Surabaya crime reporter wins top photography honor
By K. Basrie
JAKARTA (JP): Before his picture won first prize for spot news in the 39th World Press Photo contest, Sholihuddin was just another reporter in the East Java capital of Surabaya. Nor did his colleagues in Jakarta know anything about the crime reporter from the Surabaya-based Jawa Pos daily.
But now Sholihuddin has a special place among Indonesia's reporters and photo journalists.
His photography hobby led him to become the first Indonesian citizen ever to win first prize in an international press photography competition.
His photograph of a military truck tipping over and the frightened faces of over 100 youths and a military-uniformed driver won over the nine-member international jury, which gave Sholihuddin top honors in the spot news category.
"To be frank, I never thought that I could win any of the prizes because for many years, the prize-winning entries were all war shots," Sholihuddin told The Jakarta Post last Wednesday at the Erasmus Huis, where his picture along with the other prize winners will hang until March 6.
Sholihuddin, who is more commonly called Sho, not only pocketed 2,500 guilders (US$1,460) and a return ticket to Amsterdam, but the 31-year-old reporter also "disgraced" the country's corp of photo journalists.
In his opening speech at the exhibition, information minister Harmoko said: "I'm very proud that an Indonesian won first place but what amazes me is that the winner was not a photo journalist but a crime reporter."
The crowd of photo journalists only responded with innocent- looking smiles.
"Only a few people on this earth could capture such a lucky moment like Sholihuddin," commented Agus Butar-Butar, a press photographer .
But according to Sho, it was not a lucky moment.
Right place
When he was assigned on May 17, 1995, to cover the activities of the supporters of Surabaya's football club Persebaya, which was playing against Semarang's PSIS, Sho got a tip that the local military had prepared 10 trucks to transport the supporters in order to avoid any incidents.
"I decided to find a proper place to capture this rare event of a military truck carrying football supporters," said Sho, who never leaves home without his gear.
Worried that the young supporters would grab his camera, Sho stood up in front of the Tangkubeng police station, which is about half a kilometer away from the Tambak Sari stadium in Surabaya, and waited for the trucks to pass by.
A few other reporters and photo journalists were nearby but still several meters away from his position.
It was around 6:15 p.m. when the first truck passed by. He took one shot. The second truck was more interesting because there were people aboard.
"From far away, I could see that the second military truck was overloaded. The supporters might have been thinking that only two vehicles were available and unaware that eight other vehicles were on their way to pick them up," Sho recalled.
He sensed that something was about to happen to the second truck full of passengers in the back, who kept shouting and waving flags and banners to celebrate their team's victory. Sho said he was ready and waiting to take a shot with his manual Vivitar SLR camera, a 28-210 mm zoom lens and a National flash.
When the truck started to move, Sho was in a ready-to-shoot position. A few steps in front of him, the truck carrying over 100 youths began tilting to the right side and turned over under its heavy load.
"I was only able to get one shot of the incident because some of the supporters thrown out from the truck collided with me," Sho said.
Before heading back to his office, Sho snapped a few more shots as policemen and passers-by came to the scene.
He then rushed to his office, developed the film and wrote about the incident. Sho was also happy with his shot and decided to offer it to his boss for page one. The next day, the picture appeared on the front page along with his story.
"Most of the passengers escaped unharmed, but 12 were hospitalized with minor injuries," he said in the May 18 edition of the Jawa Pos.
But he was unhappy with the size of the photo published, until the AFP news agency in Jakarta called him for a copy. In return, the agency mailed him $50 to cover postal service charges.
The following day, he saw his picture, in large format, in foreign newspapers around the world.
It might have ended there if one of his colleagues at the daily, a sports reporter, had not pushed him to submit his photo in the 1995 World Press Photo contest.
"Doubting that I would even win last prize, I sent the photo. Only one photo and it was my first entry ever in a photo contest," he said.
"Alhamdulillah (Praise be to God), my photo won a prize," Sho said about the photo, which he called a "pre-wedding" gift.
Sho married Nani Rahayu, now 24, one week after he snapped the shot.
Asked what he did with the prize money, Sho whispered: "I used it to subsidize the daily needs of my four-month-old son, Muhammad Adi Mulya."
He had wanted to share the money with the poor young supporters that made the photo possible, but, he said, "I haven't been able to meet with any of them, so far."
Sho, now covering local administration activities, said photography has been his hobby since high school but that he is not sure if he would change his profession to become a photo journalist.
When Harmoko asked if he had received any other gifts, the reporter replied: "The only gift that I haven't received is from Indonesia's information minister."
Harmoko just laughed, as did those in the audience at the Erasmus Huis.
Sho said he was especially happy with the rules of the World Press Photo Foundation.
"They didn't take the original negative and always ask for my permission if they want to do something with my picture," he said.
Sho also appreciates the overseas publications that have called him for permission to use his picture.
"It's not about royalties, and the fact that they call is priceless for me," he said. "It's quite different here."
His world-renowned photo has promoted the name of his daily, and in exchange his boss financed a trip to several countries in Europe, Sho said.
Of the 3,068 photographers who submitted works in the 1995 contest, 27, including Sho, were from Indonesia.
What do senior photographers say about Sho's picture?
Oscar Matulloh from the Antara photo gallery said: "I have nothing to say except that the photo is excellent and the photographer, whatever he is, has a very good sense of how to take a good picture."
Ed Zoelverdi, a former photo editor at Tempo, said: "It's an amazing picture taken by the right man in the right place."