Six photographers whose intent is to get the viewer to pause, go a level deeper and “see beyond” will have a photo exhibit and fund raiser for the ERDA Tech Vocational School at Solaire’s The Shoppes Artway until January 25.
The six photographers—Angela Panlilio, Bern Wong, Jeff Dytuco, Michael Olivares, Fred Tiongson, and Tony Rivera—are friends who have been in travel and photography escapades but wanted to go beyond postcard-pretty pictures.
Photographers (from left) Jeff Dytuco, Michael Olivares, Angela Panlilio, Ferdie Tiongson, Bern Wong and Tony Rivera
The works in the exhibit dubbed as “Seeing Beyond” are in black and white or muted colors, and range from still life to landscape, which highlight a variety of journeys that include spiritual or corporeal reflection, pensiveness, struggle, and joy… all leading to a pause that sees beyond.
By Jeff Dytuco
Jeff Dytuco
“Landscape photography is quite challenging since one has to always contend with the unpredictable weather conditions and physical challenges. Shooting under extreme heat and humidity, below zero temperatures, during stormy weather, wading in waist-deep waters, hiking for hours are just some of the experiences I have gone through just to catch a scene or a moment. Ironically, these are the things that make it also rewarding. To overcome all these challenges and obstacles and see the results of your effort is what it’s all about for me.
It has taught me to see things differently. I have learned to appreciate life better, to be more thankful of being given the chance to see and experience the beauty of God’s and man’s creations. These are the things I try to capture and immortalize in my images and present in a timeless manner.”
By Ferdie Tiongson
Ferdie Tiongson
“When we came to life in this world, we were born naked, innocent, with simple needs and wants. And as we grew older, our lives became busy and complicated. But through the senior years we tend would tend to return to a simpler life, with less complications and responsibilities. Such is the cycle of life.
For me, black and white photography is the simplest yet the also most difficult. It is devoid of colors that gives us various emotions. However, once you capture a moment in black and white or monochrome, with that raw and straightforward expression, the emotion it evokes is even more powerful. This has always been a learning process for me; to articulate the artist’s message by just using different hues of black and white, and simple lines.”
By Bern Wong
Bern Wong
“I am interested in using landscape photography as a means to communicate raw feelings and memories of a place on a primitive and visceral level, with abstraction and minimalism. By experimenting with processes of dissolving and blurring long exposure shots taken from various photo expeditions, I negate all representational elements- no scene to grasp on, no subject, no narrative, no frame of reference, no clutter, no distractions nor cues that would tie the viewer to the world of objects.”
By Tony Rivera
Tony Rivera
“I choose to photograph people—tight headshots in their natural environment —with little to no clue as to what it is they do. It is my intention to force my viewer to see beyond and search for the story in the lines of their weathered faces or to look straight into the window of their soul as it is reflected in their eyes, and ask: “what are you trying to tell me?” And if I am successful even in part, I hope that the viewer would catch a glimpse of the decades of strife an old woman has had to endure, or the longing for a lost love by an elderly gentleman in the waning light of what remains in his life – or the promise of great adventures in the eyes of a child filled with idealism and excitement.
For this project; however, I would like to concentrate on the positive yet elusive and transient emotions that we aspire for—joy, hope, awe, amusement, gratitude and serenity.”
By Angela Panlilio
Angela Panlilio
“Duality. Dark and light. Stillness and movement. Blessing and bane. Whole and not whole. We find ourselves stopping dead at our tracks, disoriented, breathless. We ask; we question. When we hear no replies, we search elsewhere for answers, for clarity. In the faces of others, in their pain, in their resolve. We test our boundaries; we edit our thoughts. We break out to try to find a way back to singularity. We try to fit in the puzzle pieces and put the proverbial Humpty together again. We cycle through this again and again.
My work here represents this disconnect at initial glance. It is my hope that somehow, in second glance you can find the coming together. And see beyond.”
By Michael Olivares
Michael Olivares
“In our daily lives we are constantly in sensory overload. And in order to get to that space where we are free, we need to remove all that mental clutter that comes in through our senses. This concept has an extra special meaning for me. As an introvert, I am always looking for this “Fortress of Solitude” where I can withdraw and recharge. Shooting portraits of people in Yoga poses would have been an obvious and easy way of conveying the philosophy, but this could also be easily misread as just people in an asana practice (posture).
I have chosen to try to represent the concept through Still Life photography. Still Life allows me to create images that, while they may seem at first glance figurative, they can force the viewer to find a deeper meaning.”
The post Six photographers ‘see beyond’ everyday life appeared first on The Manila Times Online.