Vicente Jaime r. villafranca

Objective

- Application for Open Society Institute Documentary Photography Project.

Education


2000-2005 Bachelor of Fine Arts and Design Major in Advertising Arts. Royal Pontifical University of Santo Tomas
2007-2008 Diploma course on Photojournalism
Asian Center for Journalism & World Press Photo Foundation
Konrad Adenaeur Foundation, Ateneo de Manila University
2005 Angkor photo festival - workshop for young Asian journalists with mentors Sarah Caron, Patrick Chauvel and Antoinne D' Agatta.

Work Experience

2003 - 2006 staff photojournalist. Philippine Graphic weekly news magazine.
2005 - 2006 staff photojournalist BusinessMirror newspaper
Immediately assigned in the Presidential beat in 2003. Became a regular member of The Presidential Photojournalists Association of the Philippines after 6 months.
Assigned to the regular news beat after one year and a half in the Presidential beat covering hard news, business and feature stories.
Covered the ongoing insurgency in Southern Philippines mainly in Cotabato, Jolo and Zamboanga.
Started a documentary project on the ethnic people Badjao in Southern Philippines.

2003 - 2005 On-call stringer for Agence France-Presse, Associated Press.
2005 - present Regular stringer of Reuters news agency Manila Bureau.
2005 - present Manila correspondent - World Picture News (WPN) New York USA.
December 2007 - present Stringer for United Nations IRIN photo department.

2006 - present Co-founder of D&FT (Design & Fotografie Team) design agency specializing in advertising photography, print and industrial designs.
Book Projects (soon to be launched in 2008)
«Malabrigo lighthouse project» - a coffee table book aimed to save the lighthouse located south of Manila endangered of being transformed into a KTV bar.
«Santa Cruz Zambales: Forged by fire» - a coffee table book about the town of Santa Cruz in the town of Zambales north of Manila. Documenting the town's prominent personalities and the developments that took place in one of the country's oldest town.
Projects in 2007 - 2008
«MARKED» - long term documentary project on the lives of former gang members in one of Manila's most dangerous slums.
«The long ride back home» - long-term documentary on the rehabilitation of the Philippine National Railways and the communities that used to live along the tracks.
«The Human Trafficking Project» - a collaboration with local and international NGOs to produce a documentary and other materials as a means of campaign against human trafficking in the Philippines.
«Between a rock and a hard place» - photos essay on the ongoing civilian war between Muslim separatist group, Moro Islamic Liberation Front, and the government.
«Sweetness and Sorrow in Sugarlandia» - photo essay on the sugarcane farmer's march in the Philippine's largest sugar cane producing province in their fight for the land that they till and sow.
«Struggling to find their way back to their sea» - long term photo documentary on the sea gypsies from the south of the Philippines.
«Drive the nail right» - an ongoing portrait project on construction workers in the Philippines.
«Children of the storm» - photo essay on the refugees in the Thai-Burma border.
«No time for grieving» - photo essay on the aftermath of Cyclone Nagris in the Irrawaddy delta region in Myanmar.

Organizations


Regular member of The Press Photographers of the Philippines
Board member of The Philippine Center for Photojournalism
Co founder of M4 Collective Philippines (soon to be launched)
Photojournalists' representative to the National Union of Journalists in the Philippines (NUJP)

Awards and Citations

1st prize winner - Newsbreak and British Embassy Muslim photo contest 2007.
1st Prize Winner - European Union and Phil. Center for Photojournalism photo contest on UNDP funded projects 2005.
Honorable Mention - World Bank photo contest 2006 .
Ian Parry Scholarship foundation print exhibited.
Nominated for 2008 Joop Swart Masterclass Program World Press Photo educational program.
Nominated for National Geographic All Roads documentary program 2008.
Work exhibited in the National Museum of the Philippines alongside with Filipino and Japanese contemporary photographers May 2008.
2008-awardee of the Ian Parry grant, London, United Kingdom. The first Asian to bag the 3000-pound grant that supports up and coming photographers to produce their personal projects.

CONTACT PERSONS

Inday Espina-Varona - Former chairwoman and presently consultant of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines, NUJP (indayevarona@gmail.com)
Darren Whiteside - Manila Bureau Chief, Reuters News Agency (darrenwhiteside@gmail.com)
Manoocher Deghati - head IRIN Photo United Nations (manoocher@irinnews.org)