Veejay Villafranca

Veejay Villafranca was born in Manila. He started out in journalism as a staff photographer for the national news magazine Philippines Graphic. After becoming a freelancer in 2006, he worked with several international news wire agencies before pursuing the personal projects that later paved the way to his career as a full-time documentary photographer.

Veejay has tackled issues such as changing Filipino cultural and religious practices, the transformation of Filipino gang members, and climate displacement and other environmental issues . In 2008, he was awarded the Ian Parry Scholarship and a residency at Visa Pour l’Image for his project on the lives of former gang members in Manila and in 2013 attended the prestigious Joop Swart Masterclass program of the World Press Photo Foundation.

Veejay is based in Manila and works around the Asian region contributing to international publications and working with non-governmental organizations in producing visual reports on different issues at present.