Life is a click away

How could I forget the first Kodak Brownie Fiesta instamatic camera I received as a birthday gift when I was in Grade 4? I’m sure we remember how we sat frozen stiff while posing in Bob’s, Lyric, Airport, Chat Peypoch or Tommy’s Studio for that family portrait or first holy communion solo photo or an aunt’s seemingly endless wedding shots!

There’s always that sentimentality, nostalgia and romance associated with photographs. And memories do hit us hard, especially with the passage of time. We have changed but memories stay the same always.

Photographs allowed us to bring our loved ones across the miles in an album or a wallet. They made love letters more visual.

Emmanuel “Manny” Inumerable, a civil engineer and businessman, turned his Barrion-Ilagan ancestral home in the historic town of Taal, Batangas into a home for his antique and vintage cameras spanning a century and a half of very well-preserved specimens.

From what could have been old discarded cameras, Manny, collector, photo enthusiast and member of the Zone V Camera Club since 1989, has heroically preserved and allowed the general public to view his valuable collection. He is also a member of the Nikon Historical Society and the Photographic Camera Collectors of Great Britain, both international camera collectors’ clubs.

Considering our extremely lightweight digital cameras today, it is quite unimaginable to run around carrying bulky, boxy cameras from the good old days in a bid to immortalize the present.

Upon reaching the top of the stairs of his stately Spanish era home, visitors are greeted by a Century Studio Camera from the 1900s.

Several photos hang on the walls, bringing the cameras to life as witnesses to history, culture and the lifestyle of their time. “John Silva owns most of the photographs on exhibit,” says Manny.

One of the more moving ones is a small photograph depicting a Filipino doctor executed in Bagumbayan in 1896. That’s right: Jose Rizal. “John, a classmate from high school, used to work as a curator for the National Museum. He was able to acquire it at a flea market in Pennsylvania. He asked the seller how much he was willing to sell the photograph for. The American didn’t know who Jose Rizal was so he said, ‘Oh, just give me a quarter,’ and so John gave him a quarter. As he slowly walked out of the flea market, his heart started pounding because he felt like he stole something very valuable. He kept the photograph for seven years and then sold the photograph to Geronimo Delos Reyes.” One day, an old woman came and saw the photograph. “She said, ‘Oh, that was taken by my grandfather,’” recalls Manny. “We asked her who her grandfather was, she said his name was Manuel Arias Y Rodriguez, a Spanish photographer who lived during that time and probably had an all-access pass to the execution. He was a good friend of Jose Rizal who smuggled into Manila Rizal’s books from Europe.” Considered contraband at the time, such couriers would be sent to jail.

“When the picture was eventually shown to the public, it raised a lot of doubts — people thought it was taken from a movie or something, so authorities had to investigate and verify its authenticity. Several weeks after Rizal’s execution, there was also the execution of the 13 martyrs of Bagumbayan and they had photos of that. So they compared all the details and the time of the year by looking at the direction of the rays of sun,” added Manny. “They also had to find out if all those streetlights and trees coincided with those present at that time.”

So I found myself looking at a genuine photograph of the execution of Dr. Jose Rizal.

“How did it get to Pennsylvania? We have no knowledge as to who brought it there and how. The original photograph of this is now kept in the museum at the Geronimo Berenguer Delos Reyes Museum in Gen. Trias, Cavite,” according to the camera expert.

When everything clicks

I was very fortunate that Manny himself was available when I visited Galleria Taal to personally walk us through his entire camera collection with a small group of kindred spirits all eager to learn about the world of cameras and photography. “Not all of these were found as you see them today. Some of these old ones I restored myself,” he notes.

“Every year, I would go to Paris, France to attend the Bievres Camera Photo Fair. That’s where I found the rare cameras. I bought them and brought them home where I repaired and gave them the rightful sanctuary that they deserve,” Manny shares.

