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AI Images: Huilu’s Rule

AI Generated Image 2025

Currently I have been using https://creator.nightcafe.studio to create re-imaginations of mythologies and gods. My recent series: “Huilu’s Rule” features the Chinese goddess of fire: Huilu (火轮) sitting on a lóng yǐ (龙椅) throne

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Cadena de Amor

Antigonon leptopus May 2025 Bogo Public Cemetery, Bogo City, Province of Cebú

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Election Support groupfie

My ex-wife and I are giving our support to the environmental activist turned independent presidential candidate Nicanor “Nicky” Jesús Perlas (born 1950) at the Adarna Restaurant in Quezón City.

I had met Nicky Perlas in 1999, during the planning for the 2000 Earth Day Celebrations in the home of activist Odette Alcantara (1940-2009) in her Blue Ridge home in Quezón City.

This picture was taken circa 2010

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AI Images: Laverna's Return

AI Generated Image 2025

I have been using https://creator.nightcafe.studio to create re-imaginations of mythologies and gods. My recent series: “Laverna's Return” features a modern incarnation of the Roman goddess of thieves: Laverna

In this series, Laverna celebrated the spoils of a successful heist. She does remind me of Catherine Zeta-Jones in the 1999 film “Entrapment”

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Bushed Bee

May 2025 Barangay Sambag, Cebú City

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Heritage Lunch selfie

Getting ready to have lunch at the 1905 Ginete Ancestral House turned Crescencia Food & Coffee Café along the Bohol Circumferential Road in the Población of the Municipality of Báclayon, Province of Bohol.

I was in Báclayon in to document the historical 1772-2018 Iglesia Parroquial de La Purísima Concepción de la Virgen María de Báclayon (Parish Church of Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary), but I had to take my lunch first as the church would open its door by 1300 HR. The food was great and very affordable, with very deliciously ample servings.

This photo was taken in 2025, during my first “official Summer vacation” around the island/province of Bohol.

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AI Images: Hina Awakens

AI Generated Image 2025

I have been using https://creator.nightcafe.studio to create re-imaginations of mythologies and gods. My recent series: “Hina Awakens” features the Polynesian goddess of the moon and butterflies: Hina

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Buggered

May 2025 Gov. Celestino Gallares Street, Población, Tagbilaran City, Province of Bohol

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OG G.I. Sheet eyefie

Taking a peek through the Marston Mat turned walls at the 1920s Oasis Balili Heritage Lodge along Gov.  Jacinto Castel Borja (1905-1969) Street in the Población of Tagbilaran City, Province of Bohol.

The pierced steel planking (PSP) Marston Mats were developed by the American military in 1939 as an easy to transport and set up system for building temporary airplane runways, especially in the uneven and muddy ground. During World War II, the American military used the Marston Mats extensively throughout the Philippines, especially during the 1944-1945 Liberation of the Philippines, because the Japanese had bombed all the old airstrips.

After the war, enterprising Filipinos used the abandoned Marston Mats as fences for their homes and properties. The Marston Mats had holes for people to see through and view whoever is passing by, and sturdy enough for protection as these sheets could take the beating of tanks rolling over them or airplanes landing on them.

Seeing these Marston Mats still in use was a nostalgic trip into my childhood, visiting my maternal and paternal grandparents’ homes, when they used Marston Mats as their perimeter walls.

The Balili home was built by the teacher turn businessman Eliado Balili in the 1920s, when he was still a bachelor. Together with his wife and brother (?) Gov. Perfecto R. Balili Sr. (1946-1947), he was able to host many dignitaries in the grand home, including the president Manuel Acuña Roxas (1892-1948) and Elpidio Rivera Quirino (1890-1956).

In 1942, the home was used as headquarters and residence by officers of the Dai-Nippon Teikoku Rikugun / Japanese Imperial Army (大日本帝国陸軍).

Currently, the house turned travellers’ lodge is managed by Eliado Balili’s youngest daughter, Architect Gloria Balili-Katz and her American husband Ray Katz.

This photo was taken in 2025, during my first “official Summer vacation” around the island/province of Bohol.

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AI Images: Aglaura and Cidippe

AI Generated Image 2025

Currently I have been using https://creator.nightcafe.studio to create re-imaginations of mythologies and gods. My recent series: “Aglaura and Cidippe” features the moral sisters of the Greek goddess of the soul and butterflies, Psykhḗ (Ψυχή): Aglaura (Αὔραυρα) and Cidippe (Κυδίππη)

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Bones, Thugs, and Disharmony

May 2025 Bogo Public Cemetery, Bogo City, Province of Cebú

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Black Nazarene altar selfie

Standing at the nave of the 1935 Basílica Menor y Santuario Nacional del Jesús Nazareno Negro / Parròquia de San Juan Bautista (Minor Basilica and National Sanctuary of the Black Nazarene / Parish of John the Baptist) by Manileño architects and National Artists Juan Felipe Nakpil (1899-1986) and José María Velez Zaragoza (1912-1994) in the Quiapò District of Manila.

The Quiapò Church was first established around 1570 shortly after the Spanish conquistador Miguel López de Legazpi (1502-1572) arrived in the area that would become Manila. The Augustinian priests accompanying Legazpi put up a chapel in a small fishing village along the Pasig River which they named after the kiyapo plant (Pistia stratiotes) that grew abundantly floating on the river. Unfortunately the Chinese pirate Lîma Hõng (林鳳) burned down the chapel during his raid in 1574.

