2010 Canon Photomarathon Philippines

I was lucky enough to be one of 1,000 participants in the Canon Photomarathon 2010 held last saturday, November 6.  I was supposed to join last year but I got sick so I was glad that this time around, I was able to finally experience it!

This year’s Canon Photomarathon was held at SMX convention center.  We were asked to register before 8AM and I arrived 10 minutes before that, whew!  I was expecting a long queue but was pleasantly surprised that it was organized.  They had a lot of registration booths arranged alphabetically by participants’ surname.

I immediately texted fellow blogger Jepoy to ask where they were.  I wanted to at least be in the company of friends than be alone at  a whole day event.  I truly appreciated their company!

The Canon Photomarathon was a huge event!  I never thought that it would be that prestigious.  During the program, they even had dance numbers aside from the normal announcement of mechanics & contest winners.

To my surprise, several Miss Earth Philippines winners were also there to grace the event.

I haven’t attended a marathon in my life because I can only endure a 10km run! hahaha!  Anyhow, this photomarathon is a great concept.  It’s great that I was able to experience it.  I did my best but I know I can do better next time now that I have an idea on how it works.

Basically, the goal is to be able to capture the best picture from among all the participating photographers.  Of course, using only Canon cameras 🙂  An on-the-spot photography contest wherein we were given 3 different themes.  With each theme, there was a time limit of 2 hours to shoot and 30minutes to download.

We can go out of SMX Convention Center and basically as far as possible as we wanted to go BUT as long as we were back at the download stations on time.

During the 1st theme, we actually tried to go out of MOA, but I guess with time-constraints, we just had to stay in the venue for the rest of the event.

As you can see in the picture below I was really excited to start shooting 😛  I was hoping to win as I need a new DSLR.

So here are the themes, I also included the pictures I submitted.  I wasn’t impressed with my 1st 2 submissions but I was pretty confident and happy with my 3rd one.  I guess it wasn’t good enough because I didn’t win.  I’ll make sure I study photography before the 2011 run.  Ehem, ehem 😀

• Theme # 1: Deep and wide, peaks and valleys go inside or outside, all the place you know near or far.

For this theme, I really didn’t have a clue as to what to do.  But then I got to thinking, maybe I should shoot some McDonald’s french fries because the container is deep and well, it can be wide.  The fries itself can represent peaks, and when it’s gone, there goes your valley hahaha :p  But then I didn’t like the pictures that I took, so I ended up thinking of something else.  What I had in mind next were pictures of stairs because those two can be wide and depending on the steps can be deep as well.  I wasn’t so sure about the peaks and valleys with the stairs, but I got to thinking that maybe it also applied.  However, I also didn’t like the outcome of the pictures.  So, with little time left, I took a look at the escalators in MOA, and decided that it would be my best shot.  And that is the shot that I ended up submitting for the first theme.

• Theme # 2: Big or small, we come in different sizes, short or tall, we grow in spurts and phases round and round the circle of life goes when we stop, only God knows.

My friend Fritz wasn’t able to come to the Photomarathon, and I was hoping that he would come too.  He’s a great photographer, but knowing that he couldn’t come and also accompany me, he did the next best thing, and helped me out through the day.  Especially with theme 2, he suggested that I take a picture of a construction site in an angle that incorporated loose materials, finished parts of some phases, a foreman with plans, constructions workers, then in a manner that layered each of those parts.  It was a great idea!  I knew that others would go for the usual plants, or kids, or even animals, but I was sure that this idea would really stand out.  I had seen a great construction site just outside of SMX, and it was actually perfect because it had all of the components needed for that perfect shot.  However, the guard would not let me in and take any shots.  And so with time ticking, I decided to look around for other construction sites.  The photo below is the one that I submitted for theme 2. It wasn’t the ideal concept photo, but I really believe it stood out in the sea of photos submitted for this particular theme.

• Theme # 3: Happy, mad – sometimes we feel the blues, angry, glad – our moods are changing hues, up and down our lows and highs, we close our eyes and then… surprise!

So, for this theme I knew that the main subject were going to be people with all their emotions, smiles, and faces.  We decided to just go around MOA and take pictures of people that were walking by or just sitting around.  With a bit more time, we ended up outside facing Manila Bay.  There were a few people that we took pictures of, and even a few strangers that were willing to be our subjects, but their actions just weren’t natural.  It was a great sight to finally encounter the couple that ended up gracing my final submission.  It was perfect, and I’m really proud with the following pictures.  It truly captures the theme, in my opinion, because no matter how many shots I took of this couple, they were just so immersed with each other as if there were no one else in this world but them.  Truly in love.  And when you’re in love, you are able to feel so many emotions, sometimes all at once.  It’s the one shot that I really felt would give me the best chance at winning.

It was almost 8pm and we were too tired but excited to know who would win the 2010 Canon Photomarathon.  The judges must have had such a hard time choosing over 3,000 photos.  The Canon brand ambassadors themselves were the judges!  At least they were able to see 3 of my works.  It wasn’t enough to impress them but I’ll make sure I’d do better next time 😛

3 winners were lucky enough to win Canon DSLRs.  I was really drooling while I viewed the prize display near the stage.  I was literally imagining myself holding at least one of them hahaha!  It was wishful thinking.  Congratulations to the winners though.  Ironically, the grand prize winner wasn’t present anymore during the awarding, he won a Canon EOS 5D Mark II and a LOT of accessories.

All 1,000+ participants I’m sure did enjoy the event because I surely did!  I’m already including Canon Photomarathon as one of the activities I won’t miss every year.  Thanks Canon! 🙂