Pioneers of photography in the Philippines
Encyclopedia
The pioneers of photography in the Philippines were Western
photographers, mostly from Europe
. The practice of taking photographs
and the opening of the first photo studios in Spanish Philippines, from the 1840s to the 1890s, were driven by the following reasons: photographs were used as a medium of news and information about the colony, as a tool for tourism
, as an instrument for anthropology
, as a means for asserting social status, as an implement for historical documentation, as a device for communication, as materials for propaganda
, and as a source of ideas for illustrations and engraving
s. The practice of photography in the Philippines was not without the influence and influx of Western-art concepts into the colonized archipelago.
. It is believed that de Mas used a daguerreotype
camera in 1841. The use of photography became more common in Manila and the rest of the Philippines from the year 1860 onwards. Although it is believed that the first photography studios were opened in the Philippines in the 1850s, the first known actively operational photo studio was that of the British
photographer Albert Honnis. Recognized as a resident photographer in the Philippines since 1865 through the 1870s, Honnis was a popular producer of commercial “visiting cards” and “aesthetic” picture portraits. Honnis’ assignment as a commissioned photographer of the Russell & Sturgis Company, a prominent sugar-cane corporation of the time, enabled him to compile panoramic photographs of Spanish Manila and the Pasig River
(Vistas de Manila, or Views of Manila). Other pioneers of the photography business in the Philippines – apart from Sinibaldo de Mas and W. W. Wood – were a Dutch
photographer named Francisco van Camp, Manuel Maidin, Pedro Picón, a German photographer named Enrique Schüren, C. Bonifás, E. M. Barretto, Francisco Pertierra, Manuel Arias Rodriquez, L. González, and an American photographer named Dean Conant Worcester
.
. There were also photographs depicting local customs, pastimes and traditions.
Despite of the difficulty in imposing Spanish dominion over Islamic Mindanao
, Spaniards were able to produce the albums Recuerdos de Mindanao (Memories of Mindanao) and the 1892 Vistas de las poblaciones de Cottabato, Rio Grande de Mindanao, Joló, Liangan, Monungam,… y de tipos indigenas, asi como de tropas españolas en Filipinas (Views of the towns of Cotabato
, River Grande in Mindanao, Jolo
, Liangan, Monungam, and of indigenous types, as well as of Spanish troops in the Philippines). These pictures were able to illustrate Mindanao landscapes, sultanate settlements, and the living situations of Filipino Muslims and Spanish soldiers and missionaries.
nationality was Félix Laureano. His pictorial compositions, such as En el baño (In the Bathroom) and Cuadrilleros (Laborers), focused on human forms, cockfights and bullfights in the Philippines. He also became the first photographer to publish a book of photographs about the Philippines (Recuerdos de Filipinas, or Memories of the Philippines) in Barcelona
in 1895. Laureano was also regarded as “the first Filipino artist to consciously use photography as a medium for art”.
. Photographing the Philippines was continued by Americans, such as soldiers and the Thomasites
. One Thomasite who took pictures of early twentieth century Philippines was Philinda Rand
. During her tenure as an English-language teacher in the Philippines, Rand took photographs that show many aspects of Filipino life in Silay and Lingayen
where she resided. Her pictures included people, students, missionaries, buildings, animals, and sceneries from 1901 to 1907.Anglemyer, Philinda Parsons Rand, 1876-1972. Papers, 1901-1909: A Finding Aid, Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America, Call No. 86-M74--86-M130, Repository: Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute; These papers of Philinda Parsons (Rand) Anglemyer were given to the Schlesinger Library by her daughters, Katharine and Mary Anglemyer, in May and July 1986), Radcliffe College, July 1986, retrieved on: August 11, 2007
The 1900s also became the source of some of the first pornographic and erotic pictures of Filipino women, such as the nude photographs of Philippine tribal women produced by Dean Conant Worcester
, an American photographer and former Secretary of the Interior of the colonial government of the United States.
in 1886. Without the influence of American colonialistic attitude, the photographer was able to record the actual and uncontrolled street life of Filipino people living in the city, including cleanly-dressed vendors with “religious necklaces” and a young Filipino lad collecting water from a public pump. The photographer’s images presented Filipinos exuding natural grace and self-confidence in front of his camera, without any sign of being intimidated by the photograph taker’s technological instrument.
