
January 11, 2020: I’m in a real-life postcard at a luxury hotel in the mountains of Tagaytay, Philippines to celebrate the wedding of two hometown friends. Drinks flow, cameras click, and the air is thick with celebratory energy. January 12, 2020: I’m standing on the balcony of my hotel suite, ash and debris raining down onto my head, as the once-dormant Taal Volcano erupts before my eyes in the center of Taal Lake. Earthquakes shake the mountaintop resort as I frantically find a way to get to Manila. Experiencing the Taal Volcano eruption was nothing short of otherworldly, an event that seemed to set the tone for the myriad of worldly disasters that would follow in 2020. “Eruption” was captured as I was dining on the hotel deck, watching the smoke plumes start to grow and realizing that no, it wasn’t just a geyser, the volcano was actually erupting in real life. This work documents a piece of both personal and geographical history that will always be a staple in my life/career.