Michael Vincent Manalo: " In Search of New Identity "

Born on 1986 in the Philippines, Michael Vincent Manalo is a self-taught mixed media artist, a photographer and a musician. The themes that are mostly seen on his work revolve around surrealism, pseudo-realism, nostalgic sentiments, and human emotion.

Michael Vincent Manalo is one of the primary contributors for advanced photo-manipulation tutorials for Photoshop Tutorials, and has created various artworks as album covers for international bands/musicians, and also as book covers for numerous publishing companies.

Manalo's works were featured in solo and group exhibitions at such institutions as the American University Museum in Washington D.C., the Art Dimensions Gallery in Missouri, the Art Museum of Chianciano Terme in Italy.

" Creating my artworks though my chosen medium was brought about my frustration in the traditional process of painting, which as a result has given me even more possibilities to recreate the visceral levels contained within the vast assemblage of my spirit."
~~ Michael Vincent Manalo

Courtesy Michael Vincent Manalo

" In Search of New Identity " is on view at the Tbilisi History Museum

May 9-May 16, 2011

Chromatic Inversions

I don’t know what made me decide to “invert” this coral-sprouting goddess, using Photoshop, but it looked so cool that I tried it on everything. Here are the ones that also looked cool …

Daphne by Wenzel Jamnitzer, c. 1550, Musée National de la Renaissance.


Ancient Egyptian linen, British Museum.


Egyptian tools, British Museum.


Nets of native cultures, for fishing and trapping, Peabody Museum and National Museum of Australia.


Back view of a Greek Kouros statue’s head (this is the “hair”) Metropolitan Museum of Art


Horsehair Headdress, High Plains, Dakota, Peabody Museum.


Pink feather.


Oil-soaked pelican from the Gulf. If only Photoshop filters worked
in real life …
AP Photo/Charlie Riedel

Natural Light and a beautiful girl

I have learnt to use natural light under many different circumstances and I have risked numerous times shooting fashion inside using ambient light. It's nerve wracking without a dout. but depending where you are in the world and who designed the building you will be shooting in, you maybe lucky like I have been and manage to pull it off. Our location was in a room of an ex-Florentine convent. Falling apart at the seams just the way we love it. I checked out the vaulted ceilings and high windows the day before noting the time when the sun was at it's highest, when it had completely died and making light readings along the way. The weather the following day was predicted to be the same so I went for it. I shot on my Leica M8 iso 400 with an assistant using a reflector. At certain times of the day the light boomed in the window bouncing of the walls creating a soft box effect. Mother nature, a wonderful stylist, great model and photoshop did the rest. I used a combination of bleach by pass, curves and colour correction to obtain the washed out colours.