Dave John Astom

Today we talk to Dave John Astom about being a banker by day, practicing what you read, and his lightshaping adventures.

Gerome Soriano

Dave, tell us about your background? How you got into photography? Wedding photography? And into working with Lightshapers?

Dave John Astom

Im a banker by Day. I  currently work with Chinabank Savings as a service head. Iv been in the banking industry since 2001.

Maliit pala ako, nakakahawak nako mg point and shoot na film camera. It was my parents' who  inspired me. Nagagandahan ako sa album ng mga magulang ko. Nostalgic, makakita ng black and white images. Tapos nakapose ang mga tao.

2005 nung nagkaron ako ng point and shoot na camera. Then a year later, nagkaron ako ng Alpha100.

Back in 2009, i was contacted by Wlbert Chua and Lally Eleazar. Along with Jagey Nave, we were 4 photogs for Lightshapers, which is owned by the Alpha Queen Lally. My first wedding was in Fernwood gardens in QC. And it inspired me to get going with weddings. I got high coz i was able to get a decent shot of the bride, crying over her new husband's shoulder.

Gerome Soriano

wow!

That's the way to get started in wedding photography! I'm curious how Wilbert and Lally got to know you?

Dave John Astom

They saw my pictures from SAPI.

Gerome Soriano

So even back then you're photos were pretty good? How did you learn photography? From whom?

Nunatus Tongkus

Nunatus Tongkus talks about his portrait shoot experiences, his landscape work and his saintly name.

Gerome Soriano

Nunatus tell us about your background? How you got into photography? And is Nunatas is your real name it's quite rare among Filipinos to be named Nunatus.

Nunatus Tongkus

I bought my first slr/slt march 5, 2011... Before buying, i did a lot of researching about the latest cameras, it boiled down to sony a55 and canon's 60d... The rest was history... I bought a camera just for family occasions  document my daughter's activities, in short just for a hobby... Thinking just like what people not into photography thinks of a camera, when you get an slr, it will translate to good pictures, which off course is not the case...

My real name is not Nunatus Tongkus, but my mom named me after the Patron Saint of pregnant women(St. Raymond Nunatus)... I just did not like the idea then, to post my real name on social networking site, so i just thought of a catchy name... Hehehe

Gerome Soriano

So Sony a55 won the battle, what happened after you got the camera?

Lhar Santillan Gil

Lhar talks about Nex-5 and being his own worse critic.

Gerome Soriano

Tell us about your background?

Lhar Santillan Gil

I am a computer science graduate from the University of San Carlos, Cebu. Professional experiences include serving as a faculty member for the mathematics and computer science department as well as a web developer of the same university. I entered photography at around my 2nd year of teaching for the same university. It was out of necessity (need some documentation for the high school "mini" reunion) rather than a sudden surge of artistic juice. My first ILC (Interchangeable Lens Compact Camera) was the 1st generation NEX-5.

I learned my basic photography from nathaniel salang. batch 69. hihihihi. It is from him that I learned to  "be your worst critic!" 

Nathaniel Salang

Nathaniel Salang talks about Sony Alpha Pilipinas and International or SAPI for short, his photography workshops and his Sony genes.

Gerome Soriano
ok let's start with SAPI

Nathaniel Salang
ok

Gerome Soriano
Sir Nathaniel Salang, please introduce yourself? What is your background? How did you got started on photography?


Nathaniel Salang
Background: I studied Philosophy at UP. I started out as a copywriter for a PR firm.
After that, my firends and I formed a Promotions and Events management company
In my PR and...., I was able to work with professional photographers.
When we were doing events, we worked with lots of female models.... these models submitted photos to us when they were applying for jobs. Many of the models were rejected outright because hey gave poor photos, even if they looked really good in person.
I decided that presenting good photos to my clients (decision makers) was key to making my life easier.
Just in time, somebody "pawned" his flim slr... very timely....I decided to study photography so i myself could be the one to take the pictures of models...... good photos ---> more models would get invited to interviews ----> less effort for me...
that's how it started.

NEXT.

I bought the film slr that was "pawned" to me, by the way... and I used it when I was studying photography
It was a Minolta 5xi