A Note from the artist

A liminal space between stillness and journey

This image was created on a remote island in the Concepcion archipelago, off the coast of Panay in the Philippines. At the time, I was traveling solo, photographing the quiet edges of Southeast Asia.

I had just arrived in Carles after a long bus ride and used what can only be described as an elite blend of hand gestures, hopeful smiles, and strategic money waving to hire a local outrigger captain to take me across to the islands.

Eventually, we landed here. I stepped onto the sand with my gear, waved him off—and suddenly realized I was the only person on the island.

I was maybe 80% sure he’d come back for me.

What followed was a night of stillness and strange vulnerability. The kind that presses on your sense of self and makes the world feel impossibly large. It was the most alone I’d felt since getting lost in the White Mountains years before. And yet, there was beauty in it—a gentle confrontation with solitude.

In the morning, I heard the soft sputter of the outrigger returning. I stepped out onto the beach and saw this exact scene waiting for me.

A glassy sea. A handmade boat. That same feeling of suspension between motion and rest.

That’s what this image is about.

A moment between departure and return.

A world held still, just long enough to be witnessed.

Welcome to Concepcion is part of The Lonely Boat Collection—a body of work that captures calming, sometimes hauntingly beautiful scenes of solitude. Each photograph features a single craft placed within a greater composition, inviting the viewer to pause and consider the stillness that surrounds them.