BONTOC, Mountain Province – For a better output of office documentations, the Provincial Tourism Office and the Provincial Information Office jointly funded the conduct of the Basic Photography training for Municipal Tourism Officers, Municipal Information Officers, and information officers of both the provincial offices and line agencies last November 20-21, 2019.
The first and second day were held at the Cable Café-Poblacion and devoted to practicum at Kadchog Rice Terraces, the Chico River, and elsewhere where the participants could capture ‘life ways.’
The resource person who came all the way from Batanes was sponsored by the provincial office of the Technical Education and Skills Development Administration (TESDA). He guided the participants on the basics of photography from basic operations of DSLR and cell phone cameras.
Angel Baybay, an Executive Assistant of the governor, emphasized the importance of photography even in the future as it is an effective way of storing and sharing information.
Photography paints a thousand words as a single image can transmit a thousand stories, of thoughts, expression or idea as the photo could substantially describe.
Pictures never lie too. With the advance of technology, pictures could be enhanced but the same cannot be essentially changed.
“Being true is what photography is all about”, Baybay stressed.
Noli Gabilo, a freelance photographer and the resource person from Batanes, shared that lighting is an indispensable part of photography to enhance landscapes and images.
He also emphasized the significance of changing various shutter speeds in photography so as to capture photos in action devoid of the blur and light effects which are usually in sports due to motion and action.
He also shared that captioning should not only be descriptive but informative of the photos of events or images. “Caption pictures with something not seen in the pictures”, he stressed to the participants.
In the afternoon of the second day, submitted photos depicting ‘life ways’ were judged for being illustrative of the composition, lighting, and other features of photography.
Meanwhile, the role of photography in tourism was also highlighted. Excellently captured photos of tourism attractions enhance promotions together with accessibility of the sites.
“The pictures of existing tourism attractions are to be enhanced and preserved for better promotion. Responsible tourism is also promoted”, quipped one of the tourism officers.
Atty. Eric Euda, provincial officer of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), said that participants in this training can be assessed for the issuance of Certificates of Competency (COCs) and eventually NCII for Photography, of possible.
Participants were the Municipal Tourism Action Officers (MTAOs), Municipal and provincial Information Officers, and information officers of the provincial offices and national line agencies.
By Roger Sacyaten
