|
FOR
someone like advertising photographer Jay Alonzo, what
more new images can one come up with involving one of
the most photographed island-resorts in the whole world
like Boracay? Besides that islet on Station 1 that has
served as the signature Boracay backdrop, along with the
usual legion of near-naked men and women blissfully
baking on the powdery white shore, is there something
fresh, new and exciting to snap away at?
The
answer is, of course, yes, there is—if you know not just
where to look but how to look at a subject, be it a
famous strip of white-sand beach, an entertainment
celebrity, or a piece of couture clothing. Alonzo should
know, as he has covered a wide spectrum of subjects
intriguing and exciting. He has snapped plenty of very
famous faces for movie posters and other promotional
materials bearing titles as hormonally intriguing as
Buko Pandan and She Walks By Night, and as
commercially successful as Aishite Imasu 1941: Mahal
Kita, Sigaw and Mano
Po 3. He has creatively documented tourist landmarks in
China and key Asian cities nearby. He has also dealt
with plenty of fashion models and products, these having
been his major subjects since coming into the world of
advertising photography.
 In
his mid-30s, Alonzo is one of the most sought-after
advertising and fashion photographers this side of the
planet. He shares his expertise by teaching digital
photography at the Alcove of the Filipinas Heritage
Library. He also trains salesmen and “promodizers” in
Olympus
Philippines.
In an
exclusive interview with this writer over a cup of
coffee one early afternoon, he showed us his works via a
laptop while sharing his secret: “For me, the star in
the photograph is always the product. It can be a
perfume, a person, a place or food. I have no
pretensions of creating a [photographic] masterpiece
that won’t sell a product. That’s why it’s called
advertising in the first place.”
About
his style, he described it as “clean, Zen-like,
minimalist.”
That’s
why you won’t see kaleidoscopic hand-painted colors on
his model subjects, or pigtails and crab shells on Judy
Ann Santos’s body, or bluish olive oil slathered on Jay
Manalo’s. And, yes, he’d taken shots of Boracay
gazillion years ago and those babes and boys once upon a
time spreading their legs lazily on the sandy beach are
now moms and daddies worrying about pregnancy stretch
marks and beer bellies.
Alonzo
also took their avant-garde curvaceous figures.
“Right
now, with digital technology, no matter what your
subjects are, there’s always something new. If you have
the best software, you can do anything,” he said.
He’s not
referring to abstract burloloy images digitally
imposed on photographed subjects but techniques that
enhance realism in each shot. Summertime this year, he
went back to Bora and consciously took pictures again,
this time using his
Olympus cameras.
One has
Bora kids perched on one side of an outrigger boat,
gamely smiling for Alonzo’s camera. “I didn’t use the
zoom lens. I walked near the children and saltwater was
up to my chest. One wrong step and my expensive camera
and lens would’ve been gone,” he recalled with glee. He
was using the latest Olympus cameras, which cost a
fortune to us ordinary instamatic-dependent neophytes.
There
are other refreshing shots—of other Bora natives digging
for seashells not for decoration purposes but for
dinner, of the usual beach bums given strong washes of
color, of two intriguing kumpare (pals) looking for a
cheap room.
Words
will never be enough to discuss Alonzo’s engaging Bora
images, so it would be better if you go to the Alcove
where his Olympus-sponsored exhibit, Pictorial Tales of
Boracay, is ongoing until October 6.
Moreover, he will deliver a lecture on digital
photography on September 28, 5 pm, at the Reading Room
(adjacent to the Alcove) of Filipinas Heritage Library,
Paseo de Roxas Street, Makati City.
For inquiries: 892-1801. |
