Orpheus Descending: Damuan Photoshoot

Photo by: Jan Jan Montajes

To be photographed still brings out an uncharacteristic shyness in me (a cast of rolling eyeballs here. Go ahead). Though it has been considered a past time together with some of my musician friends, the idea of striking a pose (shamelessly) especially in front of people whom I share no personal acquaintance with only brings out a smile wrought in pain and embarrassment in me. Not only once have I been asked by Sir Uniokeez, one of the very active members of the Pinoy Shutters Brunei Darussalam – a group of Brunei-based Filipinos who took photography on a serious level other than just a mere hobby- to pose for him and be a subject of his studious gaze and the instant click of his camera. Reluctance and a busy schedule were among the various reasons that caused us to delay several photo shoots until finally there were no more reasons to postpone it and to refrain from giving him the wrong impression of me being a difficult person, I finally conceded to his request. I finally said “Okay”.

We were to meet on Sunday, July 22 at Damuan, a recreational park here in Brunei.

Photo by Carem Lemence

There were (to my surprise) 6 photographers to smile, feel vulnerable to. At the thought of being aimed with bulky gadgets and lenses sharp enough to see through my little imperfections, I felt myself melting—the weather was no help either. I cringed to their careful examinations, like an awkward subject to their relentless gaze. I flinched rather than give them a decent, Kodak moment. I felt I’ve lost the lust over this little excursion.

Photo by Carem Lemence

Among those who came to shoot me (Haha pun intended) were Sir Uniokeez, Carem Lemence, Sheila Calzado, Lee Abrio (gulp), Jan Jan Montajes and Irene dela Cruz (and her Malaysian friend).

Yet there, I took out my violin and tried to console myself with a few melodic lines with which I have been rehearsing a few days back. And with a renewed spirit that came from the hard feel of my instrument, the vibration of strings from the slightest touch to its familiar timbre that has been my refuge for 14 years, I know I need not feel intimidated. To be standing on a boat as a subject to multiple clicks of cameras, that sounded like luck not everyone has.

Photo by: Sir Uniokeez

I stepped into the rented water taxi with all the dignity I can muster and did what I came to do and was born to do. I gave them a performance. For an hour I fiddled under the pretence of performing for an admiring (if not tone deaf) audience, stood, sat, stared in different angles and smiled at the thought of having these little theatrics caught, frozen in every nanosecond press of the shutter-release button. In times like these, it only takes a little imagination and a lively sense of humour. But behind it all, I was really laughing at myself.

Photo by Lee Abrio

After another hour the group decided to change the scenery. We drove far from land and headed deeper in the direction of the river and settled in a scenery which I believe this country is entirely blessed with but which was (until yesterday) kept from my attention (since, let’s face it, there is no spirit of adventure that coursed through me at all). Before us there stood a postcard view of water and verdant landscape. There was the river, in its late afternoon silver glitter and a grove of intertwining trees or shrubs that surrounds it under layers of stratus and nimbus in various shades of grey, pink and orange that let up a general awe from each of us. It was a sight to behold. We basked in 5 p.m. chill like over excited tourists. The sight lifted our spirits after an hour of exposure to breeze, heat and tedium. But, really, our attentions where drawn to the multicoloured mist that graced a scenery of abundant water and sprouts of vegetation. There stretched on the horizon was a rainbow which stood like a heaven- sent gesture, a kindly smile but beyond grasp.

Photo by: Carem Lemence

It is always through these daily occurrences of magic and miracles that I am reminded and therefore thankful to a one Greater Artist, Author and Architect. The lasting permanence of the view ( though has left me dumb in words, but here I try) will always remind me of Brunei, An Abode of Peace, A Kingdom of Unexpected Treasures. And like Ernest Hemingway’s Paris, here is Brunei, in all its given splendour, thus, a moveable feast.