Akira Liwanag became fond of taking pictures when he was 7 years old. He took photography seriously when he realized that he was good at it, he was a Grade 5 student back then.
Akira’s main influence is his dad. On free days they would shoot together to cover rallies, presscons, streets, as well as celebrities and politicians. He was his school’s official photographer, and every year he joins inter-school photojournalism competitions. Growing up, he immediately discovered his true self, his true art, to capture light. Photography and photojournalism is his passion, not to mention filmmaking.
He had his first big break in photography when he was a Junior. He was selected by the National Commission for Culture and Arts to be the Filipino photojournalist delegate to participate at the 2008 ASEAN Youth Camp that was held in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. A year after, he was selected as the youngest delegate ever to participate in the Angkor Photography Festival Workshop that was held in Siem Reap, Cambodia. He completed his photo essay entitled “Love is the First Enemy”- a day in the life of modern Cambodian Buddhist monks under the tutelage of MAGNUM photographer Antoine D’ Agata. He has also attended various filmmaking workshops in the University of the Philippines such as Digital Filmmaking under MTV Artist Ramon Bautista and 35mm Cinematography under world-class cinematographer Nap Jamir.
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.
Aside from those mentioned, he also loves music. He’s the lead guitarist of his school band. He’s hold a brown belt in Tae Kwon Do too.
