Eloisa Lopez
Photographer & Journalist

Info / Contact

INSTAGRAM @eloisalopez

INFO & CONTACT 

Eloisa Lopez is a freelance photographer and journalist based in Manila, Philippines. She covers crime, human rights, women and children issues. 

She is also a correspondent for Manila-based news outlet Rappler where she writes breaking news and feature stories on Manila cops, crimes, and the local government.

Her work has appeared on The New York Review of Books, TIME (online), The New York Times (online), Union of Catholic Asian News (UCAN), and Philippine Daily Inquirer—where she was a photo correspondent for two years after college.

She is also available for corporate and commercial work on the side.

For assignments, inquiries, and commercial portfolio, contact:

eloisaalopez@gmail.com (that's two a's after the s)

    It‘s no surprise that hundreds of mourners flocked to Fr Richmond Nilo’s wake. Fr Nilo was known as a hardworker who pushed to preside over at least 7 to 10 Masses every Sunday to accommodate as many villages as he could. On weekdays at the Parish, he often said at least 6 masses. “He was a hardworking priest. He wanted to serve as many barangays (villages) as he could. He would be restless if he was not saying masses,” Hermes Colacito, a member of Knights of Columbus said. Nilo was about to preside his sixth mass on Sunday, June 10 when a gunman shot him beside the crucifix. His blood stained the floor of the altar. A priest told me the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church. “We just hope that in this case, there is justice.” #everydayimpunity #priests #religion #philippines #killings
    The blood of slain Catholic priest Richmond Nilo stains the floor of Nuestra Senora de la Nieve chapel in Zaragoza, Nueva Ecija. Nilo was shot on Sunday, June 10 as he was preparing for evening mass before 70 parishioners who had to drop down and cover their heads as their priest was shot to death below the crucifix and the statue of Virgin Mary. While the police have yet to establish a motive to the killing, some parishioners believe it’s related to a disagreement between members of another religion. Nilo was a stern defender of the Catholic faith, and often participated in debates about religious doctrines. The police have yet to identify actual motive, but priests ask: Why inside the church? Are they trying to send a message to the priests? Nilo is the third priest to be killed in the past six months, following the deaths of Fr Marcelito Paez and Fr Mark Ventura. #everydayimpunity #priests #religion #philippines #killings
    The last Monday of May greeted firefighters with a stubborn fire in Manila. The fire started past midnight engulfing the entire Land Management Bureau, destroying tons of land titles and at least 100-million worth of equipment. Before sunrise, two more buildings caught fire—the BPI condominium, and the Moraga Mansion, leaving offices of law firms and insurance agencies nothing but ashes. Finally, before noon, as if three buildings were not enough, the fire engulfed almost half of the Juan Luna building that’s been built since 1914. The pre-war structure also houses the office of the National Archives of the Philippines. No one was badly hurt except for two firefighters who suffered hand lacerations, and one who had difficulty in breathing. The chief said they didn’t have enough breathing equipment for everyone. I arrived at noon and watched from the sidelines as they battled the stubborn fire. It took them 22 hours. I knew it then, but even more now: these guys are heroes. #fire #firefighters #heroes #manila #manilabeat
    Life goes on in Quezon City jail #philippines #imprisonedbeauty #LGBT #yellow #kilay
    Chill shares his bedroom with another call center agent. Like many workers in the BPO industry, he sleeps from noon til the evening as his shift begins after midnight, or when it’s daytime in the US. At least once a week, he and his colleages skip a few hours of sleep to enjoy day drinking. For #LaborDay, I’m sharing some images from a personal story I did a while back that follows the daily routine of a Manila-based call center agent named Chill. Chill, 28, is among the thousands of call center agents in the Philippines who got into the industry because of sheer lack of job opportunities in their chosen fields. Before coming to Manila in 2016 to spend his days and nights answering calls from customers around the globe, Chill worked as an IT professor in his hometown Cagayan de Oro. #callcenter #workers #mayday #laborday #philippines
