Interview
Wellington about his work,
his city and
the Internet
Run Granny Run!
At the time I took this photo I was addicted to street photography (after seeing Henry Cartier Bresson's photo exhibition in Singapore). It happened that i found this place (its under a bridge), and the light and shadow was so perfect that I just "camped" there and wait for the moment to come.
When this grandma saw me, she thought she was blocking me so she ducked a bit and walked faster - which made her look like she was crossing a finish line.
10 Things You Can Find in Singapore
Café Malam (3D Visualisation - Interior)
Aircon Alley
One of my favorite spots in Singapore. Surreal and full of contrasts.
The Last Resort (IR photo)
Small O and Big O (IR photo)
Taken in Toa Payoh Park Singapore, near to my old office.I noticed that the reflection of the bridge in the pond forms two letter O's.
The Lost City (IR photo)
Taken in an abandoned Asian Village in Sentosa Island - it used to be an attraction of the island, but it's closed now. Using IR and a fisheye lens produced an image that can't be seen by our own naked eyes
I'm with You
Many people ask me who this couple is and whether this scene is staged...
No, I don't know them and it was just luck for me to capture this scene. It was a rainy day in Singapore Little India, I took shelter in a temple when I saw this scene and took the photo. I did a little post-processing - desaturated the colors and increased the grain.
Life Goes On
The model is my friend Lisha, that time we wanted to do some "heartbroken"
photos (she just broke up with her boyfriend). All photos in this series were taken in black and white and using only available light in some back alley in Tanjong Pagar area. The complete series can be found at http://www.archlover.com/lisha
Oh Happy Day
The model is my friend Jess, it was her birthday that day. And it happens that wore yellow clothes and brought a yellow umbrella ( she loves yellow). We went to Fort Canning park and made some photos in a happy birthday mood. I like to use fast lens ( f/2.0 in this case) to get depth in my photos.
Why did you move to Singapore, and how do you compare it to Indonesia?
Singapore offers many job opportunities and salaries a few times higher than Indonesia, so I was being realistic about my career… But I also did it for the experience - I think it's great to try living in a community that's different from your own, different language, culture, food, place, and the way of thinking.
It wasn’t easy, especially at first, because I have left all my friends and family in my home country and I was starting all alone. Only after a while did I manage to make friends here.
Container World
Singapore's Tanjong Pagar Port, seen from 31st floor. I used fisheye lens and put the horizon on the top to get the curvy effect. I always amazed how they can arrange all the containers so nicely, it's tidier than my room...
The pace of living and working is so much faster in Singapore! However, I feel that I can do more things here, and I am more independent than I was at home. As for photography, I cannot really compare the two countries, as I only started here in Singapore and I haven’t really had a chance to take a lot of photos in Indonesia. I do think that Indonesia will have more photographic opportunities though, it’s a very beautiful country and we have so many nice landscapes and nature views!
4. You are involved in so many related disciplines: photography, architecture, 3D modeling, interior design... Do you find many similarities between them?
Actually, I see mainly contrasts between architecture / 3D modeling / design and photography...
The former three are all about creating something that doesn’t exist yet, while photography is capturing something that's already there (although sometimes also we create something as well...). I like the process of creating things.
The best thing about photography is that it can capture emotion, mood, and can record the things that we "created".
As for the similarities, I think the basic composition and the creative process are almost the same.
How would you describe your photography? What are you focusing on?
I think there are two sides to my photography. Firstly, I like to capture reality; this is mostly found in the urban / cityscape / landscape images. This is how I started photographing; I was traveling a lot and when I was leaving I always felt pity not to have any images of the urban scenes and city views.
Secondly, I “create” something more surreal, usually by infrared photography.
Tell us about infrared photography...
I don’t really understand the science behind it :) I can only say, the process involves using an IR filter to block visible light and catch infrared light. The result is that objects that emit more infrared light will appear brighter – for example, leaves are very bright in the infrared spectrum, so they stand out on the pictures.
IR photography can be done with any camera with an IR filter, but it takes long shutter times depending on how sensitive your digital camera’s sensor is.
River of Dream (IR photograph)
As for me, I got an old Canon D30 that I got modded for infrared use only by an Indonesian IR photography expert Mr. Harlim (he’s a really cool guy! ^^). What he did is he took off the hot mirror in front of the sensor of the camera and replaced it with an infrared filter. This way I can do IR photography with normal shutter speed.
This kind of photography creates a very surreal effect, it's like you take the photo in a familiar
place but in the picture it looks like in Mars or somewhere... This also means more photographic opportunities in the same place, the results can be very different from pictures others make.
Your equipment?
Other than the modified Canon D30 that I mentioned, I’m still using the same old Canon 350D that I bought more than 2 years ago. Plus some lenses, my favorite one is the EF-S 10-22 f/3.5-4.5, plus a 50 f/1.8, 15 f/2.8 fisheye and a 135 f/2.0.
A Night in Punggol Beach
This photo was taken in nearly pitch black conditions, all the light I had was coming from the port across the sea - I had to bulb for
2.5 minutes.
What kind of computer software do you use?
At work I'm using Autocad for doing the 2D works (layouting, plan, elevation, structure / working drawing) and 3DsMax/Viz for making the 3D models. Sometimes i use V-ray rendering engine and Photoshop for touch-up of the 3D scenes. Right now i'm using Google Sketch-Up! a lot..
For my photographs I mainly use Photoshop for doing the post-processing, and Canon DPP for my RAW-Files. Usually i only use RAW format for IR photos.
You have learned a lot from Internet forums. Can you tell us about your involvement in online communities?
I can say my photographic life can't be separated from online communities. I basically learned everything from scratch from people there, especially from www.fotografer.net - it's the biggest and most active Indonesian photographic community. It has more than 50.000 members and the gallery has millions of photos (really!). We can learn from other users’ feedback about our photos. However, I learn most from the forums and of course Yahoo Messenger Conference sessions with some members ^^
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I am also member of www.clubsnap.com, a Singapore online photography community, and of course www.deviantart.com - which I think has all the nicest photos from all over the world. Plus I like to browse some of my favorite photographers’ galleries, to get ideas and just to be amazed ^^
Waiting for the Wet Clothes
This was an empty room where I was to do an interior project. I went there for a site visit, saw some hanging clothes that belonged to a worker, so i tooe a photo before starting with my job. The sunlight and the shiny floor material give a perfect reflection. I cropped the image to make it symmetrical.
What are your plans for the future?
I'm planning to work in Singapore for maybe another 2-3 years, then go back to Indonesia to start my own business. I'm also thinking of doing photography as a job later... I don't know, nothing is confirmed yet, I'm not a type of person that likes to plan for long-term...!
My dream (I just call it dream, it's so hard to achieve haha) is to
travel around the world, and take photos everywhere I can, then do an
exhibition after that... ^___^
Good luck, we are sure you can achieve it! Thank you very much for the interview!
Interview by Pawel Pohl
See previous month's Featured Artist