By ELIZABETH LOLARGA
Photos courtesy of ANGELINA and GISELLE GOLOY
IT’S a rare Filipino photographer who makes it to the pages of National Geographic, whether in its magazine form or its many-splendored books. But 37-year-old geologist Giselle Goloy did in The National Geographic Illustrated Guide to Nature: From Your Back Doors to the Great Out Doors.
A geology graduate of the University of the Philippines Diliman, she began her career in her home country, then moved to Australia in 2005 where more opportunities beckoned.
She said, “I work as a geologist. Nothing special there. It’s just that most people don’t hear about geology as a profession, and I think it’s a special thing. We’re not out saving the world. It’s just like being a physicist or mathematician or biologist. It’s just science. Oftentimes, there’s a lot of management and administrative work involved. We’re not rock stars, no pun intended! I worked for five years as an environmental geologist in the field of contaminated land management, then shifted careers to work in the coal and coal seam gas industry.”
But her work allows her to travel or her accumulated leave credits do so. An adventurer at heart with a trusty Canon 400D or 7D & Canon Ixus 80IS in her bag in case she finds herself “in interesting places,” she was once on a weekend trip in May 2008 in Jervis Bay, New South Wales, three hours south of Sydney.
She recalls that trip with Pinoy friends: “We were on our way back to Sydney and were just checking out the other beaches in the area. Not exactly sure the specific spot we stopped at. I was using my old Canon 400D. It was over on the horizon, and I didn’t even notice it at first. It was my engineer friend Rhea who told me to pose in front of the clouds. I turned around and saw it and thought it was pretty so I took a photo of it as well.”
She sent her photo to her mother, journalist Angelina Goloy, who started googling cloud photos. The older Goloy came across the Cloud Appreciation Society and told her daughter that she should submit the picture there. She did and signed up to be a member. Months later, the organization asked her permission to use her photo in its 2009 calendar.
Since then the photo has accrued a long history. Asked how many times it has been published, she answered “I can’t keep track anymore!” Some of the ones she remembers are: it was a finalist for Eureka Science Prize for Photography in 2010 sponsored by the Australian Museum website; a science journal for a university in Japan; a Philippine Daily Inquirer article; Cloud Appreciation Society Cloudspotters’ Guide Book and Qantas Airlines’ magazine for its first class.
Cover of the National Geographic book where a Pinay geologist’s work is included.
Her mother’s friend, oceanographer Laura T. David, said the cloud formation was an example of a Kelvin-Helmholtz cloud. Dr. David said this cloud is rare. She was the first to promote it when she asked the young Goloy’s permission to print the photo and use it in lectures.
Goloy said experts agree that the Kelvin-Helmholtz cloud is “pretty special. But I don’t think it’s that rare. That’s all I know. Meteorology and oceanography are not my expertise.”
She is also a big Harry Potter fan and once went to Great Britain with her pals to do a homage tour to the creation of author JK Rowlings. She and two friends maintain the blog http://fatespensieve.wordpress.com where they document travel, food and similar experiences. They describe themselves and their blog thus: “Three dames (the Three Witches of Eastwick, the Moirae, Shakespeare’s Weird Sisters, the Three Ladies of London, the Powerpuff Girls, whatever tickles their current fancy) who, in their desire to celebrate life and friendship, decided to put their thoughts and ramblings on ether.”
Goloy, a Sunday church choir member, once wrote about body image: “I love taking photos and nothing disappoints me more than when someone looks at a photo that I took of them and they ask me to delete it because they think they don’t look pretty… Why?! I blame the unrealistic ideals of what it means to be beautiful… God created me the way I am and I should be proud of what I look like. To say anything derogatory about myself would just be like saying, ‘Your work is ugly, God.’ So enough of the negativity. We are all beautiful!”
She recently went on a “great Australian outback adventure” that made her appreciate out-of-this-world landscapes, aboriginal people and their art, wild flora, among many.
When her picture is mentioned in conversations, her mother can only say, “It’s a gift from God!”
The National Geographic Illustrated Guide to Nature is available at National Bookstore branches.