By Sigrid Salucop

Ongoing at Sitio Remedios in Ilocos Norte is its very first photo, “Currimao.” 

Named after the heritage village’s hometown, the exhibit features photos of the Ilocos Norte municipality’s various tourist spots. 

The exhibition showcases the talents of photographers Dr. Robert Francis Luzod, Aljon Tugaoen, and Kath D. Lagustan. 

Lagustan, a registered pharmacist who used to work for USAID, started her photography work during the pandemic. “I concentrated on Sitio Remedios’ sunsets because I knew that many were stuck at home due to government protocols,” she says. 

At the onset of the global health emergency, friends and strangers would send messages to Lagustan to thank her for the sunset photos as they “lifted” their “spirits.” 

An advocate for the environment, Lagustan’s love for nature can be seen through her photos and her actions. She is an active volunteer of the Movement against Plastic Pollution, a Currimao-based organization. 

Dr. Luzod shares Lagustan’s passion for nature as he has been taking photos of landscapes since his grade school days. The neurologist recalls that his first camera was a Kodak Instamatic. The photographs that he took back in the 1980s are kept in old photo albums in their ancestral house in Batac. 

By the time he was in college, Luzod joined the UST Kameradare Photo Club and The Ilocandia Photographic Society. 

While the physician is often busy, he says he always makes time for photography. “Currimao” is Dr. Luzod’s latest group exhibit.

Photographer and amateur filmmaker Aljon Tugaoen shares the same love for nature with both Lagustan and Luzod. 

“My real journey with nature began when I got my hands on my first camera back in 2015,” the Banna native said. The youngest of the trio, Tugaoen grew up amid beautiful mountains. 

In a statement on their website, Sitio Remedios says they want to “showcase the beauty of Currimao and how peaceful it is,” as well as show photography enthusiasts that Ilocos Norte has talented photographers. 

 “Currimao” is only the beginning of Sitio Remedios’ series of photo exhibits.