ISSUE 02
SOURCE BY LITRATO
the new standard of filipino photography
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ELEVATING THE LIVES OF FILIPINOS L I T R ATO ’ S M I S S I O N A N D V I S I O N
Litrato’s mission is elevate the lives of Filipinos through the powerful means of photography. To accomplish this, our vision is divided into three programs: Exposure, Outreach, and Resources.
reality from a different perspective to high school children who wouldn’t otherwise have access to that luxury by using photography as a tool. In return, we plan to equip them with a voice that we will help make louder with our Exposure program. Litrato’s Exposure program is Hopefully, with their voices seen devoted to setting the standard of and heard, Filipinos can then get a photography in the Philippines. We glimpse of the reality of their lives. aim to provide photographers a We also want to teach people space to showcase their work and fundamental photography including have a broader audience. We want the history of Filipino photography. to promote knowledge on previously miscommunicated facts regarding Litrato’s Resource program plans photography. Lastly, we wish to to set up a community where inspire others to take up photography photographers can share ideas, as a fine art: as an expression of concepts and resources. We also themselves and the world around wish to set up a space where them. photographers have access to affordable professional cameras, Litrato’s Outreach program aims to computers and printing. extend the opportunity of seeing
CONTENTS 07 08 12
EDITOR NICHOLAI GO ASSITANT EDITOR MARY CRIS NOCEDO ART DIRECTOR ARTURO ALLI ART EDITOR MICHAEL ALEGADO TECHNIQUE EDITOR RANIEL HERNANDEZ
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STAFF WRITER KATHRINA PAZ ELEFANTE ADVERTISING MARIA OGO
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OUR MISSION AND VISION
A Photography Experience on Print
SECOND EXHIBIT: CHANGE
Litrato’s second call for entries
PHOTOGRAPHERS OF CHANGE
Anton Villalon Baru Dacasin JM Sabariaga Mico de Vera
CALL FOR ENTRIES: URBAN
Litrato’s next exhibit theme announced
IN FOCUS Interviews with Sandra Dans & Nina Sandejas EQUIPPING VOICE
Workshop at Tahanang Walang Hagdanan
CLASS ROOM Decisive Moment & Film Photography FILIPINO PHOTOGRAPHY
A Filipino History of Colonial Photography
EDITOR’S NOTE
A Note from Nicholai Go
7 THE MISSION AND VISION OF SOURCE
THE PHOTOGRAPHY EXPERIENCE ARTURO ALLI
There is no better place for photography to flourish than in the Philippines. The land, along with its rich history and multi-faceted culture, exposes any individual to the innate potential and power of great images, images waiting to be captured with a camera. It is in this notion of great and powerful images that can inspire a culture of change in and for the Philippines. At Source, it is a belief that photography extends beyond the mechanics of the camera, that it is an essential means of artistically exploring and experiencing visual possibilities. As such, this publication does well to recognize artistry in photography by selecting and showcasing the best works from local talent. Through its content, Source aims to create its own culture of change – to alter the way in which people view the world, one powerful image at a time. We present to you the culmination of creative collaboration, hard work and local artistic photography. Welcome to our gallery. Welcome to Source.
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SECOND EXHIBIT: CHANGE CHANGE IN ALL THINGS IS BITTERSWEET
C H R I S T I A N M AT I C
June 21, 2014 marked the opening of Litrato’s second exhibit and it’s first call for entries with the theme “Change”. Following the success of its first exhibit “Genesis”, a series of photographs graced again the walls of Bar Dolci located in Bonifacio Global City. It showcases the works of the four finalists namely Baru Dacasin, JM Sabriaga, Antonio Villalon and Miko De Vera. The contest is one of the initiatives of the organization’s exposure program, which aims to give an avenue for promising budding Filipino photographers to display their work. The exhibit opened at 6 pm. The four finalists had different interpretations of the theme on print. The photographs varied from scenes depicting the national transport system, the ruins of an island shook by an earthquake, the halls of a nursing home, and screens of haunting landscapes. The gallery is a place of reflection where the audience , like peeking out on an open window, are kept thinking about the “ ifs”, the “wills” and the “cans” of life by looking on the photographs. According to Nicholai Go of Litrato and one of the jurors of the event, “The range of photographs
that we received were great and showed a multiunderstanding of the theme. However, the jurors and I believe that these 4 photographers were not only able to represent change but also evoke change within the audience. That’s what we were looking for in this competition - photographs that have depth and engages the audience.” The night echoed the sound of discourse on the arts and culture between photography enthusiasts and friends and family members of the finalists. Food and refreshments by Bar Dolci complimented the event. The evening was a celebration of good art, food and fellowship. Art is a metaphysical pursuit of the artist to create his or her own reality based on his virtues and values. The purpose of art is to give the artist an outlet to express his or her view on existence. And if his or her craft was able to move the world to a space it has never been before, the artist had achieved a value more of than that of aesthetics. “Change” will be running until September 2014 at the 2nd floor of Bar Dolci in Burgos Circle, Bonifacio Global City.
