Photographs & Memories

Fashion Photography with Kevin Ames and Raymund Isaac-

Text and photos by CECILIA S. ANGELES–

A feature of PhotoWorld Asia photography convention recently organized by the Federation of Philippine Photographers Foundation was fashion photography. The initial activity actually was conducted the whole day at the Asian Institute of Management in Makati City by famous American photographer Kevin Ames two days earlier. A separate hands-on workshop was held by Kevin Ames and Raymund Isaac at Escuela Pia in Taal, Batangas – the same place where I conducted some years ago the summer-long art workshop under the auspices of the Taal Heritage Commission led by Dindo Montenegro, Edith Okada, Fatima Tolentino, among others.

Less than a hundred photographers joined the location hands-on workshop at the heritage town of Taal. Delegates especially those coming from the different parts of the world (Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Qatar, France, Belgium, Germany, Saudi Arabia) enjoyed not only eating various native delicacies prepared by the municipality of Taal but also recording each cake in pictures. In fact, Kristupa Saragih of Indonesia captured each cake in his phone camera and labelled each carefully.

Dindo Montenegro actually was the moving sprit of this final PhotoWorld Asia 2010 activity. In the morning, Raymund Isaac gave a brief lecture and demonstration on fashion photography especially on the dos and don’ts in directing models. An important element discussed was the effective lighting on models with natural and artificial lights. Models were assigned to pose in two separate old houses, some in the interior setup, and others in the yard. Models wore the traditional baro at saya and did the stationary pose, meaning that they did not simulate ramp modelling. Attire of male models apparently did not adhere to the traditional style. A sleeveless white barong was matched with knee-length pants. Sometimes, the getup was accented with an unusual wiry scarf.

Manny Inumerable, PhotoWorld Asia 2010 chairman, who himself hails from Taal arranged for this special feature of PhotoWorld Asia 2010 photography convention.