The term “Kill Your Babies” is a norm in the film world, indicating the need to let go of the images or footages that you are attached to emotionally, for the greater purpose - your end product. Learn more from Coaching For Photographers through this short article by Erwin Darmali, Award winning photographer and filmmaker.
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On a recent flight back to Jakarta from Singapore, I found myself seated in Seat 8A—a seemingly ordinary spot that became the backdrop for an extraordinary moment of reflection. Armed with a book courtesy of a friend, I oscillated between the world within its pages and my own thoughts, triggered by the profound stories I was reading. The book I was reading was Like The Flowing River by Paulo Coelho.
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I learned a little bit, cracked a little smile, and asked “So, let’s start with a light question, followed by “What is the true meaning of life?” and immediately I kind of laughed, almost about to say “I’m just kidding”. Before I was able to do that, she replied, “That life is about you against yourself”.
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In order to properly create a concept of a product introduction commercial for the internet, there are some things that needed to be considered:
1. What is the real problem that the company is trying to solve?
2. What is the solution to the problem?
A young millionaire was driving around in his brand new luxury SUV and stopped at a red light in Jakarta. As he was waiting for the light to turn green, he looked around to his neighboring cars and saw this little car. He noticed that there is a young family in it and he thought they would look at what he was driving and be filled with amazement
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Imagine the following stories:
A retirement-age couple decided to move into a violent neighborhood filled with gangs, drugs, prostitution,
A young millionaire giving away all the riches he had worked hard for,
A mother to an unborn child with down syndrome deciding to keep the baby.
By most standards, their actions do not make any sense.
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The night was damp. It drizzles and puddles were everywhere on the uneven roads. It seemed like there were more street vendors than usual, and what they sell are not normal to me. This was my first experience photographing a Chinese New Year in Jakarta (or anywhere else, for that fact).
I had asked my friend about what he remembers about documenting Chinese New Year celebrations, and his answer was short: painful, watery eyes.
A few years back I heard a story that was so extraordinary and I was truly inspired by this person and what he had experienced. After several meetings and talking for hours about his story, I decided to make a documentary short film about his life story.
That was about 4 years ago. Over the years, at the time of writing this blog, the film has been seen by over 80,000 people and many had written about how this story inspired them.
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As Sir Ken Robinson once indicated, schools are made to produce people to be placed in factories. They also reduce the genius potentials of kids tremendously because they are not promoting thinking, but focusing on the menial things. I’d like to think that proper education actually makes us become better thinkers thus helping us make better judgements.
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I was trying to understand what he is looking for, so I can anticipate where he would be and get my shots. So I asked him - "What are you working on and what kind of things are you looking for today?". He then said "Oh I'm always working on 10-15 things at a time so it could be anything." Well, there goes my plan.
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I stood in the alley way in awe and an older gentleman came from behind me and stood next to me. I looked at him and said "That's pretty cool, isn't it?". He nodded. I then said "Man it would be so awesome to go up there to photograph them". He said "What would you use that for?". "Oh it's for my personal use, I might just shoot it on my Iphone..." He then turned to me and said "You should then". In the back of my mind, I was thinking that I shouldn't be up there, considering OSHA requirements and all, and I asked him if that's going to be ok for me to go up the vertical ladder to the roof of the building which I don't have permission to. Then the man said "It's alright, I own the building". I had to do a double take when I heard that and while I still couldn't believe him, I said thank you, and I proceeded to climb up the ladder to go up and meet them.
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March 2015:
On the shooting day, I arrived at their house at 5:30am, right before the boys woke up. In the quiet moments with Micah and Megan, I learned that they had just found out that one of their boys, Levy, was diagnosed with autism. That news hit me like a ton of bricks. I remember not knowing what to say and what to do but having such a feeling of empathy.