The night was hot and the sky was paled blue, what lay beneath was a horde of vehicles, car, bus, three-wheeler, motorcycle and whatever creatures consuming the gas. I was sitting on the top floor of a building smoking a handful of kretek into ashes. My right hand was holding a note which seemed to be no more than a wrinkled piece of paper. This note is a important part of this post you're reading. It was filled with several questions. Question that I would address to an emerging talent of Indonesian photojournalism in front of me: Dwianto Wibowo. Dwianto Wibowo, 20-something, works for TEMPO weekly news magazine. I started to know him just few months ago and soon we're becoming a good friend. But it's not because he's my friend that he can actually appear on this blog. This blog is photo-related, not friend-related. So I better have a good reason putting him in.
As some of you might know, Dwianto just won a prestigious award from Pewarta Foto Indonesia (Indonesian Photojournalist Association). He got the first prize in Photo Essay category and got some other photographs nominated in several others categories. I was both happy and stunned. As a newcomer in Indonesian Photojournalism, his achievement amazed many. However, if you look at his works (you really have to), you will get some clue of why he took away the prize that was wanted by everyone. For me, it's actually not that surprising. I knew he deserve it though.
So, let's not put so much story in this. Dwianto Wibowo will speak for himself about several things (he usually doesn't talk much). Like the title suggested, this will be an exclusive interview. And this "Under the Skin" is planned to be posted continuously by the time I have a chance to "peel" every inspiring photographer I will ever bump into in the future. I hope this interview will invaluable to help us recognizing some less-exposed aspiring photographers and his work closer. Any suggestion and comments will be really appreciated.
And now, let's get under his skin...
(This interview has been translated from Bahasa into English for this blog purposes)
Q: Tell me, how was everything begun, how did you start taking pictures and end up becoming a photojournalist?
A: I love to look at something, for me looking give me a meaning in life. We learn when we look at something. My family is also a big influence. My father love to draw and visual art. But the one with bigger influence was my uncle, who was a journalist. When I was traveling as kid, there was always a camera in my uncle and father's car. And it inspire me somehow, as a kid, to become a journalist in the future. When I enter my study in the college, I once wished that by learning graphic design will help me much in my visual learning process, but that was printing process that i learned. But still it has done something for me. Then about photojournalism, I learned it mostly by making wedding pictures. I shoot frequently in the church. And it was my friend, the one who I learned from, who asked me to go with him. That's how I learned about how to put a story into pictures. In the later years, I try to work for an Indonesian leading newspaper to pursue my learning process from some photographers that I adore. That's how I seriously wanted myself to become a photojournalist. And It was just recently, like 3 or 4 years ago.
Q: As a photojournalist, what is your personal photographic vision?
A: Basically, like all photojournalist, I have a good amount of responsibility to tell something to the others. And I keep learning since I feel I am not yet an expert regarding this matter. And further, I always try to bring some degree of my artistic vision into my photojournalism. The visual of a photographs is just as important as the story inside the pictures itself. It can be said that I want my photography to be both telling stories and visually engaging.