ALL ROADS LEAD TO ISABELLE
As early as 8:00 in the morning of December 27, 2021, ALPHA Camera
Club members in twos and groups started to proceed to the venue of our 2021 Annual Get Together and Year-end Party at Villa Isabelle in Amadeo, Cavite: nearly 2 years after the club’s last non-virtual gathering.
We are finally going to see each one again “cara a cara” or “face-to-face”.
As the day unfolded, we started the event wearing our official club shirts for the portrait shoot (for the club ID) and the group photo after which by early evening we all donned our Hawaiian-inspired get-ups as the official party theme was “Luau”.
Ms. Doris Pigon and Ms. Geraldine Pabines, hosted the program in true Ligao City fashion – “Where Good Things Happen”; and as the night rolled on, good things happened indeed because we formally launched “Recalibrated” – our second photobook publication for 2021 as our tribute to mother nature.
We were also honored to see and listen to the video greetings from some of the many friends of ALPHA from in-country courtesy of the infamous Sir Edwin Tuyay and Carlo Carlos, Tilak Hettige from Washington, USA and ALPHAlumnus Sherwin Andal from Edmonton, Canada.
Sir Edwin Tuyay inspired and influenced us to come up with the individual project presentations for this get-together and these were widely applauded when shown by sets in between parts of the program.
The highlight of the evening was the presentation of the awardees for the club’s 2021 Top 10 Photographers of the Year and Rookie Photographer of the Year. Our heartfelt congratulations to the following: 10th Place- Doris Irene Pigon, 9th Place-Jun Santos, 8th Place -Dewey Sergio, 7th Place – Bing Duay, 6th Place – Fred Figueroa, 5th Place – Buccino De Ocampo, 4th Place – Joon Navarro 3rd Place – Joy Ganaden, 2nd Place and the 2021 Rookie Photographer of the Year – Jhing Montes, and 1st Place and the 2021 Photographer of the Year – Cris Cleofas.
It was another ALPHA night to remember as we all cheered for the lucky winners of the parlor games and the riot of a “white elephant exchange gift”, nonetheless it would not have been more memorable without the presence of these individuals who honored us with their presence and camaraderie against all odds.
To Sir Dani Sico with wife, Maricar, who made a tremendous recovery and exerted more than double the efforts to be there; to ALPHAlumni Jzent Espiritu and Paul del Rosario who took time out from their respective busy work schedules to have fun with us; to Ms. Doris Pigon who took a road trip from Albay; Ms. Sahlee Camposano who flew all the way from Iloilo; to Edsel Alcares who made it the following day and to all who shared their time and efforts to make this year-end party a resounding success.
The photoshoot for Ms. Geraldine Pabines happened the next day but that is a separate story. We sure missed the presence of Sir Fred Figueroa, JC Borlongan and Rey Leyesa.
Thank you everyone and hope to see all of you 11 months from now for our 2022 Annual Get Together and Year End Party!
words by: Jhing Montes
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