Kharunesia

First love never dies, they say. This holds true for lensman Peter Jaena who finds portraiture as the most challenging field in photography. In effect, that alone allows him to show the kind of stuff he is made of. His pictures reflect his expertise in creating wonderful frozen images of various people. Portraiture best defines the artist in him.

"My first love is portraiture obviously, as seen in my folio. I'm in it since it's the most challenging," he affirmed. "For the portrait to be effective, I need to get the lighting, theme, location, and everything else just right," he added.

Peter's ease with people as subjects provides into his shots instant human element. No words are needed to explain the overflowing emotions found within his frames. All the smiles, emotional baggages, and untold stories are all there captured in various personas.

His longtime affair with portraiture ensures him the 'never-ending supply of people to photograph, and just as many ways to shoot them.' For him, he already has a lifetime's worth of subjects.

One of the founding members of the Iloilo-based Panay Digital Shooters (PDS), Peter clearly knows how to separate good shots from those that are not. He stated, "An effective photograph is one that draws attention, promotes intellectual merit, and has an emotional effect to the viewer."

Our featured artist considers the discovery of camera as one of man's finest achievements. In his own words, the tool 'made it possible to forever preserve memories' in exactly how a particular moment happened. That idea attracted him to the craft and he began the journey to photography at the tender age of eight.

He recalled that his dad gave him his first camera – an all-manual instamatic film cam (and now-classic) Olympus Pen. He used to bring the thing during travels with his mother. Thus, vacation snapshots became his early shoots. It had been that way up to his college days.

For some reason, the hobby stopped after that. But big thanks to the work of the acclaimed Manny Librodo. Peter found the man's images fantastic, a feeling enough to influence him to doing what he does now.

"I'm happy to share my work with anyone who appreciates it and the satisfaction I get from positive reactions from those who've seen my work is enough," he poured out, referring to his non-pactice of joining photo contests which to many is a barometer of how one is competitive.

A graduate of UP Visayas, the Tondo-born bachelor, though best known for his portraits, has established a clientele comprising mostly of hotels, resorts, and restaurants. These businesses usually require photos that can be of good use in marketing what they offer. Peter is obviously skillful in that department to have earned the trust of such clients. His engaging output in advertising speaks for itself.

With the growing list of customers and the recognition he's been getting, like becoming the cover feature of a local society magazine (in Iloilo called CREAM), Peter remains humble and counts his level of artistry as 'still in infancy.' That of course is far from what he is showing, as his folio is filled with pictures only professional and established lensmen can deliver.

Surely, he has gotten tips from photography greats before him. And he doesn't deny that. "Learning from colleagues is actually the best part in photography," he assessed. "All the learning you will gain from other photographers is a wealth of knowledge that's priceless."