Indak Indak selfie
Kadayawan sa Dabaw Festival 2015
Selfie with the streetdancing performers
Kadayawan sa Dabaw Festival 2015
Selfie with the streetdancing performers
“Making one person smile can change the world – maybe not the whole world, but their world.” Bagobo Kids Tibolo Tribal Village © Jojie Alcantara Foot of Mount Apo, Barangay Tibolo, Davao del Sur Taken in 2010 * * * *
“I know not how I may seem to others, but to myself I am but a small child wandering upon the vast shores of knowledge, every now and then finding a small bright pebble to content myself with.” ~ Plato
Kadayawan sa Dabaw, Davao City, Philippines © Jojie Alcantara I am lucky to have spanned more than a decade of covering Mindanao’s most colorful and biggest festival in the islands. Through my work in the media as a TV anchor, columnist and photographer, I have been able to document more than a bird’s eye view of the dazzling pomp and spectacle that is Davao’s Kadayawan Festival, which earned its prestige as one of the most beautiful ethnic celebrations in the country.
“Age should not have its face lifted, but it should rather teach the world to admire wrinkles as the etchings of experience and the firm line of character.” ~ Clarence Day Lumad portrait in black and white: Matigsalogs of Marilog District, Davao LUMAD is a term for a group of indigenous peoples of the southern Philippines. It is a Cebuano term meaning “native” or “indigenous”, or a collective identity of the non-Islamized indigenous peoples of Mindanao. The peace-loving Ata Matigsalog (or Matigsalug) is a tribal group found in the hinterlands of Bukidnon and the mountain districts of Davao City. This tribal woman was laughing uncontrollably during our shoot. I waited for her to warm up to me and lose her shyness. Some portraits are better viewed in black and white, especially in emphasizing character lines and and making use of drama. But you be the judge. 🙂 Here is my colored version
“Even though fixed in time, a photograph evokes as much feeling as that which comes from music or dance. Whatever the mode – from the snapshot to the decisive moment to multi-media montage – the intent and purpose of photography is to render in visual terms feelings and experiences that often elude the ability of words to describe. In any case, the eyes have it, and the imagination will always soar farther than was expected”. – Ralph Gibson