The Matina Pangi River photoshoot

Rampaging cascades of floodwaters thundered through the small riverbed, venting its deadly fury in the densely populated downstream areas of Matina Pangi. The June 28 flooding was the worst in recent local history.

Matina Pangi River

Upon the invitation of Sherwin one of my fellow photographers at Maniniyot Community we hopped on one of their sturdy Suzuki Jimneys towards the river quarry site.

The ever dependable 4x4 Suzuki Jimney

According to Jay, Sherwin's cousin who oversees
 the quarry, the June 28 floodwaters breached the
riverbanks and extended towards the treeline.

(from left) Rapha, Joemar, Sherwin, Toney, Mikko, Ian

The upstream portion of Matina Pangi River would be our location for a nature-themed photoshoot. We bought in models Mary Claire and Alyssa. Providing the clothes for the photoshoot is young designer Jeffrey Garde of Kata Couture, our make-up artist was Jay Alternado.

Mary Claire

Mary Claire is a 3rd year Mass Comm student at Holy Cross of Davao, is a member of Glam, one of the top modeling agencies here in Davao. I got to meet here when she borrowed my lighting equipment for a school exhibit during their mass comm week.

Alyssa Donig

Alyssa is also a Glam model. I first met Alyssa during a fun shoot at Monteritz. BTW, also with us during the shoot was Prats and Sid, medical students from India, friend of Doc Nunno also an MCOM member. This was sort of a despedida shoot for them as they will be going back to India this November.

I played around with various photography styles. Either shooting in neutral mode or playing with the camera's monochrome mode. 

Or  breaking some rules on composition

Or doing some weird experiments on my camera like placing a plastic in front of the lens to create a smokey effect.

Though I was focused more on fine-tuning some post-processing techniques which is an accumulation from different photography workshops. 

I must admit that I am more of a photoshopper. I want to emulate a certain look from my subjects which photoshop can enhance. Though one of the pitfalls of any post-processing freak is to over-rely  on the PP software. For me one must strive to achieve a balance between actual photography and post-processing. One must constantly strive to explore his camera and his software  and enhance his shooting techniques and his post-processing styles. For Photography is a dynamic art constantly shifting and changing just like the Matina Pangi River.