Travel 2nd place winner

Do you know about the Sabong? Where they dedicate a special fervor to one animal, for many millennia. Before any match, the cock is prepared and blades are attached to one of its legs, its owner whispers something to it, may be to thank it in advance for a great victory or, naturally, to bid him farewell after a long life together, clocked by a particular program of daily workouts and spontaneous care as if it was the Apple of his eye. Meanwhile, the arena is filling up and the crowd stirs. They shout, move, and rise. it’s not just excitement! It is a way of betting. An Olympian brouhaha is dominating the place, in the middle of the smell of blood, which makes me unable to hear the clicks of my camera...It’s already the end, laughter and tears mix on the horizon after the betted amounts. Throughout the morning, the battles follow one after the other, since some of them can be very short! As for me, I continue to walk around manila.

Hakim Boulouiz is a professional photographer, a writer and an expert in urban aesthetics based in Switzerland. He is looking to tell stories around poetry, mystery, and paradox by using all the layers involving the construction of urban drama.