Some of the most powerful tools for celebrating a place are a camera and a trained eye. In partnership with the Mayon Photography Club, JCI Legazpi gathered photographers, culture advocates, and creatives for the 15th edition of Spicy Albay — a meaningful celebration of the province’s rich heritage, anchored by a Photography Masterclass.
Now in its fifteenth year, Spicy Albay has grown into a fixture on the local cultural calendar, and this edition leaned into that legacy. Rather than simply documenting the festivities, the masterclass invited participants to think more deeply about why and how they make images — to treat photography not just as a hobby, but as a form of cultural storytelling.
The lineup of mentors underscored that ambition. Participants learned from accomplished figures including George Tapan, long associated with blending Filipino culture and heritage with environmental portraiture; Edwin Tuyay, whose work prompts questions about where culture and heritage are heading in a fast-changing world; and Nicco Valenzuela, who shared the technical and creative craft behind compelling images. For aspiring photographers in the region, access to mentors of this caliber is rare and valuable.
By framing the masterclass around Albay’s heritage, JCI Legazpi and the Mayon Photography Club tied a creative pursuit to a civic one. Every well-made photograph of a local tradition, landscape, or face becomes part of a visual record that helps a community remember who it is. In a province defined by the iconic Mayon Volcano and a deep cultural history, that record is worth cultivating.
The gathering also created something harder to quantify: a community of practice. Bringing photographers and culture advocates into the same room sparks conversations, collaborations, and friendships that outlast any single event. Creatives who might otherwise work in isolation found peers, mentors, and an audience for their craft.
For JCI Legazpi, supporting an event like Spicy Albay reflects a broader understanding of community development — one that includes not just livelihood and infrastructure, but culture and creativity. A community that invests in its artists invests in its own identity, telling its story to itself and to the wider world.
Fifteen editions in, Spicy Albay shows no sign of losing its spark. With JCI Legazpi and the Mayon Photography Club behind it, the celebration continues to do what the best photography does: it freezes a moment of heritage in time, so that the pride and beauty of Albay can be seen, shared, and remembered.