A Poignant Photoshoot to Remember A Generation Of Brilliant Writers.

We have had a lot of photoshoots as a running publication in Northern Cebu, and we have collected thousands of photos together so far since I joined this family of writers. But just last time, we had our photoshoot one more time again, like it was our first time doing it. However, this is very special from the rest of the shoots we have had because this time, we are celebrating the 20th founding anniversary of our organization, and we plan to release another volume soon that centers on the people that operate the publication—which is us.

Hello, dearest readers of Hive. It is Whosee again in your feed, and just like always, I will share another narrative for you that highlights the publication I am a member of. This family honed my writings, and I guess I have some responsibility to feature them in my Hive blogs. This contains the experience we had during our last photoshoot before the senior members graduate.

Welcome… this is A Poignant Photoshoot to Remember A Generation Of Brilliant Writers.

We received a notification from our editor that urged our presence in the Audio-Visual Room of our school as soon as possible. I didn’t have a class that day, but I am always free for this organization. I am always ready to sacrifice my priorities for these people because I owe them my growth as an adult.

I only had three hours to prepare and commute to school, so after receiving the notification, I immediately prepared everything to make sure I arrived on time, as we are all very strict about our call times. Luckily, I arrived five minutes before it, so I was still not late. When I entered the office, they were all gathered and prepared. Some of them were done putting on makeup, while some of the boys were still figuring out how to tuck in their polo shirts.

After a chaotic preparation, we headed to the AVR Room as the working scholars were waiting for us.

It is always our practice to take photos whenever we have chances to gather together, that even before the start of our photoshoot, we already had hundreds of photos I cannot share all to you. Still, I have attached our groufies to show you our little family of writers and artists.

Our family is composed of writers in different categories, such as editorial, literary, feature, and many more. I belong to the literary section, and I am enjoying my journey in the field of literature. Of course, we also have artists, such as layout and comic artists and editorial cartoonists. And we also have photojournalists that give authenticity to our works.

I have mentioned a lot of categories, but if you count the members, we are only 10 in total. Yes, we are so tiny, but the fortunate part of this organization is we have double or multiple skills. Writers can draw cartoons or take photographs, or layout artists can write for specific categories. We are all flexible, and it is one of the most important things the editor should tell you during interviews.

This family is very little yet talented enough to be called an award-winning publication in Northern Cebu.

So, our head photojournalist already set up the camera, and he instructed us to form a vertical line following each other’s height. The woman in the center is our joyous and beloved Adviser. She is more of a friend than an adviser to us.

First and second shots, we were not complete because, of course, our photojournalist was trying to figure out the right exposure. We were just patiently standing, but I also felt sad because this photoshoot was also intended to honor the senior members I am with as they end their college journeys. It was a poignant photoshoot, as I know this set of brilliance and intelligence will never occur again in my journalism journey. But nonetheless, I just have to carry the lessons they taught me, and their memories will still be alive.

Third… fourth… fifth… sixth shots, you can see the slight changes in every photo as our photojournalist had a hard time making sense of the camera settings.

Then it was good finally. We were complete.

We took shots while facing the front first. We were instructed to give an intimidating aura, but I don’t think we are all intimidating because my co-writers are so cute to be like that.

After, we had our smiles flashed to the camera, and we had some laughing sessions to capture the moments. We even had to exchange positions because the symmetry was not doing well.

We looked to our adviser and laughed like insanes again. It was fun, honestly.

Then we turned our backs to the camera while our faces still faced it.

But the working scholars said it was not good, so we completely turned our bodies to the camera, emphasizing the word “MEDIA” on our uniforms. The word at the back of our polos speaks a lot about our responsibility to carry the voices of the entire studentry and bring facts about the system to students’ awareness.

We had plenty of shots that time, and we were all happy with the results. We even had another groufie after the photoshoot, like we all still had good energies. We took some photos with awkward poses and left the AVR Room.

Months later, this is the product of our photoshoot. We published another volume, and our photo was the center page, while some of it was used in a feature article in the same magazine. It is good to see our generation honored in this release, but it feels awkward to show our faces to the readers as we are only used to hiding our identity. We only even use our pen names in our works, but because we are the center topic of this release, we had to show our faces.

Such great work comes from patience and talented individuals. That photoshoot was poignant, knowing that our batch would lose some important members, but to know they are honored and have contributed a lot to the growth of our publication feels enough.

Photos really do freeze moments. We released thousands of copies of our magazine, it crossed vast seas to reach specific schools, and a lot of audiences for sure saw our faces. A photoshoot that happened in a memorable room, yet it reached many schools. I am proud of these people and of this family.

That is all about this blog, readers. If you made it this far, I am happy to know that another set of readers came to read about my family of writers. They are, once again, honored through your reading. Thank you for making time for this, and I hope to see you in my next narratives!