Hobbyist in Focus: Raymond Guevarra

                “Photography is Fun, do it as often as you can”

A boom in the number of amateur and sub-professional photographers was seen recently due to advances in the field of camera making and digital photography. This allowed ordinary people to experience taking professional looking photos without the need to buy super expensive equipment and advanced know how in photography.

Raymond Guevarra is one such individual. We sat down with Raymond and asked him about a few things that other photography enthusiast might find useful. Here’s the gist of our discussion.

Raymond comes from a humble town in Sto. Tomas, Batangas. Although a nurse by profession, his first love was art and photography. At a young age, Raymond was already joining art and drawing contests in school and has always had an affinity with subjects related to arts and creativity.

His love for photography and the arts didn’t end in teenage years. In fact, in blossomed even more during his college days. He recalls organizing photo shoots and joining photo contests with college buddies who share the same passion on photography. With his former classmates as photo shoot subjects and a DSLR camera borrowed from friends, Raymond was able to sharpen his eye for detail and widen his perspective as a young aspiring photographer.

After college, he saved some money and got himself an entry level Sony α DSLR camera. Although he practiced nursing right after college, his love for photography didn’t completely take a back seat in his life. During his day offs, he still practiced taking shots of people around him (like his friends and workmates) which paved the way for his discovery that he has a knack for taking portraits.

At present, he is an active member of several photography groups and clubs that do photo-shoots and art exhibits. And just recently, he, together with some other photographers in Batangas, created Click Batangas Digital Photography club. And as one of the co-founders of the club, he is partly responsible for some of the club’s activities such as organizing photo ops, choosing the location, contacting models and communication for the entire organization.

Here are some of Raymond’s works.

Although his expertise is in portrait photography, Raymond still aspires to know a little bit of everything.

When asked if he has any tips to give to people who want to have that perfect portrait shot, he says that it’s always important to make a connection to your subject and that practice is the key to success. He advises aspiring portrait photographers to learn by reading online and magazine tutorials, taking series of shots, thinking out of the box, altering one’s perspective and experimenting with lighting. But most of all, he encourages newbies to just be prepared for each shot.

Lastly, we asked him if he could leave an inspiring message to people who want to pursue a career in photography, and here’s what he has to say:

If you like Raymond’s work, he offers photography services such as prenup photo-shoots and other special events. You can contact him through email, using his Facebook account or at 09186965181. 

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