Leicas, Alfa Romeos, Tube Amps and Doc Amado
by Dennis Zamora

I consider it a treat when people surprise me in a positive manner. My interview of Amado Castro, or Doc Amado as he is referred to fondly in the club, was indeed a real treat for this very reason.

We began by discussing his beginnings in photography.

He started photography and became an avid photographer as early as his teens using his father’s Kodak Monitor.

He acquired his first “semi-serious” camera, a Kodak Retina II, when he was a graduate student and his first “serious” camera, a Contax IIa, in the early 1950s.

Doc Amado and His Cameras

For a while, he became a Nikon convert, owning various models such as the Rangefinder, S2 and, his first SLR, the F in the 1960s.

But then he discovered the Leica. His first Leica camera was the 3F and he has had an enduring love affair with the brand ever since. He has accumulated an impressive collection of Leica cameras over the years and his favorite camera today is still his Leica M3. For digital photography, he uses a Panasonic Lumix, surely because it uses Leica lenses.

His favorite subjects are patterns, forms, and people, although he says that he is often referred to as a “ballet photographer”, a subject close to his heart as his nieces became performers of Ballet Philippines in the late 1960s.

He joined the club in August 1971.

He recalls that monthly meetings were much smaller and less lively than they are now. He said that at the time there were no probees and monthly contests were judged by the members present during the meetings.

His fondest memory was a monthly meeting where he garnered a “grand slam” having won all three competitions judged in that month, namely black and white, on the spot, and model of the month. “Has this feat ever been done by anyone else in the history of the club?” I thought to myself.

He has also won several photo of the year awards and recalls a couple of them – a color photo of a duck resting on a small body of water taken in Belgium and a black and white photo of two girls walking along a school corridor taken in Taiwan.

Outside of photography, what has Doc Amado done and continues to do?

He graduated from the University of the Philippines in 1948 and subsequently took up PhD studies at Harvard University as a University of the Philippines Fellow and Rockefeller Foundation Scholar.

Upon graduation, he returned to the University of the Philippines where he became one of only two full time economics professors, as the university faculty had been decimated during the pre-war era. He later on became the first dean of the School of Economics.

His distinguished career also featured important positions such as Governor of the Development Bank of the Philippines and Director of the Economic Bureau of the ASEAN Secretariat.

At present Doc Amado serves as a professor of economics at the University of Asia and the Pacific, where he teaches the subject “Philippine Economic History”.

His other passions include sports cars and hi-fidelity audio.

Doc Amado, Rolf Kliedienst, and Andy Sta. Maria, were the three founders of the Manila Sports Car Club and owns among others an Alfa Romeo and a Triumph.

Doc Amado and his Alfa Romeo

As an audiophile, he is a fan of classical music (his favorite composers are Brahms, Beethoven, and Tchaikovsky) and swears by the merits of tube over solid-state technology, owning a variety of vintage brands such as Audio Research, Marantz, Dynaco, Spendor, Quad, and Yamaha, among others.

Doc Amado with Tube Amp

We debated the merits of tube vs. solid-state technology and he aptly commented that a tube amplifier is like a Leica and a solid-state amplifier is like a Nikon or Canon. “No further explanations needed”, I thought to myself.

Owing to his love for classical music, he was also a Vice President of the Manila Symphony Society.

I emerged from that interview marveling at how interesting Doc Amado’s life is and how similar his passions are to mine. Unfortunately, it may prove to be an expensive conversation, as I am now in the market for a new tube amp and, perhaps, a new Leica.

More photos of Doc Amado here.