In the 1930s, photography was incorporated it by Filipinos to become an “indigenized” part of Philippine culture and society. Examples of this cultural incorporation include photographing of weddings, wakes, portraits of Filipino beauty pageant queens, politicians, cult leaders, and popular Philippine sceneries and panorama. From 1935 to 1941 the Philippine Commonwealth period Filipino politicians utilized photography as a means for propaganda and election agenda. Later on, the boom in Philippine photography, resulted to photographic albums bound and collected by Filipino families that preserved recorded baptisms, school life, family reunions, social gatherings and outings, marriages, wedding anniversaries, wakes, and funerals. For them, photography has become a tool for preserving familial genealogy and societal history, recorded imageries that are handed down continuously from one generation to another.
The Filipinos developed their own unique character of posing in front of the camera. Because they are sensitive and self-conscious to how they should present and portray themselves through photographs, Filipino individuals or groups are not passive posers. Photographically, they are able to project a “certain style (…) or aspect” of themselves. In viewing images, Filipinos find “layers of meaning about the (…) character and persona” of the subject, or subjects, caught in the photograph.
Western world
The Western world, also known as the West and the Occident , is a term referring to the countries of Western Europe , the countries of the Americas, as well all countries of Northern and Central Europe, Australia and New Zealand...
photographers, mostly from Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
. The practice of taking photographs
Photography
Photography is the art, science and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an image sensor or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film...
and the opening of the first photo studios in Spanish Philippines, from the 1840s to the 1890s, were driven by the following reasons: photographs were used as a medium of news and information about the colony, as a tool for tourism
Tourism
Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes".Tourism has become a...
, as an instrument for anthropology
Anthropology
Anthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German...
, as a means for asserting social status, as an implement for historical documentation, as a device for communication, as materials for propaganda
Propaganda
Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....
, and as a source of ideas for illustrations and engraving
Engraving
Engraving is the practice of incising a design on to a hard, usually flat surface, by cutting grooves into it. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or glass are engraved, or may provide an intaglio printing plate, of copper or another metal, for printing...
s. The practice of photography in the Philippines was not without the influence and influx of Western-art concepts into the colonized archipelago.
Spanish era
Commercial photography
The beginnings of photography in the Philippines date back to the 1840s with two preserved daguerreotypes, one of Intramuros, Manila showing a flag and a portrait of the photographer himself named W. W. Wood. Although known as the oldest preserved photographs of the Philippines, their exact date remains unclear. The first written record of the employ of photography in the Philippines, however, was mentioned in an 1843 book written by a Spaniard traveler, diplomat and poet, Sinibaldo de MasSinibaldo de Mas
Sinibaldo de Mas y Sanz was a known Spanish government diplomat to Asia during the 19th century. An adventurer and a poet, he introduced photography in the Philippines in 1841. He was also a Spanish ambassador to Macau. He was also a supporter of Iberian Federalism, having proposed a combined...
. It is believed that de Mas used a daguerreotype
Daguerreotype
The daguerreotype was the first commercially successful photographic process. The image is a direct positive made in the camera on a silvered copper plate....
camera in 1841. The use of photography became more common in Manila and the rest of the Philippines from the year 1860 onwards. Although it is believed that the first photography studios were opened in the Philippines in the 1850s, the first known actively operational photo studio was that of the British
British people
The British are citizens of the United Kingdom, of the Isle of Man, any of the Channel Islands, or of any of the British overseas territories, and their descendants...
photographer Albert Honnis. Recognized as a resident photographer in the Philippines since 1865 through the 1870s, Honnis was a popular producer of commercial “visiting cards” and “aesthetic” picture portraits. Honnis’ assignment as a commissioned photographer of the Russell & Sturgis Company, a prominent sugar-cane corporation of the time, enabled him to compile panoramic photographs of Spanish Manila and the Pasig River
Pasig River
The Pasig River is a river in the Philippines that connects Laguna de Bay to Manila Bay. Stretching for , it is lined by Metro Manila on each side...
