Of Frogs, Frodo and Photography

By Raneil Antonio Ibay

Once upon a time or just last Saturday, October 18, 2008 to be exact, the 2^nd Canon PhotoMarathon Asia jousted off at the MMLDC Compound in Antipolo City. In this on-the-spot photo contest, photographers are given a set of 3 theme assignments, each theme to be completed within the allotted time frame only. More than 2,000 registered participants were raring to battle it out to capture the best photograph, thus began the photo challenge. When the smoke and dust cleared, our very own Arnie Aranjuez emerged as the 2^nd Grand Prize Winner. He even bested some photographers who will do everything, short of kissing a frog just to find that elusive prince of a win.

For Arnie’s valiant effort, he wins a free photo clinic with professional photographer Triston Yeo to the land of Frodo, which is New Zealand (if you’ve been living under a rock, this is where they filmed J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings). He, along with 1^st Grand Prize winner Chi Busque will have the enviable fairytale opportunity to photograph the natural beauty of South Island, experience the Southern Alps at Mt. Cook, the country’s highest peak and be wowed by the Fox Glacier, the longest of the awe-inspiring West Coast glaciers.

Inspired as he was, he shot his winning entry for the first theme, Nature’s Wonder. With a 50mm macro lens mounted on his Canon EOS 30D set on Manual, an exposure of 1/125 at f/10 and an ISO setting of 400, he shot this simple yet beautiful image just across the building where the registration, briefing and downloading of photos was conducted. This only shows that we can find beauty anywhere; we just have to look for it to see it.

Framed Shots Camera Club members who also competed in this challenge include Chito Cleofas, Nick Olayao, Kenneth Si, Rose Razon, Alex Regaspi, Joseph Leña and last year’s winner and one of the club’s newest members, Joel Garcia.

For Arnie, winning the 2^nd Canon PhotoMarathon Asia is not equivalent to a “happily ever after” ending but a “once upon a time” start of a really good story.