Garuda Indonesia Colours Magazine October 2014

Explore | Masterclass 27 MASTERCLASS Portraiture My fascination with portrait photography was triggered by chance. Ketertarikan saya pada foto portrait tercetus secara kebetulan. When I started travelling some years ago, it was the places that appealed to me, but then I began to realise it is the people that will give you a lasting impression of a destination. People are the essential part of a travel experience. Without them, we can hardly make any connection with the place we are visiting. This is when I started taking portraits, digging up stories from seemingly ordinary faces. In portrait photography, you may well think that technique matters most, but it is actually your ability to communicate that is more important. For me, it is an incredibly rewarding form of photography. Saat pertama kali melancong beberapa tahun lalu, hal yang menarik bagi saya adalah tempat. Namun kemudian saya mulai menyadari, hal yang membuat sebuah tempat berkesan justru adalah manusianya. Tanpa mereka, kita tidak akan bisa merasakan kedekatan d engan tempat yang kita kunjungi. Dari situlah, saya mulai memotret wajah, menggali cerita dari wajah-wajah masyarakat awam. Dalam foto portrait, Anda mungkin menganggap teknik sebagai hal terpenting, namun sesungguhnya justru kemampuan berkomunikasilah yang lebih menentukan. Bagi saya, hal tersebut merupakan keuntungan lain dari fotografi. Muhammad Fadli is an Indonesian photographer with a great passion for travel. Born in Bukittinggi, he has based himself in Jakarta for the last four years. When not working on editorial and commercial assignments, he is actively focusing on his personal projects. He is one of the founding members of Arka Project, an independent collective of Indonesian photographers, and his photographs have been published by periodicals including Monocle, The New York Times and Forbes Indonesia. Muhammad Fadli adalah fotografer asal Indonesia yang suka melancong. Pria kelahiran Bukittinggi ini sudah tinggal di Jakarta selama empat tahun terakhir. Lepas mengerjakan tugas editorial dan komersial, dia fokus mengerjakan proyek-proyek pribadinya. Dia juga salah seorang pendiri Arka Project, perkumpulan fotografer Indonesia independen. Foto-fotonya kerap muncul di berbagai majalah seperti Monocle, The New York Times, dan Forbes Indonesia. The Mentawai Shaman The Mentawai people are a traditional community living in the jungles of Siberut, the biggest island of those that form the Mentawai archipelago off the west coast of Sumatra. Many of them still live like their ancestors did many centuries ago, practising hunting and gathering, tattoo art and shamanism. I was lucky enough to witness one of their religious rituals. The man in the photograph is Aman Lepon, a young shaman from the village of Buttui. Here, he is applying some sort of make-up made from charcoal just before the ceremony begins. The fire helped project a mystical look into the portrait. Muhammad Fadli www.muhammadfadli.com Penduduk Mentawai adalah masyarakat adat yang tinggal di hutan Siberut, pulau terbesar di Kepulauan Mentawai. Sebagian besar cara hidup mereka masih seperti nenek moyang mereka berabad lalu serta melaksanakan berbagai ritual spiritual. Saya cukup beruntung dapat menyaksikan salah satu ritual keagamaan yang mereka lakukan. Pria dalam foto ini adalah Aman Lepon, seorang spiritualis muda dari Desa Buttui. Di sini, dia memakai semacam rias wajah dari arang sebelum upacara dimulai. Api membantu merefleksikan nuansa mistis ke dalam potret.

Garuda Indonesia Colours Magazine October 2014 | Page 29