AKING LAHI: Album ng Filipino sa mundo

They say that when you're about to die, your life flashes before you. Well, I saw actual camera flashes that day in August '87 when I was arrested for taking photos of a coup attempt in Cebu. On the way to detention I could feel guns pressed against my side in the back of a military jeep. There I was held incommunicado for 3 days; saved from bedbugs, boredom and token comical interrogation, by a guard who was interested in photography, specifically the boudoir variety. I happily obliged with an impromptu one-on-one lecture.

In the U.S. I freelance as a photojournalist; covering diverse events and personalities, from POTUS to Pokwang. Between that fateful night in Cebu to covering the President of the United States here in Chicago many years later, there is one constant - a passion to record life events.

The Early Years

I have always been interested in witnessing life events through the lens of a camera. As a child I was presented with a toy gun that transformed into a camera. I mostly used the latter iteration, of course. Right out of college, and excited to test an SLR  given as a present by a cousin, I literally ran into trouble just around the block from where I lived for that "self-assigned" coup attempt coverage. Even birds didn't escape my documentary tendencies; volunteering for a bird-banding expedition to Olango Island many summers ago. But even that relaxing island trek turned out to be anything but when lightning struck a pole for the bird-banding net just a few yards away. Flashes and explosions, they seemed to follow me. I felt the need to move on.

Community Journalism

"K.B.L." Kasal, binyag, libing. I have done it all and more. The Pinoy community "Kodaker" in America is a jack-of-all-trades. Unexpected tasks such as becoming de facto event planners fall on us – calling out the order of the wedding entourage before the impatient priest turned off the altar lights; to saying "cheese!" before taking a shot of wailing relatives at a wake. Our cameras are witness to the real life of immigrants.

Moleskine

In January 2004, on a whim I started a little fan site for Moleskine, the Italian notebook after I had received one as a gift over the holidays. Little did I know that it would grow into a worldwide community of notebook aficionados. I had hit a soft spot for diarists, sketches, writers and charming Luddites who shared their stories in my blog. The resulting buzz landed me in the New York Times, Le Monde, business books and other publications. When I started the site, a Google search for the term "Moleskine" returned around 64k hits. Now, it's almost a million. I like to think my little site has something to do with that. Moleskinerie was subsequently acquired by the Milan-based parent company itself.

Aking Lahi

The resurgence of street photography like "Humans of New York" reminded me of a documentary project I did many years back. “Stuffed Bananas on the Windshield” was an exhibit of Filipino achievers in Chicago. This time, the scope of #AKINGLAHI is global – of our kababayans who, in the pursuit of dreams have found themselves in far-flung places they now call home.

#Aking Lahi, which went live on September 21 this year, is a regularly-updated online album of submitted photographs from Pinoys around the world. Entrants are invited to send a caption of up to 500 words, that’s fun, brings back memories or something that inspires or teaches a lesson. A book is planned for later next year.

I envision "Aking Lahi," which I dubbed "Album ng Filipino sa Mundo" to be a collective online chronicle of the Pinoy diaspora. The project will collaborate with corporations, groups and individuals that share our passion to tell and preserve the story of the Filipino immigrant.