Hi, I’m Jovel and I started Box Camera PH during the pandemic…

This is not something I planned, but something I stumbled into that completely brought me back to life as a photographer.

Before all this, I’d been shooting professionally since 2001. I worked for magazines, and I started my career using analog cameras. I would use my trusty Nikon FM2 or a medium format film cam. That was my world—until digital photography took over. Slowly, the excitement I once felt started to fade. Everything became so fast, so polished, and somehow less meaningful. I found myself drifting away from the craft I used to love.

Then came the pandemic. Like most people, I was stuck at home, scrolling the internet, when I came across a video of an old street box camera. It was bulky, handmade, and completely analog. But it had this magic to it—this simplicity that reminded me why I picked up a camera in the first place. I couldn’t stop thinking about it, so I decided to build one myself.

With supplies limited and time on my hands, I started from scratch. I measured, cut, assembled—piece by piece—until I had a working box camera. But this wasn’t just any camera. It was also a portable darkroom. I could take someone’s portrait and develop it on photo paper, right then and there. It was an incredible discovery—to realize I could create a finished photograph without relying on film or digital technology. No screens, no computers—just light, chemistry, intuition, and the quiet confidence that something meaningful was about to appear, one image at a time.

That slow, hands-on process reignited something in me. It felt real again.

That’s how Box Camera PH was born—not as a business plan, but as a return to something honest. Now, whether I’m doing this during my free time, at a pop-up, or during a private event, I’m offering people more than just a photo. I’m giving them an experience, and 100% of my skills and desire to capture your unforgettable photograph. 

This is a rare chance to slow down and witness a piece of photographic history in action. Each shot, taken slowly and deliberately until I’m sure I’ve given you my best shot, results in a handmade portrait that aims to not just tell your story but be part of an old art brought to the present. 

Some people now call me the “Minutera ng Maynila,” a nod to the traditional street photographers of the past. I love that. Because in a world that moves way too fast, I get to offer something different: portraits made the old way, with time, care, and true passion for the craft.