Teodulo is known as the Father of Philippine Photography because of his great photographs of Manila before World War II. He is one of the first photographers in Philippines who popularized the use of 35mm camera during the 30’s and 50’s. One of his famous works was the Plaza Miranda. Plaza Miranda is a public square located in Quiapo, Manila. In front of the plaza, one of the main churches in Manila is found which is the Quiapo Church.
Before it was bombed during August 21,1971, Teoulo captured an image of what the place looks like. In this photo, it shows a uniformed guard who I think was the Spanish guard way back when the Phlippines was still under the Spaniards. It captured the way Filipinas dress during the Spanish era. In this photograph, we see how Teodulo wanted to capture the essence of how the people in Plaza Miranda lived and how tranquil and lovely everything was before all the technology and development took over its simplicity and beauty.
The place is not as crowded as it is now, and we see how times have greatly changed throughout the decades. We can also notice that the plaza served as a place of social interaction and entertainment for the people during those times. We see how they interact with each other and how simple things can give joy to them. Comparing how people were to now, we can contemplate on the fact that people nowadays are harder to satisfy and entertain. Synthesis:
As they all say, a picture paints a thousand words. With the photograph of Teodulo Protomartir, I’m sure that it is very breathtaking especially to the Filipinos. For me, I can identify right away that the place was in the Philippines by looking at the dress of the Filipinas in the picture, and the background which composed of a house or a place that looks like the old houses in the Philippines. Also, it has a great impact on the Filipinos because we see how our country was before World War II