(Vistas de Manila, or Views of Manila). Other pioneers of the photography business in the Philippines – apart from Sinibaldo de Mas and W. W. Wood – were a Dutch
Dutch people
The Dutch people are an ethnic group native to the Netherlands. They share a common culture and speak the Dutch language. Dutch people and their descendants are found in migrant communities worldwide, notably in Suriname, Chile, Brazil, Canada, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, and the United...
photographer named Francisco van Camp, Manuel Maidin, Pedro Picón, a German photographer named Enrique Schüren, C. Bonifás, E. M. Barretto, Francisco Pertierra, Manuel Arias Rodriquez, L. González, and an American photographer named Dean Conant Worcester
Dean Conant Worcester
Dean Conant Worcester, D.Sc., F.R.G.S. was an American zoologist, public official, and authority on the Philippines, born at Thetford, Vermont, and educated at the University of Michigan ....
.
Landscape photography
The first evidence of the use of photography about Philippine panorama as the bases for illustrations in printed publications, such as magazines and travel guides, was an 1875 book authored by the German photographer, Feodor Jagor. Translated into Spanish, Jagor’s Reisen in der Philippinen, was considered as one of the best travel books that recounted his Philippine journeys in 1859 and in 1860.News, history and nature through cameras
Provincial and missionary life
Everyday life of early Filipinos and foreign missionaries were epitomized in the Provincia de Cagayan (Cagayan Province), an album lodged at Madrid’s Museo Nacional de Antropología (National Museum of Anthropology). The album, believed to have been published between 1874 and 1880, documented 19th century tobacco farming methods in LuzonLuzon
Luzon is the largest island in the Philippines. It is located in the northernmost region of the archipelago, and is also the name for one of the three primary island groups in the country centered on the Island of Luzon...
. There were also photographs depicting local customs, pastimes and traditions.
Despite of the difficulty in imposing Spanish dominion over Islamic Mindanao
Mindanao
Mindanao is the second largest and easternmost island in the Philippines. It is also the name of one of the three island groups in the country, which consists of the island of Mindanao and smaller surrounding islands. The other two are Luzon and the Visayas. The island of Mindanao is called The...
, Spaniards were able to produce the albums Recuerdos de Mindanao (Memories of Mindanao) and the 1892 Vistas de las poblaciones de Cottabato, Rio Grande de Mindanao, Joló, Liangan, Monungam,… y de tipos indigenas, asi como de tropas españolas en Filipinas (Views of the towns of Cotabato
Cotabato
Cotabato , is a landlocked province of the Philippines located in the SOCCSKSARGEN region in Mindanao...
, River Grande in Mindanao, Jolo
Jolo
Jolo may refer to:* Jolo Island* Jolo, Sulu* Jolo, West Virginia* Jolo is also the nickname of Swedish author Jan Olof Olsson....
, Liangan, Monungam, and of indigenous types, as well as of Spanish troops in the Philippines). These pictures were able to illustrate Mindanao landscapes, sultanate settlements, and the living situations of Filipino Muslims and Spanish soldiers and missionaries.
