While prowling the streets, photographers will be mentored online

Click here for a larger view They aim to capture the “decisive moment.”   The practitioners of “street photography” don’t pose their subjects. Instead, the heirs of this proud tradition prowl cities with their cameras, the smaller the better to shoot without attracting too much attention, so that kids and other hams don’t start jumping into their frames.   Street photographers like the pioneers Henri Cartier-Bresson and Weegee stalk images, waiting for that moment when unsuspecting urban denizens can be frozen in time in a sublimely ironic or dramatic relationship with their physical environment.   With his hefty build, Rick Rocamora is not the type of street photographer who can walk around without being noticed. But his empathy and chummy persona tend to give him the status of invited guest even in gatecrashed situations, with subjects eventually unmindful that he is clicking away.   After more than 20 years of photography on the streets of the Philippines, the United States, Cuba, China, and many other elsewheres, the award-winning Rocamora is spearheading a project that aims to share his knowledge and ethos with 14 Filipino photographers from around the world.   He personally selected these visual storytellers from the Usapang Kalye Facebook group for street photographers. Some of the participants have never met Rocamora in person.   Via the Internet, Rocamora will guide them on their work in 2012, and help them edit and curate the final product after the field stage of the project.   Rocamora, a self-taught photographer at the start of his career, was mentored by more experienced colleagues like the Pulitzer Prize winner Kim Komenich, and now tries to pay back that debt by mentoring others.   With a grant from the California Council for the Humanities, he mentored five young adults from immigrant and refugee families to document their own world. He volunteered to teach youths for the Pacific News Service “YO Outlook Program," young Muslim-Americans in San Francisco, and Iu Mien youth in Richmond, California.   This is the first time he is conducting an online workshop with Filipino photographers, most of whom have other careers. In August of this year, he conducted a Digital Storytelling workshop for a group of local photographers and their fees were donated to Oplan Pultak, a program that helps children and their community near Mt. Pulag in Benguet.   Since there is an ongoing debate on what constitutes street photography, Rocamora said, he is using the London Street Photography Festival’s definition as their guide.   It defines Street Photography as “candid photography which captures, explores or questions contemporary society and the relationships between individuals and their surroundings.”   Street photography is perhaps more easily defined as a method than a genre. The results can fit into documentary, portraiture and other genres, but the key elements of spontaneity, careful observation and an open mind ready to capture whatever appears in the viewfinder are essential.   Rocamora hopes that this project will encourage others to do more in-depth work with their photography and use the medium to tell visual stories of the streets where they live.   Rocamora plans to get support for an exhibition of their work, a web site and possibly a book project that will include “How to” guidelines for aspiring street photographers. An online exhibition will also be posted on GMA News Online at the end of the project.   The following have agreed to participate:   Jo Santos, a freelance photographer and writer/researcher based in Quezon City who contributes to alternative media groups.   Benedict Molina, a graphic designer in a commercial printing company in charge of design, color corrections and preparing artworks for printing in Los Angeles, California   Chris Linag, a young lawyer who enjoys walking and shooting in the streets who considers street photography not merely a passion, but also a way of life.   Mark Dumandan, who shoots on weekend and owns a small garments business that manufactures school uniforms.   Roi Lagarde, a news media practitioner who occasionally submits his work to photo agencies.   Ricci Jimenez, who works as a general manager for a real estate leasing company and prefers to use silver halide film for his photography projects.   Garu Patawaran, a graduate of the University of the Philippines who works for the construction industry in San Fernando, Pampanga. Collecting old Life Magazines inspired him to be a photographer.   Maike Domingo, who sells cars for a Japanese car company in Metro Manila is a late bloomer in photography.   Jefrey Pelagio Jacob, a connoisseur of all types of cameras who recently moved to Iran with his wife and child.   Maureen Santos, an administration manager for a heavy equipment training school in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea.   Reymel Azares, a contract worker in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.   Oliver Pensica,Jr., who works in the education field in Dongguan, Guandong Province, China.   Leonard G. Reyes, a development communications and knowledge management specialist working for NGOs in the Philippines and Southeast Asia.   Ameer Lawan, who runs a photography business with his father who gave him his prized film camera that he won in an international photo contest.   Leanne Jazul, a graphic artist and photographer for various news organization and NGO’s in the Philippines.   Click here for a larger view – GMA News