ʙᴜᴅɪ ɴ. ᴅ. ᴅʜᴀʀᴍᴀᴡᴀɴ

Snaps from recent travels, from Yogyakarta, to Jakarta, Bandung, Surabaya, and back to Yogyakarta. I was invited to speak at Jakarta International Photo Festival @jipfest in mid September. Before leaving Yogyakarta, I wrapped up editing @danysswara ’s book “Afdruk Foto Kilat” (published by @sokong_publish ). I also completed an essay and submitted it for peer review. Just before my departure to Jakarta, I finalised editing a student’s photo project for a group exhibition at @kelaspagiyogya in late September. From Jakarta, I went to Bandung with @agareds to see @bandungphotographytriennale main exhibitions. In my spare time, I hung out with @rawssndct (thanks to @graceanata for the nasi goreng). I also met with @sandiusenk for an interview over breakfast and coffee. While waiting for my train to return to Yogyakarta, I got a message from @senjabudiharga inviting me to give a lecture at her campus in Surabaya in early October. Back in Yogyakarta, I helped students at @kelaspagiyogya installing works for their exhibition in few days leading to the opening. In preparation for my lecture in Surabaya, I updated and expanded an old presentation about photographic storytelling. I forwarded my plan to visit Surabaya to @idealita_ismanto , who then organised a talk for me with @melihatbersama at a place managed by @mamukofficial . Arriving in Surabaya, I was welcomed by @senjabudiharga and @gamalielbudiharga in their house. At Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember, @senjabudiharga introduced me to her colleagues and students, also moderated the morning lecture. Some of the students later came to the afternoon talk with @melihatbersama , which was moderated by @bahana_patria . Then, @novitago.universe and @afto_nuha took me to the train station. I brought some early copies of @danysswara ’s book “Afdruk Foto Kilat” to Surabaya, which was quickly sold out (thanks!). If everything goes as planned, @sokong_publish will announce the official release of the book and start receiving orders shortly. Thanks to friends in Jakarta, Bandung, and Surabaya for the warm welcome and hospitality. I’m now back with my cats in Yogyakarta, and looking forward to next meetings and adventures. ♥♥

On the last day of Ramadan, we went on a road trip. The trip took us as far as the road ends. It is where the land meets the sea. We spent some time planting our feet ankle deep into the soft sand of the beach. We spent more time letting the salt water, pushed by the wind, touch our bodies. We spent the whole day under the sun. Between the sun and the sea, we were both dry and wet at the same time. We were both wanting to stay and longing for home in the end. We took a different route as we went on our return journey. We were not sure which one was longer, the trip going there or the journey from there, both in distance and duration. But we were sure we were lonelier this time. Maybe it was the sun. Maybe it was the time. Maybe it was the place. At many points during the trip we were perfectly alone. It was just us in the middle of a fairly long stretch of the road. We took some pictures of the empty road ahead of us but just one picture of the empty road behind us. We also took just one picture of the road not taken. The act of taking pictures seemed natural at the beach, but why took pictures of the empty road. The pictures at the sea and of the sea would always hold us there, while we already left. But the pictures of the road depict alienation, that we were somehow suspended, in the middle of nowhere, with no sense of time, origin, or destination. Only after looking at the pictures and thinking about the pictures, about that day at the beach, about what we thought of it, about what we remembered of it, about why taking pictures at all, we can eventually make sense of it for ourselves. For us, that day was not really about the sunny windy beach, but more about going on a road trip there and back, on the last day of Ramadan.

Yogyakarta, 18 Dec 2018. Out of boredom.

