The more a society leans on technology, the more people’s occupations migrate from the outside world to the inside of factories, stores, and offices. Cornered on all sides by walls and ceilings, sitting like blobs and staring into a box, work takes place in the workplace. But nobody robbed us of our freedom; it was an inside job we signed up for. Outside jobs, by contrast, are not always a deliberate choice and oftentimes the harder labor, but they come with a certain spatial freedom: the people portrayed here have enough space to fit the outside world into their lives and make their living under the sun, amidst green, or at sea.
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a glimpse
glimpse: FROM A TO B | To those born into the lush maze that is the Okavango Delta, navigating the myriad waterways on a Mokoro must come as naturally as walking. Propelled by pushing a pole into the muddy ground beneath the shallow waters, the slender canoe glides stealthily through the marshland, where Hippo encounters are to be avoided at all costs. While in many parts of the world the only remnants of such traditions are lackluster tourism interpretations, the Mokoro is a standard way of transporting goods and getting from A to B until today.
glimpse: SPOTTING GIANTS | You’d think the world’s biggest fish is hard to overlook, but then again, the ocean isn’t exactly a bathtub. To spot the chubby needle in this liquid haystack is an art that takes ample practice and ampler patience. As the only place in the Philippines where the interaction with whale sharks in governed by a tight framework of regulations, Donsol has brought forth a multitude of these artists. Day in day out, they climb the mast and scan the sea, while a group of goofy-looking tourists in snorkel gear sits on deck and keenly awaits the signal to hop in. While more popular whale shark hot spots like Oslob lure the animals with bait and don’t striktly enforce no-touch policies, the interaction in Donsol is ecologically responsible. Sightings aren’t guaranteed, but the encounter is natural when it happens and all the more magnificent.
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