Week 4 - Jay Avena

What is your name?
Norman Jay Avena. You can call me Jay.


What sort of photography do you do?
Like most of you, I have dabbled in several fields of photography but my main interests lie in documentary, travel, and live music photography. I recently quit my software engineering job to pursue photojournalism and I hope I can turn a dream into reality before the year is through.


How long have you been shooting?
I have been a serious hobbyist since 2008 and, as stated above, am looking to be a full-time professional this year.


What's your favorite piece of gear? (for example, Lens, Bag, Camera, Tripod, any thing you really love to work with)
Luckily, I have gotten over the phase of lusting after the latest and the greatest gear and just look to squeeze every bit of image quality out of my current gear. My favorite item would probably be my ultra wide angle (UWA) lens. I guess you can say I'm a wide angle junkie and like to get real close to my subjects. Apart from that, I would choose my 9-stop ND filter if ever I had to choose only one.


Where can we find you? Twitter account/s, blogs, galleries, any and all web presence that you feel comfortable sharing.
I tweet as @blitzkid_A and have a portfolio/blog, exiftentialist
(Editor's note: That is possibly the best title for a photographer's site that I've ever seen!)

Where do you live and work? You can be as specific as providing your lat-long coordinates, or as vague as "planet earth".
I am in one of the Philippines' 7,107 islands and hop across islands every now and then.


Is there a Twitter account you would really like to see take over @WeRPhotography for a week?
Absolutely. He's @jmaentz and he takes the most amazing photos of Filipino indigenous people.