Erik Lacson on his Pasig River work and crowdfunding

Estan Cabigas sits down with Erik Lacson for a brief interview about his ongoing documentary work on the Pasig River for a major rehabilitation project and his attempts at crowdfunding through the site Indiegogo.com. As of posting, he has raised $512 out of the needed $800.

First, tell us something about yourself

I worked as a freelance travel photographer doing editorial and commercial assignments for more than eight years and as a professional, I spent most of my time doing projects for clients. Around two years ago, I decided to return to my day job as an IT consultant so I can focus on personal work.

Last August, I was fortunate to be accepted in the Masterclass in Documentary Photography (MCDP) under Alex Baluyut and after the course, I decided to pursue long term personal documentary projects. I’m particularly interested in the effects of urbanization on society and the environment.

Is this your first time to do documentary work? How did the masterclass help you in conceptualizing and approaching a particular topic that you want to work on?

Yes, this is the first documentary project that I pursued. As a travel photographer, my work was either representations or my own impressions, of what I see. It was one dimensional. During the workshop, I discovered how to produce images that convey a message or tell a story. After several years of shooting, it was only during this class that I understood photography as a language.

How did the Pasig River project started? Why this one?

From my experience, it’s important to know exactly what you need, and communicate your goals clearly. People will only donate if they believe in your goals… (they) have given you money and they expect results. Pasig River Seen was my final project for the masterclass. It was something that’s been on my mind for a long time but I felt that I didn’t have the capacity to put it together — in terms of time, resources, and my maturity as a photographer. The project is a convergence of my interest in history and concern for environmental issues.

This story of the Pasig River’s deterioration is a concrete example of what is happening to the environment on a global scale. I believe it’s an issue that transcends race, religion or socio-economic status.

The topic of the Pasig River is quite broad. What is your objective, how will you approach this, and what will be your focus or what aspect of the river will you highlight?

I’m hoping that through this project, Filipinos would be more concerned about the condition of the Pasig river and participate in the rehabiliation effort. On one level, the images will remind people in the city that the river is there. During the early history of Manila, life practically revolved around this waterway and I believe that we won’t be able to bring it back to life unless we start going back to that mindset. It’s been done in other cities like Singapore.

I started this project with different expectations than how it eventually turned out. Things evolved as I spent more time working on it. I decided to just allow it to grow organically. Right now, I’m just harnessing my experience as a travel photographer and treating it as a travelogue. Eventually, I would like to go deeper into the lives of people who are directly affected by the river’s condition and involve other photographers since I don’t think I can tackle the issue by myself.

Is it difficult to do this work? What challenges did you encounter? Problems?

I practically dropped all my photography projects in the last four months so I can focus on this. The biggest challenge is access to information. Aside from the usual press release, there’s practically no usefull information about the rehabilitation program anywhere on the web. Getting some time and attention from the agencies and organizations involved in the Pasig River was also quite difficult. On the other end, I’ve also met and worked with a lot of helpful and passionate people.

I received your email about raising funds for your exhibition through Indiegogo.com and frankly, I was particularly curious about this new way of looking for funding, crowdfunding to be precise. Can you tell me about this? Do you think that this will be the way for independent documentary photographers to realize their projects? Any advice on your experience with the site?

Getting funding through Indiegogo.com was an experiment that turned out well. It was rather obvious that the project needed exposure so I decided to put together an exhibit. I was working on personal time and funds, so I needed some kind of sponsorship which was a bit hard. It was this classic chicken-and-egg situation that motivated me to try crowd-funding.

Aside from the financial support, getting the exhibit funded by a community also added credibility to your project. When people start sending donations, the work is no longer personal. There are other people, aside from yourself, who believes in what you are trying to do, and expects it to get done. I think it’s a great new paradigm for producing projects.

From my experience, it’s important to know exactly what you need, and communicate your goals clearly. People will only donate if they believe in your goals. Once you get donations, you should execute your work with the same degree of professionalism that you would give to a commercial client. People have given you money and they expect results.

What holds for the future of this work?

This is an ongoing project and I intend to display the body of work in a series of exhibits at various public spaces around Metro Manila. These will be used as a platform to solicit support for the rehabilition programs. I’m now working closely with ABS-CBN Foundation, and I am going to engage other NGOs and corporate institutions as I go along. As I mentioned earlier, I would like to involve other photographers so it can continue further beyond my own effort.

I just launch the project website www.pasigriver.org, and I hope to would become a portal for independent reportage about the rehabiliation effort. The government has a 7-year rehabilitation plan for the Pasig River, so I might be on this for a really long time.

Check Erik’s Indiegogo page.