Natural disasters
Photography in 19th century Philippines also preserved visual records of the callous living conditions in the tropics. The existence of cameras and photographers, both professionals and amateurs, confirmed the reality of natural disasters such as earthquakes, typhoons, hurricanes, cyclones, monsoon rains, volcanic eruptions and forest fires in the Philippines. The aftermath of an 1863 earthquake was witnessed and recorded by Martinez Hébert, a photographer of the Spanish Royal Household, while the devastation caused by the seismic activities that occurred on July 14, 18, 20 and 22, 1880 were captured by the lenses of the Dutch photographer, Francisco van Camp.Industrialization
Status of public works in the Philippines were catalogued in the 1887 album, Obras del Puerto de Manila (Works of Manila Harbor) and in an 1896 book published by the Board of Manila Harbor. Operational and under-construction lighthouses spanning the years 1889-1893 in the Philippines were also catalogued in the Obras públicas: Faros (Public Works: Lighthouses) by Madrid’s Archive of the Royal Palace.Relationship to anthropology
The invention of photographs lessened the need for anthropologists to travel to places such as the Philippines for the sake of their work. Photographs became one of the important secondary sources of anthropologists for their case studies. However, despite of the advantage, this photography business also created the tendency of photographers and the anthropologist themselves to manipulate their pictures and subjects such as employing staged scenes for scientific ends. Another accompanying problem of this “manipulation” would be the installation of stereotype human beings into the psyche of Western scientific groups. And also the tendency to produce “voyeuristic” specimens as evidenced by the great number of native women with exposed upper bodies.First Filipino photographer
One of the first photographers of FilipinoFilipino people
The Filipino people or Filipinos are an Austronesian ethnic group native to the islands of the Philippines. There are about 92 million Filipinos in the Philippines, and about 11 million living outside the Philippines ....
nationality was Félix Laureano. His pictorial compositions, such as En el baño (In the Bathroom) and Cuadrilleros (Laborers), focused on human forms, cockfights and bullfights in the Philippines. He also became the first photographer to publish a book of photographs about the Philippines (Recuerdos de Filipinas, or Memories of the Philippines) in Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
in 1895. Laureano was also regarded as “the first Filipino artist to consciously use photography as a medium for art”.
American era
The Thomasites
After the Spanish-American War, the Philippines was ceded to the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Photographing the Philippines was continued by Americans, such as soldiers and the Thomasites
Thomasites
The Thomasites is a group of about five hundred pioneer American teachers sent by the U.S. government to the Philippines in August 1901.-Foundation, purpose and etymology:...
. One Thomasite who took pictures of early twentieth century Philippines was Philinda Rand
Philinda Rand
Philinda Parsons Rand Anglemyer was an American English-language teacher in the Philippines. She was among the pioneering five hundred Thomasites who landed on the shores of the Philippines in August 1901 on board the U.S. sea vessel, USS Thomas, a converted cattle ship.-Biography:Rand is a...
. During her tenure as an English-language teacher in the Philippines, Rand took photographs that show many aspects of Filipino life in Silay and Lingayen
Lingayen, Pangasinan
Lingayen is a 1st class municipality in the province of Pangasinan on the island of Luzon in the Philippines. It is the capital municipality and the seat of government of the province of Pangasinan. According to the latest census, it has a population of 95,773 people in 16,467 households.Lingayen...
where she resided. Her pictures included people, students, missionaries, buildings, animals, and sceneries from 1901 to 1907.Anglemyer, Philinda Parsons Rand, 1876-1972. Papers, 1901-1909: A Finding Aid, Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America, Call No. 86-M74--86-M130, Repository: Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute; These papers of Philinda Parsons (Rand) Anglemyer were given to the Schlesinger Library by her daughters, Katharine and Mary Anglemyer, in May and July 1986), Radcliffe College, July 1986, retrieved on: August 11, 2007
Categories
Photography in the Philippines during American colonialism in the country produced two categories of photographic genre: the colonial American-centered photography and Filipino-centered photography:Colonial American-centered images
In this category, photographs taken by Americans of Filipinos portrayed Filipino men and women and sceneries or backgrounds as a part of scientific or anthropological study or as a stimulator of curiosity. From 1900 to 1914, the American expeditioners became fascinated with Filipino hill tribes known as the Igorots, a native group that composed an eight of the Filipino population at the time. The trend of photography in the Philippines during the American era was to present colonial or imperial superiority and to differentiate racial status, skin hue, body size, cultural context, dress codes and dressing habits compared to American ways and physical features. An example was the head hunting practice of the Igorots, a tribal practice engaged in by these tribes to settle social conflicts through individual revenge rather than mass warfare, which was sensationalized in American-produced images of skulls. In relation to the mode of dressing, American colonialists used the amount of garments worn by tribal Filipinos as an indicator of levels of Philippine social development. to show skull shapes. The Filipino tribespeople were also presented as domestic servants and as human exhibits.The 1900s also became the source of some of the first pornographic and erotic pictures of Filipino women, such as the nude photographs of Philippine tribal women produced by Dean Conant Worcester
Dean Conant Worcester
Dean Conant Worcester, D.Sc., F.R.G.S. was an American zoologist, public official, and authority on the Philippines, born at Thetford, Vermont, and educated at the University of Michigan ....
