Pro Photographer: Rommel Bundalian - Keeping grounded and on your feet

When doing street photography, there’s no better way to begin than having your feet firmly planted on the ground. Being well grounded gets you that stable and sharp shot. Being well grounded in life also allows you to keep the best compsure despite life’s ever-changing high’s and lows.

Rommel Bundalian is a successful photographer. His photographs have been seen by countless eyes, through publications such as Mabuhay Magazine, AfterCapture, Lifestyle Asia, Mega Magazine, People Asia, and View Magazine. Being also one of an elite team of Fujifilm ambassadors representing the brand in his country, “Omeng” has seen an amount of success brought by his passion in photography many of us would only dream about.

Despite the success, he remains well grounded to life. Having his feet firmly planted allows him to continue his voyage as a photographer with true and raw passion in his craft.  Many of those who meet him in photowalks for the first time see his passion as a photographer first, and then noticing his big name on the back of a projector screen. The realization that Omeng-the same person shooting and conversing with them is actually Rommel Bundalian as he is called on stage to share his wealth of knowledge and vast experience.

I was able to catch up with him for a short talk, and here are some of his insights and takeaways.

When doing street photography, Always Travel Light

When asked what gear he brings when he goes on street photography, Rommel Bundalian says he tries to bring as little as possible when doing street.

His idea behind this is that street photography is about mobility, and the less you have, the more mobile you become, opening more windows for taking better photos. For Rommel Bundalian, he also usually limits himself to one lens, the reason of which he explained in his second takeaway.

Use one lens the entire shoot

Rommel Bundalian mentioned that when he goes to the streets, he forces himself to use only one lens the entire shoot. “It removes options and allows me to think more creatively” said Omeng.

According to him, many photographers bring too much gear with them that it creates confusion. They often worry a lot about what lens to be the best tool for the job, while the opportune moment slowly passes them by. 

When doing street, Rommel purposely brings with him only one lens because to him,  “Having multiple lenses is a temptation". Limiting yourself to one lens allows no room for regret, because it is all you have.  

When shooting street, establish the location of your shoot

In one of his seminars, Omeng stressed the importance of establishing the location of your shots, which is one reason why he has a particular fondness of wide angle lenses.

When working in the industry, you are brought to places to shoot the environment but also it is of equal importance to give your viewers a look of the location  of where you are shooting.

Establishing Jones Bridge 

Photo by Rommel Bundalian

Pulling off  a “Zack Arias”

Rommel keeps true to his experiences sharing tips he learned from others along the way. One particularly interesting tip he gave in doing street photography was a technique made popular by Zack Arias which involved a little bit of acting and sleight of hand to pull off. The technique is used in taking candid portraits on the street in order to not attract too much attention from your subject.

Simply take your camera up and act like you are taking a picture, then bring it down to give the impression that you were viewing what you just took when you are really taking the actual photo.

Sounds confusing? here’s a clip to the sleight of hand tip as taught by Zack Arias himself.

QUICK QUESTIONS WITH ROMMEL BUNDALIAN

With a little bit of time left, we held a short Q&A to pick his mind.

Favorite Food?

Kare-Kare

Favorite Focal Length?

14mm on his Fujifilm Xt1

Favorite Time of Day to Shoot?

Early Mornings

If you were not a photographer today, what would you be?

Graphic Artist specializing in digital printing

Favorite Camera Settings?

I shoot full manual. When shooting on a sunny day, my settings start at f16, shutter 125 and ISO 200 and I work from there.


You can learn more about Rommel Bundalian through his official website http://www.rommelbundalian.com

Who's Who at DPP8

With DPP8 fast approaching, would-be photogs from all around charging their batteries, cleaning their lenses and sunscreening up for 12 hours of Photography workshops, camera deals and the like. 

This year, DPP announced through their website that 13 of the best photographers from  will offer practical and technical advice (for free) from their levels of expertise. 

Like any basketball loving fan, you have to know the members of the team or you are not a fan. Coming from that point of view, heres a take on who's who at DPP8. 

ERIC KIM

Eric Kim is a world known street photographer based in Los Angeles with a South Korean heritage.  If you are a fan of Kai Man Wong's antics in their online channel Digital Rev, you can find Eric Kim on their AnalogRev feature where he shows his street photography prowess using an analogue Leica camera he got from a fan. 