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p r e s e n t s
CHANGE
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L I T R A T O E X H I B I T : C H A N G E
Loboc Church, in Loboc, Bohol A N T O N I O
V I L L A L O N
A N T O N I O
V I L L A L O N
Dauis Church in Panglao Island, Bohol A N T O N I O
V I L L A L O N
“Change can be brought about by anything. Be it a desire to be different, or a result of outside causes leading to change. In October 2013 the churches of Bohol were devastated by one of the worst earthquakes to hit the Cebu islands in years. Only a month later, the Visayas region was hit with the worst hurricane in recent history. Built during the Hispanic colonial era, the churches that stood for the Christian faith were left in ruins in the aftermath of both natural disasters. The question now becomes, “what do we do now?” Though the churches lay in ruins, with roofs crumbled down, stones broken, and statues destroyed, the spirit still remains. They may not be the beautiful churches that they once were, but there is one thing that cannot change despite the damage: sprit and faith can never be shaken or washed away by the strongest of calamities. The structures may change, but the foundations remain.”
L I T R A T O
Of All The Damage Dealt, The Cross Remains
E X H I B I T :
C H A N G E
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L I T R A T O E X H I B I T : C H A N G E
I’ve Seen The World Changing J M
S A B A R I A G A
“The elders remind me that growing old is inevitable, Sometimes the one that really loves us tends to leave us for a reason. A lot of changes will happen when we get old, but that’s part of life. We just have to learn and accept the concept of it.”
I Don’t Know Who You Are Anymore S A B A R I A G A
L I T R A T O
J M
E X H I B I T :
C H A N G E
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In Search for Tomorrow J M
S A B A R I A G A
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L I T R A T O
E X H I B I T :
C H A N G E
D A C A S I N B A R U
Untitled 02
Untitled 04 B A R U
D A C A S I N
“One of the things I love about what I do is the feeling I get when I notice certain changes in places or objects or people that I have photographed days or months or years before. It puts a smile on my face knowing I have seen and captured an image of something or someone that will never look the same again. Then almost instantly, the experience reminds me that nothing is permanent, that change is constant, and friends and loved ones come and go. Moments like this give me a better understanding of life one step at a time. Other inspirations for my personal projects come from childhood memories and questions in life. I occasionally take photos of things that frighten me as I believe it helps me confront my fears. Photography has helped me deal with the passing of my father when I was having a hard time coping. It has allowed me to forget the problems of the real world for a little while. For when I am with a camera, the places I go to become Neverland.�
E X H I B I T :
D A C A S I N
L I T R A T O
Untitled 03 B A R U
C H A N G E
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L I T R A T O
E X H I B I T :
V E R A D E
Trains 04
C H A N G E
M I K O
V E R A
Trains 05 M I K O
D E
V E R A
“The Strong Republic Transit System (SRTS) of 2003 has been long proposed. However, there has been little effort in unifying and adding to the existing rail infrastructures of Metro Manila. MRT3, LRT1 and LRT2 have continued to be the only mass rail transit lines for more than 11 million people of Metro Manila. To say that these infrastructures are significant for national development is an understatement. With the 44 stations and more than 50 kilometres, these existing SRTS lines move the Philippines’ capital. I have always been amazed with trains. Aside from how graphic the elements are, its consistency have always been of great interest for me. Also, I chose to document Manila’s train system as a proof that the government shound continue to support this infrastructure. This is the story of a day in the life of moving lines.”
E X H I B I T :
D E
L I T R A T O
Trains 01 M I K O
C H A N G E
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SANDRA DANS FEATURED PHOTOGRAPHER
“Mga Santong”, Photoseries; December, 2013.
Why pursue photography? I like to think what I pursued was art through photography, and not just photography itself. In the beginning I saw it as a medium with a lot of potential for artmaking, rather than a technical process that I wanted to master. My first photographs are of chairs and corners and lampposts and ceilings: mundane things shot and framed in bizarre ways. I was obsessed with the ability of photography to make these things seem strange, to defamiliarize them to people who saw them everyday. It’s the practice of defamiliarization in art that appeals to me, and I think photography is a fantastic medium for that.
23 What do you most love about photography, what aspect of it is the most fulfilling? On a personal level, I love what a subconscious medium it is. You can tell so much about a person based on how and what they photograph, and a lot of the time they don’t even realize how much they are revealing. I learn about myself through my images all the time, and I learn about my peers through theirs, too. Because of the public scrutiny we subject ourselves to these days, we’re all becoming so much more aware of how much photography actually telegraphs. I think this awareness has led to much more insightful and in-depth public discussions about images, and has made image-makers a lot more thoughtful about their work.
“I AM #MorningSelfie”, April 18, 2013.
I like that photography makes us think about so much more than just what is literally presented to us. It is a critical thinking medium.
