Snaps 12
“The shadow of a lonely man, there’s nobody else
In the shadow of a lonely, lonely man
I can see myself”— Shadow of A Lonely Man by Alan Parsons Project
Eric Setiawan Journal
Posts Tagged ‘bandung’
Snaps 08
“The city by night I’m wide awake.
It never sleeps make no mistake”— City By Night by Elvis Presley
Snaps 06
“Perhaps upon that lonely street
there’s someone such as I
who came to bury broken dreams
and watch an old love die”— Lonely Street by Andy Williams
Talking about photoblogging
Budi and I were invited to speak about photoblog. I didn’t count but I believe that more than 10 people attended this small but lively discussion. Everyone is curious and seems eager to try it out themselves. Oh, how I wish that the scene could happen sometime in 2005, when I first started my photoblog. Alas, the scene is from Comic Bandung August 5th 2009.
Back in 2005, we needed at least 5 active local photobloggers to form Bandung Photobloggers and we couldn’t find more than three. A very frustrating time but I don’t think it will be a problem now.
Nevertheless, I got really exciting and believe that it’s not late to start a photoblogger community. We will just have to wait for each Bandung photoblogger to arise. Just start from home, everyone. Start with whatever tools you have right now. Go out more if possible. Try to bring your camera everytime everywhere, you’ll notice the difference.
As for myself, I think this is a very good time to, once again, fire up my photoblog which was started in 2008. Do you have a photoblog? Perhaps you just started a new one. Let me know the url so I can visit your photoblog and, if you’re in Bandung, perhaps we can meet up someday.
Here are some quotes from the blog of the people attending the Comic August 2009. It’s nice to finally be able to meet some famous local bloggers in person. This event was also the unofficial first meet up of Bandung photobloggers (or should I say Bandung photographers?)
“Pertanyaan yang menggelitik dan mengasyikkan. Sama seperti memilih objek yang dipotret: melewati beberapa fase yang menurut saya tetap menyenangkan. Pada proses itu juga akhirnya faktor “bersenang-senang” (having fun) lebih dominan: mengatasi kendala peralatan — jenis kamera sangat tidak penting, memotret dapat dilakukan di nyaris semua tempat, dan unsur kedekatan yang terbawa oleh perasaan pemotret dapat mengatasi teori fotografi yang cukup kompleks. Sebagai klimaks: blur adalah fitur.”
— Ikhlasul Amal: Blog Foto yang Menawan Hati
“because I love writing but not a writer, I go blogging; because I love making photos but not a photographer, I did photoblogging. Simple.”
— @ikhlasulamal
“What I could conclude is that photoblogging is not about taking perfect photos, with perfect composition, and perfect lighting. It’s about how you blog with photos. How you story-tell with photos. Even if the picture was blur, maybe it could tell that you had been in such unstable situation, or maybe, you had been laughing a bit too happily at that time. In this case he is my current favorite. WOW! The meeting brought sooooo much inspiration for me, and maybe for all who attended. I already have some ideas on my mind. Fab!”
— Puti Karina Puar: Photoblog
“Seperti yang tadi saya sebutkan, presentasinya sangat inspiring. Terutama di bagian dimana mas Budi Sukmana menekankan bahwa photoblog ini tolong dilihat lebih ke spiritnya, passion untuk berbagi dan capturing moment (kalau kata salah seorang hadirin sih: arsip visual yang humanis), tidak peduli walaupun hanya bermodal kamera hape VGA.”
— Diki Andeas (Chicken Strip): Photoblogger
“kalau tiba2 berenti ngomik & malah mainan photoblog, yg ngeracunin & punya dosa pastilah @ericsetiawan & @budisukmana #comicbandung #korban ”
— @niwat0ri
“Ada satu hal yang buat saya merasa teracuni tuk segera memulai aktifitas photoblogging ini, yaitu tuk aktifitas photoblogging kamu ga harus punya alat yang high end, dengan kamera hp pun jadi . lalu teknik, kamu ga perlu punya skill photographer mumpuni tuk jadi seorang photoblogger, bahkan sebuah foto blur/buram dapat tetap bercerita. Yang penting kamu semua punya spirit tuk berbagi foto yang kamu ambil.”
— Kumaha Aing: Photoblogging
“Yang menarik bagi saya adalah adanya konfirmasi bahwa apa yang saya lakukan (memotret, mengolah imagenya, menyimpan di web, dan seterusnya) sudah benar dan memang lazim dilakukan. Bahkan kesulitan yang saya alami pun (misalnya menyimpan berkas foto) sama dengan kesulitan mereka. Bahkan mereka ada yang masih menggunakan foto analog, yang mana mereka harus mencetak fotonya dahulu baru kemudian discan untuk dijadikan bentuk digital.
