Jay Plogman
Photographer
Artistic Encapsulation of Life
By M.D. dela Cruz Tan
With E.O. Azucena
LOVING LOVE. Jay Plogman moved to the Philippines to be with his partner, Edson, and loving it.
PHOTO COURTESY OF REMOTE CONTROL
“Ours is a bit of the opposite of most interracial couples here. Most often it is the Filipino who moves to another country. People are always surprised I left the US to come here. Since the alternative was to spend two or more years apart, it was an easy decision to make for me,” Plogman adds.
FOREIGN LOCALIZED
“The Philippines is fascinating, depressing, delightful, and much more... much like any other place I've been. That's not to say the Philippines is the same as other places; IT ISN'T! But I've traveled to many other countries around the world and have always found some quality in each that I admired or thought should be adopted in the US to make life there better,” Plogman says.
Interestingly, Plogman says that the Philippines, especially Metro Manila, “is the gayest place I've ever been. It makes San Francisco look straight. My boyfriend and I have never seen so many obviously gay guys in one place, holding hands on dates in Gateway and Glorietta (GAYway and GAYetta),” he says, smiling.
Not that the local gay community, if it can be called that (“I'm disappointed it isn't more of a community; just obnoxious little clans,” Plogman says), is all ideal. For one, “it would help if gay Filipinos would just admit they are gay to begin with. One gay social networking site I checked had seven of 10 Filipinos claiming to be bisexual. The Philippines is the only country on this planet to claim such. Most other countries have only a single-digit percentage of people claiming to be bisexual. Don't even bother mentioning the variety of ‘meanings’ Filipinos give to the word ‘bisexual’! That's bullshit, (for there) is only 1 meaning: you are sexually attracted to BOTH men and women. Gay Filipinos will never enjoy respect, tolerance, or acceptance until they can admit to themselves they are gay,” Plogman says.
And while “it's 2008 and it has never been easier to meet other gay people; no longer is the gay community one that exists just underground, in the shadows of alleys in the night,” due to the “outdated, bigoted views of the Roman Catholic Church, so many Filipinos still can't live their lives the way that's best
for them and their happiness.”
And while he laments that like in cities like New York, Metro Manila's gay community suffers from the problem of guys constantly on the search for someone better than the boyfriend they already have (“Look guys, there's ALWAYS going to be someone better-looking, richer, et cetera. Get over it. FIND and LOVE the one who LOVES YOU”), he is still glad to have been “blessed to have met mostly great people here. I've met my share of cheating, lying, petty, gossips as well; but the number of talented, educated, interesting, caring, lovely people far outnumbers them,” he says.
LOOKING FORWARD
Plogman, who admits loving writing (“I blog – I realize that sounds odd, and it makes me no money, but I love to write, and my blog allows me to share my experiences here in the Philippines”), recalls one time, in 2000, when a neighbor asked “if I'd shoot him and his boyfriend having sex. That wasn't as weird as waiting while I listened to him try to ask the question. He was so nervous, I think it took him almost five minutes,” he laughs.
He tries to be flexible, though, even if “there are clients who I'll refuse due to uneasy feelings I get around them. Some don't want to be photographed; they want me. There are also those who ask for the unreasonable, or those who ask for particular types of photography I don't have the proper equipment to shoot.”
This early, “I can't say I have had any one defining achievement that has been more satisfying than any others. I look at each shot as an achievement. If I'm able to capture some unique aspect of each person, interpret something or some place in a unique or special way that says something to others, and have people react positively to these, that's achievement enough,” Plogman says.
For now, though, the focus remains in coming up good pieces – not just advocating beauty, but advocating advocacies, a seemingly easy enough endeavor for Plogman who says his style is quite straightforward. “The fact
that I don't need to do this give me a competitive edge,” he says, “and since I
don't need to do this, I am a lot less stressed. That also allows me to charge less than other photographers here. I haven't the long-established reputation some have, and I know my time in the Philippines will end in approximately a year; so I needn't charge higher rates. I'm not looking to take away anyone else's business, anyway. Just so I just charge enough to make it worth my while.”
Back in the studio, shooting almost naked Filipinos, Plogman quips how he’s looking at coming up with a book (“Hopefully, the images I create during my time here will be something I can organize into a book in the future”), he says. That’s relatively long way away still, however.
So for now, he shoots “in a style that is from a different point of view – call it Western, if you will,” highlighting how Filipinos can really be beautiful.
Now, if only Filipinos start seeing themselves the way Plogman sees them.
For more information, visit jayplogman.com or jplogman.multiply.com.
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