'Orang Biasa' (Ordinary People)

Orang Biasa (Ordinary People); By Deniek G. Sukarya; PT Sukarya & Sukarya Pandetama; Rp 260,000; 144 pp.

JAKARTA (JP): This is a collection of candid portraits of the smiling faces of Indonesian children and elderly people, the hard but enjoyable life of the people, and the country's inspiring cultures.

Images of painful economic hardship are seemingly prohibited in this 24 cms by 24 cms book.

So, it will be an inspiring book for those, particularly tourists, with views of Indonesia and the Indonesian people which center on paddy fields, mountains, the sea, traditional costumes and, most of all, Bali!

But it's obviously not the work of an amateur travel photographer.

Deniek G. Sukarya, a Bali-born noted commercial photographer, has chosen the best of his black-and-white photo collection he snapped between 1975 and early this year for this high-quality photo collection book, which is his second after Enchanted Moments.

Almost all of the subjects come alive with vivid characters in illustrative surroundings and nature.

With only a few taken in medium-format, the 128 pictures in the book -- written in Bahasa Indonesia and English -- start with the happy-looking kids of Kaliurang (Yogyakarta), Bali, Jakarta, Brebes (Central Java), Bromo and Ketapang (both in East Java).

Other sections are on babies and their parents, including one which stands out of a father sitting with his son in Jakarta, the elderly and their routine activities, and women and men at work.

The book closes the parade with a photograph of three men, one of whom is stretching his hands up into the air. The picture, shot three years ago in Yogyakarta, is also one of the three pictures on the cover of the book.

In short, Orang Biasa is of value to those who love views of peaceful Indonesia and photo enthusiasts alike. (K. Basrie)