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Landscape Photographer by heart, Portrait Photographer by demand. Thats who I am when it comes to field of professional photography. I can still recall when I made my first clicks with my first DSLR, which was mid of 2006. I was a total newbie in photography, in fact I never liked photography at all. The very main purpose of buying a DSLR is because of the reason that I never possessed a digital cam at all. At second thought I wanted to use it to shoot the products of my clients which whom I've developed websites for. So that their products can be displayed in a decent way with high resolutions/good quality photos. I've signed up as member on
www.deviantart.com
to get some ideas what to shoot for practicing purpose. Furthermore I've used
www.tipidpc.com
as reference because I was inspired by the Filipino photographers. My first practicing mode was Landscape shooting. I've lived during those times at a town with great landscapes.
It's not common for a guy like me to shoot landscape. I'm a city type of guy, I go with whats new and cool. I'm more of a techie guy, who likes to review the latest gadgets on the market. But during those times I had nothing else to practice on, so I've just proceeded to shoot landscape.
When I did my shooting, I felt refreshing and relaxing. You really do start seeing landscape from a different perspective. You really do start noticing the small things in nature. But appreciating your shooting is far from making good photos. You will know it through the comments and critiques from other photographers. This is the moment I became active in photo online sharing. With great surprise, many of my friends and members of the social online community appreciated my works. My friends couldn't believe that I was doing photography for the first time. They've encouraged me to continue my photography and try different subjects and fields. While I was continuing, a friend of mine said to me “You have the eye for photography, that is what makes your works so different. Keep on training your eye, and your works won't be far from professional works“. This statement hit me, that drived me into non-stop practicing.
2007 was the year I moved back to the Philippines. Meeting my Idols for the first time, and shooting with those I've always wanted to shoot with. I noticed that in the Philippines, there were many opportunities in shooting Portraiture with models. I never wanted to shoot simple portraiture shots, never wanted to shoot Fashion. For me, these were the professional stuffs. I wouldn't dare myself to do those things. I was too noob in it and lacked the technical knowledge when it comes to studios and light setups. I didn't know what dresses to use, what make ups to choose and what poses to instruct the model. I just wanted to shoot Art in a way I've imagined it: Out of this world, Emotional, Morbid or Gothic. Styles I've preferred and always wanted to try out. I couldn't dare myself to do stuffs that professionals do. But again, the outcome of those weird photos I've made gave an big impact to the community. My works expressed uniqueness and my photo editing added the effect that I've always imagined in my mind how it should be. This also gave me the drive on continuing Portraiture shooting. While doing my artworks, I kept studying inbetween the lighting procedures. The Studio setups. The usage of reflectors and natural/available light. Most importantly, I've practiced on how to instruct model poses. I took up a Photography class by Leo Castillo and learned the key importance in photography.
My importance in Portraiture, which you can see throughout my gallery, is that a model should be able to express her thoughts or feelings. Emotions should be seen on the photo. If my target is not emotions, then its Motions. With motions I do not mean slow shutter speed shooting, where the subject seems to be blurry or fast moving on the photo. With motions I mean things we do in certain circumstances in life and captured on a photo. I can say that Portraiture was fun for me, but not my desire. My heart still belongs to Landscape photography. To smell nature, to hear the birds in a quiet place, to hear the waves of the sea or the movements of the tree's leaves. To step away from the world of technology and city life. To see the sun rising or a waiting for the sunset. Those were my desires. Later on, in 2008, I was invited in shooting Portraiture for a local magazine called AirsoftXtreme. During that time I was just an assistant photographer. But my works were greatly appreciated by the AX team. So I was furthermore invited for other shootings they had. 2008 was also the year I've started giving my first seminars in Outdoor shooting and my post processing skills. My Photomanipulation and Post Processing skills were widely appreciated by the Philippine Photography Communities. I was a part time instructor at an IT school and taught Photoshop from basics to advance. I can say that the skills I've developed in Photoshop since 2003 (longer than I've got experience in Photography) really paid off.
2009 I became the head photographer of AirsoftXtreme. 2009 was also the year I've received many assignments for Product and Food Photography. Sadly, mid of this year I left the Philippines because of an job offer I've received in Germany. Before I left, I gave several seminars for Photomanipulation and private tutoring on Photography basics. I was aware that I will be leaving many things behind, and I was aware that I will not be as active in Photography as I was in the Philippines. So I've decided to pass down all my knowledge and skills I've gathered to the Photography enthusiasts of the Philippines.
As of now I'm back to my old job, being a programmer and graphic/web designer for a company here in Germany. Someday I'll get back to Photography and continue what I've used to hate but love most as of now: Capturing Photos the way I've imagined them to be. |
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