About the photographer

Akira Liwanag at 17 (now 18), is the youngest delegate selected to participate in the Angkor Photography Festival Workshop held in Siem Reap, Cambodia under the tutelage of Magnum photographer Antoine D’ Agata where he completed his photo essay entitled “Love is the First Enemy”- a day in the life of modern Cambodian Buddhist monks.

At 16, he represented the Philippines as the Filipino photojournalist delegate to the 2008 ASEAN Youth Camp in Yogyakarta, Indonesia sponsored by the National Commission for Culture and Arts (NCAA). He has attended filmmaking workshops at the University of the Philippines including Digital Filmmaking under MTV Artist Ramon Bautista and 35mm Cinematography under world-class cinematographer Nap Jamir.

He began taking pictures when he was 7 and took photography seriously when he was a Grade 5 student taking part in photojournalism seminars, workshops and competing at the national level. If he’s not behind his camera taking pictures or making home-brewed music videos, you’ll find him in front of the computer viewing the works of his favorite photographers such as Munem Wasif and Gary Knight. He also loves music being the lead guitarist of his school band and currently holds a brown belt in Tae Kwon Do.