, an American photographer and former Secretary of the Interior of the colonial government of the United States.
Filipino-centered photography
Filipinos during the American era who were given the opportunity to “control their appearance” in front of cameras of formal picture-taking studios presented a “media persona” that was distinguishably different from what were presented in images taken by Americans who have scientific and anthropological aims. During these personal and formal photographic moments, Filipino women were able to demonstrate female “virtue and refinement” by being garbed in fashionable and “religious” garments of the time; while the Igorot people were given that chance to show-off their status and prestige by standing straight, firm, and wearing their tribal coats and hand-held canes.Filipino life, culture, and identity through images
As a tool for presenting Philippine culture and identity, photography revealed that Filipinos during the Spanish period and American colonialism had a distinct society of their own. During the late 1800s, both elite Spanish and Filipino members of Philippine society employed photographs as recorders of social lifestyle. Before American colonialism took hold of the Philippine Islands, an American photographer shot photos of the people and life in the City of ManilaManila
Manila is the capital of the Philippines. It is one of the sixteen cities forming Metro Manila.Manila is located on the eastern shores of Manila Bay and is bordered by Navotas and Caloocan to the north, Quezon City to the northeast, San Juan and Mandaluyong to the east, Makati on the southeast,...
in 1886. Without the influence of American colonialistic attitude, the photographer was able to record the actual and uncontrolled street life of Filipino people living in the city, including cleanly-dressed vendors with “religious necklaces” and a young Filipino lad collecting water from a public pump. The photographer’s images presented Filipinos exuding natural grace and self-confidence in front of his camera, without any sign of being intimidated by the photograph taker’s technological instrument.
In the 1930s, photography was incorporated it by Filipinos to become an “indigenized” part of Philippine culture and society. Examples of this cultural incorporation include photographing of weddings, wakes, portraits of Filipino beauty pageant queens, politicians, cult leaders, and popular Philippine sceneries and panorama. From 1935 to 1941 the Philippine Commonwealth period Filipino politicians utilized photography as a means for propaganda and election agenda. Later on, the boom in Philippine photography, resulted to photographic albums bound and collected by Filipino families that preserved recorded baptisms, school life, family reunions, social gatherings and outings, marriages, wedding anniversaries, wakes, and funerals. For them, photography has become a tool for preserving familial genealogy and societal history, recorded imageries that are handed down continuously from one generation to another.
The Filipinos developed their own unique character of posing in front of the camera. Because they are sensitive and self-conscious to how they should present and portray themselves through photographs, Filipino individuals or groups are not passive posers. Photographically, they are able to project a “certain style (…) or aspect” of themselves. In viewing images, Filipinos find “layers of meaning about the (…) character and persona” of the subject, or subjects, caught in the photograph.
External links
- Timeline: History of Photography in the Philippines (1840-Present), www.google.com
- Philippine portraits (Spanish era) at Seacex.es
- Colonial Philippines photographs (Spanish era) at Seacex.es
- Philippine panorama photographs (Spanish era) at Seacex.es)
- Manila and disaster photographs (Spanish era) at Seacex.es)
- Buildings and other views (Spanish era) at Seacex.es
- Provincial life images (Spanish era) at Seacex.es
- Mindanao images (Spanish era) at Seacex.es
- Anthropology-related images (Spanish era) at Seacex.es
- Structures, interiors and people (Spanish era) at Seacex.es
- Philippine schools images (Spanish era) at Seacex.es
- Individual and group portraits (Spanish era) at Seacex.es
- More panoramas and portraits (Spanish era) at Seacex.es
- Philippine revolution images (Spanish era) at Seacex.es
- 1898 in pictures (Spanish era) at Seacex.es