WBA World Superflyweight interim champion Nonito Donaire has hung up his boxing gloves, but only for a while, to practice a hobby he's quite vocal about—photography.

Nonito invited PEP (Philippine Entertainment Portal) to his first photography exhibit together with other students under the tutelage of photographer Niccolo Cosme last September 4 at The Lighthouse Studio in Malate, Manila.

"We have a lot of themes, some people did ice, rain, or whatever it is. Mine was heat. It was my way of expressing how I feel... It's almost time for me to go back to training, so for me to do it, I asked Rachel (Donaire, his wife) to bring out how an athlete feels," said Nonito about the concept of his work.

He went on to describe each of the four pictures.

"The heat is an overwhelming heat (left top side of the four pictures). You can see in her eyes, sweat actually falling off her face. With the way of light, parang mainit talaga siya (right bottom).

"And over here (right top), you can see in her face parang she wants to give up, it's too hard for her, it's like her determination to keep on going. And, of course, the thirst for water because it is so hot (left bottom).

"This is my concept to express my way when I'm training. That is actually how I feel," the 28-year-old boxing champ revealed.

Nonito uses a Canon 70 camera for that particular indoor shoot. He combined two lights with a red filter to achieve a sunlight effect.

The shoot and the preparations were all done in an hour. Even with time constraint, Nonito said he found it easy.

"Kasi, yung mga photos ko, my expression, the way...I feel. This is one of the self-expressions that I had...the sense of training, the sense of heat. The sense of somehow giving up something I had to push through," he explained.

Aside from the photography, he was also hands-on on the styling. 

"I told her (Rachel) to bring the clothes. I picked the clothing. I picked everything. It was an art because we wanted it to be realistic, so this is what she wears in her training. This is what I choose for her to wear."

As always, Nonito shared the success of the photos with his wife.

"Mas easy sa akin kasi for her, you know, she already knows how to be an athlete. Athlete siya, e," he said. (Rachel is a U.S. collegiate and military taekwondo champion.)

ARTISTIC SELF-EXPRESSION. Nonito revealed that aside from being an athlete, he is very much in touch with his artistic side.