So you said you use only an iPhone for your photos. On what occasions were these taken?” I ask Manny del Rosario, a former advertising slave with a handful of awards and recognition to his name.
He answers simply: “Anything I see.”
“Anything I see”
I met del Rosario on an overcast Saturday at Toby’s Estate Coffee Roasters, where he is a partner handling marketing and brand, to pick his brain about his forthcoming photo exhibition of roughly 33 striking works at Archivo 1984—his first.
Over a cup of long black, I soon learn that del Rosario—like me—enjoys walking. “Here in Manila, I just tend to park my car. I don’t have the patience to deal with traffic and to look for parking,” del Rosario says. “I walk around a lot. Even abroad.”
What you see is what you get
Believing that the best way to experience a city is on foot and guided by a “what you see is what you get” ethos, del Rosario captures whatever catches his fancy—all rendered with a distinct look, color palette, and sense of framing and composition.
Those who admire his shots, which are posted on Instagram, liken his images to those of Slim Aarons, the American photographer known for capturing celebrities and high society, including during a visit to the Philippines in the 1960s.
“I’m a big fan of his work,” del Rosario admits, although he adds that attempting to replicate Aarons’ style of photography would be difficult, if not futile.
Becoming an ad man
With a fine arts education focused on graphic design, del Rosario started out creating logos for corporations. “It was okay,” he says. “I realized I really didn’t like it too much.”
He then found himself in advertising, a field that, slowly, suited him and his temperament better.
After a very brief stint as an art director at Olbés, Ogilvy & Mather—his first employer, which folded because of unexpected business setbacks—he moved to Ace Saatchi & Saatchi, where his colleagues included advertising greats Cid Reyes and Melvin Mangada. “I remember handling Red Horse!” del Rosario says with a laugh.
“The role of an art director can be so broad,” he remarks. “And I can’t even draw!” (That last bit, for sure, a shock to many)
Del Rosario also dispels the notion that advertising people work long hours, burning the midnight oil completing a campaign or pitch. “That’s a cliché. I’d leave the office at 7 p.m.”
A brief foray, then a return
Lamenting how some agencies “expect you to do everything”—an approach he considers “a waste of time”—a break from creating print advertisements and commercials eventually led him to magazine publishing, where he joined Mega, founded by the late Sari Yap.
“It was fun, being the only guy with all these women,” recalls del Rosario, who served as one of the magazine’s art directors under the guidance of Lorraine Belmonte. “I handled half of the magazine every month.”
While enjoying doing fashion stuff aside from overseeing editorial design, he got word that Ogilvy was reopening. David Guerrero, who headed its creative department, interviewed him, and del Rosario landed the job.
Among the projects that stood out during his time there were the Fort Bonifacio Global City campaign and the relaunch of Allied Bank, whose more people-centric marketing approach was given a dramatic execution in black and white.
“Finding the right agency, from my own experience, involves the mix of people who are there that can help you understand who you really are,” he says. This means, del Rosario explains, being in an environment where one’s skills and talents are properly harnessed—allowing a person to thrive.
To this point, it was his association with Guerrero—first at Ogilvy and later at BBDO [Guerrero]—that proved the most rewarding and meaningful. “That moment in time, it was one of my best experiences.” So much so that Guerrero wrote his exhibition notes.