Eugenio Jose

The process of simplification
The digital camera, the digital negative, and the digital print.

If you take away the repetitive word 'digital', you would be left with the title of what is undoubtedly the most popular handbook for serious photographers over the past 4 decades. This handbook is actually a compendium of 3 books of inter-related topics, but treated as 3 separate processes with the core idea that photography requires emphasis on all three, not just the camera. Taking away the word digital from the equation leaves you with an artist named Ansel Adams.

Ever since first becoming serious about photography in the early 70's, Eugenio Jose has understood that it was a craft, and that like all other crafts, it needed to be worked on, studied further, and then constantly practiced. He has, to his credit, perfected his own shooting, developing, and printing workflow by learning from those who developed the process, or from those who have studied and mastered it.

With the advent of digital technology, it was my own personal fear that traditional specialists & masters like Mr. Jose would be overwhelmed by it and just stick to the confines of their analog world, while we, the young upstarts, would embrace the digital camera like it was our twin brother. Instead, he has done us one better. Although it took him a while, he has now embraced the full spectrum of digital photographic technology; the digital camera & optics, digital post production & manipulation, and the digital print. His initial intention was merely exploratory; to see what it can do, versus what he used to do. But over the course of several years, he has come to the conclusion that technology can now overcome the previous limitations of analog. Images whose details were impossible to reproduce on print three decades ago can now be printed successfully using processes and technologies invented in this decade.

His monochrome images have always been known for having full tonal values and intensely rich detail. He remains true to form. Actually, his monochromes seem to have even more tonal values now, and the details are even richer. It is in his monochromes that you see his technical proficiency.

It is in his colored images where he allows himself more artistic interpretation.

The works he exhibits now escape any single definition or genre. In fact, it does not even capture a single time frame from his broad creative realm. What he exhibits now are smatterings of images that are personal favorites; preferring instead to share the personal on a scale he has not done before.

He is not an advocate of large prints, believing that “a good photograph, no matter how small, will still look good; while a bad photograph, when printed at huge magnifications, will only intensify its' mediocrity.” Quality does not improve with size.

If we go back to the title and take away 'digital', you will have Ansel Adams and the basics of the zone system. Put 'digital' back into the equation, and you now have Mr. Eugenio Jose, in his 21st century incarnation. Uncluttered, Interpretative, and In Full Living Color.

To master the craft, you also have to master the process. Which is exactly what Mr. Jose did, again.


Jesus Paul C. Yan
for The Paul Yan Chronicles

A selection of Mr. Jose's works are currently on public exhibit at the gallery of the Camera Club of the Philippines, Waltermart Makati.