    Often at work, Chill and most of his peers eat food from the convenience store inside the building they share with other call centers. Lunch and dinner usually means a cup of instant noodles, or microwaveable meals. If time permits, he cooks at home in the two-bedroom tiny house he shares with six other call center agents. (2/3) For #LaborDay, I’m sharing some images from a personal story I did a while back that follows the daily routine of a Manila-based call center agent named Chill. Chill, 28, is among the thousands of call center agents in the Philippines who got into the industry because of sheer lack of job opportunities in their chosen fields. Before coming to Manila in 2016 to spend his days and nights answering calls from customers around the globe, Chill worked as an IT professor in his hometown Cagayan de Oro. #callcenter #workers #mayday #laborday #philippines
    For #LaborDay, I’m sharing some images from a personal story I did a while back that follows the daily routine of a Manila-based call center agent named Chill. Chill, 28, is among the thousands of call center agents in the Philippines who got into the industry for sheer lack of job opportunities in their chosen fields. Before coming to Manila in 2016 to spend his days and nights answering calls from customers around the globe, Chill worked as an IT professor in his hometown Cagayan de Oro. Still, he calls his employment in Manila his “biggest accomplishment yet.” #workers #BPO #callcenter #philippines
    #Repost @worldpressphoto ・・・ Onlookers watch in horror as forensic investigators process a crime scene at Tondo, Manila on September 28, 2016. Most victims of this drug war reside in slum areas like Tondo, where families live in makeshift homes. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Eloisa Lopez (@eloisalopez), correspondent for Manila-based news outlet, Rappler, will present her current work on children affected by The Philippines' 'war on drugs', as well as talking about the group of photographers covering the story–dubbed 'the nightcrawlers' by some publications–at the World Press Photo Festival on Friday 13 April. Her presenation will be followed by a panel discussion with Luis Liwanag, freelance video and photojournalist and co-director of #WPPh2018 Digital Storytelling Contest nominated production, ‘Duterte’s Hell’ (Short form category). #drugwar #philippines #everydayimpunity
    The chorus of crying mothers and widows over caskets of their beloved sons and husbands is something I have repeatedly heard over the 18 months of Duterte’s drug war. But the unrhythmic cries of these children—the sound like a room of wailing infants—is not one I am used to hear. This is not something common, even in this bloody war. Thirteen-year old Aldrinne Pineda was just hanging out with his friends on the fence of a slaughterhouse in Vitas, Tondo when a masked man roving the area held up his flashlight, aimed towards them and shot the young boy on the side of his body. A friend of Aldrinne was able to help him up, and they walked arm to arm towards the Pinedas’ house as blood dripped over the trash-filled pavement. Aldrinne was brought to the hospital and died during operation. A few days later comes a cop claiming responsibility for the death of the young boy. Suddenly, there seemed to be a glimmer of hope, a reason to take away the chicks atop Aldrinne’s casket that’s supposed to peck on the conscience of his perpetrators. Except here’s how his story goes—PO2 Omar Malinao claims he was roving in the area when Aldrinne and his friends started “teasing” him, “challenging” him to come over when he tripped, fell to the ground, and accidentally pulled the trigger of his gun. It took his office two days to report this to Manila Police District. And yet he is not considered a suspect. #killings #EJK #children #everydayimpunity #philippines
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    IN THE PRESS

    'Have We Opened the Gates of Hell With Our Images?' / The Atlantic

    Philippines Drug War: Photographers on Most Powerful Images / TIME Online

    EXHIBITIONS / presentations

    2018 World Press Photo Festival / Amsterdam, Netherlands

    2017 Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand / Bangkok, Thailand 

    2017 Prix-Bayeux Festival / Normandy, France 

    2017 ActiveVista / Philippines 

    2017 WARM Festival / Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herezegovina 

    2017 World Council of Churches / Geneva, Switzerland