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Local online photography forums—such as Lomomanila and Digital Photographer Philippines—are filled with Hidalgo stories. “Found a used Horizon Kompakt in good condition,” writes a regular forum crawler, “for half the price of the one I saw in Hongkong last year. Score!” Another user enthuses buying “loads of expired 135 slides for only PhP120 each,” obviously thrilled about filling his refrigerator with his film stash.
Found in the outskirts of Quiapo’s Muslim community, somewhere beyond Taft Avenue and just a few turns away from UST, is Hidalgo, a strip of shops focused on selling photography gear. From triple-lens compact plastic cameras to multi-coloured reflectors, vintage Russian cameras to flash diffusers in every conceivable shape and size, it seems that just about everything has been and can be found there—and at the right price.
Initially, from all the great finds shared on online forums, the word “Hidalgo” conjures up cobblestone paths, old-fashioned signage, tan walls darkened with age but well-kept all the same. Throw in a creepy shop assistant and musty air every now and then, for good measure. To the photography enthusiast, it wouldn’t be a stretch to call a place where Lubitels and Yashica Electro 35 GSNs are an everyday occurrence as nothing less than heaven.
The Hidalgo experience begins at the big Fujifilm sign at the curve. Filled to the brim with harder-to-find Fuji products like fresh 120 Velvia film, it will satisfy the frustrated film photography devotee who has paid one too many trips to Fuji Megamall in search of 35mm film slides. From there, it’s left onward to the “real” Hidalgo, where the stuff isn’t limited to just Fuji products.
The Hidalgo strip is nothing at all like what you’d expect. The strong mix of canal and smoke engulfs you at the first step, clinging to your every molecule. Although that coupled with cats defecating on the street and random blobs of phlegm are not enough to stop the committed photographer on a mission, newbies might get discouraged by the place’s total lack of glamour.
More so, entering shop after shop is a whirlwind of photography gear—tripods are suspended at low points, shelves stacked with lenses, brand names jumping out at you from every angle. In most, lighting equipment surround the receiving area for visitors, keeping all the merchandise and the sales assistants at bay behind high geometric tables. The sheer amount of stuff there is enough to overwhelm even the most experienced photographer.
However, the magic fades away after a while. A recurring theme emerges among the shops—each one is stocked to the brim, all right, but their stocks are the run-of-the-mill Canon slash Nikon slash Sony slash whatever camera brand stocks you find in stores. Compact, flashy consumer-grade point-and-shoots in different colours smile at you from the displays, dSLRs mounted on rotating platforms glance at you menacingly like a line of soldiers ready to, er, shoot.
Price points are depressingly similar, as well: lower, but not substantially so to merit making the trip all the way to Quiapo in the first place.
Where are the aged silver SLRs? Where are the bright, plastic Japanese cameras with multiple lenses?
No longer a part of Hidalgo, apparently. Digital has completely consumed the beloved photography haunt—literally leaving the film cameras outside near the curb, encased in transparent plastic cases.
Only one of the “film on the curb” displays had a crowd milling around it. A Zenit, A whole bunch of Canon AE-1s, a few Yashica rangefingers—film camera utopia. And no wonder: the man behind the cases speaking to customers was so knowledgeable about film SLR body-and-lens combinations that he immediately pointed out that a “Vivitar Ultra Wide & Slim” had a Vivitar-made body but would need a wide-angle Pentax lens. Although clarifications had to be made [the Vivitar Ultra Wide & Slim in question was compact; he had only SLRs], you could practically hear the audience in the background clapping, stamping their feet at the joy of knowing the “true” Hidalgo is still somewhere
Although Hidalgo has come along way from being the analog haven of before, its spirit is still alive. The integration of the digital culture may be taking over the world, but at least in this one corner of Manila, film is here to stay.
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