Angelicum College holds 2nd Creative Media Awards

The Angelicum College of Quezon City recently held its 2nd Creative Media Awards (CMA) organized by the Communication Arts Society. First established in 2006, CMA has categories in short film, public service announcement, audio-visual productions, advertisements, poster design, and photography. Also, a photo exhibit, where Communication Arts students showcased their ingenuity in photography led by professor Jonah Lim, was conducted.

A press conference was also held to promote its collegiate department. Panelists included Runvi Manguerra (dean of the College Department), Maritess Cation (External Affairs director), Prof. Jonah Lim (Communication Arts Department), and Prof. Aries Dalag (Education Department). The focus was the college department’s new course offerings for the coming school year. Angelicum College has more courses lined up for the next four years. Currently, the school offers Computer, Education and Communication Arts programs. Subsequently, there will be two-year programs in Culinary Arts, Multimedia Arts, Human Resource Management. Future courses include specialization on Film Studies and Teacher’s Certification.

Meanwhile, the photography class, open to all Communication Arts students, teaches photography for advertising and journalism using both point-and-shoot and digital SLR cameras. Students are taken on out-of-town trips to help build their skills in photography as well as participate in seminars and media conferences about photography. In the next few years, the CMA is expected to also give awards for Photojournalism and other branches of photography, since there is a growing interest on these subjects. (Contributed by Stefano Cabañas and Joanna Sioson)

Cruise ship photography to travel around the world

As a cruise ship photographer, you can travel around the world and at the same time earn a good income.

The Federation of Philippine Photographers Foundation (FPPF) will conduct a three-day seminar on cruise ship photography starting March 27. Lecturer is Joseph Galian who will share with the participants his experience and expertise as a cruise ship photographer.

Topics include introduction to cruise ship industry with presentation, cruise ship photography opportunities, how to apply and life on a ship. Activities are shooting exercises such as embarkation and gangway shooting, pirate’s night, among others.

The seminar is a good investment for those who want to travel and be a good cruise ship photographer. Some participants who took the seminars are now working in various parts of the globe. For details, email at fotoatwork@gmail.com / pablobeltran39@gmail.com.

Zone Five Camera Club visits Taal, Batangas

As in earlier years, Taal’s main draw is its church, the Basilica of St. Martin of Tours. Known to be the largest Catholic Church in Asia, this served as the starting point for the Zone Five Camera Club’s (ZVCC) first Out-of-Town Shoot (OTS) as it goes full steam on its 30th anniversary. Taal and ZVCC history have been intertwined over the years with a number of contests having been held there. Most notably in 2003 during a Federation of Philippine Photographers Foundation contest, ZVCC members came home with five of the top ten awards including the coveted first place.

Members of Zone Five began by photographing the main basilica and the surrounding areas. For morning snacks, they were treated to a medley of Taal’s native delicacies. This was followed by a brief visit to the "pandayan," where the metal blades of the "balisong" are forged. Lunch was at the nearby Taal Bistro. After the sumptuous lunch, visits were made at small home-shops where the "balisong" knife is assembled, as well as the homes of some ladies who were embroidering a beautiful tablecloth. The handcrafted work of Taal is a great source of pride for the people there and it clearly shows in the quality of the products.

A visit to the historic church of the Shrine of Our Lady of Caysasay was also part of the first day’s itinerary. After the day’s shoot, the photographers went off to the newly inaugurated Little Bridge resort just on the shores of and overlooking Balayan Bay, where rooms were booked for the night. The members of Zone Five also enjoyed dinner at the Casa Cecilia Heritage Hotel before retiring for the night.

The second day had the group off to the Inumerable ancestral home in Taal. Still in the process of restoration, the house is well on its way to being a standard by which other houses in the area may be compared. Very little of the original house structure remains and much has been reconstructed. The chance to photograph a prime example of traditional heritage architecture was not wasted as the Zone Fivers shot freely and did the requisite group photos as well.

The neighboring town of San Nicolas was set as the last stop for the contest-tour. The first stop was a farm with a nearby "tilapia" fishpond. A grand outdoor lunch was prepared there, consisting of grilled tilapia and other dishes laid out on banana leaves. The club then proceeded to the ruins of the church of San Nicolas de Tolentino, that was reduced to rubbles back in the 17th century, in one of the volcano’s most devastating eruptions.

As luck would have it, there was an "awareness event" going on at the church ruins. Local students were competing in a drawing contest on site. The Zone Fivers teamed up with their counterparts from the Batangas Camera Club, which had a scheduled shoot of the historic ruins including some local models who were invited to pose amid the ruins.

The Zone Five Camera Club is celebrating 30 years of photography. Interested parties may contact info@zonev.org for information on joining the club, tying up with the club for events, or any queries. Club meetings are held every second Thursday of the month at the Robelle House in Makati.

PCCI Course Calendar for March to June 2008

For those who are interested in studying photography and digital imaging, here is the schedule of classes at the Philippine Center for Creative Imaging from March to June 2008: Aperture (TBA) Mar 20-22; Digital Camera Fundamentals (Jun Miranda) Apr 15; Basic Photography (Jun Miranda) Apr 16-18 ; Fast Track to Digital Photography (Jun Miranda) June 23-24; Beyond Exposure New! (Jun Miranda) Mar 19-20; Studio Portrait Photography (Ibarra Deri) Mar 17-18; Architectural Photography New! (Jojo Guingona) May 27-28; Commercial Product Photography (Ibarra Deri) Mar 26-27 Food Photography (Mark Floro) Mar 24-25; Travel Photography March; Inner Vision (Tilak Hettige) TBA; Advanced Inner Vision New! (Tilak Hettige) TBA; Fashion & Creative Photography New! (Raymund Isaac) Apr 25-26.

PCCI also offers courses on digital video editing (Adobe Premiere, Adobe After Effects, Apple Final Cut Pro and Apple Soundtrack Pro); video production, scriptwriting and cinematography; digital illustration (Adobe Illustrator and CorelDraw); Web design and development (Dreamweaver and Flash); layoutting (Adobe InDesign) and prepress essentials; and 3D animation (Maya and 3ds Max). For the complete calendar and more information, visit its website at www.pcci.com.ph.