I was fortunate enough to be part of The Eraserheads' entourage for their Huling El Bimbo concert last Dec 22, 2022 all thanks to Marcus Adoro for including me in his team as his photographer. At first, the task was to take both vids and photos for documentation and content, but understandably, they were strict about taking videos. Coming in, I knew there'd be more experienced photographers who were also part of the other band members' crew, so I treated this stint the way I approached creating ads: Client: Marcus of The Eraserheads. Aside from being the guitarist of the Philippines' most successful band, he is also a painter. This means that I needed shots that would please the artist in him: photos that are anything but common.
The Brief: There's none actually. So I just made one up. To be able to document moments of the band from their rehearsals to the show itself, in classic Eraserheads fashion. The Idea: Shots that are reminiscent of their music videos.
The Execution: The 90s! Mimic film. Dial up nostlagia. If there's color, it needs to be pushed, lomo style. My goal was also to prioritize capturing moments. The aim was to have photos that seemed like they were screen-grabbed from their MVs. (I had a good chat with my good friend from Ely's team, Jon Nepomuceno, about this attack in photography during one of the breaks. Follow him on ig: @kuhafoto )
The Gahetos (Gadgets, in Eheads slang) : I didn't have kick ass gears, I only have these two trusted cameras. (But as they say, "nasa Indian yan, wala sa pana.") 1. An iPhone camera with apps that would help me get the look that I was going for, which was 90s retro. (It was Marcus' idea later on to download an app because he wanted fish eye shots in one of the rehearsals.) I already have a couple of apps, so I just had to upgrade filters and all. (Later on I bought myself one of those fisheye lens that you could easily clip on your phone). Huji, Filca and Hipstamatic apps were a big help so go check em out.
2. Canon 50D. I haven't used this in a while. Bought it when my band Monolog was starting to do music videos. Good thing I still have my telephoto which was very useful during the actual rehearsals and the show itself, when I needed close ups.
I was also rooting for imperfections, less of the crisp digital photos but rather went for a film-like look. Special shoutout to Mr. Eddie Boy Escudero. (A few months back I saw his post on Facebook which featured his work with the Heads when he covered them during one of their major concerts in the 90s) That definitely played a big part in terms of the colors that I was aiming for. And to directors Matthew Rosen and Aureus Solito for the wonderful Eheads music vids in which I also drew lots of inspo from. The Dolphy Theatre was literally a big box, which means we'd be taking the same shots, so I tried playing around with angles and framing my subjects with available objects in the venue. During the show itself, I had a choice to be in front of the stage. However, most of the audience would take pics from the same angle anyway so I decided to take a risk and be that guy who took photos from one side of the stage. I was satisfied with the outcome, as I believe the shots gave a different perspective of the Heads. Something that went back to my goal: anything but common, in true Eraserheads fashion!
Here are a few of my shots.
Comments