In today’s world, we’ve grown accustomed to the convenience of having a camera at our fingertips, ready to capture any moment at a whim. But if we pause to reflect, there’s something almost magical about what a camera does—its power to seize a fleeting moment from the unique perspective of an observer, at a precise point in time. It captures a slice of history as it unfolds in a specific place, with a distinct combination of people, animals, and elements, as they happen to exist and interact. Without the camera, these moments would vanish in an instant, yet with the press of a button, they are frozen in time, forever preserved within a frame—ready to be shared, studied, enjoyed, or used to communicate a message or truth. These snapshots become part of a visual legacy, passed down through generations.
For street and documentary photographer
Hersley-Ven Casero, this magic is anything but ordinary. Based in Dumaguete City, a small coastal town on the island of Negros Oriental in the Philippines, Casero has spent over two decades honing his craft. Yet, the camera remains a source of curiosity, wonder, and experimentation for him. Year by year, he has witnessed his hometown, fondly known as "The City of Gentle People," undergo transformations—new faces, new landscapes. As Casero notes, "Nothing stays the same, nothing lasts forever." It is this sense of impermanence that drives him to capture life before it slips away. For him, staying curious and observant reveals the extraordinary in the everyday—the magic hidden within the mundane moments of real life.
The photographs in this collection represent those captured instances, glimpses of reality as they unfolded in front of Casero’s ever-curious eye, all part of his larger on-going series which he calls "CAM", or "Catch a Moment".