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25 How would you describe your aesthetic? What do you hope to say with your work?
photographic print when I make Floragrams, all the way to challenging perceptions of our own “holiness”. I really hope my work makes people consider the assumptions they bring with them My aesthetic tends to shift depending on the when they look at photographs, at women, at specific message I’m trying to get across within themselves, at God. a specific project, so I wouldn’t really pigeonhole my work into a single aesthetic category. But a Who are your major influences? theme that runs through most of my work has always been irreverence. The answer to this is always different depending For example, my portraits of unmarried women might be very different aesthetically from my portraits in Mga Santong Kanto, but both projects address specific expectations from both groups of people that I’ve photographed, and attempt to subvert them. I’m a big believer in critical thinking and challenging thought patterns that are supposedly “unquestionable”, so a lot of my work is about dismantling expectations, particularly for women. I’m disinterested in the idea of a “beautiful” image, this really outdated notion that conforming to a set of visual expectations automatically makes something palatable. My interest in subversion infuses everything I do, from disrupting the
(Top left)
“Floragrams”. (Left)
“Stampitas”. (Bottom right)
“I AM #CoffeeTime”.
on what I’m working on and what I’m thinking about. Aesthetically speaking I’m honestly very into this Autumn De Wilde/Ina Jang pastel quirkiness, though I can never bring myself to work like that unironically. In my current projects, I’m making a lot of references to historical Christian artwork, so I’ve been very immersed in these old Flemish altarpiece painters and Caravaggio and the like. Conceptually, since I’m working on self-portraiture, I’m looking at a lot of Cindy Sherman and thinking about how she was looking at herself and how much of her was actually in her work, and how much wasn’t. I also look at Francesca Woodman and Julia Margaret Cameron.
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What are some of your past projects? What are you currently working on now? For my undergraduate thesis, I did a long form photo storybook with an original story and costumes and a whole cast of characters that was quite fun. I made the entire thing black and white because for some reason I was convinced it would be told more effectively, but I’ve recently been thinking of publishing it in color because so many of the costumes lost their sparkle in black and white! For some reason I also have a lot of portraiture projects in my past – I seem to enjoy collecting faces. I photographed unmarried women of marrying age a couple years ago in a project called There Is Always More, and I have been dying to publish it, but am running into release issues
with some of the models. Prior to that I did a portrait series of women that had been Single Since Birth. Right now I’m working on three smaller projects that are all kind of thematically related. I’ve published the first of the three, which are the Caravaggio-esque portraits I’ve taken of my friends called Mga Santong Kanto. I’m also working on a self-portraiture series called I Am, where I depict myself doing mundane things in the style of old Christian artwork. I’m also making stampitas (Catholic prayer cards) of... myself. With real tweets on the back. Haha. The work sounds really narcissistic - but it is about narcissism, especially in the age of the Internet, and how the sanctification of the self has replaced any sort of deity or god.
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(Left)
“I AM #MorningSelfie”, April 18, 2013. (Right)
“Stampitas 2”, 2014.
Do you think that photography has a place in social change? How so?
Any advice to offer to other photographers and artists?
Yes, certainly, but not if we don’t let it. I believe ANY medium can inspire change – music, writing, pottery, basket weaving, cake-baking. Art can facilitate change, but it is not responsible for it. All it can do is ripen the zeitgeist, and make people ready, but change only happens when people make decisions. We can decide to retain the status quo, or we can decide to overhaul the system, but art will only show us our options. I don’t think anyone has ever decided against doing anything because the art was not good enough.
Do as much absorbing as you do creating: read books, listen to music, watch movies, eat pancakes, look at other people’s work. We don’t create work in a vacuum, and the more ideas you have floating around in your head, the more you will have to distill into your work!
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NINA SANDEJAS
FEATURED PHOTOGRAPHER
Why pursue photography? “I have bad memory. I have difficulty recalling moments. With everything that was happening to me at the time I started – working with bands as a stylist and working behind the scenes in video production – I figured that taking photographs would be the best way for me to remember events and sometimes even conversations, just by looking at a photograph. From that point on one thing led to another and I’m here!”
(Top)
“Kanye West”. (Left)
“Deftones”. (Right)
“Paramore”.
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30 (Top left)
“Mars Volta”
What do you love most about photography? What aspect of it gives you the most satisfaction?
(Middle Left)
“Radiohead” (Bottom Left)
I love that even when you’re alone, photography can be a conversational companion you have with yourself. If you’ve ever talked to yourself, sometimes having a camera your thoughts talk to it and instead of useless pondering, you’re able to create something out of nothing, capturing a moment, a thought, whatever which way you wish to interpret a photograph. Who are your major influences? The people I’ve worked with in the past are major influences. My photography heroes, Annie Leibovitz, Jim Marshall, inspire me but as influences, I’d say it was the people I was most with in the past – Rivermaya, Rico Blanco, Francis Reyes were my friends and my colleagues who guided me in a certain direction to bring me where I am now. What are some of your past projects? What are you currently working on now? Well I’ve only had two solo exhibits, one was called Behind The Curtain’s Shadows featuring the massive independent rock scene that’s usually left unnoticed. The most recent one early this year was Ang Inyong Awitin which was a set of photos of OPM legends taken during their performances in Greenhills Sessionistas and Tiendesitas. I’ve designed album covers before for Camerawalls, Japs Sergio, Tres Marias and now the most recent one is for Malay, fronted by Pochoy Labog which launches on August 2.
