THE AFTERMATH OF THE COMPETITION.....

Canon Shoot and Run Entry, Finalist.....





I had a blast in joining the first ever Canon Shoot and Run photo contest. It was fun, tiring but exciting event. Five members from the NAYON Photo Club participated. The objective was to take pictures according to the theme with the City of Manila as the backdrop. There were two themes, with a third one an optional theme. The first is the "Splendor of Manila", the second is the "Heart of Manila" and third being "Only in the Philippines".

The competition started with a briefing at exactly 10:30 am which we were required to attend. Failure to do so shall exclude the shooter from participating in the morning session of the contest. The actual shooting process started at 11 am. Bobet joined another set of photographers, so we, the remaining ones basically stuck with each other. With Lian's husband Von doing the driving for her (and us as well as we hitched a ride with her), we stopped by the grandstand in Luneta Park. Without seeing anything that I can capture that which, in my opinion, shall show the "splendor" of Manila, I walked towards the end of the grandstand and saw the Manila Hotel. I came to an area where the skating rink is now located (after being displaced by that humongous statue of Lapu-lapu) and suddenly found myself in an ideal location. Even I have not seen this area before, but since there were no other contestants around, the sudden realization that I have an original photograph made me feel good. Manila Hotel has been a symbol of luxury since the days of yore so what better subject to capture the "splendor" of Manila than the hotel that carries its name? And the view that I got is indeed unique. It is along the dock where the floating restaurant is located! That explains the boats and the walkway. I then told Lian not to meet me anymore since I already have my potential entry with me as the group decided to proceed to Intramuros for more photo opportunities. Later, during the night, the organizers told us that the pictures that were being shown on the wide screen were the images that made the top fifty for the "splendor" category. My entry was included and it made my participation worthwhile.

The afternoon session proved to be more difficult for me as it was all about people. I had problems with finding ideal subjects since I didn't want to photograph subjects which I perceived to be common, i.e. the cigarette vendor, the sampaguita vendor, the street children. I wanted to show the distinguished people, i.e. the doctor, the nurse, the policeman. But it seems everyone was inclined to shoot the street children, so of to Quiapo we went. As I expected, I didn't have a single decent entry for this theme. My photograph of a katipunero dressed security guard of Fort Santiago didn't make it, I assume, to the top fifty of this theme. Well, better luck and conceptualization next time.

Congratulations are in order to Robert Fontanilla, one of my club mates. His picture in the "Splendor of Manila" category won second place. He went home with a Canon Pixma printer valued at 25,000 pesos as his prize.