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When the real picture is just not enough
Busted: A fake photo of Rihanna, busted by Indonesian cops during a raid
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Busted: A fake photo of Rihanna, busted by Indonesian cops during a raid.
Cropping, clipping or airbrushing a photo to get the perfect image has been around since people started taking pictures. In the pre-digital era, that entailed a byzantine process involving photographs, negatives, layout boards, X-ACTO knives and rubber cement.
Image manipulation used to be the province of image-conscious politicians such as Joseph Stalin, who frequently inserted himself into (or erased his enemies from) photographs. However, software such as Adobe PhotoShop has simplified the process.
Now, in Indonesia, anyone with as little as Rp 50,000, can join the fun, inserting themselves into images along with presidents, celebrities and even Batman.
Agus Mulyadi, a digital imaging artist and writer from Magelang, Central Java, tapped this market for social boosting and made a business.
He created buzz in the Indonesian online world two years ago when he offered fans of JKT 48 a chance to have their images inserted into pictures with their favorite member of the girl band for about Rp 50,000.
'The idea began when one of my friends ' a hardcore JKT48 fan ' asked me to accompany him to Yogyakarta to watch a JKT48 concert. He told me that by paying Rp 50,000, we could take pictures with the members and shake their hands,' Agus told The Jakarta Post.
'I was not really a fan of JKT48. I then manipulated one of my photos and inserted it with [an image of a] JKT 48 member for fun and showed it to my friend. He thought it was for real ' then I told him it was a manipulated photo. He then asked me to do one for him and I did.'
'He used his edited photo as his profile picture on Facebook and since then it became viral among JKT48 circles. They began asking me for the same service,' Agus said. 'My friend then told me to start charging and made it a business.'
Despite making brusque business, Agus eventually called it quits, fearing a copyright infringement lawsuit for using celebrity photos for commercial purposes.
By that time, however, Agus had gained enough recognition as a photo manipulator to attract a different type of customer.
'During the general elections, a lot of caleg [legislative candidates] asked me to crop their photos with their party chairmen,' Agus said. 'A lot of people who also could not attend their relatives' weddings asked me to insert their photos beside the bride and into the family photo.'
He cites one example of a husband and wife, who were willing to pay Rp 300,000 to insert their images into a photo of Borobudur temple ' just to show to their friends that they had visited it.
'They rarely meet one another. They had a long-distance relationship,' Agus said. 'I was kind of confused that they wanted to pay that much, when they could've visit the temple in real life using the same amount of money.'
Another well known Indonesian photo manipulator is Agan Harahap, whose works feature, for example, superheroes, such as Spider-Man, Captain America and Darth Vader fighting the Nazis in vintage-style photographs from World War II images.
Agan says that he declines offers to make photos of his friends with celebrities for money.
'When they do not ask me, I often do it for them for free,' he said. 'I do not manipulate photos for money. I just do it for fun and my works have become art.'
Agan is not boasting. What began as a fun personal project has earned him recognition as a top digital imaging artist. Agan has been invited to numerous digital art exhibitions abroad.
Some of his most popular works feature manipulated photos of Hollywood celebrities in a local context.
The images are humorous with a satirical twist. His signature touch is managing to make people like boxer Mike Tyson or singer Rihanna act like regular Indonesian people in a distinctly Indonesian setting.
Photographer Adri Irianto said that the emergence of manipulators, such as Agan and Agus, and the development of digital tools have changed the game.
Adri said that photo retouching was previously only used for commercial purposes or by insecure celebrities. Now, he continued, retouched or manipulated photos were a common sight in many people's homes.
'Easy access to photo retouching and manipulation, however, also carries potential dangers,' Adri says. 'People can use manipulated photos for crimes, such as making fake identities and so on.'
' Photos Courtesy of Agan Harahap
