The Nephew

Basketball, Photography or Football ?

A "prophetic" portrait ?

I saw my nephew, Inigo Rafael "Nace" Gonzales, grow up, from behind my SLR viewfinder, So To Speak.  I practically photo documented his first few years, as though he were my own [son].

Occasionally, then, I'd speculate on what Hobbies, or Sports the young boy would eventually pursue seriously  -  Basketball, Football, Photography - or whatever ...

[Of course, in the back of my mind I'd always hoped that he'd eventually choose Basketball AND Photography - considering I was playing hoops several times a week in the town plaza and /or a nearby covered stadium 
[that was in Marilao, Bulacan, the small municipality where I was residing in, during Nace's early years].

My brother enrolled my nephew [5 years old then]  [summer of 2000] in a beginner's clinic, at Southridge .... and within 2-3 years thereafter, my nephew was hooked on football.

My nephew's football odyssey was actually the one single circumstance that compelled" me to do sports photography, as often as whenever Nace would have a football tournament [in school, Southridge] [or outside, vs other schools].  Little did I know then that, eventually, Sports Photojournalism would alter the course of my life dramatically - I, ever so slowly, but surely hooked on Sports photojouranilism without even realizing it, specially when someone offered me a major Sports Photojournalism project [about 5 years ago]  that did eventually open so many doors [opportunities] [to cover sports in the Metro AND in Singapore - 4X truth be told]   and still do - 
to this very day.

{Mind You - B4 I forget - Let me say that Portraiture still IS My First Love}
Let me make that Crystal clear !

Fast -Forward to the present day - My, now 20 year old, nephew is a junior in the DLSU UAAP Football Squad   ---{pre-season, he was offered the role of team captain, but declined}---   and I have already been officially involved ->month-in / month-out / year-in / year-out with so, so many local sports leagues - the UAAP, NCAA, Suzuki Cup, Shakeys' V-League, Super Liga, PCCL, Fil-Oil Flying V hanes Cup, V, the PBA, UFL, RIFA - the RHB Cup in Singapore, ONE FC Mixed Martial Arts  - yada, yada, yada - etc, etc etc  .....

Although my current sports schedule often makes me miss Nace's UAAP matches, these days - the few times I get to photojournalize his matches - It's as much Fun, as it was - as when I first attended Nace's First Football Class - to capture, best I can - such an exciting journey.

As of this posting - A most recent action shot of my nephew {above} {#11-DLSU} {downloaded fr a Yahoo article}

-I have yet to witness, and shoot Nace play ball in the ongoing UAAP Football Tournament.


brosi gonzales