BILLY MONDOÑEDO
CCP Master Photographer, 2005 and 2010
by Aurelio O. Angeles
Billy Mondonedo, 2010 Masterscup Champion
Every man has a secret.
On November 15th was the day Billy Mondoñedo would tell me his. And our President Rey Ortiz sat at the table as a witness.
Nesty Ocampo had earlier given me the assignment to interview Billy Mondoñedo for an article on outstanding members of our club to be published in the CCP web pages
The assignment drew moments of excitement from me. After all, Billy Mondoñedo was once a Master Photographer of CCP in 2005.
Five years later, this year, he takes the trophy again. It’s turning to be a habit.
Billy spoke for every question I posed with a demeanor of a man with an enthusiasm and passion for secrets to tell.
WHAT DO YOU DO OTHER THAN PHOTOGRAPHY?
Billy Mondoñedo owns Tinder Box Restaurant.
It has 8 branches, four of which is located in Manila. Tinder Box’s signature branch is found in Cebu with an ambiance created by celebrity designer Kenneth Cobonpue.
Billy has turned Tinder Box not just into a venue for fine dining but also into a showcase for his fine photography – a magnet for the rich and famous in Cebu.
He says that like photography food is an art, done with passion, serving people with varying tastes and inclinations, providing a constant challenge to perform with excellence.
WHAT ARE YOUR PROJECTS NOW?
But his heart is in photography as seen from what he did and continues to do.
Billy Mondoñedo did a collaborative work in the publication of a coffee table book entitled, Cebu, Pride of Place, in 2008.
Cebu Pride of Place
The book showcased his 349 large format photos of Cebu’s heritage – churches, ancestral houses, lighthouses, forts, government buildings. His photos also highlighted the natural endowments in Cebu such as caves, falls, beaches, as well as infrastructure, festivals, museums, resorts – man-made and man-making.
His photo of the bar of Tinder Box in Cebu will appear on the cover of Night Fever 2, a book of FRAME, an international magazine based in Amsterdam on interior designs.
Night Fever 2 portrays designs featuring restaurants (EAT), bars and clubs (DRINK) and hotels (SLEEP).
Just a day after our interview, Billy left for Turkey for a photo contract.
In about a month from now he is scheduled to leave for Haiti.
He has been selected by the UNICEF along with leading international photo artists to do photography on the lives and situations of people devastated by the earthquake in Haiti last year.
A few more international photo contracts are under negotiation that may keep him outside of the country for some time, out of our monthly meetings and possibly out of our monthly competition as some lead contenders would wish.
Billy has devoted much of his energies as a fine art printer for high-end photo works.
He points out that this service is not done for commercial applications but for international exhibitions, museums and galleries of fine arts.
His printing services include among others Affinity by Nap Jamir at the Ayala Museum, 600 Images by Neil Oshima at Lumiere Gallery, Filipinas by Isa Lorenzo at the Cultural Center of the Philippines and Paris Espace for Alliance Francaise.
DO YOU HAVE OTHER DESIRES IN THE SAME LEAGUE AS PHOTOGRAPHY?
Yes, Billy Mondoñedo says. He would like to try doing direction in movies.
He wonders if he can apply his sense of creativity in movie-making and turn his movies into a state of art.
Or, perhaps, see what doing movies will turn him into.
WHAT EQUIPMENT DO YOU USE?
For printing photos Billy Mondoñedo uses Epson 9900.
His cameras?
For digital takes, he has Leica M9 and M8. For film, he makes use of Leica M6.
But the greatest of all his equipment, as it comes out from the interview, is his eye for details.
DOES YOUR PHOTOGRAPHY REPRESENT SOMETHING MORE THAN THE SUBJECTS IN YOUR ART?
Yes, definitely yes!
Every winning photo has a story to tell. Look beyond the subject, beyond the scene, beyond the colors and movements. Capture them for the story they tell. Listen to your heart.
Consider the picture of a woman breastfeeding an infant with her breast exposed.
She is the mother, providing nourishment to her child. Outside a worn brick house that may be her home. Beside a narrow road. Open to the view of all who may pass by. On the background stand two men doing their thing. It is a Muslim community. The narrow road opens up to wide, blue skies with white clouds drifting.
What is the story? What does your heart say?
Or this. Consider the black and white picture of three children in the street. They are taking a shower from the rain. Half-naked. A three-some company holding hands as in a chain, bouncing and dancing to the rhythm of thousands of beads of water on their happy faces.
It must have been the first rain after a year-long draught.
DOES YOUR PHOTOGRAPHY CARRY A MESSAGE?
Yes! Indeed!
Billy Mondoñedo may portray a situation of people in adversity. The picture may come out grim with wrinkled lines of age crossing their faces and the scene may now be still, captured in perpetuity.
But there will be hope or strength in their faces.
And the story may portray love in the midst of adversities and calm beyond the condition of pain.
In viewing great pictures, listen to your heart.
Great picture speak but they speak clearly only to your heart.
THE INTERIVEW ENDING
I noticed the time. The interview was two hours in the making and even great interviews had to end.
I thanked Billy for the opportunity to learn from him and I, a 62-year-old student, then said goodbye to my younger Master.
What lesson did I learn? What was my take-home assignment?
One thought crossed my mind and it came in a quote from Antoine de Saint-Exupery from college days:
“And now here is my secret, a very simple secret; it is only with the heart that one can see rightly, what is essential is invisible to the eye.”
Click here to view more of Billy’s Photos.
Credits:
Author: Rey Angeles
Illustration: Eric Cachero