Jose Melgarejo Photography

10/26/2026

Whose stories make it into the picture?

The stories we carry aren’t always the same ones we choose to pass on.

You can love where you come from and still do things differently.

Maybe you keep a tradition but make it your own. Maybe you bring two families together, each with their own ways of doing things. Maybe you start something new that your kids will one day recognize as part of your family’s story.

Culture doesn’t stay alive because everything stays the same. It stays alive because people keep carrying it forward.

The point isn’t to recreate somebody else’s version of the past.

It’s to understand what matters to you and decide what you want to pass on.

And years from now, the photographs might be one of the ways those stories live on.

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josemelgarejo.com

10/23/2026

Do you actually need engagement photos?

You don’t.

But you might want to remember what they represent.

www.josemelgarejo.com

10/23/2026

10/21/2026

Expecting a little one this fall?

The Beautiful Wait is a boutique maternity photography experience for those who value realness over perfection, privacy over performance, and the beauty of life as it is.

For those who prefer intimate spaces with meaning. Who find beauty in the in-between moments, the imperfections, and the details that make this chapter their own.

Learn more about The Beautiful Wait and inquire about a session at josemelgarejo.com/maternity

10/19/2026

We know we’ll remember the big moments.

It’s the little ones we don’t think to remember until we can’t picture them anymore.

Those are usually the photographs worth keeping.

10/16/2026

A smaller wedding doesn’t mean less to remember. It means more room to spend the day with the people who matter, and let the moments happen as they will.

What would you want to make room for?

josemelgarejo.com

10/15/2026

Expecting a little one this fall?

The Beautiful Wait is a boutique maternity photography experience for those who value realness over perfection, privacy over performance, and the beauty of life as it is.

For those who prefer intimate spaces with meaning. Who find beauty in the in-between moments, the imperfections, and the details that make this chapter their own.

Learn more about The Beautiful Wait and inquire about a session at josemelgarejo.com/maternity

10/08/2026

History, like memory, is only as strong as the people who keep it.

A culture doesn’t survive because it’s placed safely behind glass.

It survives because it stays present in people’s lives.

They honor the language/s.

They cook the food.

They tell the stories.

They teach the traditions.

They argue about what should stay and what should change.

That’s how culture moves forward.

Filipino American history is full of stories that were overlooked, simplified, or never recorded.

Once a story disappears, the details around it fade as well.

Maybe that’s why remembering matters.

Not just remembering the names we already know.

But making room for the stories that were harder to see.

The women who built communities.

The Indigenous Filipinos whose stories were erased.

The LGBTQ+ Filipinos who shaped American history.

The multiracial, undocumented, disabled, Muslim, adopted, and other Filipino Americans whose experiences have often been left out of the larger story.

Because there isn’t one Filipino American story.

There are thousands.

Different families.

Different generations.

Different places.

Different versions of home.

And keeping those stories alive isn’t just about looking backward.

It’s about us deciding what gets passed on.

This is how we preserve culture.

Not by keeping it unchanged.

But by keeping it alive.

Filipino American History Month 2026. 🇵🇭🇺🇸

10/01/2026

just the two of you, a fall day in New York, and the freedom to spend it however you want.

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josemelgarejo.com