If you watch the video you'll see that he's pretty smooth with the ladies too.

JUN DE LEON

Jun de Leon is known as the Philippine's bad boy of Photography. The hair, the stare and the the cigarette always clasped between his two fingers with smoke blowing out in most of his pictures does wonders in giving you the bad boy look.  If Pepe Smith took up photography, you would wind up with Jun de Leon. 

He is an old-school photographer and one who can tell you his war stories during the film days. Many photographers now opt to go film, this man lived through it.

You can learn more about Jun de Leonin an article about him here.

PILAR TUASON

Pilar Tuason is a renowned  wedding photographer and  the only filipino wedding photographer  to learn classical technique from none other than the late Monte Zucker himself. 

She specialises in black and white fine art portraiture.

RAYMUND ISAAC

Another photographer to have the bad boy monicker attached to his name, Raymund Isaac was known both popularly and notoriously for his nude and risqué photography.  A style he has been doing long before the pregnant and naked Demi More cover photo in Vanity Fair made it cool.

The photo was recreated countlessly around the globe though, for better of worse. 

LITO SY

Internationally known, and multi-awarded, Lito Sy's move into the world of wedding photography was by chance. He has a degree in engineering but decided to follow his passion as a photographer. 

Lito Sy has established himself as a pedestal in Philippine photography, working under the art for over a quarter of a century.  

He is also a brand ambassador for Fujifilm.

ROMMEL BUNDALIAN

For those who love camera 360 effects, this guy makes a living out of those images. Panoramas are his specialty with works featured in both national in international publications.

XANDER ANGELES

Of all the photographers in this list, Xander Angeles is the only one with his own Wikipedia Page! Unless your into making your own autobiography, people referenced in wikipedia are important people, as dictated by the unwritten rules of the web. 

Based on is wiki, Xander got into photography during his stay in his mountaineering club. As the groups club archivist or photo documentation specialist (the guy taking photos of the team) he played around with a Pentax while he climbed. The initial exposure would eventually lead him out of the mountains and into the studios of FHM, Digital Photographer and Profiles Magazine.

NIKO VILLEGAS

You've got to know that at some point you are destined for photographic greatness if you were named after a camera brand (seriously, an article mentions this here). 

He also studied in photography abroad, holding a Bachelor's Degree in Photography making him the perfect person to discussing the better technicalities and theories of photography. 

DIX PEREZ

Though he specialises in fashion photography working with a number of celebrities and clothing brands, billboards are his bread and butter. 

For those who commute or drive around the country's capital everyday, there is a very good chance that you have seen at least one Dix Perez photo.

JIGGIE ALEJANDRINO

Known as the Flash (Okay, I made that up, only because it is a befitting monicker who specialises on speed lights), Jiggie Alejandrino specialises in the use of speed lights for photography. 

You can say that he could be a Philippine version of the Strobist: David Hobby. 

JAN GONZALES

If you are looking for photos that are out of the ordinary, you can expect Jan Gonzles to deliver just that. He specialises in Modern Conceptual Portraiture, offering a bunch of amazing and really creative concepts. (Think Zack Snyder's Sucker Punch made into a series of shots).  

MARK DIMALANTA

If we could assign a name for Mark Dimalanta, we would have to call him the Photo Jock. The guy is built compared to your average photographer (He is an avid surfer). So much so, that we would forgive bystanders for thinking that he was Rambo holding a Pentax branded bazooka.

Exhibit A

Thats not even the best part. The guys a freaking Doctor - a medical doctor. So not only can this guy shoot a camera, he can surf his way up to a drowning man in the beach, save his ass and give him a written medical prescription on how to make his life more awesome while documenting the whole ordeal in 12 frames per second.

Kidding aside, Mark Dimalanta is well respected in the photography world, acting as Pentax's star presenter on the Consumer Electronics show in Las Vegas in 2007.

This guy is a Doctor too.

WESLEY VILLARICA

If there is a man of eloquence and style it would be Wesley Villarica. Wesley completed a degree in psychology, had a brief stint in law school and earned an MBA while dabbling in photography.

If that distinction was not eloquent enough, he was also knighted by the big boys in Canon as one of their Crusaders of Light.  

Crusaders of Light Circa 1100s

This paladin of photography has pictured many high profile celebrities including Manny Pacquaio and Anne Curtis.