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Photo by Frank Van Beek
Workshop
Developing Visual Narratives: A Workshop for Photographers and Storytellers with Veejay Villafranca
Thursday, 14 August - Saturday, 16 August 2025
Paid Workshop:
Early bird: IDR350K | Regular: IDR475K (Including Ticket Access to Nuanu)
10 AM - 4 PM
Limited to 13 participants
Developing Visual Narratives is a three-day intensive workshop aimed at helping photographers, artists, and visual storytellers strengthen their ability to build intentional and impactful visual narratives. Guided by acclaimed Filipino documentary photographer and educator Veejay Villafranca, the workshop offers a supportive and immersive environment where participants can reflect on their storytelling goals, refine the structure of their ongoing or conceptual projects, and develop a clearer visual language.
Through a combination of lectures, group dialogue, hands-on exercises, and critiques, participants will sharpen their visual strategy, explore authorship and ethics, and gain practical tools for presenting their work across various platforms.
This program is part of FOTO Bali Festival’s commitment to nurturing critical and reflective visual practices in the region. It is open to emerging and mid-career creatives with a work-in-progress or developing idea, who are ready to engage deeply with their practice and collaborate with peers in a focused learning space.
Schedule:
Thursday, 14 August 2025 | 10 AM - 4 PM
Friday, 15 August 2025 | 10 AM - 4 PM
Saturday, 16 August 2025 | 10 AM - 3 PM
Program Focus:
Lectures on visual storytelling, ethics, and authorship
Hands-on exercises in sequencing, editing, and narrative structure
Group and individual critiques
Final presentation and feedback session
Participants must be:
Emerging or mid-career photographers, artists, and storytellers
Individuals with a work-in-progress or a conceptual idea in development
Participants with basic knowledge of photography and camera handling
Able to communicate in English (spoken and written)
Facilitator Bio:
Veejay Villafranca is a documentary photographer whose work explores the intersection of socio-political issues, public health, and Filipino spirituality. He began his career as a staff photographer for Philippines Graphic, a national news magazine, covering socio-political events and in-depth stories across the Philippines.
In 2006, he shifted into independent documentary work focusing on displacement as a result of extreme weather occurrences and access to health services for those who have a critical illness. He also became a correspondent for international news wire agencies, covering news and human-interest stories in the Philippines and selected countries in Southeast Asia. Veejay’s work has earned international recognition. In 2008, he was awarded the prestigious Ian Parry Scholarship and completed a residency at Visa Pour l’Image in Perpignan, France, for his project on the lives of former gang members in Manila. In 2013, he was selected for the Joop Swart Masterclass by the World Press Photo Foundation, where he developed a body of work exploring illness and spirituality in the Philippines.
His first photobook, SIGNOS, co-published with MAPA Books, won the 2018 Invisible Photographer Asia First Photobook Award. More recently, in 2024, Veejay served as the Southeast Asia jury chair for the World Press Photo competition. That same year, he was part of a collective of artists at both the Philippine Pavilion of the Gwangju Biennale and the Jeju Biennale. An alumnus of the 2005 Angkor Photo Festival’s Documentary Photographer Workshop and the Diploma in Visual Journalism Program at the Asian Center for Journalism, Veejay remains deeply involved in visual storytelling education. He currently lectures in visual language and documentary photography at the Diploma in Visual Journalism program at the Asian Center for Journalism and at the College of Saint Benilde’s Bachelor of Photography program.
Veejay continues to pursue long-term documentary projects focused on the human condition and spirituality, the environment, and Filipino identity, while contributing regularly to international publications and news agencies.