PENITENSYA
DOCUMENTING PENANCE 2023
BY DOMCAR CALINAWAN LAGTO
CONTENTS
PENITENSYA
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PREFACE
In 2009, I started taking photos of everyday lives with my first DSLR, the Nikon D60 camera that my sister May gave me as a gift when she got her first salary as a public school teacher.
I began to study and master the essentials that should be included in taking pictures on my own experiences.
I further understood the techniques of telling stories using images when I attended the workshop of the Photojournalist Center of the Philippines (PCP) Batch 9 or as we are called NUEVE, in Benguet, Mountain Province in November 2014. All of our mentors here are seasoned Photojournalists in the country. That was the beginning of my career as a Photojournalist.
The cameras I have used are also different. Starting with Nikon, until I bought a Canon 550D with video capture capability, where I was engaged telling stories through film, the Fujifilm XT10 mirrorless camera, and my most used smartphone now, the Huawei P30 Pro.
Nowadays the smartphone is one of the easiest to use for taking pictures and documenting events and is not far behind the pictures taken by DSLR.
In this book you can see a series of images portraying the lives of devotees in Barangay Wawa, Nasugbu, Batangas as they imitate the Passion of Christ during the Holy Week.
It will also show the importance of Lights and Shadows in applying to photography through composition to make the final result more impressive. It also adds drama to the image and storytelling of each documented event.
The different genres in photography is clearly discuss which will ultimately help you decide what genre you want to focus on in your photography career.
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PENITENSYA
BY DOMCAR CALINAWAN LAGTOPENITENSYA P
DOCUMENTING PENANCE ON HOLY WEEK
ENITENSYA (PENITENCE), is a series of images portraying the lives of devotees in Barangay Wawa, Nasugbu, Batangas as they imitate the Passion of Christ during the Holy Week.
Barangay Wawa is a fishing village that faces the China Sea. The most populated place among the 42 barangays of Nasugbu, Batangas. With more than 17,000 dwellers, this barangay became a haven for different people from the original inhabitants to the migrants from other regions mostly from the Visayas. One of the most observed traditions every year is the “Semana Santa” in April. This is a week-long observance of the Catholic Church’s beliefs; self-denial, insistent prayers, and physical punishment for the forgiveness of sins and cleansing of souls.
According to the old folks, when the residents are few, few join the tradition. But every year as the population increases the devotees and the penitents increased. Still dark, but the silhouette of people larks in the place. Some of them are patiently waiting in the display of repentance through self-mortification in the belief that
this will cleanse the soul ironically, some of them who are selfconfessed believers are in the place not to repent but to be merry.
In the distance, you will hear the clanking of the whips made of bamboo sticks or “bulilyo” flogging on the back of the penitents. The number of bamboo sticks at the end of the whipcord symbolizes the sins they asked to forgive. Closer, you will see the blood oozing due to the cuts made earlier on the back of the flagellates that starts to cover the whole of their back due to insistent lashing.
The scene becomes grimmer as the drops of blood splash in a different direction from the heavy blows and the foul odor of blood permeates the air. They are lined up along the beach, their heads were covered with black cloth to hide their identity, and some are seated near their heavy wooden crosses to carry and
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punished their body. You can hear no cries or remorse because this is their faith, to be cleansed, to pay back their answered prayer--healing of their sicked, good lives and fortunes, or simply an uttered promise.
Though the church didn’t promote this self-punishment for repentance, and even if to others, this is just scenery that adds color to the lives of the people to be witnessed and is captured for selfies and groupies, this became a tradition and culture among the people of Barangay Wawa, deeply rooted from the early teachings of the church handed from generation to generation.
“PENITENSYA” is a book that depicts the truth about the faith of the people, a way to preserve the accounts of history.
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PENITENSYA
BY DOMCAR CALINAWAN LAGTO
About Dom
TheAward-winning photographer who captured the series of volcanic lightning using his smartphone during the Taal Volcano eruption on January 12, 2020, and mentioned as “Taal’s Volcano: The Picture that Traveled Around the World by Stephen Conmy a Senior Manager, Editorial of Shutterstock on his article published on January 23, 2020. His photograph “The Lightning Dragon” an image that reached around the world, having been published in titles such as The Guardian, New Scientist, MSN, The Telegraph, and Nature.com and others— where it was bestowed “Image of the Week.” It was acknowledged as the most striking image of 2020 on BCC Culture when Kelly Grovier picks 14 of the most startling photos from this year– and compares them with iconic artworks. This iconic photograph also gained various awards in international photography competitions.
Born and raised in Barangay Wawa, Nasugbu, Batangas, Domcar Calinawan Lagto is a self-taught filmmaker, photojournalist, visual artist, layout and graphic designer, teacher, surfer, and author, whose work is covered by surf, lifestyle, and news subjects. His first self-published book TAAL VOLCANO MANS’ LAND draws from the life story of the Volcano Island in Taal Batangas, Philippines captured five years before its eruption in 2020.
He is a former School Head of Natipuan Elementary School for seven years and currently the School Head of Papaya Elementary School who envisioned an ideal future public school.
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