These Volunteer Photographers Tell Stories That Should Be Heard

Juan Portrait started out as the local offshoot of the global Help-Portrait initiative, with the single aim of taking photos as a form of outreach for people in need. They're less an NGO than a loosely defined community of volunteers—mainly photographers, some professional, most of them dedicated amateurs. The good that they do is difficult to quantify, but what they want to do is very simple: “Through photography, we aim to take action and give back to the community,” says co-founder Christopher Linag.

The group’s first project took them to the Philippine Children’s Medical Center, where they took photos of patients with cancer. That poignant first outing in 2011—which they have since replicated—struck a chord, and, along with the group’s membership, Juan Portrait’s mandate grew, too. After traveling to remote parts of the country for portrait projects and partnering up with other grassroots organizations, the renamed Juan Portrait started the Community Frames project, which allowed photographers to mentor school children.

IMAGE Juan Portrait

IMAGE Juan Portrait

When the photography mentors unleashed the children, armed with borrowed cameras, back into their world, they brought back some unique and poetic images, sometimes reflecting their secret dreams and aspirations, sometimes just limning their world in their newfound art. “[Children] living in remote villages [find it] easy to perceive visitors from Manila as the prime sources of skill and knowledge. We wanted the communities to know that they themselves have the skill and the talent to produce exceptional work,” says JP volunteer Tata Yap. “Teaching photography to children, and not just making them the subject of photographs, helps them realize their own capacity. It helps them cultivate a sense of self-creation...and hopefully, this sense of self- creation [stays with them], so they can mature knowing that they have the capability, and that their perspective will always matter, despite living in a remote area.”

Genzelle received the Best in Portrait Photography special award for this beautiful photograph of her grandmother. They say that a portrait is a window to the soul of the subject. Good work, Genzelle. Her mentor is JuanPortrait volunteer @tatayap. #CommunityFramesNaguey #CommunityFrames #WeAreJuanPortrait Photo by Ley Castillo

A post shared by @ juanportrait on Oct 10, 2015 at 7:00am PDT

Storyteller extraordinaire, Rey Bufi, in his usual animated self, dramatizing a story from a book for the students of Pagsawitan Elementary School in Sta. Cruz, Laguna, Philippines. An active volunteer of Juan Portrait, Kuya Rey, as he is fondly called, is the Founder of The Storytelling Project (TSP), a Juan Portrait partner that "aims to spark hope, inspiration and imagination through storytelling; to make reading an enjoyable experience for children; to start a reading habit; and to instill the love of reading and learning in all our TSP kids. We’ve tirelessly crossed rivers and excitedly conquered mountains to reach remote communities – to bring our own brand of happy learning." #WeAreJuanPortrait #JuanPortrait #TSP #TheStorytellingProject #everydayphilippines #volunteerism #mission ???? by @dancelmd

A post shared by @ juanportrait on Jun 26, 2017 at 10:21pm PDT

"During the Juan Portrai Mission, I met some of these students of Mt. Pulag Elementary School in their traditional costume. They presented an ethnic dance to the visitors of Abucot Elementary School, one of the most scenic school I've been too. Finding a background for their photo is so effortless since the school is literally located within the clouds, mountains and rice terraces. I'm so glad to see kids like them who are proud of their cultural heritage." ~ Dianne Magbanua | Juan Portrait volunteer ???? by @diannemagbanua #WeAreJuanPortrait #BrigadangPulag #JuanPortrait #JusBelib #ProjectSchoolID #Journeytotheperipheries #volunteerism #mission #everydayphilippines #Abucot #culture

A post shared by @ juanportrait on Jun 13, 2017 at 9:02am PDT

One of hundreds of Filipinos whose portraits Juan Portrait Volunteers took during the Esquire Philippines' Public Shoot for its May 2016 Election Issue Cover. It was our group's honor and privilege to have been called upon to #BePartOfHope for this @esquireph campaign which happened last year, April 9, 2016. Portrait by JP Volunteer Extraordinaire, Ley Castillo (@buleley). #portrait #portraiture #portraits #makeportraits #WeAreJuanPortrait #EsquirePH #blackandwhite #blackwhitephoto #everydayeverywhere #everydayasia #everydayphilippines

A post shared by @ juanportrait on Jan 7, 2017 at 3:02am PST

One of our quickest JP missions was last November 2013 when we took pictures for the Family Day of the armed forces ?????? Today, a new batch of PNPA cadets graduates from the academy. #JuanPortrait

A post shared by @ juanportrait on Mar 26, 2015 at 3:55am PDT

For more information, log on to Juan Portrait's website. This article originally appeared in the May 2016 issue of Esquire Philippines. Edits and updates have been made for this online version.

This story originally appeared on Esquiremag.ph. Minor edits have been made by the SPOT.ph editors.