In October 2022, I participated in a photography workshop in Ubud, Bali. It was run by one of the biggest camera stores in Bali. I was very interested when I found out that they would involve Balinese kids for the workshop. Also, it was a great chance for me to hone my photography skills. While I was at the shooting location, it instantly reminded me of old Indonesian movies where the kids wore this same traditional outfit, which we call a sarong in Bahasa Indonesia, just like the kids wore for their bottoms in my image “Bed Time Kids.” There's something very innocent about the children at the end of the evening - one is yawning and being watched by the central boy who probably takes his lead from that boy. A third boy is putting his guitar away for the night and the fourth is getting up to go. It looks like they have had fun together. The presence of the mask adds a dimension of danger. Masks represent the real presence of gods and ghosts in Balinese culture and these boys would be aware of that and their casual positions suggest a kind of youthful bravado. Of course, the smoke gives a wonderful, mysterious atmosphere which enhances the mystical presence of unseen gods.

The setting of this photograph includes several typical aspects of Balinese culture, including the painted carved doors, a carved wooden winged lion sculpture, and a painted carved wooden mask which presents the mythical culture known in Bali as Banaspati Raja, meaning “King of the Forest,” also called Barong Ket.

I enjoy photographing landscapes, and would love to meet and work alongside Joe Cornish and Daniel Kordan.

Right now, when I go out with my camera, I just shoot anything that I find interesting. I do like to take portraits, pets, wildlife, abstracts, architecture, people, but I’d say landscape photography has always been a big thing for me since I started photography.

The first photographer who really inspired me was Ansel Adams. At that time, I didn’t usually like landscape photographs in black and white, but when I looked at Ansel Adam’s work, it just blew my mind. Then I thought to myself, I want to be able to take those kinds of shots. Then I saw some color landscape photographs by Joe Cornish and Daniel Kordan. To this day, I am in awe of these 3 amazing photographers who have inspired me so much.

When I graduate, I want to be a full-time landscape photographer to travel the world and to show people that we live in a beautiful world with tons of beautiful places. I want to inspire people to travel even more to see the world.

I feel like I am pretty confident in photographing landscapes, which I want to keep doing and improving. Although, these days I [also] want to photograph people and culture. I think these 3 subjects would be my biggest dream subjects.