“Jack White” (Right)
“Tayao Wilabaliw Flip”
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What is your most favorite photo that you have taken? or most meaningful to you? I don’t really play favorites. I find that I get too attached to things easily and when I lose it, move on from it or replace it, it would be difficult to be an unbiased documentary photographer. I know I have ones that I can say are good, but with technology today and so many things going on, there’s always that chance that those will be replaced by something else. How would you describe your style? I don’t really know honestly. I used to say Style is something you get to describe in hindsight,
even with 10 years of work I can’t really say anything distinct about it because moments aren’t set in stone, they change and the way you take photos change over time as well. What do you hope to say to people with the work you create? Only that I tried my best to document an inexistent accurate catalogue of the local music scene. Do you think photography has a place in creating social change? How so? Of course, a lot of war photographers do that,
32 they bring back images and report on the status of the countries they’re in. As for music photography, well seeing an image of the Beatles walk down Abbey Road made an impression on a lot of people until today to the point that everyone worships the act. What do you do when you’re not shooting? What are your other interests? Honestly with so much that’s happening and the time spent shooting and editing photos, there’s really not much anything else to do except play games on the iPad. I sleep when I don’t shoot or when I can, I take a vacation and travel somewhere I’ve never been before. Any advice to offer to other photographers and artists? Never has anyone been truly happy trying to be like someone else.
“REFUSED”
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TAHANANG WALANG HAGDANAN OUTREACH PROGRAM
W R I T T E N BY FELIX QUIOGUE C H R I S T I A N M AT I C
P H OTO G R A P H S BY NICHOLAI GO
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Last June 29, 2014, Litrato held its first outreach program at Tahanang Walang Hagdanan through a photography workshop, attended by 30 participants. The objective of the program was to educate the participants with the basics of photography, which the participants will use as guide for producing prints for their greeting cards to be sold this upcoming holiday season as part of their fund raising. The program started at around 10:00 in the morning with a brief discussion on the history of photography. The lecture started on the invention of the camera, ending on the history of photography in the Philippines. After which, the workshop proper started. The workshop covered discussions on basic composition such as, the rule of thirds, leading lines, framing and patterns. Proper lighting was also part of the discussion. The participants were given 30 minutes to practice the concept subsequent each lecture with the aid of Litrato members. Following this activity, the participants were asked to choose their best photo to
be checked by Litrato members to measure the participants’ understanding of the subject. Litrato members also gave advice during the checking to clarify the topics to the participants, ensuring that full understanding of the theme is achieved. The lecture ended in the afternoon at 5:00 by a recap of all the topics covered on the day. If the feat of this event is to be measured by the full understanding by the participants of the concepts through their photographs, it can be safely concluded that the program was a success. This activity is one big step for Litrato in fulfilling its mission to elevate the lives of Filipinos through the powerful means of photography. Litrato hopes to see the outcome of this workshop this upcoming holiday season on Tahanang Walang Hagdan’s greeting cards. Tahanang Walang Hagdanan is located at 175 Aida Street Marick Subdivision, Barangay Santo Domingo, Cainta. You may contact them through Mrs. Angel Villafuerte, via landline at: (02) 665 – 0059.
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37 “Tahanang Walang Hagdanan, Inc. is a non-stock, non-profit and non-government organization that aims to uplift the lives of Orthopedically handicapped persons. It is a rehabilitation and skills training center with sheltered workshops where the people with disabilities are trained to be productive and self-reliant member of the society. The center is located in Cainta Rizal which is about 15 kms. East Manila.�
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THE DECISIVE MOMENT KEEPING IT MIND AND IN HEART
M A R K D E M AYO
The Decisive Moment is quite self-explanatory. The concept coined by French photographer, Henri Cartier-Bresson, refers to capturing an event that is brief and spontaneous with all the elements falling into place that represents the essence of an event in part or as a whole. It sounds like photojournalism, right? Well Bresson (also fondly called HCB for short) is considered the father of the said genre, co-founding one of the well-known photo agencies existing today, Magnum Photos. Bresson was influential to most photographers, particularly photojournalists, documentary photographers, and street photographers, due to his ability to capture candid moments well-composed and well-timed. As a photojournalist, I’ve been trained to be faithful and honest to my audience by not manipulating the photos I take, whether through post-processing (with a few exceptions like cropping or levels) or influencing the scenario or the event that I am covering. With such conditions, I really have to find the photo that would tell the essence of the story that I’m covering, to wait for that one decisive moment.
