Deniek's photos capture the beauty of nature

By K. Basrie

JAKARTA (JP): For many observers of Indonesian photography, Deniek G. Sukarya's works are nothing but sky, clouds, sea, trees, rivers, beaches, paddy fields and buffaloes.

And Deniek is proud of this.

"Yes, I love recording nature, although I have to wait hours and days to get the correct light and composition," Deniek, one of the country's few professional commercial photographers, said last Thursday prior to his premiere three-week solo exhibition.

One can easily recognize Deniek's photographs, as most of them are colored with glittering sunlight.

At a glance, most of the photographs are simply of lonely and deserted villages, shores or fields. Very few of his published works feature close-ups of people.

"I'm very careful about taking photographs which clearly show people's faces. I respect the copyright of both photographers and models.

"That's why I always have a model's release in my pocket while looking for pictures," said Deniek, who became seriously involved in photography some 23 years ago with an Olympus SLR.

A number of times, he has had to return to where he took a photograph to have a person sign a release form.

"I rarely pay the models; only if I feel they deserve some money. And it's not a lot of money. Otherwise, other photographers would suffer because of me," he said.

So it is understandable that his works feature more trees and buffaloes than people.

If people do make an appearance, it is only their backs or silhouettes.

The 120 color images displayed at his ongoing exhibition, titled Deniek G. Sukarya -- Enchanted Moment, in the Cahya photo gallery in Menteng Plaza, Central Jakarta, display all of these qualities.

According to him, the photographs were carefully selected from his collection of some 3,000 35-millimeter slides and six-by-six transparencies.

"They're not only about a recorded moment of place and time, but also pieces of rare moments which cannot be found again .... Sometimes, for example, I can't find the trees that I shot before," he explained.

"To be frank, it's all about my personal emotions," said Deniek, who rarely use negatives, except for his black-and-white prints.

The 50-centimeter by 60-centimeter prints, for sale at between US$250 and $400 each, portray the nature and life of Bali and Java.

"(The photographs) talk about the nature-human interaction and the nature-nature interaction," he said.

Deniek admitted his works were "not too strong".

"Most of them I took during assignment at the locations," said the Bali native, who is also a founding member of the Leica Photography Club of Indonesia.

Deniek, who has published his works through various medium, including calendars, diaries and posters, has never been to Irian Jaya, an ideal location for many photographers due to its colorful culture and unspoiled landscape.

Coming from a poor family, Deniek has been working since junior high school.

While studying in Japan in the early 1970s, he worked as a dish washer, English teacher, assistant photographer and reporter.

He moved to Singapore in 1978, where he wrote articles for several publications before becoming the creative director at an advertising company there.

Now, besides taking photographs, Deniek also manages the Cahya photo gallery on the second floor of Menteng Plaza.

"We aim to promote photographs as works of art," he said.

All of Deniek's photographs on display at the gallery until Aug. 29 will be printed, together with 60 of his other works, in a book bearing the same title as the exhibition.

"The deluxe edition is expected to be launched in November this year at the price of $65, or with the local price tag of Rp 385,000," he said.

The book will include technical descriptions of the works and an explanation of the setting of each photo, he said.