“I go to nature to be soothed, healed and have my senses put in order.” – John Burroughs

Traveling from Baganga to Caraga, I saw the full moon as we crossed a wide, empty bridge so I had to get out. No other vehicles were in sight. The driver posed as lookout while I tried to capture its beauty illuminating the river.

I stood there transfixed, taken in by a calm stillness around me. My sister refused to come out of the van since we scared her silly with tales of the wakwaks, tikbalangs, duwendes and kapres that filled our childhood fantasies in the province. Maybe I should have added a white lady.

For some strange reason, I love the darkness when comforted by the full moon. I forget my fears when I shoot alone in abandoned, remote places. Satisfied by my shots, we boarded the van parked under a lamp post in the middle of the bridge and drove away to our farm in nearby Manay.