Learning The Basics From “Behind Portrait Photography” Workshop

Earlier this week, I attended a workshop organized by HUAWEI Philippines. It was called “Behind Portrait Photography” wherein a famous street and travel photographer flew all the way to Davao just to share some tips and tricks on how to take good photos. He is Larry Monserate Piojo who has also worked with the brand for the “100 Untold Stories Project.” Under this campaign, Larry uses the P10 in taking portraits of different people all over the Philippines. What makes the project extra special is that it is made from the heart. Every story has a deep meaning or a wonderful story that is definitely worth sharing.

I have so much respect for photographers. It always amazes me how they can capture a moment in a beautiful way. They have the capacity to actually “make”, not “take”, photographs. Larry Monserate Piojo specializes in documentary photography. He loves travelling and taking photos of people he meets along the way. During the workshop, he explained how challenging it is to approach a person and ask for a photo. He emphasized the importance of instantly connecting with strangers and making them feel that he is not only interested for the photos but of their stories.

In presenting some of his photos, he said “Photography is a form of communication. It has become a powerful means of communication and a mode of expression that touches human life in many ways.” His talk was basically focused on how to be good at storytelling through portraits. According to him, there are top five things to remember:

The Marketing Director for HUAWEI Philippines, Corinne Bacani, went on stage to talk about the amazing features of the P10 and P10 Plus. These phones are famous for its Leica Dual Camera, allowing every user to have “a portrait studio in [his] pocket”. With this technology, we need not bring our bulky DSLRs or mirrorless cameras to take good photos as we go to different places or explore certain communities. Even with a mobile phone, we can already have studio-like photographs.

The latest remarkable partnership made by HUAWEI was with Metro Magazine for the latter’s July 2017. The cover photo, featuring the latest brand ambassador Pia Wurtzbach, as well as the in-pages portraits were shot using only the camera of P10. This is made possible by the new Leica Dual Camera 2.0 that uses precise 3D facial detection, dynamic illumination, and natural portrait enhancements to produce stunning artistic portrait shots in Leica image style.

Aside from the amazing Leica Dual Camera feature, the P10 and P10 Plus mobile phones also scream for efficiency, especially for the multi-taskers. Below are some of the other features that make Huawei’s latest phone model a must-have!

1. Touch. Hold. Swipe. The innovative fingerprint sensor found in the P10 makes screen navigation easier and faster. Aside from the fingerprint lock, the front facing finger sensor also serves as a navigation key. It allows users to perform navigating gestures with ease. With this simple touch, hold and swipe navigation gestures, the phone can perform several operations at speed. On top of that, the one-button navigation also frees up your screen space making it look bigger.

2. Knuckle Control. Another impressive feature of the P10 is its ability to perform operations with the use of your knuckles. These knuckle gestures are perfect whenever you need to open the frequently used applications in an instant. So how does this work? You can draw certain letters with your knuckles while the screen is off. Thereafter, the corresponding application opens. For example, you can draw “C” with your knuckles and in an instant, the Camera App will be opened for you.


3. Stepping Up in Screenshots. One of the best things about having phones is that it allows us to take screenshots of so many things we find on the web or even on mobile apps. Huawei knows that almost everyone is taking screenshots so they have introduced a full, partial and scrolling screenshot features. Just by knowing the screen firmly with your knuckle twice, you can already take a fill screenshot. It even goes far as capturing screenshot with your desired shapes and a scrolling screenshot that captures screenshots longer than one screen.


4. Need to Multitask? No Problem. You can now view two apps at the same time with the Split Screen Mode and Multi-Window Mode of P10. Just by drawing a line in the middle of the screen, it allows you to have two apps running at the same time. This is such an interesting feature especially for people who wants to multi-task such as watching a TV series while reading or replying to e-mails.


5. Effortless Screen Recording. For me, this has got to be the second best feature of P10 next to its Leica Dual Camera technology. The P10 has a built-in screen recorder tool which makes screen recording effortlessly possible. To record, you can simply knock at the screen twice using two knuckles or press the volume up and power buttons simultaneously. It can start and stop a screen recording.


6. One-handed Operation Or With Gloves On. If you find the P10 or P10 Plus screen too big, don’t worry. This mobile phone has a one-handed UI feature that enables screen navigating with one hand easier. It shrinks the screen down in the corner and makes apps easier to reach with one finger. At the same time, the Glove Mode feature of the phone allows you to text or scroll even with your gloves on.

So what can I say about the workshop? I’m glad I attended it. Larry Monserate Piojo inspired me to not only take photographs but also share stories through the photos I make. He makes me believe somehow that I, too, can be a good street and travel photographer. And right now, I’m contemplating on saving up to get my own P10. Maybe with this phone, I can already start my overdue “Life in Black and White” project. Let’s see what will happen in the coming months!