It’s a challenge, but that’s the beauty of it! In the words of HCB himself, “There is a creative fraction of a second when you are taking a picture. Your eye must see a composition or an expression that life itself offers you, and you must know with intuition when to click the camera. That is the moment the photographer is creative. Oops! The Moment! Once you miss it, it is gone forever.” The decisive moment involves waiting for the right moment to click the shutter, and more often than not, that right moment is only a split second. It usually involves elements, geometry, and subjects to move into place. It is neither a still landscape nor a still object. Things come together in the frame for one “Aha!” moment. With that said, there is one key word that you should keep in mind when capturing that decisive moment: anticipation. Anticipation works on so many levels, from the event or scenario itself, to the environment and its conditions, down to the movement and behavior of people or things. And of course, spontaneity should also be anticipated in any level. Let’s go to a few real life examples:
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Let’s go with something classic first: waiting for a visual detail to fall into place. I was already shooting this nice river when I observed an incoming boat. I had a strong feeling that it might pass through the reflection of the sun. When I had a strong feeling it would, I waited and it did. It may be a small detail, but it adds ‘life’ to just another river image.
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Here’s another one. I love juxtapositions and they are very effective in telling a story in one frame. When I was photographing a story on the Pasig River Ferry, the first thing in my mind was to place other transports against the ferry. Look at the top photo of the ferry. It doesn’t tell much of context, so I continue to move around for other frames. Then I remembered my theme. I found one of the ferries parallel to the bridges and fortunately it was during rush hour. I waited for a bus and the train to pass into my frame and I ended up with the photo at the right. Sometimes, it only takes some planning to when and where you should go. It helps knowing specifically what you’re trying to achieve with a photograph.
Here’s some pointers to leave you with: Get a feel of the place or event or even the people that you are shooting. If there’s time, research, research, research. It helps to have a frame in mind, but it’s also good to be spontaneous. Most of us don’t get it the first time, but as we continue to practice, we’ll get it one day.
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SLOWING DOWN FILM PHOTOGRAPHY BASICS
H U B E R T PA C H E C O
Digital is firmly planted in our daily lives - from how we consume media to how we create our own. Everything is within our fingertips albeit intangibly. But sometimes, the nostalgia bug bites and we encounter analog relics that a little over a decade ago was the standard. As many as there are digital cameras in the market right now, there were as many, if not more, film cameras then. And it’s easier than before to navigate your way around a film camera once you stumble across one. The common scenario for us renegades is finding our grandparent’s camera in the attic and trying to figure out what to do with it. We at Litrato want to provide you with some tips to get you shooting film. Almost all modern film cameras have their model names labeled onto them. A quick Google search will direct you to its technical specs, owner reviews, and even scanned operating manu-
als. This’ll save time and patience in figuring out what all those dials and levers are on the camera or how to switch the camera on even. Amidst the variety of film cameras available, there are basic similarities in all of them that are more or less based on how they are pow-
ered. If the camera is battery-operated, then you would have the luxuries of autofocus and automatic film advance. If the camera is purely mechanical, then manual focus and the film advance lever is the standard. The charm of a fully mechanical camera is its ability to be functional regardless of dead batteries. Exceptions
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would be if the camera is mechanical but its meter requires a battery to operate, which can be overridden in some models. Loading film – an unnerving task - is also camera-specific. Every camera has its own nuances in loading film. A battery-operated camera may or may not load and automatically advance the film you put in. A camera may or may not have an extra hatch to secure the film leader as you lay it in the film spool. A camera may load film from the left while another may load the other way around. This is where the value of looking up the camera model and reading up on it comes in. Film formats also add to the diversity of film cameras that were available back then. Consumers are familiar with the standard 35mm format. This was commonly used for what we call snapshot photography. That’s what everyone used, both professionals and otherwise. The bigger film format of 120mm is what most professionals used for advertising and commercial work. Film enjoyed a revival several years back, thanks to lomography. Instant film was also in the mix as Polaroids (also in various sizes) provided consumers and pros alike with a glimpse of immediate gratification akin to the feeling of digital photography. Other less popular but available formats include the cartridge-type APS format (the easiest to load onto cameras but never really
caught on), 110mm (also a cartridge-type), and sheet film (used for large format photography). Given these formats, film also comes in various types and speeds (ISO): color print (yields negative images), color reversal/ slides (yields positive images), black-and-white, et al. Locally, the market for photographic film has dropped severely in the last few years but it’s still available in most photography labs, just not as ubiquitous. Generally, the selection of film in Manila’s photography-centric street Hidalgo is more than what malls offer these days. Kodak has its 35mm color offerings of Max 100 and 400 and its black-and-whites of TMax 100 and Tri-X 400. If available, Portra 160 for 120mm is also available.
