Projections with Roger Cas

 They say that if you want something in life, you must project it out to the world in order for you to get one step closer to it. It could be in the form of a dog eared note in your favorite journal, a blog entry, a photo, a prayer or any means of acknowledgement.

I have always loved the water, (warm water in the shower, specifically) having been a competitive swimmer and mermaid in my past life. Also, I have always wished to take my diving adventures more seriously and to one day try out surfing. But due to time and financial restraints, I haven’t had much time to do both. But like I said, when you project the things you want into the world, it often tends to listen, maybe not in the exact way you would have wanted but in surprising and even better ways, nonetheless.

I was lucky to have been invited to shoot again with Roger Cas and Christian Tan (whose work I will be featuring in another post) earlier this year, where we were able to work around with a few things that were meaningful to us: art, photography and the ocean. DID YOU KNOW that the pattern of white spots are unique for every whale shark or that the hairy frog fish is called as such because it walks like a frog on surfaces?DID YOU KNOW  that populations of many species are decreasing at an unsustainable rate, and the number of species listed as endangered from marine life families such as whales, dolphins, manatees and dugongs, salmon, seabirds, sea turtles,and sharks to name a few, are on the rise. Marine creatures are equally, if not more, vulnerable to problems such as habitat destruction and over exploitation. Shallow water animals that breathe air, like turtles, manatees, dugongs, and whales are often hit by boats and caught in fishing gear. Species such as turtles that lay their eggs on land often lose their nurseries due to coastal development. Animals that have taken millions of years to evolve, that are invaluable to all ecosystems, have and continue to vanish from places where they once flourished. (http://marinebio.org/oceans/threatened-endangered-species/)  As pretty as these pictures are, it is also a reminder to everyone to take care of the ocean and the life that lives in it. I’ve only seen a few of these majestic creatures in person and I would hate to one day have the to face the harsh reality that I may never be able to because of our careless and irresponsible actions. It’s one thing to love the ocean and want to explore it but it’s a completely different thing to actually do something about it. Don’t litter, make sustainable seafood choices, avoid purchasing items that exploit the marine life and above everything else- educate yourself about the ocean and what you can do to help protect it.

If you want to find out more about the great open seas or find out how you can be involved, check out Divelink Cebu. Not only are they a dive shop, but they are also involved in research and conservation of our marine life and have even established sanctuaries around Malapascua.

 Photography by: Roger Cas

Location: Mandarin Hotel

Fish are friends. Not foe,