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.

Anticipation

Back in the day, when I was still learning photography using a film camera (my father’s Canon A1), buying a roll of film was pretty darn exhilarating. Well, first of all, ‘twas due to the fact that I could hardly afford any – I was a high school student then – and times when I had the chance to steal/beg/borrow some cash were rare. Once every four months or so, I went to the photo center in Alturas (it’s still there, I think) to buy a 36-roll Kodak or to BQ Arcade to grab some Fujifilms which were cheaper. Sometimes, I get my stash from Ramasola Superstudio which sold 36-shot Agfa films that had a couple or so extra frames at the end – such joy winding the frame to 38 or 40!

That was the bulk of my shooting then. No digital cameras yet. No cellphone cameras either. I shot film which regularly kicked me in the face with more than half a roll of garbage. But, I was not to be deterred. Or, maybe I was somehow deterred but stubbornly went back at it because I easily forget. But mostly, it was the thrill of shooting film though. The thrill in the hunt for the perfect capture.

See, during those times, photography classes and workshops were hard to come by. There were only a few people doing photography so I did not have photo buddies of any sort. My father taught me a few things and I had a single photography book to guide me through. Nothing more. So, most of my frames were estimates and experiments while trying to memorize the settings for different shooting conditions. One time, I had to list down the settings for every frame as a guide. But still, nobody really knew what was to finally come up on the negatives.

Shooting the town red

(L-R) Charles Borja, Dennis Oppus, Ryan Macalandag,
Ariel Angalot, Justin Paolo, Lourd Pocon

Not just the town nor the city, but, some parts of the province as well.

September 3, 2011. We just came back from MetroCentre Hotel in downtown Tagbilaran for the Visayas leg of the 2011 Canon Photo Marathon. The Canon Invasion as some Nikonistas were calling it (you know who you are, guys) prompted all photographers from all walks of life in the region - and from all camera brands, too – to line up and get red-tagged.

Now, most of you know that I am a Nikonian (I use a Nikon D7000 for my professional work). But, I also own a couple Canon film cameras which make me, at least, eligible I suppose. (Paste smiley icon here.)

Red is the color of Canon and together with a few hundred others, we wore red Canon shirts and scoured the whole island to capture three photos to best represent three complexly-worded themes. The whole-day photo contest was a literal battle of wits, creativity, muscle (for those who walked and jogged) and gas for those who – like us – were driving around with cars, motorbikes and huge beer bellies. We went to as far at Loboc to shoot. Well, a few of us anyways.