Fujifilm has always had more options but has decreased its stock considerably. For 35mm, its color films Superia 100, 200 and 400 along with Velvia 100 remain. For black-and-white, only Neopan 400 is in stock. 120mm Fujifilms include the monochrome Acros 100 and the colored PRO400H. Fujifilm is also leading the revival of instant film with its Instax brand. Those with Polaroids are still in the loop as The Impossible Project has manufactured their own line of instant films albeit at a higher price point that Fuji’s Instax. The Chinese film brand Lucky with its black-and-white 100 speed film is a much cheaper alternative to Kodak’s TMAX 100. The European monochrome film brand Ilford is also in select stores, offering various film speeds in both 35mm and 120mm formats. The
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Solid Gold 200 brand of color film is easily the cheapest of the lot. Lomography-branded films are also available in some specialty stores.
while film, unfortunately, is a thing of the past. Pros that still shoot film are far and few and often they use it for personal projects.
Local online sellers offer harder-to-find films like the 120mm Shanghai 100 and expired films like the 35mm Konica Centuria 400.
Photography now, be it personal or professional, is faster and more efficient than ever. But every once in a while, it’s good to slow down the process, wait for specific moments, and appreciate more whatever is in front of the camera all while hearing the creaky click-and-whir from a film camera.
As for film processing, most labs only take in 35mm color negatives. For 120mm and black and whites, select labs in Hidalgo Street and Studio 58 in Makati offer processing of these seldom-used emulsions. In hindsight, film photography was more complicated and, in a way, more cumbersome for the average consumer than digital photography. Digital is less expensive and more convenient
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FILIPINO PHOTOGRAPHY COLONIAL PHOTOGRAPHY
NICHOLAI GO
The history of photography in the Philippines is as difficult to trace as the history of the country itself. Since the Philippines has been occupied and colonized, its history has been rewritten a copious number of times. From the words of Winston S. Churchill, “History is written by the victors”. After the invasion of the Spanish, Americans, and the Japanese, the Philippine culture and history has long been disseminated. Thus, tracing the photographic history of the country has become very problematic.
To create a successful timeline and history of photography in the Philippines, one must first study it in isolation. All the findings involved in this research is narrowed down to the American occupation and photographs that were taken during that era. During the American occupation, they used photography as a means of anthropology, surveillance, and propaganda to legitimize their colonial regime. How was photography used by the Americans during the occupation of the Philippines from 1898 to 1946? The motive for this research was to create a clearer and deeper understanding of my own country’s photographic history. Growing up in the Philippines, I was never exposed to its
native photography history and I grew curious as to why. Philippine history has always been taught strictly using words and never photographs. I want to use this paper as an opportunity to rediscover what has been lost to us Filipinos. I chose to narrow it down to photographs taken by the Americans, in hopes of then quarantining the unique voice of Filipino photography. This research explores the context in which Americans occupied the Philippines; as well as the use of photography as a means of anthropology, surveillance, and propaganda to legitimize their colonial regime. The first country to occupy the Philippines and instill colonial
rule were the Spaniards, whose regime lasted from 1565 to 1898. The Spanish rule achieved the political unification of the country, which was previously divided into independent kingdoms. They were the first to establish the dispersed islands of the Philippines as one nation under one name and flag. The Spaniards implemented a nationwide public school system that aimed to educate the masses and introduced Christianity. The culture and language barrier promoted the use of imagery to convey information. Paintings and illustrations are examples of visual languages that were introduced as factual aids, which were a foreign concept for Filipinos but was easily digested. After the discovery of the da-
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Francisco van Camp “Indegena de clasa rica”, 1875
tion. It was in this revolution that photography was utilized in an entirely different approach. Instead of being a one sided instrument for the Spaniards, the Filipinos began to use photography to fuel their own point of view. When the leader of the rebellion, General Emilio Aguinaldo was exiled, photographer Manuel Arias Rodriguez was able to capture him in his dignified general uniform . This photograph became widely popular among the Filipino rebels and acted as inspiration.
guerreotype in 1839, the Spaniards were the first ones to introduce photography to the Philippines dating back to 1841. During that year, Don Sinibaldo de Mas arrived in the Philippines as a government diplomat for the Spanish King. He was tasked to record conditions in the colony and to relay that information back to Spain. He brought the daguerreotype with him from Spain to the Philippines. He was recorded to have taken photographs in the Philippines but unfortunately, none of it has been found.
