Sideroom Studios is all for fun and creativity!

Sideroom Studios is a Bohol-based photography studio that offers studio portraits, wedding & events photography, on-location sessions, photobooth for all occassions, premium albums & prints and studio rental for photographers.

The studio opened on January 8, 2012 with a blessing and inauguration lunch attended by business partners, friends and colleagues. Ryan Macalandag, the studio's lead photographer shoots weddings, studios session, prenuptial, on-location photography and studio portrait sessions.

The studio's photobooth is also a banner product. Photographers are also welcome to rent the studio for their own personal or commercial shoots at a very competitive price. This is very helpful for photographers can't afford equipment to be able to use the studio for their photography work.

To inquire, go to www.sideroomstudios.ph and ask about Sideroom's services and products.

Visiting Photographers

Saturday, the 29th of this month, was a busy day.

Well the day before that was kinda hectic also. Jose Mari Chan – singer-songwriter and sugar seller – had a concert (slash comedy show) Friday night and a few of us Sideroom Photo Club members were there to cover the event. After the show, we had a few beers and a couple bowls of batchoy. Promptly, we went home around three in the morning.

After a few hours sleep, four club members – me, Charles Borja, Roy Navea and Atty. Libby Casilan – went early to the city wharf to greet a bus-full of photographers from Cebu City on the first fastcraft trip. Thirty of them, all carrying a bagful of photography gear for their Bohol Photo Tour.

The Photographers Club of Cebu is a Cebu-based photography club with a membership of almost 300 online members (with about a hundred active members). The 3-year old club was born out of the desire to teach and start a gathering of amateur, hobbyists and professional photographers.

PCC’s board is led by Ben Shan, Ryan Belleza, Ian Javier, Michol Sanchez, Don Dexter Antoni, William Yeh and Eric Saguin. Known as the most active club in Cebu, the group conducts monthly workshops, organizes fun shoots and does club contests.

Marian Jabines and Ghen Lumayag, both Boholanos, coordinated the event. Marian who is from Maribojoc but now works in Cebu, emphasized that the club’s motto of having a worry-free and fun-loving club is shown in the way PCC gathers for fun shoots and out-of-town soirees.

While in Bohol, they visited and photographed some of our world-class natural and cultural heritage sites like the Baclayon Church, Loboc Church, Loboc River, Albur Python, Bilar Man-made Forest and Sagbayan Peak.

Too bad though, they had to catch the last fastcraft to Cebu after their Bohol tour. Our morning welcome was well-received but we were basically still half-asleep that time.

Cross Training

Manny Pacquiao, the reigning no. 1 pound-for-pound boxer in the whole world, will be facing for the third time (and hopefully the last time) archenemy Juan Manuel Marquez on November 12, 2011  at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Pacman is currently training hard in California to finally seal the deal and erase all doubts about his previous fights with the Mexican boxer.

Manny’s team is amazing. Freddie Roach is one of the world’s best trainers and conditioning coach Alex Ariza certainly tops everyone in the biz also. Manny does conditioning work, strength training, speed mits and spars with a number of opponents. Not satisfied with the regular training regimens that most boxers do, he does uphill running, basketball and swimming.

Cross training is a great way to diversify the usual training routine and develop new skills for specific purposes that are not necessarily covered by the usual schedule. Running greatly improves Pacquiao’s stamina. His signature fleeting left overhead punch while ducking and sliding into and out of the opponents reach clearly mimics his cross-over moves in basketball. His agility in the court translates well on the ring.

Swimming is a perfect alternative to road work like what happened last year when a tropical typhoon ravaged through Baguio while in training. Ariza wove this discipline into Manny’s training regimen.

Purposeful Shooting

More often than not, a professional photographer takes pictures to produce photos for a client. He is paid to do things such as conceptualize a shoot, scout for models, book a location, hire a make-up artist, a hairstylist or a designer who could supply the outfit, dress or costume. He may have to set up big studio lights or compact flash units a la Strobist to light the scene.

Renting specialized lenses, if the photographer doesn’t have it, will surely be part of the budget and hiring a Photoshop “magician” if needed – which is almost always – when dealing with commercial clients. Most probably, directing skills are a must. Acting like a total nutcase is a plus too, to get better reactions from hardy subjects.

Annie Leibovitz, when tasked to take portraits of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, had two sets of equipment and likewise, two teams of assistants. While shooting on the first location, the second team would be setting up the second location and as soon as the first set finished, the first team would then rush on to the third location. And so on.

The professionals would have to do these things because they are being paid. Heck yeah, they enjoy their jobs, but, it is a job nonetheless. They are being paid to do these things.