Estan Cabigas

The October – November issue of Bluprint Magazine is in bookstores and magazine stands and this issue, with the theme Remembrance and Design, features two articles that I’ve shot plus one image of the Liwasang Bonifacio monument in Manila. This is my second issue with them, the first being the June 2010 issue that featured San Sebastian Minor Basilica.

The first article features the Bahay Nakpil-Bautista heritage house, now a museum, near Hidalgo St., Quiapo, Manila which I do like very much for its kind of fusion architecture: the traditional bahay na bato and Viennese Secessionist styles. The latter was incorporated when the original owner was gifted with furniture in the said style.

There’s a unity in the architecture with details of the furniture echoed in many parts of the house, typically, geometric and near abstract vegetal forms. Wide open spaces and high ceilings make this a very comfortable home apt for the natural weather and temperature of Manila before the advent of airconditioning.

The second article, Stories in Stone, again by Jennifer Cristobal. I was supposed to shoot the full article in both Chinese and La Loma cemeteries but a problem that arose when we went to the latter prevented me from doing it. I did enjoy shooting the former with its very interesting art deco architecture.

After this issue, I’m looking forward to the December publication of two articles for Sta. Maria Church in Ilocos, a UNESCO World Site as well as the Metropolitan Theater in Manila. I did the photography for these two.