Interview with Landscape photographer Daniel Tjongari

Daniel Tjongari was born in Surabaya, Indonesia, on January 8, 1977. Daniel learn photography at Malaysia from one of fine art Master from Brooks Institute of Photography USA who concern about Ansel Adams’s Black & White zone systems.

For Daniel photography is about imagination, emotion and trying to put a little of your soul into every picture you take. It really doesn’t matter what gear you have. I always imagine what I want to say in each of the pictures. Creating a real picture becomes unreal in his camera this is what he love about photography. The country where he live and was born is the largest archipelago in the world and also the country that has the largest and most active volcanoes in the world. That is why Indonesia is called by the name “ring of fire”. In the our lifetime we will never be able to spend the time to spend every corner of this country, and every location has an artistic value to be capture including volcano.

Daniel believe We all experience life from our own perspective and we are each the combination of our emotional experiences. This means that no two people will emotionally experience the world in the same way. It is always interesting to see how your audience responds to your images, but you should always stay true to your own imagination and soul. To tell your own story…

How and when did you become interested in photography?

First I was intrigued by friends who like shooting in my neighborhood, this occurred approximately in 2012.
In 2013, I became infatuated with the art of black and white photographs and decided to learn and go to Malaysia with one of the masters of fine art black and white.

Is there any artist/photographer who inspired your art?

I have 2 photographer who inspired me 1. Ansel Adam and 2. Hengki koentjoro.

Why do you work in black and white rather than colour?

In black and white we can see how art work. In black and white I can feel how to express my feel and my emotion, and from black and white picture not just a picture rather than color, its beyond our imagination.

How much preparation do you put into taking a photograph/series of photographs?

Sometimes for one location I need one day for take a survey about light and time. And than for the second day I will take a shoot. I can shoot full time in 1 day from early morning until sunset.
I shoot using high speed photography if there is a human in my frame. And a lot I using long exposure technique for taking some dramatic picture. In post processing I used Adobe Photoshop, just easy editing used bright contrast, curve, dodge burn, no adding other part from other image.

Where is your photography going ? What projects would you like to accomplish?

I want to introduce to the world of nature Indonesia can I show through art. Project I want to do is to shoot all the volcanoes in Indonesia, the volcano is the epitome of a grandeur of the universe.

Websites:
www.danieltjongari.wordpress.com
www.behance.net/Daniel_Tjongari