Binary Silver

Catch this very exciting photography exhibit while you still can! The World Press Photo 2008 exhibit will be wrapping up this week as its three week showing in the Philippines will end this 22 August at The Block in SM North Edsa. Gaze at over a hundred breathtaking images taken by photojournalists. From a high of around 80,000 images from 5,000 photographers from 125 countries, these are the photos that made it. This exhibit is also a look of what is happening in our world today and the kind of images that is transforming the field of Photojournalism.

German photographer and former World Press Photo judge Peter Bialobrzeski has been in Manila for 4 weeks taking pictures of the cityscape for a project called “Urban Spaces”. The city is his 5th stop in a series of residencies in Southeast Asia. Prior to Manila, he was in Hanoi, Bangkok, Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur.

During his stay, he has also been conducting workshops for a select group of Philippine photographers. On Tuesday, workshop participants Estan Cabigas, Gigie Cruz, Tammy David, Kidlat de Guia, Che Katigbak, Cathy Quiogue, Dennis Rito and Cris Sevilla will be presenting the projects that they worked on during the workshop. All deal will various aspects of urbanity. The photos will be included in a Goethe-Institut exhibit that will be travelling around Southeast Asia later this year.

To see the entire collection of photographs, talk to the photographers and meet Bialobrzeski, head to Silverlens Gallery on February 26 for a slideshow of all the photographers’ works. The event starts at 6pm.

In cooperation with Silverlens Gallery and the Konrad Adenauer Asian Center for Journalism. For more information, please visit call 8170978 or visit Goethe Institut Manila.

I was a bit shocked (and happy) to see the photo that I have submitted for critiquing at Popphoto.com a few months ago being featured under the heading “This Week’s Highlights.”

Above, a screengrab of how the index page of the American photography website magazine looked like. Another page had the accompanying text reads:

This photo submitted by Estan Cabigas is really good. I like the saturated artsy feel to it. The composition is nice, as well as the sharp detail of the water droplets on the boy’s back. I suspect that this photo might be a composite, but I think it’s a good one if that’s the case. The sharpness of the foreground next to the blurred water in the background makes an interesting photo. Also, the anonymity of the subject is thought provoking.
-Linzee Karasik

This photo was given five stars on the PopPhoto Flash rating system, the highest rating. Of course, this isn’t a composite as what the rater might have suspected. Original photo was taken in Palo, Leyte while subject was skimboarding.

Lagonoy, Camarines Sur

What a great way to spend the night after a photojournalism forum than to hang out with noted and up-and-coming (students of ACJF) photojournalists at the Newsbreak Bar in Quezon City near Timog. It was really nice meeting, chatting and getting inspired from these photographers like Buck Pago, Kitoy, Toto, Jimmy Domingo and Luis Liwanag, who by the way I should thank for complementing me on my Makati Senakulo work.

Seen too at the forum and bar were photojournalists Rem Zamora, Tammy David, Paolo Picones, VJ Villafranca, Sonny Yabao. Blogger Dennis Rito was also at the forum and of course, the one who invited me, Kat Palasi.