VICENTE C. VALENCIANO AND THE CCP
Vicente C. Valenciano was President of the Camera Club of the Philippines in 1976, and again in 1978. Franco Patriarca was President in the intervening year 1977.
These were important years in the history of this 85 year-old Camera Club. It can be said that much of what the club is today took shape during those years in the latter half of the 1970’s, under the leadership of Vic, Franco and their contemporaries.
For example, the present competition structure began in 1976 when Vic was President. In the year previous, 1975, there had been awards for Best Picture of the Year in the three divisions of black-and-white print, color slide, and color print. There was no award for Photographer of the Year.
In 1976, through a member Luis Garcia who was then President of Wrigley Philippines, Inc., the Wrigley Cups started. These consisted of three large handsome silver trophies for the first three places in the annual top photographer of the year race. The top winner was conferred the grandiose title which is now the club’s most coveted of many awards, that of “Master Photographer of the Year.” It was a direct descendant of the historical Plaque Award given to the photographer accumulating the highest number of qualifying points in the various contests throughout the year.
The first OTS outings of modern times were held in 1977 at Batulao and Punta Baluarte.
Until the 1970’s , in spite of occasional forays at public exposure, it appears that the club for the most part kept to itself. It was never very large throughout the years, apparently hovering around 25 to 35 at any one time. The mid-seventies were a turning point. Some then relatively new members, like Vic and his contemporaries, noticed that although the club was nearing its golden anniversary, it was still small and inward-looking. It was then that a real effort to modify directions seems to have been made.
In the words of Franco Patriarca at the end of 1976, the club seemed to be changing “from a strictly closed exclusive company of weekend pictorialists to a dedicated band of contemporary photographers – alive, growing, conscious and concerned about their relationships to photography – improved in skills, producing more quality photographs that appeal to a wider audience; works of sustained interest and even exploratory experimentations unheard of in amateur circles.”
While experimentation has in fact remained limited to only a few members, there is no doubt that the club as a whole became more public, more outgoing, more intense in its photography, more eager to share its work with a wider audience
In August 1975, the first issue of the Viewfinder, the club’s magazine, saw light of day, and a second issue came out in December, both especially through the exertions of a then new member Franco Patriarca. Twenty-four of the seventy qualifiers from a total of 224 black-and-white prints submitted in various contests during that year 1975 were printed in a Camera Club of the Philippines Calendar for 1976 for the first time in the club’s history. A folio of photographs in a calendar has been published every year since then. The club also ventured a public exhibit of its photographs at the Club Filipino.
It was also during this year under the presidency of Feliciano Ferrer that the idea of incorporating the club was conceived. New enthusiastic members were recruited, and the year ended with the club roster growing to 45 members.
A final indication of a new era was the fact that for the first time in many years once again, the final year-end competitions for the best photographs for the year, a non-member panel of judges was invited to do the selection from the year’s qualifiers: Redentor Romero, Alfredo Roces, Philip Monserrat, Francisco Mañosa and Dick Baldovino.
In 1976, with Vic as President, these trends were strengthened and institutionalized. The Viewfinder became a quarterly, although in recent years because of the cost of full-color printing, the Viewfinder has evolved into a monthly newsletter for members. The calendar has continued. The contests intensified, the awards multiplied into divisions by medium and other categories, and, as we have seen, the “Master Photographer of the Year” title started accompanied by the Wrigley Cups. The practice of inviting non-members as judges became permanent and evidenced the club’s desire to submit its work to the standards of others. The incorporation of the club was completed that year, and for the first time, a Board of Directors headed the club. Towards the end of the year in November, the club held an exhibit of its photographs at Rustan’s Cubao, one of Manila’s then busiest department stores, to reach as many people as possible.
The next February in 1977, the club conducted a Photography Symposium for Wonderbooks, a division of Mondragon Industries, distributors of Time-Life Books. The symposium was conducted by members Vic Valenciano and Ernesto (Judes) T. Echauz, assisted by a panel composed of Eufrosino (Sonny) Q. Camarillo, Emmanuel Arriola and Franco Patriarca. No less than 150 people attended. It was a milestone in the desire of the club to be more “relevant” to its art and to society.
And many of the older members as well as other non-member photography professionals and amateurs learned much about photography from him, both formally in his classes and informally through association. He was not only a leader but also very active in all club activities including its anniversary celebrations to which he brought his family. Among the characters he himself played at our fun presentations were Adolf Hitler, Dulcinea, the Wicked Witch of fairy tales. He, his son Gary and daughter Diana (or was it Gina?) wrote, scored, choreographed, directed and recorded one of our presentations which we so enjoyed rehearsing and doing that someone arranged to present it once more to the public for fundraising. (For some reason, this repeat did not materialize.) Those of you from De La Salle’s Kundirana may be interested in the fact that Gary was, i think, the very first Kundirana alumnus to have sung in one of our anniversaries. He was then only beginning what turned out to be a spectacular career.
In sum, Vic Valenciano was a pillar of the club in the late 1970’s and through the 1980’s. And the club is what it is today because of leading members like him.
Roberto M. Paterno