For some artists, where they come from is just as important as where they’re headed. For Ben Razon (Photography, '80), that destination is one and the same: his home city of Manila in the Philippines, where he has worked for the past 23 years as a photojournalist and documentary photographer. Razon’s latest venture, Digital Q, is a studio which scans and archives the work of the city’s photographers, as well as restoring the damaged and deteriorating films and photographs that depict the country’s rich history.

As a photojournalist, he has worked with corporate clients such as Fuji film, who is assisting the launch of Digital Q, and Microsoft, which recently celebrated the 10-year anniversary of Microsoft Philippines. For the occasion, Razon and Digital Q were asked to assemble an exhibition of the company’s philanthropic work in various social and educational programs.

As Razon explains, “[Microsoft has] been conducting outreach programs to public schools in remote areas of the country that have yet to be touched by computers and connecting them to the internet for the first time. One [such] program assists the Filipino Amerasians in computer skills. [These] children have been sired or abandoned by American military personnel during the time when Clark Air Force Base and Subic Naval Base were in operation here until the time they pulled out in 1992.”

Razon credits the arrival and proliferation of new technologies in the Philippines as the catalyst for a new generation of artists and photographers – something he says would never have been possible 20 years ago.

“When I first returned to Asia,” says Razon, “I came to the realization that traditional photography was a very expensive, elitist, and specialized endeavor amongst the wealthy. The choice of materials was mostly just the available luxury of the American and European markets and, outside of Hong Kong and Tokyo, you would have to literally import what you needed in order to be a cut above the competition here. It was disheartening.

“But now, with the technological developments of just the past few years, you are finding a tremendous surge of innovative, professional output that is at par creatively and maybe even more so than [our] western counterparts, because digital has leveled the playing field for many photographers here who would not have otherwise been able to compete. You are seeing new images and visions that technology has enabled for new, very experimental and inspiring talent.”

If Digital Q has anything to say about it, these new voices will be preserved and archived alongside their historical counterparts for future generations to appreciate.

“There's been a very positive response,” says Razon, ”not just from my own professional colleagues here but, ironically, from photographers outside of the country who apparently are willing to outsource their film scanning and archiving needs to us after they had made previous inquiries in their respective locations but found the volume and costs of doing so were too limited and expensive to afford.”

An influx of business is a promising sign for a company that’s perhaps best known for its political turmoil. Having witnessed famine, socioeconomic instability and the rise and fall of Ferdinand Marcos, Razon still remains remarkably optimistic about his own present and the country’s future.

“Much has changed since [Marcos],” says Razon, ”but there is still quite a bit of political maturing that this country has to achieve, and it's why I've committed myself to lending much of my time and effort to documentary work and [sharing] my perspective of what I've observed in America during my years there. Little by little has gone a long way, and I'm very satisfied with the path I've taken.”

Digital.Q 26 Sto. Domingo St. Quezon City Philippines

landlines: (63 2) 410-1836; 743-6601 loc. 148 mobile: +639155457967

Ben Razon can be reached at benrazon@wirephoto.com