'Orang Biasa' (Ordinary People)

'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)