Belakangan, saya agak sering diundang mengajar atau berbicara tentang cerita foto dan tema-tema serupa, seperti bercerita lewat foto ataupun mengerjakan proyek foto, serta proses kreatif ataupun riset pembuatan karya foto. (Ada kalanya, saya juga diminta berbagi tentang keberaksaraan visual, seluk-beluk buku foto, ataupun perihal penulisan.) Kendati materinya mirip-mirip, saya hampir tidak pernah menyampaikan presentasi yang sama persis. Saya selalu berusaha untuk menyelaraskan isi materi dengan kebutuhan peserta atau penyelenggara. Jadi, inti materinya lebih kurang sama, tetapi cara penyampaiannya berbeda sesuai konteks. (Inilah sebabnya saya banyak bertanya sewaktu diundang.) Di kelas pegiat fotografi, saya bisa menambahkan soal sejarah fotografi guna meluaskan cakrawala riset peserta. Di klub foto mahasiswa, saya lebih menekankan fotografi sebagai alat untuk belajar mengamati kondisi sosial di sekitar kita. Di forum lain yang isinya campuran, saya lebih menaruh perhatian pada soal bercerita dengan foto daripada soal teknis dan komposisi foto. Banyak percakapan cerita foto hanya berkutat di sekitar utas Entire, Detail, Frame, Angle, dan Time ataupun utas Establishing shot, Detail, Portrait, People at work, Relationship, Moment, dan Closure—seolah-olah sudah dianggap sebagai rumus baku. Padahal, kedua utas itu belum membicarakan tentang struktur, bahkan tidak membahas mengenai cerita itu sendiri. Tidak jarang pula, cerita foto dipandang sebagai bagian dari fotojurnalisme atau dokumenter belaka. Padahal, sebagaimana di dalam sastra dan film, cerita bisa nonfiksi dan bisa fiksi, bisa prosais dan bisa puitis, bisa naratif dan bisa juga tidak. Saya sendiri menekuni dokumenter, tetapi saya pun selalu terbuka dan tertarik dengan kemungkinan bentuk penceritaan yang lainnya. Pada akhirnya, undangan untuk mengajar dan berbicara tentang cerita foto ataupun tema-tema lainnya itu menjadi peluang pula bagi saya sendiri untuk dapat terus meneroka keluasan dan kedalaman fotografi, serta hal-hal lain yang bersinggungan dengannya. Maka, saya mengucapkan terima kasih untuk semua kesempatan yang sudah diberikan buat saya untuk belajar lagi. Foto-foto: Yogyakarta, 7 Mei 2026

[Kilas Balik Diklat Proses Kreatif] Halo, Sobat UFO! 👋🏻 Unit Fotografi Universitas Gadjah Mada menyelenggarakan diklat bertema proses kreatif di Gelanggang Inovasi dan Kreativitas pada Sabtu (04/04). Pada diklat kali ini, UFO menghadirkan Budi N. D. Dharmawan sebagai pemateri dan diikuti oleh CUFO 33 dalam sesi diskusi serta berbagi pengalaman. Dalam pemaparannya, Mas Budi menjelaskan proses kreatif sebagai rangkaian dari gagasan, riset, produksi, hingga penyajian karya. Ia menekankan pentingnya alasan di balik setiap karya, baik sebagai bentuk ekspresi, respons terhadap realitas, maupun dorongan personal. Selama berlangsungnya diklat, CUFO 33 terlibat aktif melalui tanya jawab dan refleksi bersama, sekaligus berbagi pandangan mengenai motivasi serta tantangan dalam berkarya. Melalui diklat ini, CUFO 33 diharapkan mampu memahami pentingnya konsep, konteks, dan tujuan dalam proses kreatif agar karya yang dihasilkan lebih terarah dan komunikatif. Sampai bertemu di diklat selanjutnya, Sobat UFO! - Kami percaya UFO itu ada dan mengudara - #Diklat #EternaLuminotas #UFOUGM ─────────────── X: @ufougm Tiktok: @ufougm_ Instagram: @ufougm

My father left us ten years ago today. I have left these phone camera photos just sitting on my harddrive since my father’s passing. I never opened them because I guess I didn’t want to relive the memory of watching my father dying. I finally revisited these pictures recently—because I missed my father so much, also because I wanted to check if these images were still accessible (you know how it is with digital files and storage). Ten years have passed—it’s been so long yet it doesn’t feel like that long ago. Time is always elusive. Memory is always fragile. The past is always haunting. Photos: Yogyakarta and Central Java, Feb 2016

