The Ink Shot archive
From 7 May 2012 until 7 December 2021 The Ink Shot was the blog of Marcus Baumgart, an itinerant café writer, designer of buildings, animal-lover and day-by-day battling creative. This blog celebrates the practice of writing in cafés, writing fiction and non-fiction and being creative in general.
Marcus struggles to motivate without the happy white noise of lively conversation and hissing espresso machines.
Some 'Imeldific' Modernity
I couldn't let a trip to the Philippines pass without at least one image of Imelda Marcos. I found this shot at a great site, Architektura.ph, which seems to be a vehicle for the local design community. I have also stumbled across the Urban Historian tumblr blog, which is about Manila as an urban and architectural place. This city seems to inspire passionate advocates, perhaps because of, rather than despite the fact that, it has been so roughly treated over the last 500 years. Click through on the image to learn about the Marcos years in terms of its relationship to architectural modernism.
Three images of Old Manila
These three images show different aspects of old Manila. The map of Intramuros dates from 1851; the stereo-opticon image of Escolta in the business district dates from 1899; and the aerial photo of Intramuros dates from late February 1945, showing the devastation wrought by the American bombs.
Intramuros, 1851
Escolta, Manila, 1899
Intramuros, late February 1945, showing devastation
Fort Santiago and Intramuros
Fort Santiago is a diminutive fortification that housed the Spanish military, one cannon shot's distance from Chinatown. It is part of Intramuros, the walled city of old Manila. This place has a sad but fascinating history, it was really done over in the final moments of the Second World War, 100,000 dead on the streets due to the butchery of the Japanese, followed by carpet bombing by the American forces. Manila was all but obliterated, and a glittering, cosmopolitan city was razed to the ground. In many ways, it still hasn't recovered. Still: the spirit of the people is strong, and a gracious and friendly population lives here in this city of 15-20 million people.
My friend Carrie-Anne at Fort Santiago