My Photography Journey

In the Philippines – 18th Birthday is such a special day for girls. Usually people celebrate it in a very formal occasion. The debutant will have 18 roses, (given by her closest male friends and family member) 18 treasures and 18 candles.

One day a friend of mine who is soon going to celebrate her 18th birthday asked me if I can take a simple photography at her 18th birthday. I agreed even though at that point I have no idea how to use a DSLR properly.

I tried so hard to learn a lot before the special day. I learned how to use aperture priority which really helped a lot! For my friend's birthday event, I rented out a camera from my university which included a 24-105 F4 lens. The day went well… Although all of my shots before was done using manual focus! I had no idea how to focus and recompose before! Hahaha. The camera kept focusing on the wrong subject... So I shot everything in manual focus!

On the above picture was where I fell in love with shooting the subject in front of an out of focus foreground. I have studied television production at university, so framing, composition etc is quite familiar with me. But when I was editing the photos I felt something different to when I watch a video. On that night I understood the concept of “A picture is worth a thousand of words” It just have a different feel to video. You have frozen a specific moment in time, beautifully captured and you the viewer will forever anticipate how a moment of time has passed.

On the summer time of that year I bought a 50mm 1.8 lens because I did not have money and I wanted a cheap alternative to get quality pictures. I shot a family event with just this lens on my old APS-C canon 650D camera. I am actually happy because this has pushed my limits and it helped me develop a photographic eye. Professionals claim that 50mm is close to what your eye can see and photographing a whole event with just a 50mm really taught me how to compose my shots by moving my feet. It has taught me that when people get lazy they just zoom in and sometimes shots are more interesting if shot up close. Also since 50mm lens is close to what an eye can see, I trained myself everyday to consciously frame things in my mind.

I wanted to push myself out of the photo-journalist style and I joined a beginner’s portrait photography workshop it was really fun but something was missing, it did not teach me anything it was just a paparazzi style workshop (10 photographers shooting at the same time)

One year later I was working at Costa – I really love this place.

I was talking about photography with one of my colleague there - she showed me a famous and successful photographer who takes beautiful photos even though he doesn't have hands! I was in awe and was really inspired and my colleague kept telling me that if that photographer can do it, I can do it as well. Soon after that there was an opportune moment that presented itself. The manager at Costa was going to be married in a month but her wedding photographer was in Latvia (and her bundle deal with him does not include a Prenup) I told her that as a wedding gift I will photograph her Prenup. It was the first time I actually asked someone to ‘pose’ for me. I was really awful at it! But it taught me something valuable.

I worked at Costa for about a year, I do not regret it. It taught me a lot especially how to talk to females with respect. (All of my work mates are females!) It’s a place that I will always treasure in my heart. (Someone please punch me! I NEED TO REGAIN my manliness!) When I left there I was devastated, it is a place that I love, it felt like a heartbreak for me.

I started a new job the first few weeks I was feeling down, I needed something to fill the void, I needed something creative to do.

One day I was on the train, I was gazing outside the window and I saw a couple doing a prenup at a bridge. It was perfect – sunset and a romantic couple. It reminded me on how much I enjoyed doing the prenup with my manager. I enjoyed the thrill of interacting with a subject while photographing them.

When I went home I searched on a meetup group for a good photography workshop to join and there I saw “London photography social” on the workshop description it even said that “no paparazzi style shoot here”

I was so thrilled to attend one of the workshops! On the first workshop I met a beautiful model Tay. Mate I was so intimidated, she was so beautiful! But the workshop host gave me some advice which made the shoot run smoothly. After the shoot she even took a picture at the back of my camera! And she even posted one of my picture on her Instagram! It was one of my most memorable experience.

I met my photography mentor and friend Andrew. And many photography friends: Aymeric, Stefan, Ollie, Wing, Steve and a lot more. And now thanks to that Meetup group the void that I was feeling is now gone. And now I am ready to embark on my photography journey.