He gave it his best shot

If some people are born with a silver spoon in their mouths, top photojournalist Ed Santiago must have been born with a camera in his hands. And Santiago, 66 (more than half of which were spent taking pictures), positively proves his never-ending love affair with the camera at his one-man photo exhibit which opens today at the Alcove, Filipinas Heritage Library on Makati Ave., Ayala Triangle, Makati City.

If some photographers love taking pictures of the beautiful people, the high and the mighty, Ed would rather focus on the small people and the harsh realities of life.

"I started taking pictures of barong-barong (shanties) in the squatter areas in 1963," says Ed, who’s lived a simple and spartan life. "Of course, I’ve had to use my telephoto lens because once they see you, that’s the end of you."

Ed’s passion for art photography began in the 1950s when he was a Fine Arts student at the University of Santo Tomas. But long before that, he was already inspired by the bahay-kubo of the great master Fernando Amorsolo.

Ed relates, "Our teacher, Vicente Manansala, who later became National Artist, would let us do landscaping in Intramuros. Among the students were Angelito David, Leon Pacunayen and Leonardo Hidalgo, who all later went to Rome. Intramuros was severely damaged during the Second World War. The victims of the war flocked to Intramuros. The Cathedral was torn down and all around its ruins were the barong-barong."

The place reeked of destruction and despair. There was poverty everywhere one looked. And Ed and his classmates captured those poignant moments – you could almost hear their canvases groan.

Unfortunately, Ed only finished second year of Fine Arts. Himself faced with the dire realities of life, he started working at Manila Chronicle as an apprentice in 1957. The rotogravure department needed a Fine Arts student and he got the job.

"It was the late Amante Paredes, metro news editor, who gave me my break as a contributing photographer," Ed relates. "My first photo published was a picture of a barong-barong taken in the reclamation area on Roxas Blvd. I was paid P5 per photo."

Ed was recipient of the first prize award for human interest category at the NPC-Elizalde Photo Contest.

Photography schools were unheard of then. Ed learned on his own. He had a boxed Kodak camera which he inherited from his late father Manuel Santiago, a scientific illustrator-restorer.

That boxed camera may be long gone but Ed and his romance with the camera is alive and clicking. After Chronicle, Ed had stints at Manila Times, Daily Express, Philippine Tribune and Daily Globe.

Through the years, Ed has exposed rolls and rolls of film in documenting the barong-barong springing up all over the city. But it’s more than just film that he’s exposing. "I can’t help but be affected after seeing so much poverty and hunger," he laments.

One of his favorite shanties was a jeepney converted into a barong-barong. Artist Manny Baldemor was inspired by it. "It’s got a whole altar of santos in front," Ed describes. "The jeepney has become a Pinoy symbol. I even saw one that was used for planting patola."

Ed can’t count the barong-barong he’s seen in his lifetime. But he certainly has not stopped counting his blessings. He has seven children, 12 grandchildren and his loving wife Ningning. And now, after 40 years in the field of photography, he’s exhibiting his collection of Philippine shanties. The one-man photo exhibit is made possible through Eduviges Huang, top advertising photographer and chairperson of the Federation of Philippine Photographers Foundation, Inc. (FPPFI) who encouraged the reluctant Ed to mount a show. FPPFI is the organizer of Photoworld Manila, the biggest photographic event in Southeast Asia, and is behind the series of basic and advanced photo courses at the Fort Santiago, Intramuros, Manila.

Putting it in black and white, phoyography is a lifetime passion for Ed Santiago and he certainly gave it his best shot.