Friday, 16 July 2010

The Godfather Legacy Lives

Not only they managed to pull the stunt, they won an award for it.

Indonesian newspaper won a gold award for borrowing from ‘The Godfather’.

Run by one of the country’s most reputable editorial team, Koran Tempo, a local Indonesian Language newspaper run a half-page imagery borrowing the legendary illustration from The Godfather.

Depicting a key player on an ongoing corruption scandal-turn-criminal-investigation, the whole picture perfectly narrates the entire story of the allegedly corruption-ridden administration.

This is a big win for editorial & journalistic freedom in one of the world’s most liberal country on journalism. One can only hope that this brings new spirit to the entire editorial team and the rest of the media, to finally care about content & quality in what they print.

Read the translated article here, or more about the award here.

12 July 2010
The Village and Her Giant Mirror ★ youtube.com

Every big changes began with a simple idea, and what makes one a leader is the capacity to inspire and the actions for the good of others.

The story about a leader with a vision is not new, but idea is timeless and life-changing action is always a good story to tell. That’s how one David Christensen, decided to make a movie about a village, the crazy mayor and his little idea:

The Mirror is a documentary about bringing sunlight to a forgotten village and how this extraordinary idea affects the lives of the people in the village and the surrounding valley. Touching and whimsical, its about the light and the dark and the things in between a documentary film about some extraordinary people and their extraordinary dreams of light.

Update: The movie was screened at the Hotdocs festival in Toronto last May.

(via Roger Ebert)

Monday, 12 July 2010

Pictorial: Indonesian Railway Heritage

portfoliography_rlwy_hrtg_0.jpg

Indonesia, with her 18,000+ islands is a land of many tales and legends. Obscured in plain sight, the often-disregarded, dutch-built railway system was where most of such tales began. Spanning thousands of kilometers from the island of Java, to the island of Sumatera, was the seed and the backbone of the nation’s agri-industry, and the place where many bedtime stories originated.

The Indonesian Railway Company, PT. Kereta Api Indonesia is undertaking one of its most ambitious project, they aim to rebuild the public image of the Railway lifestyle, and to spearhead the movement is conserving the national railway heritage.

To kickstart the initiative, PT KAI is launching a campaign to raise awareness & funds for the project, a team of architects, historians, archeologist, urban planners & documentarian were embarked upon a series of trip trailing the railway routes dubbed as the Trans-Java, Trans-Sumatera railway lines.

Beginning in early March this year, I, along with a half-dozen passionate traveler started the tour from the route’s originating point: Central Java island’s capital city, Semarang, where the The Thousand Gate Mansion — The East India Company – Railway Corporation’s first & original headquarter designed by the legendary Thomas Karsten, father of the Indonesian art-deco building design.

I have a story to tell.

Outcome of this project is yet to be announced, but a selection of the photographs from this expedition is published under the Pictorial section: The Indonesian Railway and The Java Heritage. Update: The Java Heritage Movie is now up on Vimeo.

If you’d like to pledge your support, or learn more about the project, PT. KAI has a new website dedicated to this project.

Monday, 12 July 2010

Big Bags: David Burnett

David Burnett's Big Camera© David Burnett

David Burnett is a man with a different point of view.

He frames his shots carefully, and chooses his equipments wisely. He still shoots film most of the time, and his signature shots — shallow depth-of-field, clever use of selective focus like that from a tilt-shift lens — have graced countless publications around the world. (It may be easier to name the lesser few), and on a rare occasion, he have spoken with the PhotoShelter guys on a 22-minute long video conversation, and a carefully chosen list of equipments.

Alledaags ★ creativereview.co.uk

alledaags.jpg© Toby Morris

Pronounced “ahl-ay-dachts” — from Wiktionary:

Adjective (Dutch)

  1. everyday, commonplace, ordinary

A Year in Amsterdam is a collection of 333 drawings by New Zealander living as an expatriate in Amsterdam Toby Morris. Illustrators, painters, and photographers are all silent observers, and more often than not, travelers & outsiders are more keen into it compared to locals.