T H E   T E A M

Our Founders

Francis Ansing - Tour Leader / Founder

Bryan Villanueva - ​Founder

Tour Leaders

Arlene Donaire

Arlene discovered her creative alter-ego as photographer back in 2009. Her exposure to college photojournalism and documentary photography in the development projects that she worked in had contributed to her now passionate interest in travel, landscape, and street photography. Photography is an intended but effortless extension of Arlene’s travels. With her gear always in tow, she has made every travel a search for visual stories, a systematic dance with light, colors, and design.

Arlene has travelled and shot in many Philippine locales, most of the Asian countries, and a bit of Europe. Her photography shows her fascination for creating visual stories and photo essays that reflect the wholistic travel experience.

Arlene was recognized in September 2015 in Manila Bulletin’s Picture Perfect Magazine as Photographer of the week. Prior to this, she had been publishing her travel stories and photos since 2013 in a Tokyo-based magazine. She has exhibited in art fairs and camera club shows, and has received numerous awards for her images. Arlene’s body of work has enabled her to represent photography brands and be a resource person in the travel genre. She is a member of the Zone V Camera Club since 2018.

​Arlene completed Economics and Public Administration undergrad and grad degrees at the University of San Carlos (1986), UP Diliman (1988) and Harvard Kennedy School (1999). She had been working as a development economist and program management specialist for three decades now.

AJ Duran

Arricjanzee Duran is a software engineer based in Taguig City, Metro Manila. We was born in a highly urbanized city, Caloocan. He started photography 7 years ago. It was the love for outdoors that has inspired him to pick up a camera to document his travels and adventures. Now, he is focusing on landscape photography. He has been creating different types of landscape images over the past few years, however, he is now focusing in mastering minimalism and black and white landscape photography. He really finds minimalistic and black and white photographs compelling. According to him, the photos tend to be more artistic and have more substance than the usual colored ones as the design elements and composition are given emphasis. He shoots because it is a way of expressing himself. Given the chance, he would like to inspire and help others to improve in the craft. Also, part of his plans is to travel to many places in the world and create more photographs that will inspire others. Martin Rak, Benjamin Everett, Daniel Kordan and Michael Kenna are the names that have inspired him the most.

Jay-Rness Ceria

Jay-Rness D. Ceria, born and raised in Quezon Province, has been passionate about the visual arts since childhood. He started with pencil and oil pastel drawings inspired by his surroundings, which was cut short when he entered college and started working in a private agribusiness company. But art, being his first love, found its way back in his life and now he continues to sharpen his passion using a different media - landscape photography - and has been honing his technique since 2017. Through his photography, Jay-Rness aims to show the world how he sees it - vibrant & colorful, with "Nature" being his subject of choice. From visions of a poignant landscape to the joy of seeing the starlit sky in its full glory; Jay-Rness allows his audience to be in touch with how they feel as he purposefully shares with them how beautiful life is, and how meaningful it could be.

Mark Fitz Borre

Growing up in a small town in Bicol, Fitz always wanted to explore big cities filled with the potential of many opportunities. But after years of working in a company where everything is fast-paced, he realized that he prefers taking things slow and find solace in places that are mostly away from the crowds. After just a few tries of creating images from these places, he was convinced that landscape photography is where his heart is. The recognition from the contests that he has joined boosted his desire to do better and produce images that are worthy to be called art. His current job, while hectic, provided him the opportunity to see new places and ultimately capture the images. He believes that they are too breathtaking to be left just as a memory. It fueled an ardent impulse to share what he felt in those moments by creating photos that will give justice to the real scenery and make whoever sees them feel as if they were there -  in that particular time and place.

Staff

Monks Atienza - Driver / Assistant / Cook

Romeo Vasaylaje - Assistant / Cook

Francis Godfrey Magbiray - Driver

Antonio Ramirez - Driver

International Partners

Chaerul Umam

James Oda

Diep Van

Harold Britos

O U R   C O R E   V A L U E S 

Care

To show care for our clients is to put their needs and interests before our own. This means when we guide our clients to shooting locations, it will be them will shoot first and not the tour leader. Tour leaders must ensure that everybody is doing fine first before he participants in the shooting. Caring also means doing and giving beyond what is required. We will value your time and pay attention to your needs during the tour. 

Passion and Creativity

We expect our clients to have at least “a seed” for creativity. This seed can blossom into something very beautiful later on. It holds true for all of us at Shutter Adventures Co. as well. If we are not passionate and creative, then we have little right to ask our clients to be passionate and creative in our tours. To us, creativity is a way of life. Our tour leaders are always ready to go on a photography tour or adventure. 

Humility

Humility is the biggest trait that we have in our team. You’ll find this virtue among all team members at Shutter Adventures Co. – whether it’s our founders, tour leaders, drivers, guides and other local staff members. A humble person makes an ideal team member. They are open to feedback, easily teachable, curious and eager to learn. They are able to grow and nurture the Shutter Adventures Co. community.

Education

We value so much “learning”. Our founders are certified educators themselves. We will ensure that learning will always be incorporated during trips. This could be in the form of classroom/field workshop or through casual sharing of ideas during photo tours. There is no room for selfishness in our tour leaders. We are always ready to share what we know even the clients are not asking for them.

Safety

For years, we have set safety standards in the tour operation industry. Our professional drivers have decades of experience in driving and taking groups to remote and very far places. Our tour leaders / guides are always alert and aware of the hazards in the natural environment. We are always equipped with skills and first aid kits to guarantee your safety out there. We provide insurance for our clients joining local tours and urge clients joining international photo tours to get as well to provide financial protection in the face of certain problems when we are travelling.