updated course manual that I can use in the future when I need to. And thank you to my course mates as your work and words have shaped me in ways you may not even noticed.
Like I said in my Bucket List, life keeps moving, and so do meanings. So as long as a story finds its way to me, I’ll do my best to have Chihiro with me to capture those moments before they’re gone.
If you have any feedback whether advice for improvement, positive or constructive comments on my writing, or insights on my photography, I’d love to hear from you. Feel free to reach out by clicking through any of the following.
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