PAGDIRIWANG PHILIPPINE FESTIVAL 2024
Birds of the Philippines
Photo Exhibit by Jaime Javier
Jaime ‘Jimmy’ Javier is a Business Management (BSBM) degree holder from the Ateneo de Manila University and finished his Bachelor of Laws from the University of the Philippines Law School as a working student.
Prior to his admission to the Philippine Bar, he was a radio broadcaster for RJFM 100.3, aka ‘Sneakers.’ Jimmy also acted in TV and movies. His role as ‘Vince’ in the film ‘Batch ‘81’ earned him nominations for Best Supporting Actor from the Catholic Mass Media Awards (CMMA) and the Manunuri ng Pelikulang Pilipino (Urian Awards).
He was a tenured sportscaster for the PBA, PBL, and the UAAP in his spare time. In government service at the national level, he worked as Chief of Staff in both the Philippine Senate and Congress. Later at the municipal level, he worked with the Office of the Mayor in Javier, Leyte, assisting with government funding for the town’s infrastructure projects. Before his retirement, he was a Corporate Social Responsibility consultant for a Philippine-based multinational construction firm.
He learned to take snapshots starting with unexposed Eastman short ends left over from ‘Batch ‘81’ movie film reels. The short ends from the film’s cinematographer were later spooled and loaded on a borrowed Nikon film camera. When modern gear evolved from film to digital, Jimmy rekindled his interest in photography. Working in the 3rd Class Municipality of Javier in Leyte named after his grandfather, allowed for an intimate window into the daily lives of the town’s residents.
The collection of human Interest images taken during his weekly visits to his hometown from 2011 to 2015, ‘Snapshots .. Life in Rural Philippines’ was featured in last year’s virtual Pagdiriwang Festival. He is a Founding Trustee of the Wild Bird Photographers of the Philippines (WBPP), formed in 2012 to help develop and promote conservation photography. What started off as a forum with less than a hundred members, WBPP now has more than 54,000 in membership.
Overseeing and moderating the WBPP Forum in its early years allowed him to explore Philippine biodiversity, offering a glimpse of his discoveries of avian treasures found in the islands, captured for posterity in photographs.
For Pagdiriwang 2023, ‘Birds of the Philippines’ is Jimmy Javier’s first in-person photo exhibit in the US of avian treasures that can be seen in the Philippines, many of which cannot be found anywhere else in the world, a testament to the rich biodiversity in its 7,100 islands.
Now residing in Florida, he is a moderator and admin of the Filipino Wild Bird and Wildlife Photographers of North America (FWBWPNA).