Top 5 at Zone V Camera Club

June 2023

The month of June presented a very challenging theme for the members of Zone V Camera Club’s monthly photo contest – HOME in Triptych. It means photographers have to come up with three different images that would resonate as home and put them all alongside as one image.

See below the prized images and read the stories behind them as shared by the winners.

#5 “Sitio Pariahan” by Mac Omega

I took these pictures in Sitio Pariahan in Taliptip Bulacan. I went to this place after I got curious when I saw a friend posted a picture about a church almost submerged in water. As per reports, the place was not previously deep in waters, but due to climate change, the place is fast submerging.

A lot of people living there have already left but there are still some residents who learned to adapt to the situation and did not abandon this place they call home.

#4 “Mobile Homes” by Joshua Mabasa

A peculiar story of what home is to a sailor. I shot this triptych during a sailing trip in Palawan. The spontaneity of joining the club’s contest mid vacation forced me to reconsider what my idea of home was whilst being away from a physical space with limited gear and unfamiliar surroundings. The primary objective was to appeal to the idea that home for some people could be mobile and not just stationary.

This series was shot on a Sony Rx100 Compact Camera purposed for vlogging. Being stuck on a boat for long periods of time enables you to see parts of the boat that truly shine and to me started to speak of home. Rather than taking pictures of the entirety of boat I wanted to capture small spaces and objects that felt like they represented the idea of a home.

I captured the photos during different parts of the day. This was a difficult task as being on a constantly moving boat in an ever changing lighting environment required timing to achieve purpose. For instance, the transom steps (photograph 1) was where I spent most of my time fishing on the ledge or drinking coffee in the morning. I particularly enjoyed the early morning light that illuminated the edge of the steps. This made for a more serene photograph in hopes to replicate that feeling of a safe space like most homes to some people did. Even more so, waiting for waves to calm down to create that sense of calm required a lot of patience and waiting.

#3 “Untitled” by Jay Camus

ISO 200; f/8; 1/800 (left), 1/400 (center), 1/200 (right)

Images of doors are one of my favorite. In my travels I have accumulated quite a few shots of doors throughout Europe. In the English city of Cheltenham I observed a trend in the design of the townhouse rows was having the doors side by side looking very similar with minor differences.

The hardest part was choosing which 3 I would use for my entry.

#2 “Colors of Stobosa” by Danny Yu

During the Baguio OTS, Noli Gabilo accompanied us to Stobosa in La Trinidad.  He led us up the hill across the street to a house perched on the hillside.  The whole scene was like a massive canvas filled with vibrant colors.

Armed with a 24-105 lens, I started picking out some of the busier spots.

#1 “Untitled” by Jeff Dytuco

The images were from an “iconic” or popular building apartments in Hongkong. I got the chance to visit the place (pre pandemic) a couple of times. First was during the Club’s OTS, quite a few of us went and we had to take turns shooting from one spot. I even remember that there were some plastic bottles thrown in our direction from the apartment buildings, to make us leave. In short, I wasn’t really “satisfied” with my shots.

During my next trip to HK, I went back to the place, just by myself, to shoot again and finally have stock photos that I was happy with.

My concept was a simple and straightforward, since the subject literally fits the theme “Home”, I just showed the transition from daytime, to golden hour, until the blue hour. I was lucky to have shots from the same spot and was able to do the challenging triptych quite cleanly.

Congratulations to all the winners this June!