Joshue Ian Laroga, grand prize winner of the Sinulog photo contest, during last Saturday’s awarding ceremony.
IF THERE’S one thing that Joshue Ian Laroga learned from all the setbacks he had all gone through from the previous years, it is to never lose sight of his passion and to always put family on top of his priorities.
One may call it beginner’s luck but it was not at all a walk in the park for the 28-year-old former video journalist Joshue, who might have fallen several times but decided to pick himself up.
Out of the thousands of participants for this year’s Sinulog Photo Contest, Joshue emerged as the grand prize winner, bringing home a trophy and P100,000 cash with his winning entry, a photograph of the Tuburan contingent.
“Wa ko nag-expect ato, pag registration nag duha-duha ko kung mu-apil ba jud ko, wa ko’y ikabuga kay first time baya to nako. Ampo lang jud,” said Joshue.
The entries of Angelo Miguel Sanchez and Maui Recla, landed on the second and third places, respectively.
A first-time participant of the Sinulog Photo Contest, Joshue said he was grateful for the help of a friend, Jude Montejo, during that busy Sinulog weekend when he took photos of the festivities.
ROUGH ROAD
He recalled how the setbacks he had to go through made him stronger—from losing his job due to retrenchment, getting bedridden for months because of pneumonia, and having his heart broken as his mother who raised him alone for years was diagnosed of stage two breast cancer.
Working for a regional television network in Cebu, Joshue along with the other employees and talents were caught off guard as the news regarding their retrenchment arrived.
To make matters worse, he was later diagnosed with pneumonia that prevented him from getting a new job to start anew.
“Nasakit ko ato, na diagnose og pneumonia. So kinahanglan ko muuli balik og Bohol aron pahuway,” he said.
It took him for months in bed, before he eventually started feeling better and eventually bounced back after getting employed in another media company as a video journalist.But it did not last long.
“Pero wala pod to nagdugay, kailangan pod ko mu-resign kay akong mama na diagnose og cancer. Kailangan man siya sige pa-check-up, travel diri gikan Bohol unya walay mukuyog,” he said.
Her 65-year-old mother Susipatra was diagnosed of stage two breast cancer.
“Though nihunong kog trabaho, nangita kog paagi nga makatang-tabang, Mao nga nipalit kog camera gikan sa akong tinigom. Kailangan pa gani to pun-an ni mama kay timing man pod ni-retire na siya as public school teacher,” he said.
Since then, he started accepting freelance work such as photographer for weddings, birthdays and other events. Eventually, he was able to buy a more
sophisticated camera lens.
Every thing eventually became better as his mother went into surgery to take out the cancer cells last November, and is currently in chemo therapy.
Five months since he went into photography and after winning the most coveted Sinulog Photo Contest grand prize, he said the cash prize would be a great help for the full recovery of his mom.