Indegena de clasa rica (Mestiza Sangley-Filipina) is one of the oldest portrait photographs recorded in Filipino history dating back to 1875, which was photographed by a Dutch photographer named Francisco van Camp. Capturing a woman of both Spanish and Filipino ethnicity symbolizes one of the main functions of photography in that setting; it was used to document the Spanish influence on the Filipino population. In 1896, the Filipinos began to rebel against the Spaniards, culminating to the Philippine Revolu-
Another inspiration to the Filipinos is Jose Rizal, who later became the country’s national hero. He wrote several books that exposed the crimes of the Spaniards which pushed the Filipino rebels over the edge. He was then executed on December 30, 1896 . Prior to his death, Manuel Arias Rodriguez was able to capture a photograph of the scene. Just like the photo of Emilio Aguinaldo, photographs of Jose Rizal prior to his death were used by the Filipinos for the revolution. During the same time of the Philippine revolution, America was at war with Spain over Guam and Cuba. American president McKinley offered to give aid to the Filipino rebellion. With the help of American troops, Emilio Aguinaldo, who would be the first Filipino president, declared the indepen-
46 Manuel Arias Rodriguez “Fusilamiento de Jose Rizal”, 1896
dence of the Philippines in 1898. Unfortunately, Filipino dreams of independence were crushed when the Philippines was transferred from Spain to America after the Treaty of Paris in 1898 . America needed the Philippines to gain control of Asia due to its highly strategic geographic location. However, they encountered several difficulties in gaining public support due to their exhaustive war against Spain. The masses were not motivated to send more troops to the Philippines for colonial control because they didn’t know anything about them. America then sent photographers to the Philippines as a means of anthropology, surveillance, and
propaganda to legitimize their colonial regime. In the early years of their occupation, barely any information about the Philippines was available in both written and photographic form. Frank D. Millet, one of the American writers that wrote about the Filipino-American war stated “the literature concerning the islands was phenomenally scarce…The Philippines, however, remained outside the Kodak zone.” He believed that photography would bring the Philippines into the realm of knowledge for Americans. In return, photographers would be the one to dictate the image of the Philippines. Therefore, America sent pho-
tographers to capture images of Filipinos and their respective environment, to help educate their own citizens back home. Two of the most essential photographers for the anthropological study of Filipinos were Dean Conant Worcester and Dr. Jenks. Dean Conant Worcester was a member of the United States Philippine Commission from 1899 to 1901 . Prior to his membership, Worcester had already traveled to the Philippines a couple of times. His first travel to the Philippines was on 1887, when he was invited by his university’s chair of the Department of Zoologist, Joseph Beal Steere. In his first trip, his interest with zoology brought
47 F I L I P I N O
him to photograph the Philippines with an anthropological intent. He wanted to capture everything to use for study. With the photographs taken on his trip, he published the book The Philippine Islands and Their People. It is one of four books that he published using photographs of the Philippines. His photographic account of the Philippines was expansive, but not thorough. How does one achieve to portray a whole country through photographs? His decisions on whom and what to photograph disregarding his intent, framed the ideas of Americans of the Philippines. However, when one is to discuss intent and photography, Worcester was a constant opponent of Philippine independence and a firm believer in the colonial mission. He argued that “for their unfitness for self-government at the present time is self-evident.” His photographs were a reflection of his stance. During his first travels to the Philippines, Worcester photographed the meetings between the members of the First Philippine Commission. He focused his camera on the ornate architecture of the city, as seen in his image of the Head of Stairway occupied by First Philippine Commission. In here, we can see him capturing
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the architecture as part of an anthropological study due to its point of view and lack of activity. However, after discovering the hill tribe men, also known as Igorots, he focused all his attention to photographing them. He was instantly attracted to the Igorots, due to their seemingly remedial culture, and his original intent of showing Filipinos and their “unfitness”. Instead of pointing his camera towards the growing metropolitan cities like Manila, He chose to photograph the Igorots as the image of the Philippines. He photographed these hill tribe men in great detail amassing about 5000 photographs. Worcester was one
Dean C. Worcester “Head of Stairway occupied by First Philippine Commission”, 1899
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P H O T O G R A P H Y
of the first photographers to photograph subjects in nudity as part of an anthropological study. Worcester’s anthropological studies and his photographs were a vital contribution to the Philippine’s first census that was published in 1903 by Dr. Jenks. Albert E. Jenks, or commonly known as Dr. Jenks was a self-taught ethnographer that was hired by the Bureau of American Ethnology and was sent to Manila in the Philippines in 1902. His 1905 publication, The Bontoc Igorot was a milestone in American anthropology for being the first ethnographic study of a non-American Indian group by an American anthropologist. As seen with the publishing of the first census, photographs were used to gather information not only about the anthropology of the people but also as data for the military. Prior to the American occupation, the Philippines was not a completely unified nation as they had previously believed. There were still some rebellions in the south caused by the Muslim population. Using photographs, they learned much about the Filipinos. Americans gathered information using photography as proof and evidence to anchor their tactics to fight the rebels. Since cameras were so scarcely available, they took advantage of it in the battlefield. Long before the war was officially declared over, albums of photographs of bombed churches, cannons, Manila landmarks, and massacred Filipino “insurgents” were already being published in 1899. It was crucial for America to place the Filipino’s under the “Kodak zone”. They even solicited photographs from their own soldiers. Governor-General W. Cameron Forbes said that “If a photograph were needed, this bureau not only took it, but filed it away so that it might be available in the years to come”
