Essay and photo by Jeckree Mission | Opinion | Art+ Online exclusive

Weegee, a self-taught photographer, is most known for his stark black and white street photography that capture the sordid aftermath of street crime. He based his work around police headquarters in New York, selling his photos of news events to publications such as New York Post, Herald Tribune, and Daily News. His nickname, a phonetic spelling of the board game Ouija, was a reference to his uncanny ability to arrive at crimes scenes with his camera ahead of the police.

He eventually developed a broader scope for his work to include photographs of movie stars and their stylish night-outs, the day-to- day lives of street-dwelling New Yorkers, and intimate encounters among people.

His career in photography, which started when he was 14 years old, earned the respect not only by his colleagues in the media but also the fine-art community during his lifetime. His photographs began appearing outside the mainstream press in the 1940s when the Museum of Modern Art started collecting and exhibiting his work in 1943.

ICP Collections Manager James Kopp will provide a presentation on Weegee for more insights on his works. He will be joined by Philippine photojournalists Ezra Acayan and Raffy Lerma for a discussion of their coverage of the night beat and the critical importance of the camera in bearing witness and keeping a visual record of events. Both Acayan and Lerma are members of an informal collective of photojournalists that formed in the early months of the Philippine drug war. Schedule and venue for the talk will be announced soon on Art Fair Philippines’ website and social media accounts.

Six friends who would bond over travel photography had created an exhibit-worthy body of meaningful works to delight audiences while raising funds for a cause. They are Angela Panlilio, Bern Wong, Jeff Dytuco, Michael Olivares, Ferdie Tiongson and Tony Rivera. Their photographs now comprise the “Seeing Beyond” photo exhibit at The Shoppes Artway of Solaire Resort & Casino in Parañaque City.

The photographs on exhibit each evokes a cathartic experience, inviting the audience to deeply reflect and see beyond the photos and into the inner sanctums of their being. They are testament to how photographers cross over to become artists that depict realities that compel one to look not only deeper into their surroundings but into their own philosophies.

Art+ interviews Sandra Dans about her photo exhibition Iconolatria, which features three of her photo projects “I am”, “Mga Santong Kanto” and “Stampitas,” on view at the UP Vargas Museum from 29 March to 30 April, 3F Galleries.