Taal photo heritage workshop

Last summer, I saw on the Federation of Philippine Photographers' (FPPF) website an ad for a  one-day heritage workshop to be held in various locations within the Taal - Tagaytay area.

Though I have been shooting for several years and have done events and portraiture professionally in the US and the Philippines, I still decided to join. The timing was perfect since I would already be in the Philippines on the day of the workshop.  Also, I had attended FPPF's basic photo (SLR) workshop like centuries ago (majority were then still using film!) so was I sort of curious on how it is now.

So I paid P3,800 (US$90) for the workshop, which included roundtrip van transfers to/from Metro Manila, breakfast, lunch, dinner and workshop fees.  FPPF instructor Amir Alba and an assistant accompanied  the class of 14 participants.

The meetup points for the van pickup were along different points along EDSA. Unfortunately, there was an ongoing construction on EDSA in the Ortigas area, so we were stuck on that stretch for more than 2 hours.  We were supposed to be in Tagaytay 7AMish, but it was almost 10 when we got there.

To ease our agony, our assigned van's manong driver played some music videos during the Tagaytay drive.  For some strange reason, played a lot of Taylor Swift videos.  Hmm... he must have been still in agony over the two Taylors' breakup back then.

First stop of the workshop was the Taal volcano view from one of the numerous  observation points along Tagaytay Highway.  The instructor focused on giving helpful tips for postcard quality landscape photos.

It would have been awesome if Taal exploded while we were shooting.
The perfect shot!

It was a little cloudy and the noontime sun was almost upon us, so my shot of Taal volcano was a bit hazy.  Plus, I forgot to bring my circular polarizer.   Hey, I'm still somewhat on jet lag mode as I had just flown in from Los Angeles two days earlier.

 

Translated into English, the plaque above reads "The Taal Basilica:  It was first established in 1575 by Fr Diego Espana in 1575 in the town of San Nicolas, which was originally part of Balangon.  It was destroyed in 1754 when the volcano exploded, then rebuilt at its current location in 1755.  But it was destroyed again in 1849 by an earthquake. It is considered the biggest Catholic Church in South East Asia.  Rebuilding the current basilica was started in 1856 according to text by architect Luciano Oliver. It was inaugurated in 1885."

Note to Pinoy blog readers: d ba si Maya ay taga San Nicolas?  :-)

The church's towering facade dwarfs a participant

Church entrance arch

Oops there was an ongoing wedding that Saturday morning.  Congrats to the newlyweds, whoever you are. Here's to your marriage surviving the test of time like the Taal Basilica.

Since we did not want to be gatecrashers and disrupt the solemn ceremonies, we just shot at a separate chamber of the church on the right.

Yes I know this shot has been done to death.
with a gazillion similar photos on the Internet
Might as well make it a gazillion and one

Our next stop!

The Taal Galleria was originally an ancestral house converted into a museum. The design is similar to the houses one would find in Vigan, Ilocos and Las Casas de Acuzar in Bataan.  Those two are the other famous attractions when you are talking about Spanish colonial style Filipino houses.  

This museum is an extremely critical stopover as this is where...

...we are having LUNCH. Woohooo!! 

Lunch consisted of the usual Filipino staples: adobo, grilled pork, and an eggplant dish. They also served tilapia freshwater fish, which is usually caught in the lakes of Southern Luzon.

The workshop participants had a blast during the meal, as they exchanged pleasantries and naughty jokes.  It is as if we were all long time friends, not strangers who had just met that day.  Some of the participants were classmates from recent FPPF basic photo classes, though.

Also, there was enough food to have seconds, much to everyone's delight, especially this hungry blog writer.  While waiting for the portraiture segment to commence, some of us toured the vintage camera exhibit of the museum.

we saw the usual Nikon F series SLRs

but there were Canons as well

Plus some Rollei cameras.  I wish they were for sale!

I also took some photos of the museum's well preserved architectural features.

Traditional window frame of the musem

double framing?

The portraiture segment consisted of shooting a Filipina model with the Capiz windows of the museum as our backdrop.

We also had a human interest portrait wherein an elderly lady was knitting something (I think it was a tablecloth).  We also had some fun as a few of our classmates pretended to be knitting models as well.

workshop participants waiting for departure from Taal Galleria

Casaysay church

We visited a smaller church in nearby Casaysay town for our next stop.   Though the church's design was similar to most churches in Philippine provinces, it had a nice interior deserving of several snaps from our DSLRs.

Ceiling painting

Outside the church, young kids were offering to light a candle for a P20 (US$ 0.50) donation.  Some of us obliged, especially those who needed photo subjects for their advanced photography classes with the FPPF.

We kinda got lost looking for another landscape photography location, which was a rustic countryside scene located near a bridge and a lake. If I remember correctly, there was supposed to be a final sunset shot elsewhere, but we were quite delayed due to a few wrong turns.

Nevertheless, it was just a minor hiccup as the scenery for that bridge location was perfect for that golden hour.

After the sun set, we headed back to Manila
 but not before having dinner at Jollibee Tagaytay.
 I lab you Sabado! 

Traffic going out of Tagaytay that Saturday night was also bad because it rained. But this return trip was more exciting, as we chose a perfect movie for the drive back to Manila.  we watched a movie from the Final Destination series, wherein young people desperately attempt to cheat Death to avoid getting killed in bizarre accidents e.g. vehicular.  Nice.