Culture & tradition,  Lens-Artists,  People,  Philippines,  Themed galleries,  Travel galleries

Gallery: people of the Philippines

Edward Weston

In what is a timely challenge for me Ritva asks us to share some portraits for this week’s Lens Artists challenge. My usual approach to people photography is to take candid shots. Quite often I prefer the natural look that these have, but it does mean, I know, that I risk taking and sharing shots of people who would much rather I didn’t and who would have refused had I asked permission.

But there is another reason I tend to take candid shots. In addition to liking a more natural unposed result, I’m not always very confident about asking people to pose. But on our latest trip I found Filipinos so friendly and approachable that I did ask for permission to photograph quite a few of those we met. I also, I confess, did as I quite often do and ‘piggybacked’ on the permission granted by some to my husband, who is always much more confident in asking!

Another advantage of asking is that it can give you an opportunity to strike up a conversation with your subject. One example is the market trader below. We had a fun chat in which we attempted to explain what an Irish leprechaun was!

So here, quite simply, is a gallery of portraits all taken on our Philippines trip and all, unusually for me, with permission! Some may reappear in future posts about the places we visited, and one has already been seen, but I wanted to acknowledge and celebrate the friendliness we encountered there by bringing everybody who posed for me together in this post.

Young policemen on the streets of Manila












I visited the Philippines in February and March 2025

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