Light, Theory, and the Face: A Portrait Photography Workshop at Kontempo
Light, Theory, and the Face: When a Portrait Becomes a Space for Identity
A portrait is never just a face. It's a decision — about how someone wants to be seen, and about how willing you are, on the other side of the lens, to actually see them.
That idea sat at the center of Light, Theory, and the Face, a one-day portrait photography workshop that turned a studio in Circuit Makati into a room for looking closely — at light, at craft, and at the people in front of the camera.
The Workshop
Held on May 30 at the Kontempo Community Studio, the workshop was hosted by Circuit Makati and co-presented with the Ayala Foundation as part of its #OurVoicesOurFuture program. The premise was simple and quietly bold: treat photography not only as a technical craft, but as a space for identity, visibility, and self-expression.
The setting mattered. Kontempo is the Ayala Foundation's forthcoming Center for Contemporary Art, taking shape inside the Circuit Makati cultural district — an institution built on the belief that contemporary culture should be open, inclusive, and in conversation with the world. A workshop about seeing people clearly felt right at home there.
Theory First, Then Play
The day was built in two halves, and the structure was the whole point: understand the ideas first, then go make something with them.
Session one was the theory. It opened with a message from Reuben Keehan, the Artistic Director of Kontempo, who joined the center from the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art in Australia, where he spent over a decade as Curator of Contemporary Asian Art. From there, photographer and educator Antonni Cuesta led the lecture. Cuesta is a former Head of the Imaging Group at Canon Philippines and now teaches in the photography program at De La Salle–College of Saint Benilde, and he has spent years giving talks that bridge concept, craft, and technology — exactly the kind of grounding a room of portrait shooters needs before the lights come on.
A camera can flatten a person into a type. Or it can give them the room to be exactly who they are. This workshop was about choosing the second one.
Laro: From Theory to Practice
Session two was called Laro — Filipino for "play" — and that framing said everything about the mood. This was the hands-on half: a lighting workshop and open shoot led by portrait photographer Myra Ho together with The House of Galore.
Participants moved from listening to doing, shaping light around real subjects and testing, in real time, how a single adjustment — the angle of a key light, the distance of a modifier, the direction of a gaze — changes everything about a face. It's one thing to hear how light sculpts a portrait. It's another to watch it happen on someone in front of you, then chase the frame you imagined.
The Faces
The subjects made the theme literal. The performers of The House of Galore brought drag artistry — bold color, sculptural silhouettes, and a fearless sense of self — and handed the room a masterclass in what it means to be seen on your own terms.
For a workshop about identity and self-expression, there could not have been a better set of collaborators in front of the lens. Every look was already a statement; the job of the photographers was to meet it with light that did it justice, and to frame a person the way that person chose to show up.
Who Made It Happen
An event like this runs on a community, and this one had a deep bench. Alongside Circuit Makati and the Ayala Foundation, the workshop brought together photography voices and organizations including Lonely Curator, All Girls Photowalk PH, Visual Storyteller PH, and Novice Magazine PH, with support from Canon Philippines, SanDisk, 7-Eleven Philippines, AnyMind Group, and Nue Sound — and, of course, The House of Galore.
CameraHaus was proud to stand among the collaborators. Days built around learning, community, and the sheer joy of making pictures are exactly the kind of gatherings we love to be part of — the event and its people first, always.
Why It Mattered
Portrait photography is often taught as a checklist: settings, modifiers, posing, done. Light, Theory, and the Face argued for something bigger. When you point a camera at a person, you're making a small claim about who they are — and photography, at its best, can be a tool for visibility rather than a way to reduce someone to a look.
That's what stayed with the room long after the lights came down. A day that started with theory ended with a wall of portraits that felt like collaborations — photographers and subjects meeting each other halfway, and everyone leaving a little more sure of how they want to see, and be seen.
Until the Next One
If Light, Theory, and the Face proved anything, it's that the best photography workshops teach you more than technique — they change how you look at people. Keep an eye out for the next gathering, bring your camera and your curiosity, and come ready to see something, and someone, clearly.