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Monday, September 13, 2004
Drawing the light
What does it take to freeze a moment in time into one beautiful eternity? Kara Mae Muga Noveda now knows it’s neither luck nor sophisticated technology.
IT MUST be more than just beginner’s luck.
All of yet 19 years of age and barely two years old in handling the camera— Charles Nikolas “Changkol” Buenconsejo should know this better.
Still his second strike to compete, his takes have again hit much-coveted places.
This August, Changkol made a crucial photographer’s cut after being proclaimed as one of the five student grand prize winners of the annual national Art Petron tilt. His black-and-white indigenous compositions, Mais and Kanipa-an, have earned the shared nod of the elite circle of international photographer-judges including Filipino Pulitzer prize nominee and AFP photojournalist Romeo M. Gacad.
Earlier this year, two of his colored pictures have landed in the Sinulog Foundation-sponsored photo exhibit as they were likewise recognized in separate categories.
Truly his father’s son, this third-year UP Cebu Fine Arts student admits that much of his fermented interest in still frames was bred and influenced by his father, Narciso Buenconsejo, a freelance photographer.
“Photography is like drawing, sketching the light...” Changkol begins in a mouthful of explanation.
A painting major, much of his learning is not from formal schooling and is drawn from constant practice, reading, and critique. He attributes his involvement as a photojournalist in the school publication, Tug-ani, as a relevant starter experience.
Light, tonal values, textures, human expressions were some of the few aspects that Changkol had grown accustomed experimenting with in the first few months with his loyal, old-school Minolta FM 10 camera.
Now, even with his updated Nikon D70 (a purchase empowered by his prize money), he maintains that study and technique still rule over the convenience brought by technology. Proof? All of his winning shots were taken by his manual camera.
All these go to show that luck has little, perhaps nil, participation in the making of a timeless photo.
Expanding his interest, he is gradually utilizing the same concepts as he embraces the media of graphic arts and film. Even with all these awards under his name, Changkol believes that there is always room for improvement, that photography is not just a passing luxury.
And so the restless artist that he has become contentedly clicks on, to draw the light, in an effort to freeze the dimensions of space and time.
(September 13, 2004 issue)
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