Century Park Hotel Manila 50th Anniversary Photo Exhibit: The Gallery Opening and the Winners
Two weeks earlier, a few dozen photographers had walked through the laundry room, the kitchens, and the guest rooms of Century Park Hotel Manila with all-access passes around their necks. On August 29, 2026, their photographs came back to the hotel, printed, framed, and hung on the walls of the Kachina Function Room. There was a ribbon, there were flowers, there was food, and at the end of the afternoon three names were read out. This is part two of Frames of Legacy. Part one, the workshop and photowalk, is here.
From photowalk to gallery
The Frames of Legacy brief on August 14 had been simple: photograph fifty years of Century Park Hotel from the inside, in places guests never go. The entries that came back were not the usual hotel photography. Steam in the laundry. A cook's hands. A kitchen door with a hairnet sign and an all-access pass hanging from the handle. The hotel and CameraHaus chose the strongest frames, printed them large, and turned a function room into a gallery for the afternoon.
Walking in, the first thing you saw was your own reflection in the framed prints, then the red anniversary flowers, then the photographs. Several of the participants found their own work on the wall before anyone told them it had been selected.
Opening the room
Rommel Bundalian, who had led the street photography masterclass before the photowalk, opened the afternoon. Two weeks earlier he had told the participants how to see a hotel with intention. Now he was standing in front of the results, on the wall, at print size. Aron Garcia, who had fielded the workshop questions, followed with a Ricoh GR in hand, the compact that several of the exhibited frames were shot on. Carla Austria, Century Park Hotel's Marketing Consultant, hosted the programme and kept the afternoon moving between the speeches, the prints, and the envelopes.
The winners
Then the envelopes. Three winners were announced from the photowalk competition, chosen from every entry submitted on August 14.
Congratulations to all three. The prizes are a nice way to say thank you, but the real one is hanging in the Kachina Function Room with your name under it.
The room
After the awards, the function room did what good gallery openings do. People stood in front of prints and argued gently about them. Participants found each other's work. Hotel staff who had been photographed in the laundry came up to see themselves on the wall. Food was served, as promised. Nobody left early.
Why this mattered
Most photowalk images live and die on a phone. Printing and hanging them changed how everyone, including the photographers, saw the work.
The prints that drew the longest looks were portraits of staff. Fifty years of a building is really fifty years of the people inside it.
Splitting Frames of Legacy into a shoot day and a gallery day gave participants two weeks to edit, and a reason to come back.
Canon Philippines and Ricoh GR Philippines were on the floor for the photowalk and back for the awarding. That is what partnership looks like.
Print your work
The lesson from the Kachina Function Room: a photograph is finished when it is on a wall. Talk to any CameraHaus branch about cameras that make images worth printing.
Read part one: the photowalk Find a branchFrequently asked questions
Who won the Century Park Hotel 50th anniversary photowalk?
Raymond Lumbres won first place and a three-day, two-night staycation. Raniel Jose Madrazo Castañeda took second and an overnight stay. Mico Medel placed third and received a PHP 1,500 gift certificate.
Where and when was the exhibit?
The Frames of Legacy photo exhibit opened on August 29, 2026, from 3 to 5 PM at the Kachina Function Room, Century Park Hotel Manila.
What was in the exhibit?
Selected photographs from the August 14 all-access photowalk through Century Park Hotel Manila, including the laundry, kitchens, service corridors, and guest rooms.
Was this connected to another event?
Yes. It was part two of Frames of Legacy. Part one was the photography workshop with Rommel Bundalian and Edwin Tuyay and the guided hotel photowalk on August 14, 2026.
Thank you
To Century Park Hotel Manila for fifty years and for turning a function room into a gallery. To Canon Philippines and Ricoh GR Philippines for backing both halves of Frames of Legacy. To Carla Austria for hosting the afternoon, and to Rommel Bundalian, Edwin Tuyay, and Aron Garcia for the teaching that shows in every print. To Robenson and Grace Ong Lo for cutting the ribbon. To Raymond, Raniel, and Mico, congratulations. And to everyone who shot, edited, submitted, and came back to see the work on the wall. Cheers to fifty years.
Winners on Instagram and the full congratulations post. The awarding invitation. More CameraHaus events: Events.