A couple of months back, I went to the island of Tawi Tawi. Its an island south of the Philippines, actually, more like nearing the tip of the Philippines. Anyway, its in Mindanao, and with us Luzon people, we always hear a lot of bad things about that part of our archipelago. Its almost always as if its synonymous to violence and insurgencies. When I got the work opportunity from a friend, saying that its in Mindanao, I immediately grabbed the chance to going to a place so foreign to me. Of course, I heard a lot from the people who cared about me. Saying this and that, I assured them that we will be safe there.

We went to Bongao, and upon arrival to the airport, sea and sand greeted us as we touched down. The place was beautiful. The island had raw beauty, nothing comparable to what I have seen before.

The town there was simple, and so was the townspeople. Before, I really had this thing with Muslim people here in Luzon, I find myself always intimidated and un-easy when they are around, which I can attribute to the fact that I know little much about them. I always treat them as foreigners because I do not know much about how to interact with them because of cultural differences and of course their in portrayal in some media. I found the people here very friendly and warm. Always smiling. I don't know, but to me they are very different here from the general Muslim community here in Manila that I encounter.

Contrary to news reports, I found the place to be peaceful and colorful. I felt safe, that I walked the busy streets with my camera strapped around my neck.

Here are some of my 2 days worth of pictures during my break time. I wanted to share to my family, friends and you what I experienced and witnessed there. Kindly click on the photos to see it bigger and to read some of the captions I put there. The challenge for me here was to create portraits of people here in their element while still showing that this was in Tawi-Tawi. I didn't want it to be the same as other photographs I saw and made in other places. I wanted to capture Bongao, and I wanted you to see Bongao. Hope I succeeded.

Scarlett Photographs - Tirador --- Copyright © Jesse Herrera. All rights reserved. My images may not be reproduced in any form without my expressed/written consent.