Masters Of Imaging Photography Network 

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Masters Of Imaging Lecture:

Vics Magsaysay - Travel & Fine Art Photographer, Mixed-media Painter, Sculptor and Graphic Designer, presents: "Transitions:  From Film to Digital and from Drabness to 'Wowness'." (Vics will also provide tips to enhance and improve your images in the post process.)

      Images captured in a camera—film or digital—I think, are like gold nuggets or diamonds found in nature: to show their innate immense beauty and luster, some polishing or honing are of value. Imagine an Ansel Adam’s print sans his trademark dodging and burning. I bet it wouldn’t be as great as what we’ve seen in the calendars, books, posters, and other prints, bearing his mastery of photography and printing. The same thing goes with a captured image—some tweak here and there in Photoshop can transform a drab image into one that takes your breath away.

Vics Magsaysay studied chemical and civil engineering but because of his love for art chose the latter for his vocation. His conviction and enthusiasm to learn about graphic design and photography was intense - prodding him to study through continuous book reading, practice and analyzing works of art masters. He worked as an art director at a five-star hotel in Manila and in 1974 started photography to complement his graphic design. In 1977, he put up his own design and photography studio conceptualizing logos and designs; shooting food, advertising and architectural photography while still being retained as a consultant for the said hotel. In that same year, because of his interest in photography, he was recommended by the hotel to assist a photographer from the popular German magazines Stern and Geo. After a few weeks of shooting extensively in the Philippine rainforests, mountains, valleys and cities with that photographer, the experience left an indelible mark in his consciousness. This new-found interest influenced him to explore the Philippine natural beauty and peoples on and off through cross-country motorcyling with cameras and lenses tucked in his backpack for two decades. His dirt bike had allowed him to go deeper into areas where even a four-wheel drive vehicle could not negotiate because of the rough terrain and narrow trails. His penchant with trail riding in the boondocks had slowly made him closer and closer to nature. There were times when he camped alone deep in the forest to commune with nature.

Vics traveled extensively to Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Indonesia, Brunei, Malaysia, Nepal, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Canada and U.S. to compile his stock shots which he sells to ad agencies, hotels and travel-related industries. His photos have been published in travel magazines and coffee-table books in Asia. "Place of Tides: Visualization Using Nature's Energies" was published a few years ago featuring his nature photographs. He was also a contributing writer espousing environmental awareness in the Philippines.

While still new in this country, he had a photo exhibit June/July 2003 in San Diego's Philippine Library and Museum highlighting UNESCO's World Heritage Sites (and Peoples) in the Philippines. One of which is the world-renowned Rice Terraces of the Philippine Cordilleras now listed as a World Heritage in Danger. As an artist, he has had several one-man painting and sculpture exhibits in Asia. Aside from that, he conducts workshops in acupressure and other forms of indigenous healing practices. Vics recently published a booklet entitled "Love Thoughts: A Prescription For All Our Worries" and is now in the process of writing a coffee-table book about the same subject: love.

This seminar was about the "Tao of Travel Photography is basically the union of our conscious and the subconscious minds. It is his deep belief that there is an underlying interconnectedness between humanity and nature. When this belief crystallizes in our consciousness, he says "an outpouring of state of well-being and a better outcome in whatever we do can be had in life."