I have often written about the bucket list of places I want to shoot at. What I don’t think I’ve told many people is that I have another kind of bucket list that is composed of concepts I want execute here in the Philippines. Expectedly, the items on the list are things that are not easy to do and are ideas with such heavy requirements. I have already done a couple on the list – like when we turned Manila into Havana and when we created the Nepalese countryside in Taal. Both turned out to be iconic shoots for Metrophoto.

In today’s feature, we were able to cross out my dream to shoot with a chartered hot air balloon from the list. I have been suggesting this concept since five years ago but it has never materialized because of the very complicated set-up. That was until Camille and Marvin heard about the idea and made it happen. I remember the time Camille confirmed to me the they finally found to a hot air balloon to charter and that we can shoot it however we want – I couldn’t believe that they were able to pull it off.

To complete the concept, we also hiked up to the crater of Mt Pinatubo for this prenup shoot. The 7km hike was no joke but the view at the top is really stunning. What we wanted really was to get the feel of being in the fjords without leaving the Philippines and that was what we got. We even had a cloak and a boat to match.

I’m so ecstatic with the entire experience, it was truly amazing to see the balloon at sunrise all to ourselves and then the crater for the first time. Take the journey with us by also watching the behind-the-scenes video of the shoot. I extremely appreciate the efforts Camille and Marvin (you guys are amazing!) made for such an endeavor to be possible and I hope that you guys appreciate this dream-come-true shoot for all of us. Enjoy this Mt. Pinatubo Prenup.

Special thanks to Jeff Galang for styling the shoot and to Mariah Santos and Anton Patdu for Camille’s make-up for days 1 and 2 respectively.