#fotografíaspotlight © Guj Tungpalan of redsheep Photo & Cinema
Tell us a little bit about yourself, your education, your first job maybe, and how did you start photography?
Yikes. There’s no short version of this.
I would totally understand if you hit me up with a TL;DR. *chuckles*
I’m not exactly hardwired as a visual artist and I consider myself as a late bloomer in photography. I’ve been left-brained for more than half of my life (read: graduated from a Science High School, had a Computer Engineering degree in college and a good six years in a multinational IT company. Nerdy stuff basically, sans the stereotypical glasses). I’ve never used anything fancier than a point and shoot. (Well, I did use a film camera for a high school project, but that’s about it).
October of 2006. I went to Tokyo for a family trip. That was where I bought my first DSLR – a Canon EOS Kiss Digital X (i.e., the Japanese name for an EOS 450D, an entry-level camera). Cliche as it may sound, I fell in love with photography in an instant. In a snap. Quite literally. The colors. The shallow depth of field, which I didn’t know the term yet during that autumn of 2006; it just looked, ummm, better than those taken using a point-and-shoot camera. And this. No more shutter lag. (It was a biggie for me. There was this sort of disconnect when you’re using a point-and-shoot, which was actually more of a point-shoot-bzzzt-and-blink for a little more than a second. You can say good-bye to that moment in time that you wanted to capture.
Now the jump from taking portraits of my colleagues, team outings, office events and whatnot, all the way to wedding photography – that’s the other part of the story. 2007-2008 was when most of my batchmates got married; I attended weddings left and right, bringing my relatively new camera with me. I would take candid photos during weddings, and do pro bono prenups for engaged batchmates – freenups. “Hey Guj, we like your photos better than what our official photographers came up with. Why don’t you try posting these online?” So I made a website with nothing but a few candid photos taken during weddings, that one prenup that I did for a friend, and a few other stuff from weekend projects, such as birthdays and baptisms. Man, it was hard getting my first client (who wasn’t a friend, colleague or a friend of a friend). “How many weddings have you done?” or “Can we see a complete set of a wedding that you did – from dressing up until reception?”. I didn’t have any. Not even an entire wedding because I simply haven’t done any. And me trying to beef up my portfolio by applying as an apprentice photographer in this well-respected and established studio? Denied. I had to wait for a couple who was willing to – *pause for effect* – take a risk. I launched my website on 08.08.08, but it took a few months before the first couple finally took the leap of faith. Funny thing, I was actually their second choice. Which was an honor, since they were considering this team that I really looked up to. The thing is, my rates were like dirt cheap. (C’mon. Who was I anyway? It was my first wedding. And I had a decent paying corporate job. I just wanted to get my first gig.) So January 2, 2009. We covered our first wedding in Tagaytay. (I didn’t know anyone from the wedding industry yet, so it was just me and like four, or five other photographer/hobbyist friends from the office.
*takes a deep breath*
*sips a metaphorical glass of water*
Ok. Moving on.
The real story doesn’t start until a few years later. The early years of redsheep was way way different from what we’re doing now – colors, aesthetics, story-telling, treatment and dynamics, direction (and the lack of it) basically everything. Getting from that point to the destination thing that we’re doing today is another story that I’ll save for another time. *ahem* *utters “workshop” audibly* Man, pre-2014 redsheep was a cringefest and borderline laughable. And I’m not talking about the technical aspects. Not to boast, but I was using serious gear back then (Canon EF L and TS-E lenses and pro bodies). What was it then? My creative voice. And own sense of aesthetics. The lack of them, rather. I was a mere copycat, getting from this style, and from that style, trying to make a fusion dish. Sadly, rotti with prosciutto and sushi doesn’t taste nice, or foie gras sous-vide with avocado and adobo flakes don’t mix and match.