In 1578 the Franciscans missionaries arrived in the Philippines, and established the Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de los Desamparados (Church of Our Lady of the Abandoned) in the now District of Santa Ana in the same year, and later established the Iglesia de San Juan Bautista (Church of Saint John the Baptist) in 1588, under Fr. Antonio de Nombella.

The first wooden church burned down during a fire in 1603, and the 7.4 magnitude earthquake of 1863 destroyed the second stone church centuries after it was rebuilt. Fr. Eusebio de León oversaw the reconstruction of the third church from 1879 to 1889, but it would eventually get demolished after it was razed by a fire in 1929. During the period of the 2nd to 3rd church, the parish was also called the Iglesia de Sancta Camisa, as the parishioners.

Fr. Magdaleno Castillo was now tasked with the reconstruction of the church, and he hired the future National Artist for Architecture Juan Nakpil (1899-1986) to redesign the new church. Nakpil’s clan was a prominent family in Quiapò, and they were given the responsibility to house and hide the miraculous image of the Black Nazarene in their home just 500 meters from the church, from the possible vandalism by the Japanese invaders during World War II (1941-1945).

The Quiapò Church is the home to the miraculous icon of the Black Nazarene, which carved by an unknown Mexican santero and brought to the Philippines in 1606 by the Augustinian Recollects missionaries. The icon was later moved to the Iglesia de San Nicolás de Tolentino in Intramuros, while a 1787 copy was kept in the Quiapò Church. From that time, the church was also referred to as the Iglesia de Sancta Camisa (Church of the Sacred Veil) which may refer to a devotion to a 12th century relic of a veil from the Virgin Mary or to the kerchiefs used by devotees to the Black Nazarene use during the annual Ándas / Traslación procession.

Nakpil’s Quiapò Church and the Black Nazarene were spared of the destruction of the Battle of Manila in 1945.

By the 1980s Fr. José Abriol saw the need to expand the church to accommodate the growing number of worshipper, and he hired Arch. José María Zaragoza to design the extensions that were constructed between 1984 to 1986.

Arch. Juan Felipe Nakpil (1899-1986) was the son, of the musician and composer, Julio Garcia Nakpil 1867-1960) and Gregoria Álvarez de Jesús (1875-1943); who were known for their efforts during the Philippine Revolution (1896-1898). He initially took up engineering at the University of the Philippines, then he later studied architecture at the Fontainebleau School of Fine Arts, in France. After working for several architectural firms, Nakpil eventually opening his own architectural firm in 1930.Nakpil's most noted works are San Carlos Seminary, Iglesia ni Cristo Riverside Locale (Now F. Manalo, San Juan), Capitol Theater, Captain Pepe Building, Manila Jockey Club, Rufino Building, Philippine Village Hotel, the Quezon Hall and Gonzales Halls of the U.P., and the Rizal Shrine in Calamba, Laguna. Nakpil was given the honor of National Artist for Architecture in 1973.

Arch. José María Velez Zaragoza (1912-1994) first took his architectural degree from the University of Santo Tomas, and then he took his further studies in liturgical art and architecture at the International Institute of Liturgical Art in Rome, as well as a painting diploma at the Hilversun Technical Research Center in the Netherlands. Unlike many of his peers, Zaragosa took inspiration from European architecture, rather than American design. Zaragoza’s interests were quite evident in his designs for The Our Lady of the Holy Rosary in Caloocan, and the Santo Domingo Church in Quezon City. Zaragoza’s international style later incorporated influences of Brazilian architecture, as this would reflect in his works such as the Meralco Center in Ortigas and the Commercial and Bank Trust Company Building in Escolta. Zaragoza was an honorary fellow of the American Institute of Architects, and a fellow of the Philippine Institute of Architects (PIA). Zaragoza gained many international honors, such as becoming an ambassador of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta to the Philippines, and being conferred the Gentiluomo di Sua Santita (Lay Member of the Papal Household) by Pope John Paul II and allowing him to serve as a lay attendant of the Pope in the Vatican City. Locally, Zaragoza was given the Patnubay ng Sining at Kalinangan Award by the City of Manila in 1973, the PIA’s Gold Medal of Merit in 1977, and the National Artist for Architecture in 2014.

This picture was taken circa 2024, during my regular explorations to document local historical landmarks around the Philippines.

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AI Images: Psykhḗ’s Contemplations

AI Generated Image 2025

Currently I have been using https://creator.nightcafe.studio to create re-imaginations of mythologies and gods. My recent series: “Psykhḗ’s Contemplations” features the Greek goddess of the soul and butterflies: Psykhḗ (Ψυχή)

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Blessing the City

May 2025 Cebú Taoist Temple, Beverly Hills, Lahug, Cebú City

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Styling BTS groupfie

Styling and directing a fashion photo-shoot with my neighbor Hyris Omega in a Filipiñana themed shoot

The photo was taken in 2025 by my students Charmelle Fukui, inside my classroom at the School of Design and Communication (sd+c) of the Southwestern University PHINMA (SWU), with my Grade 11 students executed the makeup, lighting and photography for their professional portfolios.

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AI Images: Bedtime Stories: Ēṓs in Repose

AI Generated Image 2025

Currently I have been using https://creator.nightcafe.studio to create re-imaginations of mythologies and gods. My recent series: “Bedtime Stories: Ēṓs in Repose” features the Greek goddess of the dawn: Ēṓs (Ἠώς) sleeping in the clouds atop Mount Ólympos (Όλυμπος) abode of the gods

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Black on Black: The Break

May 2025 Beverly Hills, Lahug, Cebú City