TRAVEL REPORTAGE WITH LESTER LEDESMA @ ZC JANUARY 2013

Last weekend was one of the most exciting weekends I had! 

I attended the Travel Reportage seminar by Lester Ledesma here in Zamboanga City. 

Camera Club of Zamboanga (CCZ) President, Sixto Kwan met Lester Ledesma during the Photoworld Asia 2012 Convention held in Makati last year, where Lester Ledesma was the invited speaker on Editorial Photography and indeed this is his forte, being Smile (Cebu Pacific) magazine's photo editor, as well as a freelancer for other Asian magazines, too. 

When Sixto heard Lester was in the Philippines, he immediately took the initiative to invite Lester to Zamboanga City and he did oblige. 

Sixto told me of this seminar by the end of last year and the title itself already appealed so much to me! Travel Reportage is exactly what I want to learn. First of all, I have been traveling a lot and second, I want to share about my travel experiences through blogging. 

I know no rules in blogging. I usually say what I want to say and flood my readers with pictures so I can be more visual. I thought, here is a venue where I can learn tips from people in the know... and pick up a better way to share my stories. Why not!

So here is our teacher: The Lester Ledesma!

our teacher... cool guy!!!

This is our venue: ABC Bakery and Restaurant in Sta. Maria, Zamboanga City

They have function rooms now...

This is our class: mostly, Camera Club of Zamboanga's members

Allan Go, Felipe Lim, David Luy, FRR, Anton Lim, Marvin Macrohon,Jess AndrewYu, Sixto Kwan Blanca Mae Sebastian, Teacher Lester Ledesma, DOT IX Director Mary June Bugante, Michelle Lim 

And here are my groupmates:

And here are the places we went to, which I will share in my next blogs...

*The Zamboanga City Public Market

It was drizzling when we went there.... expecting muddy floors!

*The Layag-Layag mangrove community off Talon-Talon, Zamboanga City

our own Cultural immersion!

Most of all, I'd like to share more about our teacher, Lester Ledesma and his impressive career!

Taken from the Skylight Images website:www.skylightimages.info/

Lester V Ledesma lives and breathes for his two passions - travel writing and photography - so much so that he has made it his purpose in life. Fresh out of college in Manila, he went freelance in 1999 and documented the Philippines, his work earning him accolades such as Kalakbay Travel Writer of the Year Award. He travels the world, shooting and writing stories for magazines like Prestige, Silverkris, COLORS Benetton, Mabuhay, Smile and Asian Geographic.  

Lester is based in Singapore, but feels more at home in Bangkok, Rome, and his native Manila.

Lester maybe contacted at lledesma@skylightimages.info

Singapore photographer photojournalist writer  

Awards Received:  

• 2009 Pacific-Asia Travel Association (PATA) Gold Award for Travel Photography
• 2007 Pacific-Asia Travel Association (PATA) Gold Award for Travel Photography
• 2006 Asia Travel and Tourism Creative Awards (ATTA) Silver Medal for Travel Photography
• 2002 ASEAN Tourism Association (ASEANTA) Award for Excellence in Photography
• 2001 Kalakbay Travel Writer of the Year (Philippines).

 Exhibits:  

• 2009, South of East (Royal Plaza on Scotts, Singapore)
• 2008, Seeing Elvis, Singapore International Photography Awards (Old School, Singapore)
• 2006, The Ring, Chobimela IV (Dhaka, Bangladesh)
• 2006, Passage Through Europe (Filipinas Heritage Library, Philippines)
• 2005, Pilipinas: Travel Photographs by Lester V. Ledesma (Singapore Arts Museum, Singapore)
• 2004, Pilipinas: The Travel Photography of Lester V. Ledesma (The Photographers’ Gallery, Singapore)
• 2004, Pilipinas: Travel Photography by Lester V. Ledesma (Brunei)
• 2003, Bone and Stone: Unearthing the Bombon Ruins (Filipinas Heritage Library, Philippines)
• 2002, Nayong Pilipino: A Last Look (Filipinas Heritage Library, Philippines)

And this is the cover of his website, Skylight Images: www.skylightimages.info/

If you see this, you got the right page!  Those who are interested in getting him for projects or join activities which he organizes can contact him through this website. Lester has a special project this March and is an open invitation to everyone and anyone interested...PhotoTreks: Bali on March 16 to 19, 2013! 

To learn more about Photo Trekking, you can check out this Facebook page: Photo Treks with Smile magazine & Lester Ledesma.http://www.facebook.com/PhotoTreks 

If you are off for a vacation, why not try Phototrekking!

Lester has scheduled it based on how he does a shoot, so that you can be in the place when it is most picturesque... whether it is sunrise or sunset or even at night! A value added activity is Cultural Immersion where you can stay with a Balinese family or ride the traditional boat in Halong Bay in Vietnam or a temple experience in Bangkok!  So check out his website if any of these activities intrigue you! Well, as I said, we had a challenging and exciting Travel Reportage seminar with no less than THE LESTER LEDESMA, the cool guy!  Aside from the Pearls he taught us during the seminar, I also learned these: * Frame the story in your mind even before the shoot. * Don't underrate your pictures. * Don't confuse yourself with worrying about technical quality. * Choose the pictures which touch your heart most... don't use two of the same! * This isn't learned overnight! I hope I wouldn't disappoint my teacher with my future outputs!!!  Also, I hope you can experience him as a mentor by joining one of his intriguing Asian PhotoTreks!!!