Participants pose for a photograph at a villa belonging to Bambang Istiawan who heads Kelompok Tani Megamendung. JP/Kurniawan Hari
While the Jakarta traffic was still quiet, Linda sat waiting in front of a supermarket in Mampang, South Jakarta. She was waiting for people she had never met — like some kind of blind date at a supermarket.

Minutes later, more and more people had arrived and by 7 a.m. everyone was there. In total, there were 27 people, 23 participants and 4 committee members.

“We are going to Puncak [mountain resort area in Bogor, West Java] for a travel writers’ camp. I got the information from a friend of mine about this event and I was eager to join,” said Linda who planned to learn basic photography and feature writing during the camp.

Another participant, Olyvia, said that she planned to learn more about photography and how to take great pictures.

The participants were from various backgrounds. Chika was a flight attendant, Dini a lecturer at a university in Depok and Usye, who came with her husband Rudy and daughter Ozi, a businesswoman. But, they all shared a common purpose: They were eager to learn about photography and writing.
These people responded to an invitation sent by Penulis Pengelana (travel writer), the organizer of the event.

Penulis Pengelana is a group of four people who share a common interest in traveling and writing, Teguh Sudarisman, Nofal Kurniawan, Winniarlita Irmawati and Reza Ariesca.

The group started off with the objective of sharing knowledge and experience in travel writing and photography.

“I was saddened by the fact there are only a small number of travel writers and photographers in this country. So, me and my colleagues formed this group to help people become good travel writers and photographers,” said Sudarisman.

Indonesia has countless number of beautiful places, he said, but only a small number of people get the chance to write about them for the public because there are only a small number of travel writers, Sudarisman said.

The group however, said Sudarisman, had no pretensions about tutoring, saying it was more a bunch of friends willing to share their knowledge and experiences about traveling.

The writer’s camp in Puncak was the first organized by the group, but the group has held several classes and trips to places such as Mt. Halimun in West Java, Tidung Island in the Thousand Islands in the North of Jakarta and the Karimun Jawa Isles in Central Java.

The series of classes and trips have proved fruitful as they have produced some good writers. Made Wahyuni is an example. She was a newbie to writing when she joined a travel writer’s class last year. After finishing the class and trips, she tried to write about travel, took photographs and sent them to magazines.

“I am excited that my stories and photos got published in two different magazines,” said Wahyuni, who also joined the writer camp for a reunion with members of the previous batch.

During the camp, participants were enthusiastic to learn about travel writing and photography and most importantly, tips on how to get their stories published in magazines or newspapers.

As soon as we arrived at the Kampung Awan camping ground in Mega Mendung, Puncak, participants were divided into two groups.

Each one got their own shelters to sleep in and after putting their backpacks in the shelters, participants went to an open hall where the classes were held.

The writing and photography lessons were all presented by Sudarisman who is an experienced writer and photographer. His writings and photographs have been published in numerous magazines at home and abroad.

He has gone traveling to a number of places overseas including Guangzhou in China, and Bangkok in Thailand. At home, he has visited among others, Mt. Bromo in East Java and several diving spots in Bali.

The classes did not only touch on theory, the boot camp also provided participants

The opportunity to practice what they learned in class. And they were certainly keen; up before dawn to take photos of the sunrise before breakfast.

Before returning home, participants had the chance to visit an organic farm and a waterfall in the nearby Curug Panjang. Everyone enjoyed the event and they got the chance to make new friends and share their experiences.

Participants also learned a thing or two about a reforestation drive initiated by the Kelompok Tani Megamendung (KTM) community, led by Bambang Istiawan.

After all, the writing camp was not just about writing or photography classes. It was about building relationships and mutual friendship.




 
For further information please visit penulispengelana.multiply.com

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