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[Editor's note: This article was originally posted on September 7, 2009, here, Virgie Tano Galang's blog. Virgie was with Batch 22 of the FPPF Basic Photography Workshop.]

Last night was a restful evening.

The best laid back rest that has been deprived of me for over a month. It was a peaceful and uninterrupted relief.

The FPPF Basic Photography Class I attended has ended. Finally, the winners were revealed. I did not win. At least my entry was chosen on the Top Ten against 22 finalist. I was on 7th Place.

As expected, all photos were amazing!

Even the FPPF Chairwoman (Eduviges Y. Huang) hardly believed it was only the Basic Class. She almost confused herself if she was talking in front of the Advanced Class. The committees told her the best class was the one prior to ours; but upon seeing our works she’d like to believe she was given the wrong information.
Her remarks were flattering. Winners were all deserving.

The pride of winning was evident.
I felt how efforts were exerted; all of us had the same exertion;
but theirs were exemplary. Maybe we still need to see beyond what they saw.

My classmates would agree, if I say “all of us were winners”.
We learned substantially. The experience was simply beyond our expectations.
Most of all we gained new friends. For me that made us all champions.

Ma’am Cecilia Angeles would say our batch was the most “bungisngis” of all classes.
A single joke would collapse the entire FPPF Chamber by the outburst of our laughter.
I am guilty of it. I admit I was one who giggled much.
I cannot control myself with such a joyful group.

Ma’am Cecil was right when she told us “if you love photography you would not need a hospital, because you will never be sick. Taking photos will make your life easygoing. Every time you look at the viewfinder you will see that everything is beautiful.”

The short term course is done.

I have mixed emotions. Happy yet sad.
Happy of the immense occurrence. Sad of the short period of friendship.
We will miss the resonance of glee.
The coming Sunday will be different; but the the chuckle will continue to tremble.

Our photos will be a reminder that I’ve been a part of this “Bungisngis” batch.

Undeniably, it made me felt so proud.

[Admin's note: Batch 21 winning photos have been posted in the Gallery.]

More than just look, your eyes can now see. Time freezes into eternity. Your senses come alive, and suddenly, you can taste without moving your tongue, hear without turning your ear and smell without the aid of your nose. You feel your stomach erupt like a volcano, with emotion as your lava. Your eyes now become windows, through which your soul enters to live for a moment within the frame of a created universe, and this becomes your everything. And everything is beautiful. Eventually, you realize you need to let go, and thus you return to just looking, but now you know the world a little bit better because of the beauty of a photograph.

If you look closely, a photograph ceases to be just a photograph, it becomes part of your reality. This is what I have experienced after I decided to take photography seriously, and ever since I graduated from the FPPF Basic Photography Course a couple of weeks ago, I have had this experience more often and in a stronger degree. The Basic course combines decades of experience of seven master photographers, whom we have come to deeply respect in the five weeks we’ve spent with them. The practical tips given on camera operation, lighting, portrait photography & post-processing are not to be found in your camera manual, nor in stiff books on photography, because these little snippets of knowledge come from something that cannot be immediately acquired but must be cultivated through years and years of trying to be better—it’s called wisdom. The photo critiques were very humbling. It was like being transported back in time when I was just in Kindergarten, sweat on my hands and skips in my heartbeat. I would shiver with excitement and anxiety whenever my teacher posts the best projects on the bulletin board, hoping that my work would be chosen (We never grow up, do we?). I am amazed by the vast talent of my batchmates, and I am awed at the diversity of our pictures. Photography is a big proof that God made us all different; no one is alike. But the shared love of taking pictures unites us in the batch, and we revel in the distinctiveness of each one’s work.

The class of FPPF Basic Photography Batch 21, Saturdays, Aug-Sep 2009 at Fort Santiago, Intramuros, Manila.

More than the technical aspects, the most important lesson I took home from this course is that photography is not just a personal experience but a communal one. Passion becomes stronger when it is shared with somebody else. It is with this premise that we immediately formed our own photography club after our graduation—the f21 club—which is an avenue for us to share our craft with each other, learn from one another and have fun in the continuous process of discovery. We start this group with huge inspiration from our idols—Ka Lito, Sir Ador, Ma’am Cecile, Sir Vic, Sir Manny, Sir Dennis and Sir Chris—for we see in them not only true artistry but genuine generosity in sharing what they know. And a little bit of what they know is a good start in this precious journey of capturing the beauty of the world. These people have taught us to do more than just look…our eyes can now see.

The author, Emmanuel Paras is from Batch 21, Saturday Class, of the FPPF Basic Photography Workshop. He won 4th Place in Still Life in the photo contest for their batch. He is one of the active organizers of their group, now called the f21 club, composed of members of Batch 21.

The FPPF encourages contributions from students and graduates relating to their experiences with the workshops and about photography in general, for publication on this website and in Frame One, the FPPF print magazine.

We went there, in the Volcano Island in the middle of Taal Lake. The Crater Lake is in the middle of that long portion of the island.

We trekked about four kilometers of rough terrain to reach the crater rim of the volcano – the main volcano – on Volcano Island in Taal Lake. It was an arduous climb, even if at first it seemed like a leisurely hike on verdant rolling hills.

“Kaya mo yan (You can do it),” FPPF Project Director Lito Beltran goaded us as we began our walk from the shore of Barangay Tabla at the foot of the volcano. We got to Tabla by way of a motorized banca from the town of Talisay, our first stop from the elevated town of Tagaytay. Ka Lito just celebrated his 70th birthday three weeks ago. The FPPF team, composed of Ka Lito, George Cabig, Amir Alba and Chris Malinao, took this trek as part of a scouting trip to look for beautiful locations to include in a planned Travel Photography workshop.

Kaya mo yan, Amir, urges FPPF Project Director Lito Beltran, as Amir Alba follows behind him. The horse guides never left us, knowing all the while that we would need them later.

So we walked on our own feet in the direction of the crater with some town folks trailing behind us with their horses. They had been insistent on offering us their horses for the ride up, but we were equally confident of making it with our own feet. No, thank you, we can walk our way up. Or so we thought.

After about 300 meters of hiking, and as the ground began to rise and seemed to get rougher and narrower as we went, our feet started to hurt and our breathing got heavier.

“How far up are we going?” I asked, and one horse guide pointed us up to some makeshift structure about 400 meters up at the top of the mountain. “That far up, sir, and it’s four kilometers from here,” he said with a definite voice. Behind me I saw Ka Lito mount a horse and not long after that I was also on a horse. Then I saw George and Amir appear from a turn on the path riding their own horses. And so up we went – on horseback all.

Along the way, we noticed evidence that we were indeed trekking on top of a volcano – black and red volcanic soil could be seen where the path had been eroded by rain and time, and there’s the occasional vent spewing hot steam here and there.

While the uphill climb was no picnic, the surrounding vista rewarded us with beautiful sights of Taal Lake from a vantage point that we never saw before: it was beautiful! All around us was a magnificence that only God can show. As we went higher, the scenery became much prettier.

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