Kemudian yang sering saya lakukan dengan selamat pagi, ternyata tidak aneh juga. Tadinya saya sudah khawatir banyak yang bosan dengan kelakukan saya yang aneh (memotret foto di tempat yang sama, kemudian menampilkannya dengan judul selamat pagi). Jika ini proyek pribadi, mengapa tidak boleh?”
— Budi Rahardjo: Pertemuan BHTV-Comic: Photoblogging
An Interview with Dicky Jiang
reflected © Dicky Jiang
morning © Dicky Jiang
hospital window © Dicky Jiang
I have known Dicky Jiang for a while now. We live in the same city and we share the same passion in photography. I like his pictures because he sees things differently than most of the other photographers in Bandung. He mostly take pictures of things that most of us overlooked or thought to be mundane or insignificant, yet they’re precious to him. Which is a nice reminder to us all, photographers, to take pictures of what matter most to us, something that only you can take pictures of, something special in your heart. In short, if you look into his photo archives you look into his life. And somehow he can always find the empty, serene, and peaceful side of the city of Bandung which is kind of surreal compared to the complex reality.
—
Tell us a bit about yourself.
I’m a 36 y/o, a husband, a father, and a screen printer.
What do you do, when not taking pictures?
Developing negs, Flickr-ing. Ha ha, kidding, I run a small screen printing business, and do most of the t-shirt designs, so when not clicking the shutter, I’m clicking a mouse. And of course taking times with my family.
What is your first picture ever taken? Can you share it with us? And what’s the story behind the picture?
Well I’m not quite remember it, since it should be taken when I was 13 y/o, but I can give you a story behind the camera, it’s a brand new Yashica FX3 ( I still use it occasionally ). That’s my first camera, I was winning some cash as a prize for a drawing competition (I can’t remember how much, but it’s quite big for a 13 y/o back then), so my dad decided to buy a camera for me. ( way to go dad! ).
We feel emptiness and loneliness in some of your photos. What are you trying to tell us here?
Ouch!, I got that question a lot ( especially from my wife ha ha ). Well, I cannot really describe it either, I thought and try to explain it for myself sometimes.
Maybe it’s got to do with my Melancholy Personality. The dark, gloomy, emptiness & loneliness evokes questions, lots of questions rather than answers. And do you know that, finding the right questions are so often more important than the answers we find? Or maybe I listening to Suede too long.
What do you like to photograph the most? What is your favourite subject?
Many things, I like capturing the mood so I’m not really object oriented. But if I have to pick one it’s got to be birds, flying birds
When you’re walking down the streets and looking through the viewfinder, what do you see?
I typically find myself attracted to a photographic composition because I happened to see it from a certain angle. I’ve learned to just give in to my intuition, with the faith that my subconscious sometimes knows better than my rational self. I cannot rush this delicate process. I’m a slow photographer.
I can’t leave you without asking, why do you collect so many cameras? How you decide to buy a camera?
Well, I don’t collect, in a way as a collector. I just like to experience with different camera, systems, lenses, etc. I think it’s GAS (note: Gear Acquisition Syndrome). Ha ha ha. But once I tried to work with them, and if I don’t feel comfortable with it, I’ll sell them, and try another. so it comes and goes. That’s why I don’t consider my self as a collector.
How much cameras do you own now? Which one do you use the most?
Right now, I have only 6, I’ve just sold many of them recently. Mostly I use Yashica Mat 124G, Hasselblad 500C/M, and Olympus OM2. but as you’ve already knew I just got Rolleiflex 2.8, it’s very comfortable to use very smooth, heavier than Yashica Mat but smooth. I think it’s going to replace the Mat124 .
I understand that you’re preparing your own book now. Care to share with us about the process?
I’m working on photobook about the city I live, and try to capture it on a square format.
What is the meaning of photography for you?
I think photography is a great medium for people to see things the way other people (a photographer) saw it.
—
More of Dicky Jiang’s pictures can be found on his Flickr photostream or through his blog.
Tay Kay Chin: Because I love doing it
“Will you ever quit taking pictures? No, I will take pictures until I die.”
Our meeting was only 5 hours but at the end of today I have learned so much, a lesson in photography and in life.I feel that’s the kind of person Tay Kay Chin is. One of 2003 Hasselblad master. Whose works are acknowledged by a wide range of people. But let’s forget about it for a moment. Right now, he’s a friend who is visiting my hometown, Bandung.
I think he is a simple man who knows exactly what he wants. A man with great ideas, I hope he gets the time to make it all happen. And no Kay Chin, you’re not old.
What did I get from him?
