To forge friendship and share among themselves fun and techniques in photography, 50 photographers from five Asian countries including Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, and Vietnam converged recently in Padang, Indonesia. The affair was called Crossing Bridges 6.

There were no lectures in photography, but there was a lot of learning through actual observation, verbal exchange of ideas and interaction in photography. One unique observation I had was the use of an artificial light and a tiny umbrella diffuser that looked more of a star Christmas light and a toy umbrella. The electronic gadgets created beautiful light patterns capturing natural textures, tones, and colors especially on portraits. These guys also applied unusual perspectives, not the ordinary eye levels. In the evening, some selected shots of participants were downloaded and projected on the screen. The photographer talked about his shots. We enjoyed this session tremendously.

Quite unusual, too, was another photographic technique in most of their compositions – deep depth of field with a prominent foreground like an unusual leaf of a giant fern or a pink lotus occupying a third of the foreground. Purposely for the rule of third, I suppose.

Undoubtedly, members of Crossing Bridges 6 are knowledgeable photographers who have mastered their art and who compose their every shot creatively. Some of them favored human interest, and how they enjoyed shooting Indonesians in their colorful native outfit. They knew how to spot one, where to find him. The native costumes were important elements in portraits – starting with the Muslim cap, their colorful batik sarongs. The models were made to pose, but their images did not appear posed.

Padang in West Sumatra where we had our photo hunting activities is a very scenic place very similar to Bagiuo City except that its massive and huge granite boulders, solid and strong, tower to the sky. Some portions are covered with pine trees and other native plants. No area is devoted to kaingin, neither to illegal logging. We pictured a couple of silent falls originating perpendicularly from a 40-meter hilly elevation. On the other side of the road appeared a flowing stream disturbed by big rocks. The two-lane narrow roads zigzagged up and down, or made steep turns. Our driver must be so familiar with his route and driving skills that everything in our journey was enjoyable.

On the last hours of day four, we covered a traditional cultural presentation and a cow race along an Olympic-size muddy rice paddy. We were on our way home to Hotel Best Western Basko in Padang when I saw an empty concrete plant box filled with water swaying to and fro. We received an alert call that an intensity 7.8 earthquake just hit Padang. We were advised not to go to Best Western. We didn’t realize our hotel suffered a major destruction. We slept at Dodie’s house, all 50 participants. Very early in the morning, Hotel Best Western Basko sent us a hearty breakfast, bath towels, sets of toothbrush and tooth paste, slippers. But we still wore the same muddy clothes we had on which had dried during our sleep because our things were left at Best Western.

(Cecilia S. Angeles is a professor in Photography and other Fine Arts subjects at PWU and a regular lecturer at the FPPF Photography Workshop at Fort Santiago, Intramuros, Manila. Email: csa_palay@yahoo.com)