Unit Fotografi Photo Festival 2025 yang digelar oleh UFO UGM telah usai. Rangkaian acara berlangsung Jumat–Minggu, 7–9 November 2025 di GIK UGM. Saya dilibatkan sebagai peserta undangan di dalam pameran serta diminta untuk berceramah dan menggelar perpustakaan sementara buku foto Indonesia. Terima kasih kepada kawan-kawan @ufougm , terutama Naufal @naufalrf.__ dan Jovita @jov_vitaa , yang telah mengundang dan memberi saya kesempatan untuk dapat berbagi di dalam acara yang seru ini. Saya senang bisa berpameran bersama rekan-rekan muda dan dapat berbagi tentang buku foto, khususnya buku foto Indonesia, di kampus dengan para mahasiswa. Tanggapan dan pertanyaan dari audiens kemarin baik sekali, menandakan minat mereka terhadap buku foto, baik sebagai pembaca maupun sebagai (calon) pembuat. Semoga kapan-kapan di dalam kesempatan yang lain kita dapat berbincang lagi soal buku foto dan fotografi. Pada detik-detik terakhir sebelum pameran ditutup, saya sempat ditanya oleh panitia perihal kritik dan saran. Kekurangan tentu ada, tetapi perlu dilihat secara kontekstual. Panitia acara masih mahasiswa (bukan pekerja event profesional) dan mereka belum pernah menggelar pameran atau acara besar. Secara umum, di luar beberapa kekurangan yang ada, acara ini keren dan berhasil, sehingga saya rasa panitia penyelenggara patut berbangga. Selamat kepada pengurus UFO UGM yang bertugas, segenap panitia, penyelenggara, dan pendukung acara, serta seluruh pemamer sekalian. Pengalaman ini membuat saya terkenang pameran besar lintas angkatan UFO UGM yang dahulu pernah saya ikuti, yang sisa posternya masih tersimpan di gudang UFO UGM (foto 4). Saya ingat pada waktu itu saya juga membantu panitia menyiapkan diskusi tentang kurasi pameran fotografi. Setelah ini, panitia tentu perlu beristirahat sejenak dan menuntaskan beberapa hal. Saya juga perlu menata kembali buku-buku di rumah, yang selama beberapa waktu terakhir ini berantakan setelah saya bongkar dan saya sisir, guna memilih 40 buku foto Indonesia masa 1960-an–2020-an untuk dibawa ke acara bincang dan perpustakaan sementara buku foto Indonesia tempo hari. Foto 7 oleh @arigodiva Foto 14 oleh @ariefsukardono Foto 15 oleh @sonia.prabowo

Mari berbincang soal buku foto Indonesia. Saya diundang oleh Unit Fotografi Universitas Gadjah Mada @ufougm untuk menyampaikan ceramah tentang mengenal buku foto sebagai suatu bentuk penyajian karya fotografi. Seorang panitia bercerita, dia sering mendengar teman-temannya berkata mau bikin buku foto atau zine foto, tetapi nyaris tidak pernah terlihat hasilnya. Apakah membuat buku foto serumit dan sesulit itu? Memangnya buku foto itu sebetulnya apa dan bagaimana? Tanggapan saya semula, kalau berbicara soal ‘membuat’, barangkali acara lokakarya lebih cocok dengan kebutuhan mereka. Namun demikian, panitia merasa perlu ada landasan pengetahuan terlebih dahulu sebelum dapat dipraktikkan. Oleh sebab itu, mereka meminta saya membawakan materi semacam mengenal buku foto untuk pemula. Untuk itu, saya memilih topik kecenderungan dan perkembangan buku foto Indonesia. Selain menyampaikan ceramah, saya juga akan membawa sepilihan buku foto Indonesia koleksi saya menjadi perpustakaan dadakan, supaya pengunjung dapat turut melihat dan membaca ragam kecenderungan dan perkembangan buku foto Indonesia dari masa ke masa. Ceramah ini bukan saya maksudkan sebagai sejarah buku foto Indonesia, melainkan sekadar sebuah upaya pembabakan sederhana berdasarkan pengamatan pribadi. Acara ini merupakan rangkaian dari Unit Fotografi Photo Festival 2025, yang digelar pada Jumat Pon–Minggu Kliwon, 7–9 November 2025 di Gelanggang Inovasi dan Kreativitas UGM @gik.ugm . Di samping berceramah, saya juga diundang ikut berpameran bersama puluhan kawan muda dan beberapa senior. Bincang dan perpustakaan sementara buku foto Indonesia bersama @budinddharmawan akan dilaksanakan pada Sabtu Wage, 8 November 2025, pukul 15.00–18.00. Gratis, terbuka untuk umum, tanpa pendaftaran. Sampai jumpa! 👋

A month of land transformation. A practice of witnessing change. Yogyakarta, 25, 30 Sep, 2, 3, 8, 9, 11, 24, 25, 27, 29 Oct 2025.

