SAGADA, Mountain Province – Twenty-eight community storytellers and campus journalists in Sagada and other towns of Mountain Province were trained for two days on visual storytelling through photographs and multimedia training workshop held at the Big Dipper Homestay along Staunton Road, Mabbay, Patay on August 24-25, 2024.
The activity, organized by the PCP and Radyo Sagada, aimed to enhance the visual literacy of the participants and help them produce visual stories.
The participants were composed of students from Saint Mary’s School, Sagada National High School, Bangaan National High School, Balugan Elementary School, Bangaan Elementary School, personnel from the Philippine National Police, Bureau of Jail Management and Penology, Bangaan Fidelisan Tanulong Aguid Madongo Pride Farmers Association, Radyo Sagada, and Mountain Province–Provincial Information Office.
Before the start of the session, the participants were asked to install mobile applications such as snapseed, lightroom, capcut, inshot, filmora, and adobe premiere rush for post-processing of photos and video editing.
During the first day of the workshop, members of the PCP, led by Chairperson Jimmy A. Domingo discussed the basics of photography, photojournalism, and photo captioning.
At the start of the event, Domingo introduced the former PCP chairperson and currently the Undersecretary and Director-General of the Philippine Information Agency (PIA), Jose A. Torres Jr. who discussed his work and the PIA. “Buong buhay ko po, ako po ay isang journalist, nagsusulat sa local at international. Ako rin po yung nagtatag nung online publication ng ABS-CBN, ngayon sikat na siya tapos yung GMA po, online din po, so magkasunod po sila nung hindi pa uso ang internet. Wala pang naniniwala kung ano yung online, itinayo naming sila. Ako din po ay nagtrabaho sa mga publication ng simbahan. Ako po yung sumasama kay Santo Papa kapag bumibiyahe siya dito sa Asia” stated Torres in his message.
Meanwhile, Gwendolyn Gay L. Gaongen, the owner of Big Dipper and a reporter of Radyo Sagada 104.7 FM, welcomed everyone and discussed the brief history of the radio station.
In addition, risk management and safety reminders before taking photos and videos on different sites were lectured by Ramon R. Jose. The session also included community development issues and initiatives; United Nations sustainable development goals, which was discussed by Orange P. Omengan. These topics were lectured before the practical shooting using available cameras.
The other members who acted as resource speakers and facilitators were Angie M. de Silva, Luis T. Liwanag, Glecelyn O. Simba, Rainelyn Angelyn B. Figueroa, Romeo Mariano, Jarvis Ivan G. Sadiua, Ann Portia Y. Dinglasan, and Daniel Ceng.
After the lectures, the participants were then asked to take pictures during a photo walk from the venue to Poblacion, Sagada while others proceeded to the direction at Batalao with each group assigned with a PCP member to assist and guide them in capturing. Post-processing of pictures was taught using snapseed after each participant had selected two to three photos from their takes and uploaded these with corresponding captions to a newly created FB page for the members for critiquing.
On the 2nd day, video shooting styles, camera movement for multimedia production, script writing and storyboarding were lectured by Figueroa and Domingo before requiring the participants to go out, shoot videos and photos for a simple story package. Figueroa shared her experience in preparing a video for their school while she was still studying and presented the output of the video that they created to the participants. Domingo also showed short videos with different concepts that he created and shared helpful tips for the participants to learn from.
After the shooting, everyone returned to the venue for video editing, uploading to the group’s page for viewing, and critiquing by the PCP members and other participants for improvement.
The participants were all grateful to the speakers and facilitators for the knowledge and skills they imparted. In return, the PCP members encouraged everyone to continue what they have gained during the two days training.
The activity ended with the awarding of certificates by the PCP members and Gaongen to all the participants, followed by the awarding of tokens to the speakers and facilitators. By Tyrel F. Faniswa
