The Journal

Lens and Letters is a journal of stories in black and white — with a splash of color.

The Storyteller

Bea is a storyteller from the sunny islands of the Philippines. A storyteller by profession (bringing brands to the next level experience through creative agency TeamAsia), she loves tinkering around with the camera to catch the most unguarded and beautiful moments she stumbles upon.

She grew up looking at the coolest black and white photos of African wildlife taken by her grandfather. In the 1960s, he brought the Lims to Kenya as he was assigned by Delmonte to set up the cannery of its pineapple operations in that region. This adventure allowed him to take the most amazing photos of the daring lions of Tsavo, the glorious Mt. Kilimanjaro and the majestic elephants of Kenya.

So you can just imagine how these black and whites would bring such excitement to any kid out there. It was like having your own NatGeo exhibit at the house! And yes, this lady grew up learning about the world from the glossy pages of National Geographic every month.

Both her dads (yes, this lucky girl had two dads – her bio dad and stepdad) were both into photography, taking beautiful pictures of landscapes, sunsets and people. And Bea loved creating stories for them. In fact, Bea loved creating stories for everything! This is the reason why she took up literature in her undergraduate studies, and combined it with marketing to bring the art of storytelling into campaigns.  Art + copy became a sacred formula. No art could stand without a story, nor a story could live without an image (even if only imaginary!).

Lens and Letters is a personal project for this storyteller. In 2013, her stepdad Michael Hamlin passed away due to cancer. Grief and acceptance did not come right away, nor did it come easy to everyone in the household. So, instead of dealing with the pain head on, it was always put in the back burner waiting for a different type of release. A year after, a camera was purchased and the black and white photos came.

First the lens (art) and then came the stories (copy).