Rough Groove

I made it to ACFJ!

I applied for the Diploma in Photojournalism program of Ateneo de Manila’s Konrad Adenauer Asian Center For Journalism (ACFJ) around the third quarter of 2007 but unfortunately, I didn’t make it to the cut off of 12 students per batch. Much to my surprise when Jimmy Domingo, the coordinator sent me a text message informing me that my application has been reactivated. I just have to respond positively and update some documents without the need for a face to face interview as I had it already last year. That was around March.

Also known as the ACFJ, the Asian Center for Journalism is dedicated to the promotion of excellence in journalism in Southeast Asia. It aims to foster a free, viable and responsible press that will nurture the public discourse essential to an informed practice of citizenship and democracy.

Letter of Acceptance After much waiting, I finally got a response in the 3rd week of April. In an email, I was informed that I was granted a full scholarship. I was just left speechless. I’ve been wanting to be in the program ever since I’ve known about it in 2006 and there I was in the internet cafe, reading such good news, wanting to shout with joy but just contained myself!

The Diploma in Photojournalism offers a unique opportunity to learn photojournalism in the context of the ethical and social values as well as professional standards which Ateneo promotes

The program is unique as it’s a hybrid on-campus/online class but the former is just around 2 weeks while the rest is via weekly readings, chat sessions, assignments posted in the discussion boards. Its a big departure from what I have had and really very challenging as there is very little face to face interactions.

Now that I am with the program, I really am looking forward to fulfill my dreams of making it in photojournalism. I am also grateful to Kitoy for the help and advise. Bai, dako kaayo akong pasalamat pud sa imo!

urbanMANILA

urbanMANILA is the website that I developed, gratis et amore, for the projects made during the workshop conducted by World Press Photo 05 awardee Peter Bialobrzesky, a program of the Goethe Institut, Manila. This was held from 31 January - 26 February 08 at the Silverlens Gallery. From the original 10 participants, eight of us finished the month long collaboration.

The workshop was free. In return, we accompanied and assisted Peter, one on one, for his current work. The learnings and new insights gained ranging from technique, approach to photography as an art, business and as a career were really priceless. I have always wanted to do urban photography and Peter’s inputs really is spot on.

I never regretted joining the workshop. Now, I can just smile and look back when I almost didn’t make it. When I first learned about it from Dennis Rito early January, it was already too late as the selection was concluded December. But when I saw that only 8 out of 10 slots were filled, I immediately contacted Paula Guevarra of Goethe Institut but was told that it was already too late. Seeing that this will be important for me, I sent an email to Jimmy Domingo of ACFJ as well as to Peter. They discussed it and luckily, the selection was reopened just a few days before the start of the workshop. And from there, it was history. It pays to be persistent!

The website is just a simple HTML and CSS based project. I was tempted to do it in flash or integrate flash elements in it but decided not to. The design is uncluttered and I opted for a black background so that the photos will look better. I also tried out a new design where the content is organized in such a way that it floats against the dark backdrop. I did not follow a top-left placement of the site name but instead, positioned it at level with the photo. The main content only holds the site name as well as the images. As for the footer, I utilized this area to hold the thumbnails, navigation and other information. One of the photographers, Tammy David requested not to include her images while I’m still awaiting the text for the About page.

The entire project was done in one sitting. Overnight.

Slideshow of works produced in the Peter Bialobrzeski workshop

German photographer and former World Press Photo judge Peter Bialobrzeski has been in Manila for 4 weeks taking pictures of the cityscape for a project called “Urban Spaces”. The city is his 5th stop in a series of residencies in Southeast Asia. Prior to Manila, he was in Hanoi, Bangkok, Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur.

During his stay, he has also been conducting workshops for a select group of Philippine photographers. On Tuesday, workshop participants Estan Cabigas, Gigie Cruz, Tammy David, Kidlat de Guia, Che Katigbak, Cathy Quiogue, Dennis Rito and Cris Sevilla will be presenting the projects that they worked on during the workshop. All deal will various aspects of urbanity. The photos will be included in a Goethe-Institut exhibit that will be travelling around Southeast Asia later this year.

To see the entire collection of photographs, talk to the photographers and meet Bialobrzeski, head to Silverlens Gallery on February 26 for a slideshow of all the photographers’ works. The event starts at 6pm.

In cooperation with Silverlens Gallery and the Konrad Adenauer Asian Center for Journalism. For more information, please visit call 8170978 or visit Goethe Institut Manila.

Featured in Popphoto.com

I was a bit shocked (and happy) to see the photo that I have submitted for critiquing at Popphoto.com a few months ago being featured under the heading “This Week’s Highlights.”

Above, a screengrab of how the page looked like. Left, another screengrab of the index page of the American photography website magazine. The accompanying text reads:

This photo submitted by Estan Cabigas is really good. I like the saturated artsy feel to it. The composition is nice, as well as the sharp detail of the water droplets on the boy’s back. I suspect that this photo might be a composite, but I think it’s a good one if that’s the case. The sharpness of the foreground next to the blurred water in the background makes an interesting photo. Also, the anonymity of the subject is thought provoking.
-Linzee Karasik

This photo was given five stars on the PopPhoto Flash rating system, the highest rating. Of course, this isn’t a composite as what the rater might have suspected. Original photo was taken in Palo, Leyte while subject was skimboarding.

ESTANCABIGAS Photography Portfolio updated

I’ve been busy the past few days designing, coding and preparing the photos for my photography portfolio over at estancabigas.com. Finally, the whole site has been revamped and recently uploaded.

There are several changes that I’ve implemented as well as streamlined the interface:

• clean white pages against the former dark pages
• photos are smaller this time at 500px (pixels) maximum width against 750px before
• thumbnails are ditched
• photos are between 16 - 20 in number against 11 before organized into 6 sections
• the site is completely in CSS (cascading style sheets) against the table based design before (via Dreamweaver’s WYSIWYG editor)
• a multimedia slideshow of the La Naval is included as part of the portfolio by embedding a Flash component via Soundslide

With the smaller photos and CSS structure used, I’m sure that the site will load faster.

What’s the next step?

I’m looking at upgrading to a full Flash based site later when I will finish my Web Design course but it will also depend if I’ll find Soundslide or SlideshowPro applications more appealing.