Saya akan bertandang ke Surabaya pekan depan. Paginya, saya diundang menyampaikan kuliah fotografi di Departemen Desain Komunikasi Visual, Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember (dkvits). Saya akan berbagi pengalaman tentang mengerjakan proyek cerita visual dengan memakai medium fotografi. Sorenya, saya diajak berbincang fotografi bersama teman-teman Melihat Bersama (@melihatbersama ) di Kedai D’Toekoe. Saya diminta berbagi perihal mempersiapkan pameran fotografi. Kita bisa ngobrol ngalor ngidul, dari soal kreasi, kurasi, sampai produksi. Terima kasih @senjabudiharga dan @idealita_ismanto sudah mengundang saya. Sampai jumpa di Surabaya! 🙋 • • • • • • • • • • • I will be visiting Surabaya next week. In the morning, I am invited as a guest-lecturer for a photography class at the Department of Visual Communication Design, Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember (dkvits). I will be sharing about telling a visual narrative through photography. In the afternoon, I will be speaking in a photography talk hosted by Melihat Bersama (@melihatbersama ) at Kedai D’Toekoe. I am asked to share about preparing a photography exhibition. We can chat about many things, from creation, curation, to production. Thank you @senjabudiharga and @idealita_ismanto for inviting me. See you all in Surabaya! 🙋

I will be speaking at Jakarta International Photo Festival this weekend. I will also be going to Bandung Photography Triennale before returning to Yogyakarta. I’m happy to hear that the book I have just finished editing will be available at the festival in Jakarta (pre-release, in limited copies): Afdruk Foto Kilat by Danysswara, published by SOKONG!. (Please check my previous post to see what it is about.) I’m glad that I have finally completed my paper and submitted it to editors and reviewers for consideration ahead of my travel, just few days before deadline. I’ve been overthinking and stressing about it for months, and would totally understand if it was not accepted. Nonetheless, I’m keeping my fingers crossed for now. For the past few months, I have been mentoring a student at Kelas Pagi Yogyakarta in working on his first photo project. It’s been going great, in terms of progress and learning curve. We expect to finalise his photos before I travel and then his text after I get back. It will be presented in a group exhibition later this month. Tommy has been with us for a month now and seems to get along just fine with Misu and Sofia. I wonder whether they will miss me while I’m away. Thanks to friends who bought my photos during my print sale last month. Through your purchases, you have supported me in funding my travel. Thank you for buying prints!

I just wrapped up editing @danysswara ’s upcoming book. It is soon to be released by @sokong_publish . The book started as a practice-based research by Danysswara for his bachelor degree project at the Department of Photography, Institut Seni Indonesia Yogyakarta in 2018–2019. It is about reconstructing and recontextualising afdruk foto kilat (express photo printing) in Yogyakarta. When SOKONG! wanted to turn Danysswara’s project report into a book in early 2023, I was invited to collaborate as the editor. Afdruk foto kilat was a practice commonly found during the 1980s–2000s on the streets of Yogyakarta and many other cities in Indonesia, serving mainly analogue black-and-white prints of identity photograph. The practice began to fade after the turn of the century, as digital photography became more widely used, quickly eclipsing analogue photography and practically almost eliminating the need to print photographs. After receiving the manuscript, I just read the whole thing, trying to absorb what it was about and understand the voice it was delivered in. Then I began copy-editing and fact-checking. I didn’t change the structure as it was already well structured. My first suggestion to Danysswara was to update and expand it a little bit, as four years had passed since the project was completed and the original report was written. We then exchanged drafts back and forth for maybe four or five times. I tried not to overedit to keep Danysswara’s original voice and style. I then wrote an introductory essay to put the book in context—three times: first draft was gone as my computer was stolen and second draft was a bit redundant. We also decided to add a glossary. Two years since our first meeting, here we are. It took some time because we were working on and off. Today, after I finished proofreading, I handed the book maquette back to SOKONG! for finalisation with the graphic designer before it is going to print. We have also reached a decision on the cover design. Please look forward for the release date. Thank you, @danysswara and @sokong_publish ! 🫶