As part of the finals project for MDPHOTO, the concept that I have thought of is showing the rigorous military training of Philippine Marines. I wanted to show how exciting, dangerous and hard it is to be trained as a Philippine Marine.
PHOTOGRAPHER
Kathrina Tacastacas
PROJECT TYPE
Photography
Photojournalism
TOOLS USED
Nikon D300
These two photos showcase the whole platoon doing rifle drills and marching drills. To depict movement for the rifle drills, I used a slow shutter speed.
The next photo shows these special forces doing some conditioning exercises with their M16. Then I showed a portion of their obstacle course, which I think is a perfect recipe to have a cardiac arrest for any untrained individuals. For our marines, it’s just another walk in the park.
These photos is one of my favorites: the target shooting exercises. Close to fifty special forces firing at their static targets. Too bad I forgot to bring some earplugs to protect my ear drums from high sound pressure levels coming from those rifles firing.
These next two photos are my ultimate pride photos: It shows the Pekiti Tirsia Kali martial arts that originated here in the Philippines (knife and bolo defense/offense, as well as hand-to-hand combat skills. These martial arts are taught to both Philippine special forces and the US marines involved in the Balikatan exercise for the Visiting Forces Agreement. This is also used in the latest movie of the Jason Bourne movie series. Matt Damon underwent Pekiti Tersia Kali martial arts training. Deadly moves!
These next photos are about the beach landing war maneuvers.
The next photo shows a crew refueling a Huey gunship training helicopter. This war machine gulps one drum of high-octane gasoline per hour! The next two shots shows our special forces practicing jumping off a helicopter aided by ropes. You will only see these moves in movies – those lightning-quick assault on high-value targets which need to be neutralized quickly.
I am so proud of our military who are training incessantly to become so good in their mandate to protect us civilians from both internal and external threats.
