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Bramaditya 'PF' Dimas: Making his name in music
MOccaGo to a concert and chances are youâll run into Bramaditya âPFâ Dimas, a music-focused documentarian of rising prominence in the local music scene
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MOcca
Go to a concert and chances are you'll run into Bramaditya 'PF' Dimas, a music-focused documentarian of rising prominence in the local music scene.
Photographer Bramaditya 'PF' Dimas' popularity has a lot to do with his published photographs as well as his diligent full-set video documenting of underground music shows.
His constant presence at shows has garnered him a large network and access to take official documentations of many local acts, new and old.
PF ' as he prefers to be known ' has been taking concert pictures since 2006, the days when concert photography wasn't as ubiquitous as it is today.
Then, mostly embedded within the emo/punk/post-hardcore music scene that revolved mostly around South Jakarta in the mid-2000s, PF made certain he was at as many shows as possible, not only as a clinging fan of sorts, but also as someone who played a crucial part, even if it wasn't on the music side.
As for the name, PF stands for Personifikasi Fiksi, which roughly means fictional personification.
'I just thought, you know, it would be great to document these bands and this moment,' he says of his beginnings.
PF knew that the thriving scene back then would someday be history and needed someone to capture the moment.
Still, it took a while for PF to find his own style. Not being 'very aware of the internet back then', the 26-year old didn't have much reference point aside from pressing the shoot button every time someone did something interesting on stage.
Fortunately, PF met a musician who was also a photographer with actual knowledge behind him.
Through that person, PF learned that there was more than just randomly pushing buttons on his camera.
He then discovered that there were many other musicians who dabbled in picture-taking and, in his own words, 'began stealing ideas and information from them to become better'.
By the time he learned of the internet, PF discovered professional music photographers, such as Todd Owyoung from the US, and saved up to buy the required gear to take outstanding pictures.
For PF, the goal isn't simply to make sure he gets pretty pictures, however. The photographer also wants the pictures to mean something to the musicians.
'What motivates me is the process of refreshing and remembering moments on stage and keep those moments for [the musicians] that they perhaps ' cliché as it sounds ' one day show their kids ' 'Hey, I was once a musician!'
He loves capturing moments of musicians interacting with fans and encouraging singalong moments.
The best moments visually, says PF, come when his pictures drive people to say: 'What a crazy looking concert! What a great moment!'
PF knows that the pictures are also a strong tool to promote his favorite bands, many of which reign only in the underground scene.
'People need to know that these [underground] musicians are actually the heart of this country's music scene, and it isn't just the big bands that can make waves and be the benchmark of what is good about this country's music,' PF says.
Even though he grew up in the underground rock community, PF has since honed his skills to take shots for mainstream stars as well. He's a regular at both underground and mainstream events. 'Music for me is life, memories, a feeling, and a symbol of fighting back. Anything can be united through music, and music and photography have such a close connection,' he says.
'Just think back to those great moments that feel real to us even though we were not there ' from Woodstock, Big Day Out, Java Rockin' Land. Photography made those moments available to all of us.'
' Photos Courtesy of Bramaditya 'PF' Dimas