The archive that they gathered of the Philippines was not just a collection of photographs but also a collection of scrutinized surveillance subjects. America also sent the Thomasites to the Philippines, a group of five hundred American Teachers in 1901 . They were to establish a new public school system, to teach basic education, and to train Filipino teachers, with English as the medium of instruction. The teachers not only taught the Filipinos but learned about their inherent culture as well. One of the Thomasite, Philinda Rand, took photos that show many aspects of Filipino life in Silay and Lingayen. These photographs became another tool for surveillance, as the teachers were requested to report back to show their progress. Benito Vergara author of Displaying Filipinos (1995), argues that both travel literature and official colonial documents, both appropriate photography as an instrument of surveillance. Ultimately, the American government used all of the previously mentioned types of photography for propaganda. Like previously stated, America needed the Philippines to gain control of Asia. The waning interest of the public became detrimental to that cause. Photography was vital for the manipulation of the public interest. The power of photography is in its innate capability of making people believe and its capacity to be invested with truth. Yet, the amount of possibilities
(Right)
Dean C. Worcester “Negrito man, type 1, and myself, to show relative size” 1901
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to disorient the meaning behind a photograph is limitless. Manipulation can occur in almost every part of the process of taking a photograph, for example, posing. In most of the photographs taken by Dean Worcester, which was brought back and shown to the American populace, the Filipino tribe men stood beside Americans. They were posed to look subordinate to the Americans as they stood awkwardly, half naked. However, when photographed alone and by a different photographer, the tribe men stood proud and dignified. These photographs reflect the pre-construction of meaning specifically predicated on a colonial ideology, or also known as “White Man’s Burden”. Murat Halstead a war correspondent, said that “It was foreordained since the beginning when God created the earth, that we, the possessors
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of this imperial American zone, should be a great Asiatic power.” Due to the technology of being able to reproduce and circulate these photographs, it was easy for the government to persuade the public that they were needed to intervene in the Philippines. All these ideas and photographs regarding the splendor Filipino colonialism reached its peak in the 1904 St. Louis World Fair. Dr. Jenks was appointed supervisor for the Philippine exhibit at the St. Louis world fair. This exhibit was the culmination of the anthropological research and photographs that he and Worcester took while in the Philippines. The exhibit cost over one million dollars and consisted of 47 acres of space, 130 buildings, 70,000 exhibits, and 1,200 Filipino “natives”. The Filipinos were put in displays as if animals in a zoo, and were further exploited through the exhibit, traveling around America for a year due to its popularity. The meticulous collection of photographs and foreign objects proves the American government’s deep surveillance of the Philippines. The exhibit was also divided among the different types of Filipinos, creating a focus on stereotypes, which is revealed with Daniel Folkmar’s Album of Philippine Types. This in return,
made the ethnology of the Philippines easier to digest for the American viewers. The President of the Exposition, David R. Francis wrote, “From this school many millions of Americans will return to their homes, elated with a better appreciation of humanity at large and a far higher and prouder estimate of their own country and countrymen” To further entice positive public opinion on colonialism, photographs of Americans educating and improving the Filipinos and their lives widely circulated. Photographs from the Thomasites for example, portrayed the impact of their public education system. These photographs were shown after the immense circulation of photographs that showed the inferiority of Filipinos. In conclusion, the image of the Philippines and its inhabitants, in the point of view of Americans were intricately constructed by the American government, using photography for anthropology, surveillance, and propaganda to legitimize their colonial regime. From the words of Christopher Pinney, “those who controlled the representations [exercised] domination”.
51 EDITOR’S NOTE
HISTORY IN FLUX NICHOLAI GO
History is a curious thing. There can only be one singular flow of time so history is treated as an irrefutable truth. Yet, history is always in flux: changing and moving. Our understanding of it is forever evolving. This is a contradiction that we must accept, for history is a great tool for us to learn from. History enables us to place ourselves in its exhaustive timeline, letting us avoid and correct the problems of the past. The same can be said about photographers and the history of photography. Yet, it saddens me how only a few Filipino photographers know their own history. How can we hope to move towards the right direction, when we don’t know where we currently stand and how far we have travelled? This led me to a deep investigation of our own Filipino history of photography. As with any kind of history, lack of available and applicable information is always the challenge. Yet, resources and documents on the history of Filipino photography were especially scarce and difficult to collect. After tirelessly researching its deep history, I now understand why. It is not a pleasant history that one can be proud of. Nonetheless, we must accept it. Our identity was stolen from us, as other individuals have framed perceptions that were not entitled to them. Rather than empower us to share our point
of view, others have used photography to force their own perspective on us. Therefore, Litrato’s mission is to empower Filipinos to share our own perspective. I believe that this is the reason behind the Filipino affinity for self-portraits, that has evolved into todays selfie craze. We must continually try to capture our reality, as it is from our own point of view and share this to the rest of the world who still sees our land as the land of the Igorots. We are trying to take back our identity. Yet, for us to reach outwards, our photographs must also reach international standard and quality, or else they will not be seen, and our voices once again silenced. As the age old saying goes, it is not the quantity but the quality. We must focus our efforts on making better photographs that speak more about the reality of the Philippines. This research had a profound impact on my own practice as a photographer. I am making it available to all through this issue of Source, with the hopes that it does the same for you. I hope that it grounds your own practice in a timeline and helps you understand why you create and capture photographs.