I’m telling you the truth: Travelers, you need these books. It’s handy, packed with the real info that we actually need and it’s so easy to browse.

The concept is very simple. It shows you top 10 of everything. Let’s take one of the series, Bangkok. It shows 10 ten of what’s cool in Chatuchak weekend market, 10 ten of famous historical events, 10 ten gay bars, 10 ten to visit in old city, etc. So, it’s basically 10 ten of different things that a traveler need to explore, whatever his/her interests are.

It’s published by Penerbit Erlangga in Indonesia, translated from its original published by Dorling Kindersley, London. Check it out!

Nadine Chandrawinata, Jaka Setia and me talking about traveling tips and tricks

We can look scary too

I've told them that putting my face on the backdrop wouldn't help

The worst thing about entrepreneurship forums? People do get addicted. Not to the entrepreneurship, but to the events. I have met some very interesting people during some of my sharing sessions, telling me that they had attended a lot of seminars and loved them so much. I thought, “Maybe it’s time to stop going to seminars and invest your time to actually start your business. In short, start working and stop wasting your time!” I didn’t say it though. I wanted to go home safely.

National Entrepreneurship Forum (NEF) was initiated by AIESEC, the largest student driven organization in the world, and was fully supported by Universitas Indonesia, whose economic faculty is considered the best in this country. I was once again very honored to be invited to such event.

I was about to start writing about this fun event (held in one fine Saturday morning, when I supposed to be sleeping and wake up late. Oh well..) until a message appeared on my Facebook, sent from Besty P. Yustika, who attended NEF and shared me the link to her blog. After reading it, I decided to abort my writing mission and show hers instead, as she wrote it a hundred times better than me. Please read it, you’ll like it.

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Inspire Me at National Entrepreneurship Forum by Besty Yustika

An Eventful Day

I went to the workshop with Trisna and her sister, Fithri. We got to the Faculty of Economics where the venue was located at 09.40 and although I was told the workshop would start at 08.30, thankfully, it hadn’t started when we entered the auditorium.

Trisna walked towards the empty seats at the front row. Fithri followed without hesitation. They chose the very front seats at the centre part.

“Are we sitting here?” I asked uncertainly, still standing, pointing at the chairs at the front row.
“Yes,” said Fithri, who was taking a seat, “so that we can get the most value out of our money,” she added.

Hmm, good point. Why not make each cent of Rp. 60,000,- ticket price I paid worthwhile, especially when I already missed the seminar on the first day. By sitting at the front, chances are, you will tend to absorb more information or ‘forced’ to pay more attention.

The auditorium was already 60% filled and judging from the appearance, I bet most of the participants were university students…which..kind of made me feel ‘senior’ – if ‘old’ is not the proper word to describe it.

Among the speakers that day were photographer Jerry Aurum, Bambang Ifnuruddin Hidayat of Property Plus and Hendy Setiono, owner of Kebab Turki Baba Rafi. In general, their presentations talked about the nature of each business; photography and graphic design, property as being the developer and food retail. What was more interesting, they shared their good and bad experience which naturally revealed their profiles, backgrounds and stories in the early days of their business.

Jerry Aurum who opened up the presentation emphasized on getting start with your business, making trial and error and learning from the mistakes. The essence of his saying is that, we gain experience by doing things wrong. We commonly do things wrong when we start making something. So, start making it happen and begin taking lessons from your failure.

For those who are in constant doubts, his message was clear: You don’t need to wait until you’re ready. It’s ok to make mistakes. The most important thing is to start first.

For those who think about running a business while working as employee, his statement was even more obvious: Impossible. As an alternative, he advised to set a deadline. For instance, quit your job, set a one-year-period to try a business. If it doesn’t seem to go anywhere at all then go back looking for employment.

For those who face negative comments from their surrounding, he referred it as a challenge that will grow as you proceed. He gave an example. One time he got complaints from his client, a big national company. All of a sudden, the discouraging response from his mother on his choice of career years back, seemed to be nothing.

He also pointed out creativity as being different. It doesn’t take an artist to be creative. Even a person with the slightest sense of art can differentiate him/herself from others (with his/her own unusual way).

