Masskara Festival 2008

Masskara Festival 2008 Preps, originally uploaded by jovijovijovi.

Masskara Festival 2008
Bacolod City, Philippines
October 17-18 2008

My first chance to shoot with our photo club (Pipho) was at the Masskara Festival in Bacolod City. Not like the more common Ati-atihan festivals of the Philippines (honoring the Santo Nino), the Masskara is based on their own past. During a particular time of hardship in their past, the people of Negros wore masks to show their grief. Plans were made for a yearly mask festival to show the hardship in Negros, but it was transformed into a street dancing and merry-making festival by the people in power for their own purposes. And thus the Masskara Festival was born… and the yearly dancing and festivities continues!

There were officially only 4 of us from Pipho but we met lots of peers and friends on the streets. Our flight to Bacolod was real early so we took a bit of a rest when we got to the hotel. We started our walk to the preparation area a little after lunch, and boy was it hot! The sun was scorching! Despite the heat, the contingents were all in formation under the sun waiting for the start of the street dancing. During the course of the dancing and the performances, I saw a couple of participants fainting due to fatigue and the heat. The masks were quite heavy and made it a bit difficult to breath. The dedication and effort of the participants to their festival is very commendable.

Street Dancing!

We were able to take advantage of the sun for the preparation shots but it became a harsh backlight during the street dancing. Still we made do with what we could because the street dancing was where we could shoot up-close and with creative angles compared to the performance area. It is also where there is more chance of unplanned happenings as they walk through the crowded streets, making for unique shots! Interactions with the crowd, dancing while walking forward, shooting while walking backward, finding the famous festival cigarette vendor, etc! We then shot in the performance area until it was too dark to shoot.

Masskara 2008 Champions

We shot again the next day, this time the more professional performers against the winners of the school contingents. I was glad to have had a second chance to shoot as I felt I made plenty of errors on my first day of shooting due to my lack of experience. I was lucky to have two masters with us from whom I got a ton of tips and lessons:

1) come early to shoot the preparations
2) talk and instruct participants to create your shots
3) use the sun at the angle best for your shot
4) shoot not only the actual performance but also the street dancing
5) shoot at high shutter to freeze the action and at wide aperture for bokeh
6) background is very important to make very nice and colorful bokeh
7) wear earplugs! (the song was nice at first but the “cellphone ringtone” feel will eventually get to your nerves! I still prefer the drums of the ati-atihan festivals)

and many more tricks that makes shooting easier! Thanks Dave and Vernes!

Famous Festival Cigarette Vendor!

The masks are intricately made with various designs and color and can sell for up to USD 200 each (especially for the masks of the champions). The masks and the costumes together with the dedication of the contingents, organizers and people of Negros has made the Masskara Festival one of the biggest and best festival the Philippines has to offer. Although the Dinagyang Festival is still the best for me, the Masskara is a very close second because of its unique appeal of masks, costumes and color!

Intricate Masks!

Electric Masskara Festival

The festivities continue through the night! Contingents with battery powered electric lighted masks and costumes compete against each other. We tried to shoot the fist night unsuccessfully. Fast action and the dark just don’t mix well for photographs :)

for more photos from the Masskara Festival 2008 click here
for more photos of other festivals click here