DPP on a high

My ID and my lecture stubs! =)

I'm not a subscriber of their magazine. But I get to read and see their monthly issues whenever we are back here in the Philippines because hubby would always buy Digital Photographers Philippines (DPP) magazines (he also has a collection of Digital Photographers Malaysia mags). And if it wasn't for our mentor Manny Librodo mentioning it to us, we wouldn't have known about it. Apparently, it's Digital Photographers Philippines' 5th anniversary!

Marl was uber excited about it. He's a photographer, it's understood. But what made me feel excited about it was seeing and hearing the top photographers in the country in their lectures/seminars and meeting our friends in the world of photography. I'm all about mingling and socializing as I don't know any technical stuff when it comes to cameras. I leave it to the experts.

How did we get the passes to the event? It was simple. We bought the May issue of the Digital Photographers' magazine where it has a page at the back that we needed to tear and fill up. What's the crazy thing about it was... we bought 2 copies so that I can also tag along. =)
With Kharu, Manny Librodo & Badeedadee Marl
So on the day of the event, which was last Saturday, June 4th 2011, we woke up before 6:00AM, went to Bonifacio High Street at the Fort, and went on queue to get our IDs and stubs for the 3 lectures/talks that we'd be attending. We chose to attend talks of the famous award-winning DSLR videographer Jason Magbanua, travel photographer Per-Andre Hoffman, and one-light fashion photographer Tom Epperson (which we weren't able to attend to, you'll know why). Since we were there to support and listen to our mentor Manny Librodo, we sought his help to get us the passes for his lecture instead. And he gladly obliged. That's why he is so loved by many. And by us, too! =)

We saw photographer friends as early as 8AM. We had breakfast at Krispy Kreme and ate it at the Activity center canopy while waiting for Jason Magbanua's talk. And yes, even though I've gotten rid of caffeine shots, I went to buy a grande coffee just to help me sustain that hectic day.

Jason Magbanua's talk started at 9:30AM. Because Jason is such a great lecturer, his session was such an engaging one and for video buffs like me, I really have learned a lot. My big project this year is to save up for a Nikon D7000 so that I can start making my video projects more interesting. It lasted for an hour sadly. Too bad, my MUA-friend Madge couldn't make it. But I was so happy that Jason still recognized me and we even had a short chat after his talk, even though he was surrounded by fans wanting to get some photo op and signature from him.

We rushed to Fully Booked basement to attend a travel photography session with Per-Andre Hoffman at 11AM. On the way there, we saw more friends and we bumped into the group of power photographers like Lito Sy, Manny and Boboy Librodo, and Jude Tiongco. Anyway, Hoffman's presentation was a bit dragging as he just did a slideshow of his work. But still we learned something from him. Maybe I have raised my expectation too much. But hey, it's for free and I shouldn't be complaining. :-)

Me & Kharu
We grabbed a quick bite at Brothers Burger before heading on to Manny Librodo's talk. Although Manny's presentation was also from the slideshow that he prepared, people find it more interesting. Maybe because I'm biased. Or maybe because his fame world-wide has simply made us Filipinos proud. We're always proud and happy of our kababayan's success. And even more with Manny Librodo... who's our mentor and our good friend. He included 2 of my photos in his presentation and once again, he introduced me to the big crowd. Of course, most of his photos were of Krystal and Kharu - his two muses. Kharu managed to get there and be at the talk, too. It was definitely great to see her again, too! Like us, his other students and organizers were there to support him like Benedict Gacutan, Jude Tiongco, Sally Lee, and Lauren Malcampo, among others.

We would have gone straight to our next lecture which was a one-light photography with Tom Epperson, but Lauren and Sally invited the whole pack to grab an early dinner at Chelsea's in Serendra. There we chatted, laughed, and just simple had a great bonding moment with the Librodo brothers. When we felt our butts burning from sitting too long, we went to the 5th floor of Fully Booked to see who's speaking and to, ahmmmm, get some aircon. LOL. We saw Lito Sy there and so again, we chatted and just had a great time. I also saw Nikon P300 at the Nikon booth there and it was a freaking drooling moment. LOL. Some of us got tired of standing and some wanted to have some Starbucks coffee, so we went to the Starbucks on the 3rd floor of Fully Booked where we stayed for hours just chatting and laughing with the masters of photography. During this time, we have learned a lot from Lito Sy, who willingly answered questions from the photographers who were with us and even shared what he wouldn't share in his classes/workshops. We feel so lucky to be around these people! =)

And the fun part for everyone was the highlight of the day - Live Judging of the photos submitted by the members of DPP. In the panel were Manny Librodo, Pilar Tuason, Raymund Isaac, among other famous photographers. Some comments from the judges were a tad harsh. But that made it more interesting, I guess. But what I didn't like was picking on the model that was on the submitted photo. Instead of just judging the photo itself, some judges tore it all apart and made such foolish remarks on the models in the photos. But oh well, what do I know about photography? To each his own, as the saying goes. And I better shut up. =)

I really did enjoy the DPP day! Big thanks to hubby for being so makulit about it and to Manny Librodo, for inviting us to hear his talk. Here are some photos taken on that day and were tagged to me on Facebook. Thanks guys!!!!

Me & Badeedadee Marl (courtesy of Benedict Gacutan)
Group shot with the star-studded group
(courtesy of Benedict Gacutan)
At Chelsea with the fun group (by Sally Lee)

Me with Sir Raymund Isaac
Famous celebrity photographer Raymund Isaac & Badeedadee Marl

Badeedadee Marl, Pilar Tuason, Boboy Librodo, and I
Photo courtesy of JioFashion Verona
Photo courtesy of Joel Nilo
Photo courtesy of Joel Nilo
Photo courtesy of Chris Teves

Group hug photo courtesy of Aly Reyes

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