Another story Jerry shared with us is when he employed 20 staffs, but felt everything had become too stressful. As a result, he decided to focus more on doing photography, making it the cash cow for his business and on the contrary, downsize the graphic design service. At the end, there was a total cut down from 20 staffs to only 5. But, he didn’t just sack these people. Instead, he supported them to be independent as part of his social responsibility. This support must have included knowledge-sharing, which I’m sure Bambang of Property Plus couldn’t be more agree.

Bambang Ifnuruddin Hidayat obtained his Bachelor degree in textile studies and pursued a career working for a textile company. After leaving his job 12 years ago with latest salary of Rp. 25,000,000,-/ month, he embarked on a journey as property developer. His solid experience in growing the business cannot be separated by what he called ‘local wisdom’ or ‘kearifan lokal’.

The following are some essential tips from him:
- Networking and keeping in touch (silaturahmi)
- Sharing
- Make mistakes and learn from it (just as Jerry had said)
- Patience
- Look for land with favourable terms of payment – the more you can extend your payment period, the better it is
- Excellent at negotiating

I think of all the above-mentioned points, the latter is the most crucial one, particularly when it comes to convincing a landowner to release his/her valuable asset – land. I can imagine the level of trust you would need to build upon. Nevertheless, I’m sure it’s worth the effort.

He also reminded me of the art of delegation by outsourcing. In his case, he has always outsourced bureaucratic legal and administration stuffs. Save the time, avoid the fuss, focus on your main task.

The last speaker, Hendy Setiono, is 26 years old, yet he has won several awards in entrepreneurship nation-wide and in Asia-Pacific. His initial business was Kebab Turki Baba Rafi which he started 7 years ago when he was 19.

He quoted a research done by Action Coach which shows that 80% of business fails between the first year until 5th year, making only 20% succeeds. But, from this 20%, only 20% of it continues to survive until year 10. This fact shows that business indeed takes hard work, planning and commitment, which underlines Hendy’s statement that there is no such thing as side-business (bisnis sampingan/ sambilan). I suppose what he said is parallel to what our first speaker said that it is impossible being an employee and running a business at the same time. Business is about focus. Business is about being consistent.

In addition to this, Hendy quoted Sandiaga Uno’s 5 factor to be successful entrepreneur:
- Passionate
- Creative
- Dedication
- Believe
- Grateful

One of Hendy’s food businesses, Ayam Bakar Mas Mono was originally traditional food stall he found in Tebet area. He transformed the traditional management into professional management which eventually elevates the brand.

He believes that the stronger a brand, the more premium the price. This is called brand value. Still, brand value is something you may want to consider at the later stage of your business. Prior to that, developing the system is the element you need to think at the early phase. Most business starts off their operation manually, which is ok. But, as you progress and competition gets more intense, it’s a sign to change the traditional management into professional management. Here are his suggestions on how to do it:

Traditional Management VS Professional Management:
- Learn something new everyday
- The bigger the opponent, the greater the hero (consider our competitors as motivation to be more competitive and creative)
- Put a great team behind you (leaders do things that staffs don’t do, for instance: concept, market research, planning to expand the market, adding outlets, etc)
- Be bankable

Pave My Way

This kind of workshop, I can tell, is not the first I’ve ever had. When I was in Glasgow I went to a young entrepreneurship workshop held at SECC with Ika and Lulu. The speakers were successful Scottish entrepreneurs, like Charan Gil (owner of Indian chain restaurant, Ashoka), Michelle Mone (who ran lingerie business), one guy who made a fortune from media business and a young man who operated catering company and whom Ika once worked for as freelance staff. It was very inspiring and I remember having this ‘bubbly’ feeling when the workshop finished.

Now, after yesterday’s workshop, I also have ‘light’ feeling, but somehow it’s different from the one I had. The thing is, I joined the workshop in Glasgow 3 years ago before starting the soap business. This time, I came to the forum after having the experience of running a soap business. Consequently, I can relate bits and pieces of what they said with my own story. Some of the shared experience is relevant to my own experience, although they are success stories, while mine is not even a profitable one .

When Jerry Aurum suggested taking a full year to do business, I thought to myself, I’ve been there, done that. I did the soap business for a year after leaving my job at a nation-wide retail group. When the soap business turned up to be a loss, I began applying for jobs again. Now, after working for nearly 9 months, my conscience sort of pushes me again to give another shot and launch another business venture. I would do more sharing and delegating, too as I should have done in the past.

