Text by Alex Y. Vergara Images by Rio Deluvio Brooklyn Beckham is certainly no stranger to the culture of celebrity. Having grown up in the public eye, thanks to his beautiful, accomplished, and iconic parents David and Victoria Beckham, the budding photographer also knows the power celebrity wields and how your every move could be magnified and used, rightly or wrongly, for or against you. Yet underneath all that supposedly carefully cultivated façade, Brooklyn, who blew into town last weekend for a series of book signings at SM Megamall and SM Mall of Asia before being driven to Bonifacio Global City to grace the opening of Bench’s three-story flagship store, appeared cool and collected despite all the attention. We caught him at the Bench store, which also houses the first ever Bench Café, a joint venture between Ben Chan of Suyen Corp. and Eric Dee of Foodee Global Concepts, where he gamely shook hands with fans, posed for selfies, and signed volumes upon volumes of his hardbound debut effort consisting of personal and random photographs of himself, family members, and even total strangers, London and Manhattan street scenes,and vacation hotspots dubbed as What I See. To think that he arrived in Manila just the day before from God knows where, but Brooklyn betrayed none of the world-weary fatigue we sometimes see written on the faces of jaded celebrities even in his age group. Such is the gift of youth and a sunny disposition! Although he already had a full day meeting and greeting with fans at two malls separated by monstrous Saturday afternoon traffic, his batteries were still up way into the evening, as he signed more books and designed his own T-shirt at the Bench Design Studio. A wee bit later, he proposed a toast at Bench Café on the second floor, which officially sealed the deal between Dee and Suyen Corp.’s Bryan Lim. Surrounded by hosts and a coterie of handlers and bodyguards, he sat at the far end of the café where he feasted presumably on the evening’s special menu prepared by Dee and his chefs. We didn’t see what he ordered, but if Brooklyn is as adventurous as any diner as he is as a photographer, the choice for the main course, which comes with tinolang manok, pinakbet, and garlic rice, was limited to two: short ribs Bistek (sous vide US angus short rib with onions) or Dancing Fish (fried whole tilapia with native sauce). For dessert, Dee served ube halo-halo. A colleague of mine even espied him later buying a pair of pink jogging pants at Bench’s active wear department on the first floor. No, it’s definitely not for him, as my colleague overheard Brooklyn saying to one of his companions. You guessed it! It was for American actress Chloe Grace Moretz, his current girlfriend. Like his dad’s, Brooklyn’s smile comes easy, which invariably reminded us of how different he is from his seemingly aloof designer-mother who never (not even in her son’s book) smiles before the cameras. Although not as flamboyant and as “hot”—so some people say—as his athlete-father, the 18-year-old Brooklyn is oozing with boyish charm all his own. He appeared happy with all the attention he was getting, but didn’t seem to totally bask in it, as he was mindful that he also had a job to do. In an earlier interview with pep.ph, Ben said, “You’ll be surprised,” referring to his initial encounter with Brooklyn during a photo shoot abroad. “You know, I was surprised myself. The night before the pictorial, siyempre iniisip ko baka spoiled brat ito. Napakabait! Siya pa lalapit sa iyo, i-introduce niya sarili niya.” Part of how the young man sees himself today is revealed in his book’s introduction: “I realize that photography became the way I expressed myself. I’m not great with words. I love drawing and being creative. But pictures are the way I communicate best. I love how I see something different every time I look at a great image, and how when I’m out and about taking pictures I meet so many interesting people. There’s so much to see in the world, and photography has made me see that and do something about it every day.” Published in the United States, the book, writes Brooklyn, “is divided into 66 stories…That’s the way I felt I could best express what I wanted to say with my pictures. Some of the stories are obvious sequences. Some are random. Some are long, and some are short. Some have captions, and some speak for themselves. But every single one of these photos is really important to me.” His Instagram posts later revealed that Brooklyn, either before or after gracing Bench’s store opening, had enough time to squeeze in a trip to the wet market where he shot an image and video of pineapples and seafood, respectively. Chan also posted a picture on his Instagram account of Brooklyn and one of his bodyguards biking in Intramuros. After being introduced to photography at age 14 by his dad, a big photography fan himself, by gifting his eldest son with his first real camera, Brooklyn started shooting “on family holidays and whenever we were hanging out.” He became so consumed by photography that in 2016, “I took a photography class in New York City and I shot the fragrance campaign for Burbery Brit and a photo diary for Pull&Bear. I know how lucky I am to have all these opportunities, and all I want is to try to be better and better.”