Moriones in Mindoro

For this year's Holy Week (or People-Trying-To-Be-Holy-For-A-Few-Days as I call it) the family has decided to ditch the usual 5-day staycation and do something that we haven't done for quite some time. We visited Mindoro, dad's hometown and half of my origins.

To be perfectly honest, I haven't shot anything in Mindoro at all so I am half giddy and half doubtful while thinking of what to shoot there. To make matters worst, I never did some research on the interesting places to visit, great eats and amazing beach fronts (but then again all of these are closed). Thankfully Mindoro has the Moriones (More-yons) Festival that they annually celebrate during Holy Week. According to Wikipedia (because I'm lazy to paraphrase and type) "The Moriones is an annual festival held on Holy Week on the island of Marinduque, Philippines. The "Moriones" are men and women in costumes and masks replicating the garb of biblical Roman soldiers as interpreted by local folks. The Moriones or Moryonan tradition has inspired the creation of other festivals in the Philippines where cultural practices or folk history is turned into street festivals" Sure, Marinduque is the originator of the said festival but I do believe that Mindoro's version of the Morion is more of contemporary and has more bling in it to the point that I wonder if they are still Morions or Gundams made out of diamonds *cue in Rhianna song here*.

Nonetheless, I really enjoyed the short but sweet vacation trip which is mostly comprised of me sleeping or eating while enduring the intense March sun. To all our lovely relatives who took us in, thank you for being such great hosts and hopefully we can return the favor once our mansion somewhere in the distant future is done.

Enough with the fancy chit-chat and let's get on with the photographs.

Even kids are encouraged to join in the fun! But to be honest I've tried the helmet and you'll need more than fun to wear the mask for a few hours.

Sort of fashion shoot style? I don't know but I like how the photo above turned out.

If you look at the image above, you'll see some bits of stuff that you wouldn't expect to be put on a armor. Like a hair clips, those faux metallic tips of the bed and — wait, is that a tire mag?

Bro is shedding some light using the handy Godox Monix EX600 light I bought at Photozuela before. 

Check out Chewbacca's smile! I'm not sure if he is high or what but his costume is amazing! Nope, this is not San Diego Comic Con if you are planning to ask.

Talk about dedication! I asked the guys how long does it take to build yourself a Morion costume like theirs and most of them said that it took them at least 3 months to make one from scratch!

There you have it guys have it! Moriones Festival in Mindoro! Before we get done with this I want you guys to check out what my crazy Dad did in the middle of the street.