This self-reflection gives me some sort of confidence. I think the lessons learned have never been so real especially on how to measure, take logical action, do things better and be committed. Indirectly, it has paved my way to carry out more realistic business steps, not just relying on mere dream and hope.

Referring to the Action Coach survey, we’ll see 5 years from now whether or not my next business will still exists. If yes, then we can sum up that every cent I spent for this forum worth a value. Until then, first thing to do is to put into practice the lessons learned.

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Well, my friends, what are you waiting for? Be an entrepreneur today.

Career Coach Book by René

Saya ketemu René pertama kali di rumah Oscar Lawalata, sewaktu si empunya rumah lagi ultah. Begitu bersalaman, dia langsung melontarkan berbagai pujian soal hasil-hasil foto saya. Tentu saja senang mendengarnya, karena terdengar tulus. Obrolan berikutnya lebih menyenangkan lagi, karena ngobrolin soal wine. Ujung-ujungnya, lebih senang lagi, karena René membawa beberapa really good bottles dan membiarkan saya mencicipinya sampai kandas.

Setelah malam menyenangkan itu, saya merasa ada satu hal yang tandas menjadi persamaan saya dan René: passion. We talked a lot about it. Dan ternyata passion itu adalah senjata utama René dalam segala pembicaraannya, baik di talkshow-nya di Sun TV, ataupun di buku anyarnya, yang fotonya ada di atas. Bersama beberapa orang yang, menurut saya lebih canggih dari saya (biasa, merendahkan diri meninggikan mutu), seperti Ligwina Hananto, Yoris Sebastian, Reza Gunawan dll, kami diberi kesempatan untuk menuliskan sedikit pemikiran yang sejalan dengan penjabaran hangat René mengenai karir hidup kita.

Buku ini sangat menyenangkan untuk dibaca, berbahasa lugas dan ringkas, serta disertai ilustrasi-ilustrasi lucu yang dibuat oleh Citra, kebetulan ternyata calon istri teman baik saya. Untuk anda-anda yang berada di titik nadir pekerjaan, ada baiknya membaca buku ini sebelum memutuskan untuk mabok-mabokan di Dragonfly. René berusaha menggabungkan pemahamannya akan jenjang karir (ingat, career, bukan job!) dengan kejadian-kejadian aktual yang didapatkannya dari pengalamannya menjadi seorang career coach. Hal ini memudahkan kita untuk mengunyah isi kepala René karena langsung terkait dengan apa yang kita alami saat ini.

Saya juga ingin menyampaikan terimakasih saya untuk René yang mengundang saya ke launching buku ini pada tanggal 24 Maret yang lalu, yang digabungkan dengan acara Networking Night-nya Hardrock FM. That was so fun!

Saya tidak akan ulas panjang-panjang, silahkan langsung beli saja di toko-toko buku, untung-untung diskon. Saya akan lampirkan bagian yang saya tulis didalamnya, semoga bermanfaat:

* What’s your passion?

My passion is all about creating. In my line of work, I choose photography as my main interest. Why? It just comes from within. Something that I enjoyed starting doing since day one and slowly become better in it. But I have learned that I never want to be trapped in my self-created box. I also enjoy designing, architecture, writing and movies. They all contribute knowledge and imaginations one to another, and keep fulfilling each other every time I get better in one field.

* What made you decide to do what you are doing right now?

It’s not a one day decision. It’s a kind of trial and error, combined with courage, risk-taking and irresistible urge to keep doing it. Besides, I felt like my creator has given me a little bit of talent in my profession, so it never really felt hard in progressing in it since the beginning. It feels good to know that you can do better in what you do everyday. At the end, I don’t really give too much thoughts on my reasons anymore. It’s more about how I can improve myself and my team every time we have project and obstacle.

* You are a well-known designer and photographer – how do you balance between the need to make yourself a better person against your “external achievement”? (Rene) I ask this question considering your story when you told me that you have decided to keep your team relatively small and that you would take a couple of months off every year

In a creative field like I do, I believe that you can’t do a better work if you fail to make yourself a better person. Once you lose interest, your work will be boring. Once you lose sensitivity, your work will look crappy. So self development is equally as important as the career itself. It’s also important not to make one thing in your life too important. We have to remind ourselves that many other things are also nice besides our passion. And the best part is whatever nice may always contribute back to our passion. It is never a waste to take a couple of months off for a creative mind.

