PHOTOGRAPHS, THEN AND NOW 2: CLASS PICTURES

As I mentioned, my grandfather on my Mom's side was already in the photography business and during the 40s and 50s, he already had a Studio in Cebu and usually gets the Studio Portrait shots, Family pictures and of course, Class Pictures! Don't forget... they also had the great talent of retouching!

It started off with the Black and White photographs and Sepia, too before it evolved to the Color pictures we are now used to.

I guess, we have mixed feelings when we go over our Class Pictures. We laugh at how we look... we ask ourselves where our classmates are now... and wonder how they would look too.


These pictures were mostly taken by professional photographers, but some are not so well copied from the original.


When we were kids, we usually had a very formal Class picture usually on the stairs to make sure everyone is seen.

late 1960s: With Sr. Amandina, our very dear Belgian nun
 in St. Theresa's College 

mid 1970s: still black and white and standing on the steps

late 1970s: colored and no longer on the steps

early 1980s: colored but I wasn't able to scan this from the original photo

mid 1980s: colored and see how behaved we were... but they still followed the traditional Class picture with us on the steps

early 1990s

early 1990s as Philippine delegate

These days, it is hard to get a formal class picture and there has to be several wacky shots!


Here are more informal group shots...

early 1980s: the color of the photo has become reddish as the effect of acid on old photos... therefore, the term ACID-FREE albums to keep the pictures from fading or becoming red... 

early 1980s: colored and more relaxed pose = = better picture quality (film)

mid 1980s

early 1990s

And when we graduated or for yearbooks, it had to be the retouched black-and-white photo! But, when I looked through my pictures, I also had colored pictures for the yearbook, too.

late 1970s

early 1980s: now colored

late 1980s: back to black and white

late 1980s: still black and white

You must be wondering why I still have all these pictures. Again, I am a "CHRONICLER" as my Junior, Kaye R. De B. said. I am into documentation rather than the artist-photographer! 

PHOTOGRAPHY has leveled up to a higher level of SCIENCE and ART... and COMMUNICATION!!! 


These photos have shared a lot on how we have journeyed in life...
And will further document whatever we will discover in the years ahead.

But, I guess at the end of this blog, one of the things you would ponder about is...
How old must I be? 

PHOTOGRAPHY, THEN AND NOW

I remember this picture of a rotating carousel at night which won me our organization's Grand Prize for Best Photo.

This was taken in the early 1990s with my Pentax SFXn SLR camera... no not Digital SLR yet!

Come to think of it, this was scanned from a simple picture with no Photoshop editing and most of all, people were not yet so much into Photography. 

It was just interesting because of the play of lights as the Merry Go-Round spinned...I wasn't even so sure of I had a tripod, but I must have used it!

Then, photographers were correlated to simple men who would take pictures of you in parks and the like. 

This is a far cry from the present day photographers who are usually affluent and can afford all the gadgets needed or most of all, who just want to have the whole paraphernalia, including the editing works! 

Actually, photography has already elevated into a different level of science and art!

My grandfather on my Mom's side was already in the photography business and during the 40s and 50s, he already had a Studio in Cebu and usually gets the Studio Portrait shots, Family pictures and of course, Class Pictures! Don't forget... they also had the great talent of retouching!

My Mom at their Studio wearing a creation she made herself

I remember the Black and White shots and the Sepia, too!  Now, these are effects made during post-processing!

my parents

In fact, my Auntie Gening even used to lightly paint the Black and White photos manually just to give a touch of color. 
And here is a picture with family and friends...I wonder what camera they used!

The models had their traditional pose and of course, the Mona Lisa smile.

My Mom... with annotations written in ink

And here is an interesting picture of my Dad at work.

1958

When we were kids, we usually had a very formal Class picture usually on the stairs to make sure everyone is seen.

These days, it is hard to get a formal class picture and there has to be several wacky shots!


And when we graduated or for yearbooks, it had to be the retouched black-and-white photo!

I learned to love Photography more in 1987 when I bought my first own camera in Japan (when I was a Philippine Delegate), the Pentax IQ Zoom 70, which I read from Newsweek was the world's first compact zoom-lens camera. This still used the film and this was the expensive part - developing the photographs.

with my co-delegates to the ASEAN- Japan Friendship Program... few months after our Japan trip and using the Pentax IQ Zoom 70

This picture was taken from this compact zoom lens camera. See the date stamped on the photo!

But, I have become a "CHRONICLER" as my Junior, Kaye R. De B. said. I am more into documentation rather than the artist-photographer nor the director type! I am also more into the classic photos and prefer less editing, but maybe, I really don't have the luxury of time.. and talent for this! 

Autofocus and SLR cameras have gone a long way. It is now digital with all the increase in megapixels as well as in-camera editing, weather proofing and ease of editing and sharing. Now, everyone can take a picture with their cellphones! 


In 2007, I would never forget my Sony Ericsson K800i cellphone which I used partly for our Dubai trip, when my camera batteries drained.

taken at the Ibn Battutah Mall in Dubai using the Sony Ericsson K800i

And of course, the newer cellphones have better cameras which suffices if we forgot our digital camera!

