PHILIPPINES—With its continued efforts to provide fast access to updated agriculture-related information, the Agricultural Training Institute (ATI), through the Information Services Division (ISD), conducted “In Focus: A Training on Photography” for its staff.

The training served as an avenue to elevate the staff’s skills in terms of documentation and, ultimately, the development of various knowledge products.

A total of 40 ATI staff, composed of information officers, media production specialists, film editors, agriculturists, and network controllers from the Institute’s nationwide network of training centers attended the activity.

e-Learning Process Analyst Jose Rey Alo and Philippine Rice Research Institute Creative Arts Specialist Carlo Dacumos were invited to discuss Mobile Photography and DSLR Photography, respectively. Aside from lectures, field workshops were held at some of the Institute’s partner Learning Sites including the Palarca Tourism Farm and Fernandez Organic Vegetable Farm to put all the concepts learned into practice.

Moreover, ISD Chief Antonieta Arceo gave some tips on captioning, stressing that it is always important to identify the purpose of the photo—whether it is for news, feature, or online—before writing captions.

At the end of the training, the participants shared how this experience has become a package of learning for them. “This training is really helpful because we are all documenting [events and stories]. Most people today are inclined to photography and have developed their enthusiasm for it, but not everyone can take good photos. I think it’s our advantage that we were given an opportunity to undergo such training handled by experts,” Cristin Rosan Besario of ATI Regional Training Center XI said.

The training on photography was held for two batches on May 21-25, 2018 in Agusan del Norte and on June 18-22, 2018 in Palawan, respectively.