When asked how many cameras he owns, Manny replies, “The cameras on display here are only about one third of my collection, the rest I keep at home.”

Manny’s collection numbers no less than 250 cameras, only 150 of which are currently on display at his vintage camera museum, Galleria Taal.

Pointing to his Rolleiflex camera, Manny explains, “There are two knobs in the Rolleiflex, one for focusing and one for taking the picture. Rolleiflex was very popular in the 1960s and 1970s. Ninoy Aquino used a Rolleiflex during his coverage of the Korean war. When Rolleiflex officials saw their camera on our P500 bill they were very surprised.”

Also in the collection of Manny is the first Japanese SLR. They made the biggest as well as the smallest SLRs. The Asahi Pentax Spotmatic was launched in 1966 with 34x26mm film.

I asked Manny what sparked his love for photography, “I was into photography since I was 12. I used to take photos with my old camera — a rangefinder I inherited from my uncle. One day, after playing tennis, I found out that my camera and tools were no longer in the toolbox of my car. I felt my world crumble as I really loved that camera so much. I was very passionate about photography but could not afford another camera as my parents were of modest means. I agonizingly went through college without my camera. But when I finally got a job, I immediately bought my first camera and joined a camera club. That was back in the ’80s.

“It was not just taking pictures I was interested in,” he continues. “I was curious about how the camera worked and I would repair broken cameras myself. After all, I am a civil engineer.” Over a shared meal of maliputo, ensaladang talong, inihaw na liempo, native chicken tinola and green mangos, Manny fascinated us with both technical and anecdotal details of the cameras in his collection.

Manny is very proud of his gold Nikon FA SLR, a collector’s item that Nikon built to commemorate its having won the Camera Grand Prix in Japan. It has the same functions of a regular SLR camera; the only difference is that this one has 24-karat gold plating on all its metal parts and the body is covered in exquisite lizard skin.

“The 1895 Kodak came with a roll of film which could not be removed from the cameras so that it would not risk being exposed. The whole camera had to be taken to the Kodak store where the film could be processed and printed and when it was returned, it would come with a new roll of film. That’s how they marketed the early Kodak cameras,” Manny shares.

Manny also has a 3D stereo camera, with two lenses, one for each eye. This is a 1910 technology whereby you pulled a metal plate that served as your film and when done, you pulled the plate out again for a new film. In effect, you had 11 slides for 11 films and it came with a 3D viewer so photographs could be viewed in 3D.

“I am still looking for the Giroux Daguerreotype Camera. It’s an 1839 camera that was invented by Louis Daguerre and Niecephore Niepce, the fathers of photography. To me, this is the ‘holy grail’ of cameras but it proves to be elusive and very expensive.”

When asked how he feels about today’s digital cameras, Manny responded, “I have nothing against DSLRs. I take a Fuji DSLR with me when I travel as it is easier to handle and is lighter. But for my collection, I still love the film cameras.”

Manny’s collection reminds us not to just fall into the trap of using less of our brain as we rely more heavily on technology. Now, snapping pictures is a breeze, something taken for granted unlike before, when it was quite expensive. In the earlier years, a photographer would put more heart and soul into each picture, taking pains to compose and manually adjust settings to produce an ideal shot. In today’s digital age, photos are deleted and reshot for nothing. Before, every shot had a price; it forced photographers to go their best. Today, there is no need to buy film, no more negatives to develop — we get to retake as many photos as we want and delete pictures to our heart’s content. Then we upload our photos to our social media sites for the rest of the world to see. Technology has made us lazier, if more efficient.

The camera collection of Manny Inumerable brings to our attention the evolution of the device, and helps us better understand and appreciate the contribution of photography and the great lengths men and women once went through to produce photographs that chronicled the best and worst of times — like that amazing shot of Rizal.

Today, a picture should be worth a billion words. Not just 140 characters.

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Email the author at nikkicoseteng2017@gmail.com or text her at +63997-433-7154.