2020 Best Shots: No Choice but to Continue

A showcase of some of my best shots taken this 2020, presenting the myriad ways in which regular Filipinos have persevered through the difficulties of the past year.

In Occidental Mindoro, a fisherman hauls a yellowfin tuna ashore, to be taken to traders in his hometown of Sablayan. Already caught up in a difficult livelihood, artisanal fishers have been forced to spend days at sea as climate change push fisheries further off shore. Photograph © Alo Lantin

A man sells his wares at the wet market of Virac, Catanduanes. Decades of work have afforded him the ability to send his daughter to College. Though his livelihood is hard, he claims not to know whether he’d choose to live his life any differently. Photograph © Alo Lantin

A handline fisherman sits in his boat as he searches for fish in the shallows off the coast of Bato, Catanduanes. Among the communities worst hit by Typhoon Rolly, Bato is home to many subsistence fishers. Photograph © Alo Lantin

A woman gleans for sea shells on the rocky coasts of Bato, Catanduanes. Pushing past seventy and with cataracts in both eyes, she lives alone, cooking what shells she finds and selling what remains at the wet market in town. Photograph © Alo Lantin

Two young children cradle the urn that bears the ashes of their late grandmother, who passed away towards the start of the coronavirus pandemic. The concept of death is new to them, as they wonder after their grandmother and when they will be able to see her again. Photograph © Alo Lantin

Two children sit in front of a dividing wall they had decorated along with their mother and grandmother. The house around them is in disarray and set for demolition, months after the passing of their “Mima.” Photograph © Alo Lantin

By the light of a desk lamp, Gilda Ravago sews cloth face masks for the needy. A portrait of her late husband watches over her, while photographs of her grandchildren hang pinned to the mirror of her dresser. Photograph © Alo Lantin

In an old L300, the staff of a small business head home after a long day of work. Face masks are worn as no precaution is spared. Employment remains a source of anxiety for millions of Filipinos as the economic effects of the global pandemic roll across the country. Photograph © Alo Lantin