Canon Photomarathon 2013

The 2013 Canon Photomarathon National Leg was held yesterday at Bonifacio High Street.

This year's photomarathon seemed a little less grandiose than last year's. Fewer attendees, no band, no Alodia (heh), and significantly less fanfare with the selection and announcement of winners. Of course, this is understandable and unsurprising given that everybody's currently focusing on relief efforts after last week's super typhoon.

On the bright side, there have also been a few notable improvements which I hope would carry on in future photomarathons.


First and foremost, the themes have been simplified. Gone are the long lines of verbose text that everybody (both participants and judges) used to disregard.

I think this worked out quite well since this year's finalists seemed to have more impressive and more relevant shots.

Canon's Ambassadors of Light also offered several lectures on various topics (portrait photography, bird photography, IR, etc.) throughout the day.

After the closing of submission of entries came the long waiting time for the selection of finalists and overall winners. As usual, they had several dancers, a number of games, and the final announcement of winners.

Bring me ... an ATM card!

The announcement itself was unexpectedly brief, but that also meant that the remaining participants were free to go home at around 9PM in contrast to last year's program which ended between 10 and 11 PM.


As for my own shots...

Theme 2 entry

Theme 1 entry

I've been dabbling in toy photography the past 2 months, so the techniques which I used reflected that. Normally, I'd attempt street photography, but having a rather nasty cold meant that I was in no condition to wander under the sun for several hours.

Also, I forgot to bring my spare battery for the 600D. Both the camera and I were exhausted before the sun reached high noon.

Overall, it was tiring but fun day. The security guards aren't as pesky with their questioning when you're shooting with a swarm of over 1000 photographers wearing bright red shirts. Regardless of who wins the competition, the Canon Photomarathon is a fantastic excuse to go out and shoot.