Encouragement
I know I’m easily touched by a song or a movie. But this is different. I actually found a new spirit. Eventhough he didn’t tell me what to do but I now know what I want to do. Well, at least I’m hoping I will head toward the right direction.
Finding what matters most to us
Sometimes we get inspirations from around us. Very close to us. Even from our home. Our daily life.
Do what we love most
Don’t do it for others or what others want or like. Do it because we like it. And if there people who don’t like it, so be it. If I do what I don’t like, I know I will regret it.
Free our mind
Photography is so free, the only limit should be our imagination.
Goodies
A Panoramic Singapore book, a full stomach, and an open mind. What a night! Thanks for everything, Kay Chin!
So from today, I will not try to take pictures, I will tell stories through pictures. Talking pictures. I will not look for great exotic places to shoot, I will start from my home, my city. I will not try to be like other photographers, I will just follow my heart. And I definitely will not stop taking pictures because, just like him, I love doing it.
From Polaroid to Hasselblad
Only nine days from the beginning of this month, I have purchased two good and inspiring book about photography.
I can tell you that it’s hard and rare to find a good photography book in Bandung unless you buy it somewhere online.
One thing I noticed is the price. Why the bookstores here have to put such a high price tag? Do we also have to pay the shipping cost? One book was on a 50% sale only for me to discover similar price on the book’s website. The other book was on a crazy 85% sale only to match the book’s price on Amazon.
So my tip for buying book in Bandung is to check the price on the online store first. Convert it to IDR and you will have a pretty good idea about the price of a book.
The first book is the Polaroid Book.
I love Polaroid. And if you like it as I do, you will also love this book. Even if you can find plenty resources on the internet, seeing it on print is an enjoyable experience. I also like the story of the creation of Polaroid. How Edwin H. Land met Ansel Adams and how both of them further improving the design of this camera. And after reading (I’m not sure if it can be categorized as reading since most of the 400 pages are images – good Polaroid images) the book, I can only say, “I want one just like that” even if here – in Bandung – Polaroid is losing its popularity rapidly.
Today I went to a local photo supply store looking for a Polaroid camera. The answer came quite shocking to me as the owner firmly stated that they don’t sell Polaroid cameras anymore since there is no Polaroid films available. And I can only guessed that the films becoming rare due to the lack of demand. Here in Bandung, Polaroid is considered only as the camera used by “tukang foto keliling” – people who usually hang around some tourist destination area selling their photographic services of taking tourists’ photos for a quite cheap price. From now on, I might have to start looking for Polaroid cameras and films on eBay.
Second book is the Paris Vertical by Horst Hamann.
I have seen New York Vertical before and I love it and I bought Paris Vertical believing that I will also love it. And yes, I love seeing every single black and white photo finely printed on quite a big book (12.9 x 6.3 x 0.7 inches). And if some of you curious about the camera he used, it’s a Hasselblad XPan. What is it with Hasselblad that stuns us? Anyway, I knew about XPan through Gladiarama and now this book and put it on my cameras wish list. Just like what Hasselblad put on the first page of its brochure, this is the perfect camera “for a world less square”.
On the end of this book, Horst Hamann wrote a page titled “Paris Is Not Vertical”. He told us what people said to him. That Paris is not a vertical city. Perhaps those people thought that there are not enough vertical building in Paris to make it into a book, perhaps compared to New York. And how the photographer also evolved in his journey on how to see things.
“In short: my vertical photography was transformed into a kind of vertical view of taking photos, with the entire spectrum of perception and experience that goes along with it. I am now guided to a much greater extent by vertical composition than by vertical objects. Seen in this way, I can confirm what others have told me all along: Paris is not a vertical city. The bustling people, however, the long shadows, the narrow alleyways, the slender statues, the steep stairways, the pointed towers of churches, and yes, even the baguettes and the high heels of French women – all of them raise an alarm on my vertical radar screen.
If you pay attention, you can see that the world we live in is indeed vertical in many different ways.
In the end of today, after reading these two books, I just can’t wait to get my camera and start taking pictures. I believe this kind of books intended to get your inspired more and more, over and over again. The most naive idea of all is to make a Bandung Vertical project.
I also ended up wanting to have the two unique cameras, a Polaroid SX-70 and a Hasselblad XPan!
Bandung Photoblog launched
Starting from today, my friend and I will start our new project, Bandung Photoblog.
Like its name, we will focus ourselves to publish photos about Bandung, a mountain city on West Java, Indonesia. Right now this photoblog is still small, but we’re working on it. Feel free to visit it and I hope you all can enjoy it as much as I do.
That photoblog will be collaborating with the Flickr group, Bandung Photobloggers.
If you happen to have some photos about Bandung you are welcomed to join us (no, you don’t have to be a citizen of Bandung). Enjoy.