Top 5 At Zone V Camera Club

March 2023

We share with you the winning top 5 images at Zone V Camera Club For the month of March 2023 and learn the backstory behind these photos with the contest theme “Photojourn: COMMUTE”

See the top notch images and read below what our winning photographers had to say.

#5 “Jeepney Phase Out” by Kevin Roi Lopez

ISO 200; f/7.1; 1/200sec

This photo was taken last May 21, 2021 during the height of the pandemic. My mentor Arlene Donaire  and I went out to shoot in preparation for a monthly theme at Zone V Camera Club.

We went to Alabang Star mall and gone up to the highest floor of the parking lot. We shot whatever we could see from above, and then saw this scenario: jeepneys lined up with a queue and the shadow. I waited for someone to pass by, and in the distance, I saw the bike approaching, and I wanted it to be part of my composition. I waited for it to enter my frame, then took the shot.

Actually, there were many versions of the shot: people walking with umbrellas, and a jeepney parked nearby. Among all the versions of my shots, this is the one I like the most and I can relate it to the current situation what our jeepney drivers are facing.

The challenge and difficulty I had was probably how to be invisible at the top of the mall because there were guards training for bomb detection on the other side at the time. The guards saw us asked us to leave. Fortunately I managed to take this shot and serves as a prized memory of the place, as unfortunately, the same mall was burned down a year after.

#4 “Shibuya Crowd” by Arlene Donaire

ISO 1000; f/28; 1/50sec

I lived and worked in Tokyo back in 2010-2011 as Information and  PR Officer of the Asian Productivity Organization; these too were my formative years in digital photography. Shibuya is one of my favorite places for “people watching” especially while sipping coffee at the Starbucks Café of the Tower Records Building, which has an overlooking view of the busy Shibuya Crossing.

People watching-coffee-shooting, this was an acquired habit that enabled me to enjoy many solo walks around Tokyo and endure the solitude of being an OFW. As a newbie photographer then, these were my years of self-study and committing too-many-to-count errors in shooting.

But these images, borne out of my exploratory years, I’d always kept them stashed knowing they were part of my memories.

On this particular day (Sunday Dec 12, 2010), I had just finished playing badminton over at the Shibuya Workmen’s gym, with Filipino friends and, as usual, we went up Starbucks Café to get our caffeine fix. I picked a seat in one of the bar tables facing the street intersection, so I could watch the so-called “Shibuya shuffle” in action. The shuffle is this incredible scramble that happens every time the traffic light turns red, stopping all vehicles from all directions of the intersection, to let about 1,000 to 2,500 people pass for 2 minutes.

The image shows the “moment of contrast” in one of the pedestrian lanes, where a massive number of commuters had converged and are about to cross. My then naivete in choice of correct shutter speed, produced the motion blur on the taxi while the people from behind seemed at near-standstill. I wanted the taxi then to be tack-sharp and the people more fluid, but I guess my panning skill then wasn’t yet that evolved. But this photo, which I like to call a “happy mistake” turned out well! Layout wise, the centered composition was deliberate – I did wait for a vehicle to pass dead-center, because I wanted a balanced, anchored look I guess I picked this scene to show a moment of contrast.

I chose this photo as my entry despite its technical deficiency – the blurs, because I liked the way the story gelled together – motion in standstill, just the way one would describe the “Shibuya Shuffle.” I understood that photojournalistic images focus more on the story, so to my mind, this was my best depiction of an interesting story about commuters.

I edited this image in Photoshop; paying close attention to the tonal contrast, making sure the hues of “white-gray-black zone” all come out. In its colored version, the taxi’s green against the multi-hued warm lights and clothing of the commuters somewhat clashed; so it was necessary to manage the color saturation and luminance before converting to B&W.

#3 “Rush Hour” Ruben Castor Ranin

ISO 100; f/22; 1/5sec

The image was shot inside an MRT way back the time I wanted to document how the commuters experience the rush hour.

It was a difficult capture since taking photos inside the train is not allowed to the extent that the security personnel asked me to delete the photos I took within the terminal. And so I did. Inside the train I have to discreetly take shots. Using my bag as tripod I put my camera on top of it and by chance clicked it.

My intention was to shoot it at slow shutter mode, while the train was moving and no security personnel is around, hence, I took this shot.

It’s a lucky shot because I was able to execute exactly what I had in mind. To tell a story and execute a technique to make the photo more dynamic.

#2 “iMasdan” by David Lim

Conceive, create capture

(Note: Mr. Lim did not provide backstory and other details on this photo)

#1 “Komyut Sa Riles” by Mac Omega

ISO 400; f/5.6; 1/30sec

First,I would like to say that I enjoyed shooting for this theme. Rather than looking at my vast archive, I opted to shoot for new images. After all, Manila is one of the most challenging places for commuters so I was sure that there’s plenty to shoot for the theme.

I shot my winning entry in Alabang which is also the location of the photowalk last February. I was aware of the fact that some members may have similar entries with mine so I had to do it differently by using a technique called panning.

Panning in photography is a very difficult technique to do but once you nail it, you can create stunning images. Out of the hundred panning photos that I took, most of them were blurred and this photo was one of the few that turned out to be good and an award winning entry.