Asiiiek, dapet kue!

Satu dekade. 10 tahun. 120 bulan. 3,652 hari. 87,648 jam. Atau 5,258,880 menit yang lalu, ketika saya memutuskan untuk menentukan jalan hidup saya sendiri menjelajahi belantara dunia industri kreatif di Maret tahun 2000. Hari ini, Jerry Aurum Design & Photography (JADP) masih berdiri disini, still rocking and rolling around, mencoba membuat perubahan buat dirinya sendiri, dan mudah-mudahan, untuk sekitarnya.

Lho, koq jadi serius begini? Maaf, tadi kebawa emosi jiwa, abis kalo dipikir-pikir, diinget-inget, betapa manis dan penuh kenangan 10 tahun yang terjalani ini, boleh untuk nyaingin cerpen di majalah remaja. Kisah JADP sendiri pernah diulas di posting blog ini tahun lalu, From Hobby to Business and How I Started It. Cerita singkatnya, pada saat itu saya berumur 23, belum lama tamat dari ITB, mau sekolah lagi tidak ada uang tetapi sudah kebelet mau jadi entrepreneur, karena tidak mau terkekang oleh aturan main di perusahaan orang lain. Jadilah perusahaan beranggotakan, hmm, satu orang, yaitu saya sendiri, berkembang menjadi dua (nambah satu kurir, masih nyapu ngepel sendiri), lalu jadi puluhan, mengkoleksi klien-klien di berbagai negara, menunaikan beribu proyek, membangun sendiri studio tiga tingkat, memotret keliling berbagai benua, dari udara, darat hingga dalam lautan, berpameran ke manca negara, menerbitkan buku dan menebar ilmu di berbagai seminar. Kedengarannya mantap, bukan? Lagi-lagi maaf, tidak.

Mempertahankan JADP di garis depan tidak semudah, atau sekeren itu. Jadi ga mantap-mantap amat jatuhnya. Terlalu banyak kesalahan yang saya lakukan, mungkin bisa jadi buku baru: Uncountable Stupidity of Me, yang tebalnya bisa buat nimpuk guk-guk. Untungnya, karena saya terlalu pelupa, jadi yang kebodohan yang diinget juga sedikit.

Gosip yang sudah mampir juga tidak kalah canggih. Saya pernah digosipin jadi anak menteri sehingga bisa buat pameran di berbagai negara. Atau digosipin  jadi penanam modal Sour Sally. Pernah digosipin sebagai fotografer yang rela meninggalkan klien kalau tidak sependapat. Atau tidak sudi memotret orang jelek. Atau dikatakan saudaranya Delon (saya ini bapaknya!).

Sejak beberapa tahun lalu, JADP kembali menjadi mungil, dan berusaha sebaik-baiknya untuk tidak tumbuh besar kembali, karena saya ternyata tidak berminat mengurus perusahaan dengan orang banyak. Banyak mengurus jadi sedikit memotret. Tidak asik. Jadi, the company should stay small, the jobs should be big.

Supaya tidak kepanjangan, saya buat jadi bullet points saja ya, apa yang bisa saya inget-inget dalam 10 tahun aksi sepak terjang, jungkir balik, kayang, head-spin dari JADP (sebagian dalam bahasa Inggris, karena kebetulan kedengarannya lebih keren):

• Climbing up is never be that difficult. Keeping the team intact is.
• Fotografi memperkenalkan beribu hal baru: naik helikopter, melihat wanita telanjang (hmm, udah pernah sih sebelum mulai motret), mengunjungi Bahama, menerbitkan buku, makan konro dengan wapres, dirayu sosialita (ouuch), melihat sekolah miskin, tidur di jalan dan banyak lagi
• We have done too many mistakes to count, but I hope people remember our goodness more.
• God knows how much I love what I do, and how I hate doing its admin! I always lose my pen and can never find my stapler.
• Don’t talk about idealism when we are in our ideal situation. When we’re in deep shit, prove it.
• Tiga hal yang bikin saya merasa hidup: eksplorasi ide, memotret dan mendesain. Sisanya, saya jalani supaya tetap hidup.
• Entrepreneurship can be very lonely. Lucky I was well prepared when starting it.
• There is no such establishment. Changes constantly shake it and keep us dancing and rock n rollin!
• Good clients are such a treasure. So are good friends.
• Don’t get into dirty deals. Be a lawyer if you want to do so.
• Never give up. No one wants to deal with losers. Losing doesn’t make us a loser.