At the Colosseo in Rome as taken from my HTC One X cellphone

Technology has exponentially changed and made photography more easy, more accessible, more cheap and as my friend said, "First thing one does in a DISASTER is no longer to run for your life... Now, take a picture first before running for your life! Then post in Facebook as soon as possible!"

As I said, PHOTOGRAPHY has leveled up to a higher level of SCIENCE and ART... and COMMUNICATION!!! 


This is our way of sharing how we have been, what we have been doing and what we are interested in.


I wonder where Photography will go in the next decades and how it will amaze us more !!! 

LOLONG, THE LARGEST CROCODILE IN THE WORLD

This was at the later part of our road trip from ZC to Dapitan to CDO to Bukidnon to Davao to Davao Del Norte to Agusan to Misamis Oriental and back to ZC.
But, since this is one of the most unexpected places I would ever visit, I am posting this ahead!

We visited Lolong, the largest and longest crocodile in the world (in captivity) in Bunawan, Agusan Del Sur!

These days, I have heard in the news that Lolong has been officially named by the Guiness Book of World Records as the largest and longest saltwater crocodile in captivity at 20.25 feet!!!

We had to walk a long way to go to the place where Lolong is kept...

The warnings as stated in the Visayan dialect.

Finally, here we are!

 

Thanks to these folks... they take care of Lolong!

Where Lolong stays now...

Another pond...

Actually, they told us we were lucky because today there was no water in the pond. There are times, the pond is filled and all you see are Lolong's eyes  and top part of his body!!!

Lolong really looks old. Note that there are moss attached to his scales. Lolong has very slow movements...

 

Then, he opened his mouth and kept this position for sometime...

Though, they do not ideally want to put Lolong in captivity, it is also a choice because safety is the issue.

This is the area near the site. The place is really beautiful and the people are so happy swimming and enjoying the water!
...Wonder if there are crocs here?

 

And when we left, we didn't forget the Lolong bread...

This was the very kind boy who let us borrow his umbrella for free...
usually, they rent out the umbrellas.

Here is what I gathered about Lolong from Wikipedia:

Lolong is the largest crocodile in captivity. He is an Indo-Pacific or Saltwater crocodile (Crocodylus porosus) measured at 20 feet 3 inches (6.17 meters), making him one of the largest crocodiles ever measured from snout-to-tail.^{[1][2][3][4][5]}

In November of 2011, Australian crocodile expert Dr. Adam Britton of National Geographic sedated and measured Lolong in his enclosure and confirmed Lolong as the world's longest crocodile ever caught and placed in captivity.^[1][2]

Officials of the town of Bunawan where the crocodile was captured said that experts from the National Geographic Channel found out that Lolong breaks the record of the previous record-holder: a 17 feet and 11.75 inches (5.48 meters) male saltwater crocodile named "Cassius" kept in the crocodile park of MarineLand Melanesia in Queensland, Australia.

Lolong was caught in a Bunawan creek in the province of Agusan del Sur in the Philippines on September 3, 2011.^[3][6] He was captured with the joint cooperation of the local government unit, residents and crocodile hunters of Palawan. It took three weeks to hunt down the giant crocodile and about 100 people to take him out of the water.^[7] Lolong broke twice from restraining ropes before he was properly secured and he became extremely aggressive several times.^[8] He is estimated to be at least 50 years old.^[9]

Lolong is suspected of eating a farmer who went missing in the town of Bunawan, and also of consuming a 12-year-old girl whose head was discovered two years earlier. He is also the primary suspect in the disappearance of water buffaloes in the area.^[10] In the examination of the stomach contents after his capture, remnants of water buffaloes reported missing before Lolong's capture were found, but no human remains. Experts say the vast Agusan Marsh's tourism potential needs intensive study to avoid fatal human-crocodile encounters. The capture of Lolong is a good advantage in protecting it for survival, against danger he posed to the humans, an attraction and income for the locality, and an opportunity for scientific study.

The non-governmental organization (NGO) activist Animal Kingdom Foundation Inc. with a cooperation of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has urged the local government of Bunawan to return Lolong in the creek of barangay Nueva Era, where the giant reptile was captured. But, in an ongoing debate, Bunawan mayor Edwin “Cox” Elorde and residents of the barangay oppose the crocodile's release, arguing that it would threaten individuals living in the vicinity of the creek.

The crocodile is named after Ernesto "Lolong" Goloran Cañete, one of the veteran crocodile hunters from the Palawan Crocodile and Wildlife Reservation Center who led the hunt.^[11] After weeks of stalking, the hunt for Lolong took its toll on Cañete's health. He died of a heart attack several days before the crocodile was captured.

After six months of waiting since the visit of Australian zoologist and crocodile expert Dr. Adam Britton, Lolong was officially certified by the Guinness Book of World Records as the “world’s biggest crocodile in captivity.”^[14] The certification was read in public during the celebration of Araw ng Bunawan.^[15]

Lolong is part of the ecosystem...we do hope he would be cared for well in captivity.