I'd like to introduce Manny Librodo. His regular client is UNICEF. I found his portfolio one day and instantly recognised a huge talent. Manny and I corresponded, did a link-exchange on each of our web sites, and he agreed to do an interview. Rather than the Q&A format, It works better as an account. My first question was to find out why he started photography. I asked him what made him take the first photo. It tuns out that Manny had to travel a lot and used photography as a means to document his travel. I think something more than pure documentation comes into play as he definitely introduces a strong artistic element into his work. At one time, he was travelling almost 200Km a day through Vietnam “chasing locals” and this, he reported as adventurous and dangerous being in the middle of nowhere. The funniest time was Shooting in Myanmar with 5 other friends. It was in the middle of their “water splashing festival.” Running and shooting photos at the same time is very funny. When asked about his ratio of hits to misses – in the sense that many photographers can take hundreds of shots and keep only one or two, Manny publishes about half of what he takes. This is quite an amazing technical and artistic achievement. He tries to take photos that tell a story and especially those which show an emotion. He prefers people not to look directly at him when he takes a portrait, even if they are posing, he asks them to look to one side. “I employ guerrilla tactic. (Hit and run). But if I need to take more I smile and point to my camera. If they nod or smile back, that means permission is granted.” I like the strategy, it's 'shoot first, ask questions later'. He seems very cool and collected because when I asked him how he would feel if he could no longer take photographs for some reason, he simply stated, “It's okay. Then I can start post-processing (photoshop) all my backlogs.”
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spOOkspOOk's art is owned by Jeremy. He has practiced drawing and painting for about 40 years, and might get good at it one day. spOOk's art is focused on graphite portraits. Archives
October 2016
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