Housing spectacular painting and sculpture masterpieces by world-renowned Filipino artists such as Juan Luna, Guillermo Tolentino, and Felix Resurreccion Hidalgo, the National Museum of Fine Arts effortlessly dishes out plenty of eye candy from every single square inch. Safely kept inside this majestic neoclassical building, first constructed in 1921, is a sheer abundance of historical artworks that rightfully rivals even some of the biggest museums and grandest galleries around the world.
Photo Shooting Pretties at the National Museum
Therefore, the National Museum of Fine Arts is not only frequented by serious art aficionados; it has gracefully become a popular, favorite place to seamlessly mix art appreciation with some fine portrait photography. On two entirely separate occasions last year, I happily accompanied two lady friends, Erika and Raisa, to marvel at the classic artworks and to playfully photograph them at every pretty, well-lit corner of the museum.
Despite the obvious limitations of the specific camera lens I used for shooting indoors without flash, the final results are beautifully moody images that could very well find themselves hanging proudly on a gallery wall someday.
Erika initially found me on Facebook through a common mutual friend. She eagerly wanted to spend her one free day in Manila before she finally flew back to Australia to actively explore the historic city and shoot some cool photos. I immediately suggested we go directly to the National Museum—particularly the Museum of Fine Arts building—and then head to the walled city of Intramuros afterward.
Raisa, meanwhile, is an old online friend, and after we finally met for the first time in BGC, we decided to properly schedule a dedicated trip to the National Museum just a few weeks later. The end result is another highly fun pseudo-photographer pro bono gig—which I honestly don’t mind at all.
Here are some of the favorite images I took of them during our museum photowalks:
