Erwin and I met when we were at opposite ends of various stages in our lives. I had just started working, while he was halfway through dentistry studies and already a budding photographer. His Ilonggo accent was very evident, and it was always a running joke between us that somewhere along the way he completely morphed into a "Bisayang Dako."
For some years, I admired his work from a distance, whether on a flight while scanning a Mabuhay magazine, or hearing about some award he won — again — that I began to wonder if he was actually still practicing as a dentist. When I started writing lifestyle features and taking my own photos for most of my stories, he became my standard for awesome shots. I was a constant follower of the photos he posted, and my favorite comment was always: "When I grow up, I want to be Erwin Lim…"
After I was invited to join an inaugural flight to Nairobi, Kenya, to write a feature about it, I made it my mission to bring him along, as my limited ability in photography would never do justice to the wildlife we would encounter on a Kenyan safari. He was on a high every single day we were there and even jokingly confessed to me that after being able to get close to and capture the "Big Five" in photographs, he was ready to die.
During our last collaboration for a local magazine, he reminded me to make sure to give him a copy once it was published because he claimed that for so many years, so many publications asked for photos from him but never bothered to give him the finished product. I never got to do that, because he left us all like an earthquake in the middle of the night that jolts the senses out of us.
I do realize that there are many others who are gifted photographers, but he was my go-to guy who always accommodated me. If he did not have the photos I wanted, he would just ask for time to take them. He never said no. He would say, "Hey, wait," but never no. You will be missed by the world, Dong. But we will make sure your work will transcend generations.
Mike Jo Erwin’s underwater shots are all over The Reef Hotel in Mactan, and he always had the best shots in every Tour de Cebu. Once, we were shooting the moon during the pandemic — he later uploaded one of his photos, and that was the first time I saw the number of likes go up so fast. It amazed me because it reached 56K likes in a short span of time. One thing I will miss about being around Erwin is that you will always feel on the go and young with him.
