Z Places – San Francisco with the Oldies
By Oscar Sanchez Soriano
Fade away. Zone V Camera Club oldies do just that – stay under the radar for a while, and with such characteristic unpredictability, resurface anew from nowhere, making their presence felt again!
Well, that’s how four buddies from different Zone V generations did on May 25, 2022. Unplanned and simply wishing to reconnect and give way to a travel itch, Romy Morales from Anchorage, Alaska and Rick Gavino from LA, packed their bags, geared up,
and headed by land to beautiful San Francisco where two other Zombies were waiting excitedly – Peps Mendoza and yours truly.
The meeting was expectedly a riot, and by all means a blast. What took some decades to happen, all came back in one day, and all it seemed like only yesterday. The reunion was a mixed bag of reminiscing, social and personal updates and lots of LOLs.
Meet up was Ling Nam, a Daly City favorite among Pinoys and the four savored everything “silog”. Then, more stories and louder LOLs.
All four craved to shoot together, but the more compelling craving was, and in the grand Zone V tradition- competition! An SFO/OTS was conceived, to cover picturesque locations in San Francisco. Five images from each makes a collection of 20, and all decided to have Zone V members judge their work on Facebook, just for fun!
The group covered SF tourist locations one after the other. Click! Click! The memories were finally in the bag, well, SD cards. Despite a tiring day, it was clearly a happy wrap. The group capped the night with “goto” and “turon” at another Pinoy favorite, Lucky Chances Casino/Restaurant.
Fab four who? Romy Morales is now the second most senior Zombie (after Angie Amistoso) having joined the club a few months after Angie. He was 2nd POTY in the late 70s and has since relocated to Alaska as a writer, entrepreneur and now a travel vlogger.
Rick on the other hand lives in LA and covers many sports, entertainment and social events there. He has 2 B&W Photo of the Year and a Color Photo of the Year awards up his sleeve.
Peps Mendoza works for the SF Public Utilities Commission and during his stint with Zone V, won a few. He dabbles in landscape and portrait photography.
Well, as for me, I was POTY in 1982 and President in 1984. I have come back to Zone V after 30 years to share my undying creative passion.
Winning for me is a bonus, especially in a generation of great Zone V photographers.
Four is a beginning – should pave the way for more Oldies reunion. So much fun, the more the merrier!