It is the 10th year of our journey. I hope we’ll be around for another 100 years and still inspire others in another 1000 years.

Beberapa contoh komposisi dasar tersebut:

Centre composition, menaruh objek di tengah (Femalography, 2006)

1/3 rule, menaruh horizon atau objek di 1/3 tinggi atau lebar foto (Belitung, 2009)

Give enough headroom, ruang kosong di atas kepala harus cukup (Makarizo Print Ad, 2008)

Nah, kenapa kita tidak membuat komposisi-komposisi lain yang lebih asyik? Saya akan share sedikit dari banyak contoh yang saya bagikan di workshop ‘Identity’ di Universitas Pelita Harapan, Maret 2010 ini. (Btw, kenapa namanya Identity ya? Padahal ga ada ngomongin identity sepanjang workshop).

Top down, memotret dari atas ke bawah (Barcelona, 2006)

Extreme proporsion, taruh objek kecil di tengah lingkungan besar atau sebaliknya (Granada, 2006)

Up Close & Personal, cermati detail kecil di sekeliling and be amazed (Ujung Kulon, 2007)

1/5 rule, lebih asyik dari aturan 1/3 (Paris, 2008)

Pada intinya, komposisi itu dipikirkan supaya foto menjadi lebih menarik dan punya kekuatan. Nah, permasalahannya itu ada di masalah enak ga enak dipandangnya. Hey, bukankah ini seni? Bila semua orang setuju akan hukum komposisi yang baik, so pasti berarti itu adalah komposisi yang boring.

Sedikit soal workshopnya sendiri. Saya harus angkat kedua jempol saya untuk mahasiswa UPH yang mengadakan workshop ini. You guys really know how to have fun, don’t you? Selayaknya EO profesional, workshop ‘Identity’ punya semuanya: MC yang kocak, peserta yang antusias, musik yang seru selama acara (malah pada asik karaoke pas jeda, tidak merdu pula), ruangan yang besar dan sejuk serta alat pendukung spt proyektor yang bagus.

Acara dikemas dalam 3 segmen: ‘kuliah’ soal komposisi (senang berasa jadi dosen), lomba foto dan penjurian terbuka. Hasil lomba fotonya ternyata cukup mengagetkan (ga kaget sih, mahasiswa senirupa itu cuma perlu sedikit arahan pasti langsung men-canggih hasil fotonya) dan penjuriannya seru banget (termasuk buat jurinya, setiap nilai harus disebutkan dengan lantang). Sedikit promosi, seluruh konsep acara lahir dari saya sendiri (I told you, it’s worth paying me!). Sebagai penutup, terima kasih untuk: Pak Ibam dan Pak Arthur dari UPH yang menemani saya menjuri, para panitia yang handal dan semangat karaoke, tim saya yang selalu setia menemani, and last but not least, para peserta workshop yang tekun mendengar celotehan saya.

Jadi pak guru lagi

Lomba foto

Registrasi hasil lomba

Para juara

Nama penjahat di t-shirt panitia

Duduk manis mendengarkan pak guru

Klub foto saya, dan satu-satunya organisasi fotografi yang saya ikuti, Perhimpunan Amatir Foto atau yang dikenal dengan PAF, barusan ultah, ke 86, dirayakan di Vin’s Berry, Bandung, Februari lalu. Udah kakek-kakek. Umurnya yang lanjut menjadikan PAF sebagai klub foto tertua di Indonesia. Masihkah ada yang menarik untuk ikut klub foto? Apa untungnya? Bagaimana resepnya untuk bisa bertahan, mengingat sifatnya yang non profit?

