All Saints' and All Souls' Day Photography in Olongapo and Subic Bay: A Family Guide for November 1 and 2
Two days in November are officially free of work — and in Olongapo, Subic Bay, and across Zambales, they are also the two busiest days for families who want photographs together.
If you're planning photos for November 1 or 2, this is the short version: book now, decide what kind of day you want, and treat the light the way you'd treat a sunset — it won't wait for you.
The Dates to Know
Sunday, November 1 is All Saints' Day. Monday, November 2 is All Souls' Day. Under Proclamation No. 1006, signed September 3, 2025, both are declared special non-working days for 2026 — so offices are closed and most workers get the day off.
That means two things at once for event planners:
- Both days are usable for shoots, and both days will be heavily booked.
- If you want November 1 or 2 for a session, a family gathering, or a corporate event, the window is now — not next week.
November 30 (Bonifacio Day), December 25 (Christmas Day), and December 31 are also non-working days, so the same booking pressure applies through the rest of the year's end.
What "Undas" Actually Means Here
In the Philippines, the All Saints' and All Souls' Day observance is commonly called undas. The custom is well documented: families visit cemeteries, clean and decorate tombs, offer flowers, light candles, and share food with relatives and friends. For a lot of households in the Olongapo and Subic Bay area, that means a full day — cemetery in the morning, relatives at the house by afternoon.
Photographically, that's a genuinely distinctive kind of day. It's warm, crowded, and full of small human moments: a grandchild carrying flowers, hands passing food, cousins in a reunion photo nobody planned.
What to Photograph
The cemetery hours. Light levels in the cemetery are the challenge. Candles and handheld lights are your real illumination, and they flicker. A photographer with proper low-light experience can work with that. What we recommend is a second shooter for large family groups — one person on the group photos, one on candid coverage — so the "posed" shots don't eat your entire window.
The family photos. Most families don't realize this, but the strongest All Souls' Day photos aren't taken in the cemetery. They're taken later, at home, when people are relaxed and the visiting is done. Grandparents with grandchildren, cousins in a living room, the cousins' kids in matching outfits. These need a defined block of time — 90 minutes is usually enough.
The reunion shot. Every undas gathering eventually becomes a group photo, and the group photo is where things go wrong: someone blinked, someone is half-hidden, someone was looking for a cousin. Give the photographer a headcount in advance and a list of the people who absolutely must be in the frame.
The food. Sharing food is part of the observance, and food photography in warm indoor light is a nice, quiet addition to the coverage. If you're also planning a separate session later in November for food or product shots, ask about bundling.
Planning the Day Around the Light
Sunrise in Olongapo on November 1 is around 5:52 AM, and sunset is around 5:29 PM. That gives you roughly eleven and a half hours of usable daylight — but the actual shootable golden window is much shorter and sits at the end of the day, not the start.
Two practical consequences:
- Cemetery work belongs in the morning, while it's cool and the crowd is thin. By late morning the walkways get busy and the parking gets difficult.
- Family portraits belong after 4:00 PM, when the light turns warm. This is the same golden-hour window that drives our November outdoor sessions.
November also runs measurably drier than October in this part of Zambales — the historical daily average rainfall for the area drops from roughly 9 mm in October to roughly 5 mm in November, and the number of wet days falls noticeably too. But "drier" is not "dry." We still recommend a plan for an indoor backup for the family portrait block, because a single afternoon storm can ruin a shot that only happens once a year.
What It Costs to Book a Full Undas Day
Most of our clients treat November 1 or 2 as a full-day booking: cemetery coverage in the morning, an indoor family session in the afternoon, and edited photos delivered afterward. If you're organizing a family gathering and want a single photographer to cover the whole day rather than just one block, mention that when you inquire — it's a different setup from a standard session, and it books differently.
Delivery for November and December runs toward the longer end of our standard window, so if you need a same-day social media set for the gathering, ask about it up front rather than on the day.
If November 1 and 2 Are Already Gone
Plenty of families only realise on October 30 that they want photos for the weekend. We can often still help, but the honest version is:
- Fewer hours available, less flexibility on location
- Possibly no second shooter, depending on the date
- Same-day delivery is unlikely
November is also one of the better months for ordinary family and event sessions — clearer skies, better light, and we're still a few weeks away from the full December crush. If the undas dates are gone, book a regular session in the second half of November instead.
Ready to Book?
Tell us your date, whether it's November 1 or 2, how many people are in the group photo, and whether you want cemetery coverage, a family session, or the full day. We'll come back with a shot list and a time plan.
Undas only comes once a year. Let's make sure you have more than a phone photo of it.