Toch Arellano's 1st Death Anniversary

May 18 was master Toch's first death anniversary. He is known for high-end high school/seniors' graduation pictures. Even my college batch in 1989 chose Toch over other famous film photographers then. When Toch had several strokes, his posh Glorietta shop closed and the digital revolution swept in, he was relegated as a "has-been" film photographer. But yours truly was lucky enough to have worked for the master in 2005. Little do people know that Toch has mastered digital imaging. I was witness to his digital workflow in his Antipolo home as as he works with both Mac and PC (LAN networked!) platforms, with action scripts that speeds up his work. He can even do backgound compositing in batch, conduct digital portraite workshops and desktop publishing. Impressive. He crossed the digital divide that some of his famous contemporaries failed to conquer. Truly a master of Philippine photography.