Saya masuk PAF tahun 94, disaat saya menganggur selama setahun, tidak keterima masuk universitas idaman saya. Nah, kelimpunganlah saya mencari ’sekolah’ sementara dan bermuaralah hari-hari saya di PAF, yang pada saat itu sedang bangga-bangganya dengan sekretariat barunya yang berlantai 3. Hunting foto bareng adalah salah satu yang paling saya gemari (sehingga saya tidak perlu nyetir ke lokasi). Begitu juga lomba foto bulanannya (ajang unjuk gigi) dan pertemuan bulanannya (ajang cari jodoh. Sayang, 99% laki semua).

PAF bertahan 86 tahun. Kuncinya? Respect and fun. Being respected: Senior-seniornya terpandang, diakui di dunia lomba amatir, selalu ringan tangan membantu klub dan terutama, membantu yang muda-muda. Being fun: Suasana kekeluargaannya itu loh. Kultur PAF itu selalu ‘rendah hati’, tidak sibuk membandingkan gengsi kamera, tapi kualitas karya. Jadi, fun-fun aja.

So guys, bergabunglah dengan klub foto manapun. You will learn more and it’s always fun!

Catatan: Sewaktu seorang senior PAF Andi Wijaya meminta saya berbagi ilmu di acara ultah, saya katakan, saya tidak mau datang kalau kurang dari 100 orang. Hasilnya? 250 orang duduk manis mendengarkan. Thanks Pak dan salute untuk panitia. Just like our old days at the club, rame!

Ketua baru potong tumpeng

Lomba mengerubungi model

Yang belum pulang sempetin bikin foto keluarga

Photo by Fana Gilang Ramadhan

Wondering Eyes, Wonderful Eyes

By Jerry Aurum

Mata adalah jendela jiwa untuk mengintip dunia. Kita bisa melihat banyak, namun visual yang terekam tidaklah memberi makna apapun selama tidak terolah dalam akal pikiran, atau lebih dalam lagi, dalam perasaan kita. Seiring pertumbuhan kita menjadi manusia dewasa, pemaknaan kita terhadap kehidupan di sekitar kita semakin lama semakin mengkristal, semakin matang, dalam bahasa umumnya. Kematangan ini menjadi pola kita berpikir dan bertindak, terpengaruh dari pengalaman yang pernah kita alami tentunya.

Apakah ada yang salah dari wacana ini? Sulit disimpulkan, namun yang pasti, banyak yang kita lupakan akan sudut pandang kita terhadap berbagai hal sewaktu kita kecil. Apa yang menarik buat kita? Apa yang membangkitkan semangat? Menggugah keingintahuan? Membuat kita berkhayal? Membuat kita bercita-cita? Atau sekedar mengagumi keindahan yang kemudian jadi memori?

Bagaimana bila kita mendapatkan kesempatan untuk kembali meneropong sekitar kita dari kacamata kita sewaktu kita kecil, belasan atau puluhan tahun yang lalu? Dapatkah kita mengira-ngira, apa yang akan kita rekam (start wondering)? Akankah sekeliling kita seindah, atau seburuk yang kita pikir sekarang (is it wonderful)?

Agaknya ide inilah yang menjadi dasar pemikiran seorang Hikaru Nagatake, fotografer kawakan dari Jepang yang telah melanglang-buana dari pedalaman Amazon, Eropa hingga pelosok Asia. Sempat lama menjadi fotografer Magnum, tentu saja daya eksplorasi dan estetika Hikaru telah menempatkannya dalam jajaran fotografer internasional terpandang.

Hikaru muncul dengan ide Wonder Eyes hampir 10 tahun yang lalu. Ketika itu ia sedang meliput di kawasan konflik di Timor Timur. Hikaru melihat betapa anak-anak disana tetap saja menjadi anak-anak dengan segala sifat dasarnya, walaupun konflik mengerikan sedang terjadi disekelilingnya. Tertariklah Hikaru untuk melihat lebih jauh, melalui mata anak-anak itu.

Photo by Prasetyo

Dalam program Wonder Eyes, Hikaru mengunjungi desa-desa terpencil di dunia, termasuk di Bukit Barisan Selatan di Lampung dan desa Tessonilo di Riau. Ia membagikan puluhan kamera saku instan dan digital kepada anak-anak dan meminta mereka untuk memotret apa saja yang menarik untuk mereka. Sebagian harus memotret di tempat, sebagian boleh membawanya pulang ke rumah. Tidak hanya itu, mereka kemudian beramai-ramai mencetak hasil fotonya, menyaksikan keajaiban printer bekerja.

