Photograph UST—now

UST COULD be the most beautiful campus in the world if you know where and how to look at it.

Three years ago, when I set my foot in this University, I was one of those people who hardly appreciated its beauty. But as time flew by and with a camera in hand, the pictures I took began to change my initial perception of my school, making me fall in love with it.

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With all due respect, I find the structure of the Multi-deck Carpark unfitting to the renaissance aura of the Main Building and the bauhaus architecture of Albertus Magnus and Roque Ruaño buildings, to mention a few. Photography, like architecture, entails a balance between aesthetic sensibility and craft. Maintaining the equilibrium between the two is essential; if you alter the balance, there is a possibility of crossing the fine line between being conceptual, and complicating the design when preoccupied with the technique.

Also, I am really annoyed with the condominiums that have been sprouting like mushrooms at the back of Beato Angelico Building. But I do not take these as hindrances to have good photos. In fact, I still find ways to show the diverse light and angles of this campus.

Most of my portfolio consists of photos taken inside UST. I know that UST had been photographed a million times, but I never grow tired of pointing my camera at every building especially during sunset and sunrise. And there is this spirit within me that keeps on telling me “picturan mo yan, tribute mo yan sa UST.”

For the past two weeks, I have decided to skip some ‘sleeps’ just to catch glimpses of the sunrise in UST. I have been asking myself during that time “why do I keep on doing this?” but after which, I always get a repeated response: “kasi mahal mo ang UST.”

Also, whenever I enter the campus, my body feels rejuvenated. I hardly feel any body pain or headache. It’s like the aura of the campus revitalizes and re-energizes every fiber of me; and it is like God’s way of saying that I should capture His splendor without any exhaustion.

I think that every photographer has a purpose and that is to let the audience communicate with the past––a purpose to change the world on how a person perceives it and to make it easier for them to appreciate beauty. I firmly believe that my mission in this University is to showcase its grandeur; to let everybody see the bizarre angles and to capture the fleeting moments of the students; and through my photos, every students will feel proud of the 400 years of unending grace of our beloved UST.

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Sometimes I wish I was born earlier or I’m one of those photographers who covered the World War II in the country.

I still remember the time I went to UST archives to check the photos of UST in the past. Luckily, when the time I was able to enter the office, archives personnel are arranging the old photos for a TV show. I was speechless as I wandered around the room and saw the photos during the 40’s. The trees along the lovers’ lane were symmetrical; the botanical garden had lush greenery, and no tall buildings distracting the view of the Main Building and Beato Angelico Building. I could not put into words how beautiful the campus was before.

Now, I think that the UST grounds is slowly getting congested. With the new UST gymnasium, it seems that the only breathing space we have are the football field, Plaza Mayor and Quadricentennial Park.

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Thomasian photographers should take pictures of UST as often as possible. With many high-rise establishments to be erected in the future, you better get shots of UST at its prime––treasure your photos of UST without tall buildings blocking the cross tower (the one at the roof top of the Main Building).

Maybe after twenty years the campus will be surrounded by high rise condominiums. We will never know what future will bestow upon us.