Bengy Toda loves chasing nature with his camera

Amid the dust and chaos of everyday life, Bengy Toda’s photographs, now on exhibit at the main entrance hall and lobby of the Senate Building in Pasay City, are like a breath of fresh air, giving us pause to appreciate what nature has to offer.

His mom mentored him

The truth of the matter is, Bengy’s love affair with photography began when he was just a boy. “My mother (Rose Marie Toda) gave me a Kodak Brownie when I was seven,” he relates. “A photo hobbyist, my mother mentored me and guided me as to the subjects I could photograph. At this age, I was taking photos of family and friends, and also landscapes.” 

When Bengy turned nine, his mom gave him a Hasselblad camera with three lenses (telephoto, wide angle and normal) plus two backs. With this new, most expensive and coveted Swedish camera, Bengy took photos of his dad (former Philippine Airlines president Benigno Toda Jr.) fishing, the great ocean and the wide beach. Unfortunately, when he was in Miami, his precious Hasselblad was stolen. For a while, he didn’t own a camera until two years later when he bought a 6x7 Pentax, which he brought with him to school.

He recalls, “Back then, I shot a lot in black and white, which I processed in the school’s dark room. I took many photos of polo games, also in black and white.”

Returning to the Philippines after college in the US, he didn’t dabble much in photography, but one day, out of the blue, he met the renowned photojournalist Dick Baldovino. “He got me embroiled in technical photography, which made me buy another Hasselblad,” Bengy elaborates. “I started shooting for magazines. Back then, photos were all taken on film, there was no digital yet. I wasn’t happy with the processing here of transparencies. So, I slowly started putting up my own business, Studio 58 Lab 10, which at the time was in my house. I processed my own films. At first, I didn’t like my processing, but all that changed when I got the best machines. Today, Studio 58 Lab 10 specializes in all types of printing. Photography started as a hobby for me, but I turned my passion into a business. So, it’s really hitting two birds with one stone.”

In his Studio’s early years, Bengy’s photography took a back seat as he focused on providing excellent processing, printing and developing for top photographers. But he just couldn’t stay away from his old flame and picked up his camera again. Photographing nature ignites his sense of adventure and love of the outdoors.

The perfect time for the perfect shot

For the photographs in this exhibit at the Senate, I went to great lengths to get to these locations and shoot these spectacular images,” he specifies. “There’s also the element of patience as I had to wait for the perfect time to get the perfect shot. Like when I took the Mount Mayon photos using a Phase One 120 megapixel camera, I waited for hours for the clouds to dissipate and took what seemed to me an infinite number of shots to get it right. Thankfully, the last one was the best one.”

For that one perfect shot, Bengy thinks nothing of climbing mountains, traversing rugged terrains, or exploring the vast wilderness. Indeed, for this adventurous nature lover, the great outdoors is not just a place to visit—it is home!

He shares some of his (mis)adventures: “In Siniloan, Laguna, I had to ride a horse with a steel saddle under the hot sun to get to Buruwisan Falls (in all its 180-foot, cascading glory) to take a panoramic picture of it. For my photos of Mayuyao, Ifugao, we drove for hours and then walked for four days. We camped in tents and slept in sleeping bags. We also slept in a house of a town’s chief; they were very hospitable and fed us carabao tapa. When I was hiking around the back of the house, I was mesmerized by the sight of a village called Pat-yoy, and took photos. Afterward, we were in a car and from across the road, I took photos of the Bayyo Rice Terraces (a stunning view along the Bontoc-Banaue Road). What got me interested in these homes by the cliff was that I was told that they were purposely built behind the cliff for protection from warring tribes. From the vantage point of the road, I also took photos of the home of Kidlat Tahimik (aka Eric Oteyza de Guia, National Artist for Film and dubbed as the Father of Philippine Independent Cinema). His son guided me and took me to this spot for a panoramic picture. With the camera I used, even the chickens looked sharp and visible in the photo.”

No retouching/ photoshopping

Then he takes us to Daranak Falls at the foot of the Tanay mountains, its refreshing waters continuously flowing whatever the time of year. “To take a photo of the Falls, I used a slow shutter speed to show the softness of the water flowing,” he discloses. “I was asked if this photo was digitally enhanced, but it was not. It was taken with a digital camera, but there was no retouching.”

He adds, “Most importantly, I like taking photos of nature in medium and large formats to exhibit the beauty of nature of the Philippines with impact. The sizes of my landscape photos can be as large as 340 by 48 inches, big enough to cover a wall.”

Bengy likes the journey of exploring and discovering uncharted areas unseen by most. He doesn’t mind the travails of travel because they’re worth the effort.

He asserts, “The uniqueness of a place is what attracts me. Sometimes, it’s the unexpected or unplanned photo that comes out the best. For example, in Ducligan, Banaue, I saw this amazing hamlet surrounded by rice terraces, mountains and a river. I thought it was a beautiful and unique image, so I set up my tripod and shot away.”

For his exhibit at the Senate, launched last July 22 and which will run for a year, the National Museum of the Philippines presents “Bengy Toda: Selected Photographs from the National Fine Arts Collection of the National Museum of the Philippines.” 

Bengy is showing 14 large- and medium-format photos that capture breathtaking views of the Rice Terraces of Mayoyao, Hungduan, Banaue and Lamut in Ifugao province, as well as the majestic Mt. Mayon in Albay and the spectacular waterfalls of Siniloan, Laguna; Tanay, Rizal; and Atimonan, Quezon.

Chasing mountains & waterfalls

Bengy debuted in 2012 with “Chasing Mountains” at Whitespace Manila, where he unveiled unseen terrains in Northern and Southern Philippines. And then we saw him “Chasing Waterfalls” at the National Museum of Fine Arts in 2015. The same exhibit traveled to the National Museum of the Philippines-Ilocos in 2016 and NMP-Marinduque in 2020. 

Bengy’s pure and enduring love of nature has brought him to countless unspoiled nature spots in the country, one of which is the Isla Hermana Mayor, an isolated island paradise in Zambales. “This island has so many different characteristics,” Bengy describes. “It’s got a tropical beach, a freshwater lake, a lighthouse, a forest, while the middle part of the island looks and feels like Africa.”

He gushes, “I also like Mayon Volcano because it’s a challenging mountain to photograph. The mountains and rice terraces of Ifugao and Banaue are breathtaking. The Bantakay Falls in Atimonan, Quezon, is also beautiful. There are just so many gorgeous sites in the Philippines.”

Chasing gorgeous, photographic sites has also taken Bengy to different places outside the Philippines, like Scotland, the outback of Australia, New Zealand, Iceland, Ireland, Morocco, Africa and even the North Pole.

Bengy’s biggest fan/supporter is his wife, Monique Toda. “I give him the freedom to travel to all these sites even if it worries me at times,” she says. “I also encourage him by being a good critic—praising his work when he deserves it and letting him know if a photo needs more work or has no impact.”

Of course, Bengy has photographed his lovely wife many times. “But I looked like I was going to cry in the photos as he kept getting mad and yelling at me to keep still because I was so fidgety and maarte,” Monique relates. 

And now, Bengy gives this piece of advice to photography enthusiasts: “I’m a very eclectic photographer; I take photos of landscapes, bridges, people, anything I fancy. My advice is to try everything and be flexible. And from taking all sorts of photos, you will figure out what you want to do.”

Surely, Bengy is doing what he does best: telling a story with the most beautiful photos and leaving us all breathless.