Seeing the Unseen: “Girls in bikinis from the Philippines”
I always wanted to write a title involving bikini’s, fashion models or just plain Girls in Bikinis, call it a guy thing! The Philippines is noted as having some of the best beaches in the world. Yet, one thing I noted when going to a beach is that the bikini, swimsuits and well … anything at all revealing; are never much in evidence.
Dodgy internet sites and back alleys aside, girls here seem to remain covered up. In fact it in a place like the beach, or river, even on a hot day; most Filipina girls wear t-shirts, shawls and scarfs. I’m not saying this is a bad thing. Just an observation :)
There are many reasons for this. The shy Filipino culture, the damaging effect of the sun, the “darkening” skin effect of the sun, the cost of swimsuits to an average person. And, the fact that only so many Filipinos can actually afford a vacation.
Most simply return home to their families and don’t travel out for a weekend away by the beach. Though that is changing.
What are Girls like in The Philippines?
My purely for photographic ” research” inclined observation was aggravated by individuals from outside of The Philippines constantly making statements about how sexy Filipina girls are. And, yes they are very beautiful (smart too, I’m not just saying that either).
However, hot pants, short shorts, tight jeans, body hugging t-shirts and beautiful smiles aside; they generally remain covered up. Perhaps this is the real reason Filipinas are regarded as some of the most beautiful women in the world.
Remain covered and let the imagination do the looking!
However, this is a modern developing country. And, fashion is a high part of that. Here there is a massive fixation on the body beautiful, celebrity and model perfection. Girls with ruffled hair are simply not seen, everything is beauty cared. Even the younger guys spend incredible amounts of time on their hair and clothes.
Fashion and looks in The Philippines
It’s a strange thing to walk into a male public toilet in a Pinoy Mall and see rows of guys doing their hair, and sometimes make up, in front of the mirrors.
A near duplicate of a girls rest room or backstage fashion set. Indeed, it seems that nearly every week there’s a catwalk, or fashion model show in all the malls. Just nothing too revealing is ever shown, the mall is after all a family area. So not a bikini in sight!
I don’t frequent night club style bars. And, I am sure things are different there. Then again such places are now part of the culture here too.
So it seemed that yes beautiful, intelligent girls with a high sense of fashion are all the rage, but not a swimsuit nor bikini have I every
seen. Was I missing something?
It looked like the sun tanned Filipina bikini beach babe simply didn’t exist in the Philippines.
So imagine my delight at being invited to a bikini open contest as an official photographer!
A Filipino beauty contest is a must see!
Yes, I had overlooked the obvious in the Philippines. Here the rules of shyness go out the window as beauty is mixed with the Filipino love of pomp and pageantry. Indoor mall culture rules here; sexy is as sexy does.
In The Philippines the swimsuit / bikini contest gets its own venue!
I really was amazed at the high level of professional work and skill all the models at this show displayed. Both backstage and on the catwalk the models were all as good as anything I have seen in a Paris, Milan or New York show.
And while the girls at this show really knew how to strut their stuff, there were male models too. Pouting and moody looking; as is the style here, no smiles just attitude.
So yes in the Philippines there are beautiful girls in Bikinis. The secret to seeing them is you just gotta go to a show under the “right” spotlight rather than at the beach!
Perhaps, more importantly than looking out for bikini girls or models is the fact that I was invited along as an official photographer.
Times might just be changing on this journey!
Planning on booking a hotel room in The Philippines?
Here are the best online rates guaranteed!
I recommend you try my own hotel search for The Philippines.
Coming soon on Seeing the Unseen: The Jeepney makers
This is an additional post and one of a series highlighting the island of Mindanao & the people living in The Philippines
Hey Man,
Gret blog. If you make it to Morocco, feel free to drop by the Casbah in Sefrou and I have a couch for you. Good luck finding your home.
Vago
-Vago Damitio- Hi Vago,
Thanks for the compliment, and the offer. If I head to Morocco don’t be surprise if you find me looking you up!