Apakah yang kita temui? Kejujuran, kepolosan, estetika, daya nalar dan semangat. Tanpa pengajaran, konten dan konteks visualisasi anak-anak ternyata tidak pernah gagal mengejutkan kita. Lihatlah foto seorang bapak memamerkan otot tubuhnya karya Nurul Zainuri. Cermati foto seorang anak kecil sedang melompat ke sungai, dengan momen jepret yang jitu. Atau foto seorang anak lainnya di tengah lokasi longsor, dengan komposisi asimetris. Foto makro embun menetes di dedaunan yang memerlukan ketajaman estetika, jepretan Fana Gilang Ramadhan.

Kita beralih ke foto seekor semut raksasa dekat sebilah kayu karya Danang. Penempatan kayu dan latar belakang kerikil memberi kita perbandingan besar objek, entah disadari oleh sang pemotret atau tidak. Bandingkan dengan foto seorang anak perempuan dalam seragam sekolah, a la portraiture, oleh Rosiana Desmayanti. Atau foto capung merah tua karya Lucky, sangat kontras di depan latar hijau.

Photo by Danang

Photo by Desmayanti

Dilihat dari sisi teknis fotografinya, sudah layak kiranya kita berdecak kagum. Namun kekuatan sesungguhnya ada di dalam latar belakang pemotretannya. Mereka memilih dengan jujur apa yang hendak mereka foto, yang mewakili ketertarikan mereka akan hal itu. Tidak banyak, atau mungkin bahkan tidak ada, tujuan lain yang ingin mereka sampaikan. Tidak ada politik, tidak ada agenda.

Hikaru mengusung kekuatan besar dalam kesederhanaan idenya sebagai penggagas Wonder Eyes. Ia memperlihatkan kepada dunia, talenta terpendam dari orang-orang, atau anak-anak, yang luput terperhatikan. Ia mengingatkan kita, akan keindahan kehidupan alami yang mungkin tidak pernah kita rasakan, atau mungkin telah kita rusak. Ia membuat kita merenung, memberi kilas balik, merasakan kembali impian kita, dengan meminjam jasa anak-anak yang mungkin tidak pernah melihat kamera apapun dalam hidup mereka sebelumnya.

Start wondering, how wonderful life can be? You should.

Jakarta, Februari 2010

All images are properties of Wonder Eyes and Hikaru Nagatake. Please use with permission.

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You just read my curation on Wonder Eyes photo exhibition. It is exhibited in Jakarta in February 2010 (Taman Menteng and Japan Foundation) and continuing in Japan, also in this year.

Some images from the discussion session on Feb 12 at Taman Menteng:

Me, Hikaru Nagatake & Rini from WWF Indonesia

Dien the MC and the talented photographer,Nurul Zainuri

Smile!

This book is about true stories of young entrepreneurs in Indonesia: how they started, what inspired them and where they are now. Written by a famous educator, motivator, Prof. Dr. Rhenald Kasali, you can get the copy at any bookstores now.

When a friend of mine called and congratulated me, I was pretty clueless. I didn’t know that Rhenald included my story (page 126). No complain though. I feel honored.

Some of Rhenald’s mantra as his conclusions on my entrepreneurship:
- Give the very best of your quality. Never think that people buy your image or brand.
- Limit our products. Quality products are not mass products.
- Be consistent on pricing. Your price shows your quality.
- Be exclusive.
- Give credence. It’s the symbol of trust.
- Always stay ahead. Your credibility is your challenge.

Piyu

From hundreds of media coverage of  ‘In My Room’ exhibition/book, I only wrote one article by myself, published by Rolling Stones in Dec 2009. Here it is:

Mengapa kamar? Mengapa portraiture? Bagaimana bisa masuk ke kamar lebih dari 100 orang tokoh di Indonesia?

Semuanya berawal dari keinginan saya untuk keluar dari comfort zone saya dua tahun lalu. Sejak awal saya jatuh cinta pada dunia kreatif, saya percaya bahwa insan kreatif manapun hanya bisa menjadi besar dan matang bila ia tidak berhenti menantang diri dan kemampuannya dengan selalu mencari tantangan dan pelajaran baru di luar bidang yang telah ia kuasai. Ibaratnya, jangan takut untuk menjadi anak TK lagi.

