Canon Marketing Philippines held another session of their News and Sports Photography seminar last Sunday, 5th September, 2010. It was the third iteration of their seminar series, with european pressphoto agency Chief Photographer Dennis M. Sabangan reprising his role as the speaker.
I was informed of this event only a day before, and only because the event was moved back from it’s scheduled date Saturday 4th September to the next day. It was also a surprise to know that Canon had another one of these seminars, and yet it was not announced in the usual places (Facebook or the local photography forums). A fellow attendee told me that it was actually advertised, as evidenced by a graphic announcement, but in another forum (bird-watching forum, if I recall correctly). I suppose that Canon was targeting another audience this time, those who use their pro-level supertelephoto lenses (300mm and above).
Venue at the SM Megamall
This time, the seminar was held at one of the conference rooms at SM Megamall. I had previously attended the second seminar and saw that the new venue was an improvement over the last one. For one thing, the previous event held at SM City North EDSA was held in an empty space inside the mall. We weren’t enclosed, so we could hear the sound and music of another event. A floor-to-ceiling wrap-around window let in a lot of sunlight, so we had a hard time seeing what was being projected on screen. The SM Megamall event in a conference hall with its subdued lighting and walls meant that we had no problems hearing and seeing.
I had expected that I’d be hearing and seeing the same thing again, since this was supposed to be the same seminar with a different venue and audience. That expectation turned out to be right, but there was actually more. I was correct in that parts of the talk and the photos shown on-screen were things that I had already heard and saw last time. However, this time, Mr. Sabangan’s lecture on photojournalism was made in the context of the recent hostage-taking at the Quirino Grandstand.
Veteran Photojournalist Dennis Sabangan lectures
With this unfortunate incident still fresh in everyone’s minds, the context made for a very fascinating and relevent talk. Mr. Sabangan walked us through how he and the european pressphoto agency team covered the incident from the start to finish. He talked about the gear and lenses they used, the angles they took, the timing, and the things they photographed from the start of the crisis to the aftermath. Mr. Sabangan also discussed the ethics of photojournalism, especially when one has to deal with death. Finally, he showed us the resulting photographs, and the foreign publications in which his hostage drama photographs appeared (one of the magazines is a major-major international one).
Mr. Sabangan Chooses Submitted Pictures. To his left is Antonni Cuesta of Canon's pro gear group.
The live critique session followed the lecture. Again, participants were asked to submit two (2) news- or sports- related pictures before the event. These pictures would be critiqued onstage by Mr. Sabangan. Just like last time, there were humorous one-liners (fun for the most of the audience, sometimes not-so-fun for those that don’t meet his standards), but the important thing was that Mr. Sabangan actually explained how each submitted picture could be improved. I don’t think any picture went through him unscathed, not even those pictures that seem to have been shot by pros with really long lenses. One is virtually guaranteed to learn something just by listening to the critique. At the end of the critique session, he picked what he thought were the 3 best pictures, and each of the the owners of those pictures would get a popular lens mug from Canon (there was a no-show, no-prize policy. In case the owner isn’t present, the mugs are raffled off to the attendees).
The seminar is a way for Canon to promote its photography-related products. In fact, the product samples on show in these seminar series are geared towards photography professionals. In addition to demo units of their 1000D, 550D, 7D and 1D Mk IV DSLR camera bodies, Canon’s best and most expensive supertelephoto lenses were also on hand for people to look at, and handle. It’s really something to be able to hold their 300mm, 400mm, 600mm and even 800mm lenses, which can cost as much as a car.
Canon's Supertelephotos from L-R: 800mm f/5.6L IS, 600mm f/4L IS, 400mm f/2.8L IS, 300mm f/2.8L IS
Canon also made one of their multi-function inkjet printers available for seminar attendees who wanted to have prints of their photos. Those who brought CF/SD cards, or USB drives with photograph files could have glossy A4-sized prints. I had a couple printed, and I went home happy with how they turned out.
In summary, this was another great seminar on news and sports photography, and one that even non-professional photography enthusiasts and students can appreciate.
Err... Cheers!
We didn’t go home hungry either. Canon gave every attendee a cold drink and a big doughnut from Starbucks. This was just icing on the cake that was a very good seminar that was worth braving the heavy traffic of a Megamall Sunday.
Good job, Canon Philippines and Dennis M. Sabangan!
For those who missed this one, don’t fret. I was told that they will hold another one next month, and that’s really something to look forward to.
