Lone Fisherman on a Mangrove, my favorite image in the exhibit.
Last 24 and 26 May, I visited fellow travel blogger Ferdz’s first monochrome exhibit entitled Living By Water at the Filipinas Heritage Library. It is his tribute to, in his words:
“…water and its significance to how and why people live by the water. “
What piqued my curiosity most were the locations where the images were taken: stilt villages in Basilan and Zamboanga, Itbayat, Lake Sebu, Siquijor and Iloilo. Except maybe for the last one, the rest of the places, especially with Itbayat is something that I must see and want to travel to one day. I would want to know these places and how others perceive these areas let alone interpret it in photographs.
There were memorable images. I especially liked the above photo with its pleasing contrast, composition and subject matter. Technically, I admired his other image titled Home at Sea with really good tonal distribution and impact.
After having said these, I do have comments. Three things:
- Tighter editing. By this, I mean, there are images that are redundant and some, good images notwithstanding, do not fit the theme.
- Tonal variation and contrast. Some images still need to be handled in a way that the full range from the deepest black to the whitest white are present. The relationship of dark and light areas need to be enhanced also as some images looked flat. There are several techniques on going about this.
- Lastly, especially for landscapes, horizons are always important to be straight.
For a first time exhibit, I should say, not bad at all. It takes a lot of courage to have a photo exhibit and present one’s work formally to the world and at the same time put it under scrutiny. Mistakes are also common. In my first major group show, I committed a major blunder in the processing in one of the photos. Now, I look back and learn from that experience.
To Ferdz, I will be looking forward to your next show.
Wow! thanks for this. Very helpful comments Estan and I’m glad you dropped by. Actually I learned a lot from this first exhibit as well:
+ One is be there when they print the photos. That’s why number 2 was such. I am thankful for the printing sponsor but if I ask them to reprint I was afraid it would take some time again to bug them.
+ I agree on a tighter theme. For the next one I’ll think about it and be more focused.
+ be more meticulous on the details.
Honestly napagod din ako sa prep but still I’m thankful. I know it’ll be a lot easier the second time around.
congratulations Ferdz and Estan sabihin mo rin kung may exhibit ka para mabisita rin namin. looking forward to that.
dong ho, our group exhibit will open in Jakarta tomorrow. it will be the start of a Southeast Asia wide tour. Manila is scheduled this September 🙂
Hi Estan:
I enjoyed all your topics.
Keep me always in the loop.
Good luck with all your endeavor.
I am just curious do you have contacts here in Los Angeles with photography coaching or school.
Thank you for that info re: music school in San Carlos City. I forwarded it to all my batchmates who are all in the cities.
too bad i didn’t make to to ferdz exhibit. but from what i heard, the exhibit was a success. ang galing din ng mga comments mo estan although di ko naintindihan yung iba kasi medyo technical stuff na yata yun.
nevertheless, good luck on ur forthcoming exhibits and gauging by the pics you show in ur blogs, i;m pretty sure that enthusiasts and non-enthusiasts alike will like it.
take care.
estan, astig ah! talaga ngang magiging proud tayo sa galing ng pinoy. congratulations. sana magkakaroon din dito sa pinas.