Photographer of the Year: Dan Douglas Ong

CEBU, Philippines - It is with great pride and honour to make it public that the highly acclaimed and most coveted award of Photographer of the Year has been bestowed to the wonder boy, Dan Douglas Ong, whose dynamic works earned him the award given by Cebu's oldest and the country's largest photography club, the Cebu City Images Club (CCIC). Given last month during the club's annual induction of officers and Christmas party, the wonder boy received it with glee.

Like his work, Dan Douglas Ong is a dynamic personality – always smiling and ready to accept input, owing to his young age and always with an innate positive countenance . DDO, as he is fondly called, is clear about one thing and that is he serves a very particular kind of client who gets him for what he does and loves what he does for them. I met him a few years back and I, being a an agent for models and always on the hunt for new talents, couldn't wait to work with him and I wasn't disappointed. A few days after that meeting, we staged a wedding pictorial for Cebu's fashion czar Philip Rodriguez and we were all impressed. From then on, our collaborations, and with his clients, always turn out amazingly unwavering end products. Needless to say, his works and images were featured in almost all the glossy magazines in the country, and very soon, an international design magazine.

In a recent tete-a-tete, DDO revealed, "Are you looking for ways to kick your fashion or wedding photography up a notch this year?  The easy route of photoshop-ing or other post pictorial touch ups won't definitely do the trick. Those will only get you so far. If you don't have an exciting or dynamic image to work with in the first place, you are just adding to the problem in using those tools. It's my personal rule to get the image right in the camera first. Perhaps that's kinda old-school thinking. But most definitely, it has worked really well for me!"

If you get a chance to view Dan Douglas Ong's images and his presentation, don't miss it. He usually, along with friends, organizes photography classes on how to become a stylistic and creative photographer attracting clients that love what you do.  His almost monthly trips abroad are learning experiences starting with that photography course in BLCU (Beijing Language and Culture University).  Given his style and the right direction he's heading, I suspect that even as an agent for models, you are going to learn a ton from Dan Douglas Ong. Bravissimo! (FREEMAN)