Setelah buku saya yang pertama, Femalography, yang notabene sangat konseptual, menampilkan tehnik terbaik yang saya punyai, penuh dengan detail dan kematangan ide, saya merasa sudah saatnya keluar dari lingkup yang telah dijalani selama 5 tahun pembuatan bukunya. Muncullah di benak saya untuk membuat pameran yang tidak berkonsep (it’s all about capturing, not creating), tidak memakai teknis fotografi yang canggih, tidak melibatkan survei lokasi dan juga tidak ada diskusi terlebih dahulu dengan subjek fotonya. Saya pikir, pasti seru! Saya pikirkan lagi selama 3 menit lebih lama, dan lahirlah ide untuk membuat portraiture dari 100 tokoh Indonesia, di kamarnya yang paling pribadi. Pasti ini akan menarik untuk saya, untuk para tokoh itu sendiri dan juga untuk yang melihat hasilnya kelak.

Tantangan terbesar ada dari segi penjadwalan, karena semuanya sama-sama sibuk. Tetapi rata-rata semua tokoh yang dihubungi mau difoto, dan terlihat excited, karena mereka juga belum pernah mengalami pemotretan seperti ini sebelumnya. Saya pikir, dalam retrospeksi saya, ide yang baik akan membuahkan respon yang baik. Saya pikir orang-orang ini rela difoto di kamarnya masing-masing karena mereka menaruh respek kepada ide itu sendiri, dan cukup penasaran juga untuk melihat hasilnya, yang akhirnya baru mereka bisa lihat pertama kalinya pada saat pameran dan peluncuran bukunya di Senayan City pada tanggal 23 Oktober yang lalu.

Ini benar-benar petualangan. Banyak kejadian seru dan lucu terikut di dalamnya. Pada saat saya masuk ke kamar Ringgo, saya melihat kamar yang benar-benar kosong melompong. Apalagi yang bisa difoto kalo bukan Ringgo sendiri, saya pikir. Dan tentu saja, harus gokil. Begitu juga dengan foto Denada. Wanita cantik ini, yang menurut saya dari dulu selain memiliki suara dahsyat tetapi juga gokil dan rock n rollin’, dengan santainya datang dengan konsep untuk berpose didalam sehelai sprei. Mengapa tidak?

Pada akhirnya, hal terpenting dalam petualangan ini tidak lain tidak bukan adalah penangkapan karakter. Karakter yang tergali akan menarik untuk dilihat, dinikmati, bahkan dicermati. Sebagai fotografer, itu artinya pencapaian, prestasi dan tentu saja, kepuasan batin.

Andra Matin

Daniel Mananta

Joko Anwar

Julie Estelle

Martha Tilaar

Nirina Zubir

Rachel Maryam

Wimar Witoelar

Ringgo Agus Rahman

Shelomita

Wulan Guritno

Belitung! As most of everyone else in Indonesia, I saw this beautiful island through Laskar Pelangi, a feature film by Riri Riza. I love the movie and after visiting the island, I loved its beaches too.

Belitung is only 45 minutes flight from Jakarta (we flew Batavia Air). It’s a small island, only 244 hectare, which will only take 2 hours to go across it. It’s basically divided into two: North Belitung and East Belitung.

I unfortunately didn’t have much time to really explore the island. So we decided to focus on the northern part of the island, whose highlight was Tanjung Tinggi. We also went to a fishermen kampoeng near Tanjung Pandan and a museum which wasn’t very interesting for me (I usually loved museum ).

We stayed at Lorr Inn, for free, as the whole event was sponsored by HP. You would need to pay approximately 600 thousand – 1,5 million rupiah per night to stay there. It’s nice though.

Talking about the event, it’s a pretty interesting experience. The participants came from really different backgrounds, as they were random winners of HP program ‘Print Your Holiday With Famous Photographer’ (I have no idea who it refers to). A teacher, an IT guy, an aircraft maintenance specialist, an aluminium sales are some to mention. My experience in teaching photography to real newbies is very limited, so I took the event as quite challenging. If I have failed to make them interested in photography, I thought, I would then focus on the durian that we bought on the way to our photo hunting location. Luckily, I got both.