The Filipino’s eye for detail and talent for capturing the perfect moments through the lens is once again celebrated as 2015 TFT Awards Photographer of the Year Mario Cardenas won second place at the Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum International Photography Award (HIPA), for the Soul of Dubai category of its ‘Streets of the World’ Photo Competition.
His photo depicts an aged Emirati teaching a young kid and passing on life skills that captured the hearts of the jury and the masses as he shown his prowess with the use of combined photography elements of lights, shadows, color and the subject to create such a powerful story in just one photo.
Meantime, fellow Filipino photographer Crisencio ‘Cris’ Bernabe was also hailed at the ‘Streets of the World’ Photo Competition, this time for the Spirit of Trade category.
Cris’ photo depicts a story of a merchant in the UAE arranging garments and wares of different colors with a miniature of Dubai’s iconic Burj Khalifa in the middle. Combining the effects of shadows, lights on different shades of colours of the fabric, Bernabe managed to bring the jury and the audience who saw the photo to the actual streets of the UAE of people trying to earn a living.
Apart from winning at HIPA, Cardenas has also won another international award, this time from the UK as he bagged first place. In a phone interview with The Filipino Times, Cardenas shared the wonderful news and said that the award giving body will have an official announcement this February. “Nag first place ako sa Philippines doon sa competition. Pupunta ako ng UK this May or June,” said Cardenas as he expressed his delight to represent the country once again, adding on to his more than 350 awards and recognitions through the years.
Cardenas adds that he finds competitions to join in through research and word of mouth from fellow photographers – but it is the process of qualifying for these photography contests where he gets to gain experience and learn a lot to further his craft: “Hindi lang siya competition na sasali ka and expect mo na mananalo ka. Para sa akin, yung competition is not about winning, it’s more about knowing the process, the stages, and being resourceful kung saan mo makikita ang competitions. May mga annual competitions ang mga companies, maging ang mga Sheikhs na makikita ninyo by research and by sharing information from your network of friends.”
In the UAE, Cardenas works as a seasoned architect at Santiago Calatrava with over 16 years of solid experience and expresses his passion in the arts through photography. He shares that he’s planning to hold a series of talks and workshops to help inspire fellow Filipinos. “Magkakaroon ako ng mga workshops and photography talks within the Gulf Region – sa Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, meron din sa Kenya starting February,” said Cardenas.
He also plans to continue travelling to many more countries to capture the essence of the daily lives of indigenous people and tribes around the globe and share them to fellow Filipinos and to the world as well as to participate in more competitions as the year goes by: “I also plan to travel to as many places as possible na mapuntahan ko, mainly mga indigenous tribes ang mga gusto kong puntahan. At syempre more competitions… hopefully this year, ma-target ko 400 or makumpleto ko yung 500 awards if possible.”
