TODAY, Monday, I will be doing the first in a series of Web interviews with my colleagues in the media whether they are writers, photographers or editors.
My first guest in the Filoil Flying V Sports/BlackWater Elite Usapang Journalism is veteran award-winning photographer Ernie Sarmiento and I have lined up Dennis Principe next.
I came up with Sir Ernie at the Inquirer back in the late 1980s and renewed acquaintances when I returned home to Manila in 2006 when I joined BusinessMirror as a columnist. I invited him over for one of my journalism classes at the Ateneo de Manila University.
Now, we get to talk about his memorable photos, the challenges of his career and advice to those who want to take up the craft of photojournalism.
Someone asked me a question about the start of my journ career.
I was in third year college at the Ateneo when I began writing to earn extra money to go on dates and buy my records and comics. I was first assigned to the police beat where my job was to check the police blotters at the UN Avenue and Nepa Q precincts.
The few months in this beat really opened my eyes. Suffice to say that I saw things that no college kid should see. It left me bewildered and angry. Not to mention frightened. I did have nightmares about some. And I have never forgotten anything. It is as clear as day like it only happened yesterday. I wish I could expunge them all from my memory.
I eventually moved to sports covering the defunct Philippine Amateur Basketball League and the occasional Philippine Basketball Association game. The games were fun. Going to the press room was challenging. There were a few typewriters—yes, I know, right? You typed your story and faxed them in. Or you dialed up your editor and dictated your story.
Being the only young guy in the sports press room, I was pushed out of the way for the few typewriters available. No matter if I got there first. One time, I was calling in my story and this senior writer took the phone—even if I wasn’t done—and pressed the plunger. He then called his office to file his story. I even had one lie outright to save her ass at my expense.
That was how it was then.
My dad had this very nice Canon camera that I would borrow and use to take pictures. We had photogs mind you, but I wanted to learn how to take them. None of them were used by the way.
Then when I switched to PDI, I was doing lifestyle, entertainment and features. I profiled ambassadors, musicians, comic book artists and entertainers. And I ghost wrote several dining articles.
I eventually stopped because I went into advertising. That didn’t leave me with any time to write because of the nature of the industry I had joined. And this is where I got into hardcore public relations (if I was done with my copywriting work, I moved over to the PR department at 3 p.m.). The first two people I worked with are some of the richest men in this country. Boy, that was some experience doing their PR.
I didn’t know jack about advertising when I joined. I took a crash course and fell in love with it. In fact, I felt that it refined the way I wrote, thought, and conceptualized things. To see your commercial on television or in the theaters was so cool. The same with the newspapers or on the radio. And I got to go to work in jeans, t-shirts and top-siders or rubber shoes. Not bad. I felt like I was in some grunge band. Some of the directors I worked with—Neil MacDonald, Cholo Laurel and some others—opened my eyes to working behind the camera. And I used this knowledge when I got to Solar Sports where I did several documentaries and TV specials. I left advertising because I had no life outside work. However, I always look fondly at this time because I learned and experienced a lot of things that shape the way I work today.
I eventually returned to journ about 16 years later. And I have no regrets. Got to do things I never even dreamed about. I got to write books (I have written about eight so far). I got to meet and work with people I only watched from afar. And I got to go to places that I only saw on TV or in the pages of a book or magazine.
And I met a lot of cool folks along the way. And I got to send my kids to school.
God is good. I am always thankful, grateful and appreciative.
This Web-based series with my colleagues is my way of giving back to the trade and craft.