Camera Club Bulletin
Subic Bay Photography Society Invades Sugarlandia–
As part of its second anniversary celebration, the Subic Bay Photography Society (SBPS) recently organized a group tour to Negros Occidental to visit tourist spots in the area and to take part of the Masskara Festival in Bacolod City.
With all the revelry and fun on all sides of the sugarlandia’s capital, members of SBPS had a colorful experience for the first time. Armed with their cameras and creativity, they participated in various festivities like street party and dance competition at the plaza.
After the festival they visited famous landmarks around Negros Occidental and the first stop was the famous “Balay Negrense” in Silay City. This ancestral home of Victor F. Gaston is now a museum managed by the Negros Cultural Foundation.
The group also visited “Casa Grande,” an ancestral home of Aniceto L. Lacson and is managed by Anna and Carlos Balcells (Lacson’s grandchildren). There are plans to make this old house as a museum and a bed-and-breakfast type of lodge for visitors and tourists who would dare to stay.
Another not-to-be-missed attraction that the group went to see was “The Ruins” in Talisay City. The mansion dates back to the 1900s when it was built by the sugar baron Don Mariano Ledesma Lacson for his wife Maria Braga, a Portuguese from Macau. They also had a short visit at the Pope John Paul II’s memorial building near SM City Bacolod. Images of the Pope during his visits in the Philippines and other memorabilia can be found here. It is also in the same spot where the beloved Pope celebrated a mass in 1981.
The group tour was organized by SBPS co-founder Cleo Roda Nodado and SBPS All Women’s team leader Thelma Delos Reyes.
SBPS is the first and only photography group recognized by the Department of Tourism (DOT) – through the office of Ronnie Tiotuico, director DOT Region III – as a private principal partner in the promotion of the Northern Luzon through photography.
For other activities of the group, check its Facebook group account at www.facebook/Subic Bay Photography Society.