-Nomadic Chick- Good to see you back. Well, if I make it to Morocco I won’t have any bikini clad girls with me ;)
I don’t think fashion photographer is my thing, though it is something new!
Vago just invited you because you delivered pics of bikini clad women. Just sayin’ :)
It is very cool that you landed a job. This could be the start of a new career.
Fashion photographer extraordinaire!
Hy,
Say, now that you have seen so much beautiful girls in bikinis, the sea, the great landscapes and the sun of the Philippines, isn’t that a place to call “home”?
-Ivy- Hi Ivy, great to see you back again. Beautiful girls in Bikini’s, sea, great landscapes and plenty of sun sure could make anyone happy. But there’s a lot of negative, and more to the point Bureaucratic and social integration problems for me to deal with here too.
I’ve already written a bit about the social issues with travel and living abroad here (Social integration & travel). And, will be covering some negative parts of The Philippines very soon, so stay tuned for that ;)
Grats on the gig – I am sure there are worse ways to spend your time *and* make money! Beautiful photos, thanks for sharing them. :)
-Trixie- Thank you! Glad to have you back again too :) Yes, there are indeed worse ways to spend one’s time. Also a big learning curve to photograph models rather than travel related subjects!
I’d say it’s definitely a Guy Thing! Doesn’t do anything for me . . . but if you’d like to photograph the Thunder From Down Under boys next, that might be good! :-)
-Suzi- Okay, so the male model above was not enough? I’ll try to even out the model selection for you next time ;)
You’re a true, true friend! :-)
Hmmm these bodies aren’t beautiful enough for me!
-FlorentinFilipin- Hi & welcome! Well, I’ll try to get some better body shots for you next time ;)
I’m a Filipina.. and your post is like your adoring and yet respecting my fellow Filipino gals. I am very glad that I’ve found your post even though its been quite a long time ago, well it only proves that Filipina are still worth everyone’s respect. Anyways, you’re a good photographer too. Thank you.
Filipinas are beautiful? This is such a subjective statement! Many Pinays are short and chubby like the ones in your photo shoot which are supposed to be the best out there. One thing, they are friendly for sure but it doesn’t make them any more beautiful. Just like Thai girls are also rarely beautiful. Cambodian girls can be stunningly beautiful and slender. Anyway. beauty is usually hardly objective either in time or space… But this is only my opinion
Dave,
I made it to Nepal in January. Did the Langtang and ABC treks. The weather was great.
One thing you might address is guides who are overly solicitous. Mine drove me crazy with his sevant routine. He was also much too concerned about my well-being.
It seems to follow that if clients are incompetent and weak they have job security. But this very narrow perspective drove me crazy and almost destroyed my trip.
I discussed this with him a few times, but he could not understand. He evoked themes like guide reputaion and honor and started talking about his father. Christ!
His mind was in the Kathmandu with his family, wanting to start his own guide business and maybe going to the U.S. He just wanted to get down and we almost left to find a differnt guide.
Many times he yelled at me in a irritated way, “Where are you going!” — “I am going to take a pee!” This was early evening and I was meters from the toilet. He was on the phone to Kathmandu and I and the mountains were an irritant.
He had been doing his rountine for about 25 years. A young woman from Holland had a young guide and he also thought she was unable to hike. She found this to be a great distaction, very unpleasant and offensive.
Sometime as I was about to place a foot my idiot guide would yell, “Be careful!”
How does one simply enjoy a mountain view if the guide is asking about your condition every 20 minutes. One starts to worry about them worrying about you.
My guides voice would go up 2 octives when he would call me sir, inquire if I had slept well and ask of I needed salt with my meal. My mother was never this attentive.
I did not mean to pay for a waiter or mother-hen.
In hind-sight I should have gone back to the city and ask the trekking service for a different guide.
I know it could have been worse.
Gordon