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Hunting Pasar Jakarta, capturing human life in traditional markets
The members of a photography society called Hunting Pasar Jakarta make traditional markets their hunting grounds for humanistic pictures.
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A photography society called Hunting Pasar Jakarta makes traditional markets their photo-hunting grounds as they are places where everything that is worth capturing happens. (Shutterstock/File)
I
t was pouring rain at 8 a.m. on Sunday. While most Jakartans chose to stay under the warmth of their blankets, some 30 young men gathered in Senen Market in Central Jakarta and blended in with the trading there.
Each of them was equipped with various kinds of cameras, from phone cameras to professional cameras that cost millions of rupiah. Some randomly took pictures of any interesting activity that caught their attention; some chose to first mingle and chat with merchants, workers or buyers.
They were from Hunting Pasar Jakarta (HPJ), a photography society that mainly hunts for photos in traditional markets.
HPJ head KAM Darwis said that, while quoting the founder of Hunting Pasar, Yogyakartan Bagoes Kresnawan, “a traditional market is a public space where everything that is worth capturing happens”.
“As we develop our skills in photography, we also learn to humanize humans,” he told The Jakarta Post.
“We’re not photographers who selfishly explore people’s activities, expressions and feelings in the name of art. We smile, talk and make them comfortable with our presence. The challenge is far more than about the photographic techniques,” he added.
HPJ was established soon after Bagoes founded Hunting Pasar in Yogyakarta on Jan. 7, 2018. Darwis and two of his friends and fellow photographers, Dhandut and Jian Wibowo, then introduced the society to the capital.
Since then, Hunting Pasar has expanded to 44 places across the country: from the big cities like Surabaya in East Java and Makassar in South Sulawesi, to small islands like Lombok in West Nusa Tenggara.
“HPJ itself has had more than 400 members. Every hunting session is attended by at least 30 people. This makes us the most active branch, compared to the others,” the 24-year-old Darwis said.
HPJ has held 39 hunting sessions in a number of traditional markets throughout Jakarta. Some markets left them with unforgettable memories that made them return more than once, such as Minggu Market and Kebayoran Lama Market in South Jakarta, Palmerah Market in West Jakarta and Kramat Jati Market in East Jakarta.
“People there are very friendly. We’ve even made friends with some of them,” 21-year-old Dhandut said.
However, Jian, who is the coordinator of HPJ's hunting activities, said that some markets are better avoided. “We once went hunting in Asemka Market [in West Jakarta]. The merchants didn’t seem to be happy with us coming and the security officers approached us and asked us to leave,” Jian said.
The experience, Jian added, had taught them to plan their photo hunting better by notifying city-owned market operator PD Pasar Jaya a week prior to the hunting day.
During their first hunting session, most of the merchants in markets they visited welcomed them with "stink eyes" and cold shoulders.
“They thought we were from media. They shared an assumption that identifies reporters with the government’s eviction plans. Hence, it’s challenging yet fulfilling to be able to gain their trust so they tell us their stories and smile into our cameras,” the Depok, West Java, resident said.
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Among the members that Sunday morning was Bekasi resident Febrian Zulkarnaen. He joined the society last year in an effort to find escape from his mundane daily job in the Women's Empowerment and Child Protection Ministry.
He said that he has no problem approaching his subjects because of his past experience as a camera operator for a private TV station. He is used to interacting with people he would like to film.
“I like my photos to tell stories. I like to take pictures as close as possible, or as far as possible. Different angles give the pictures different feels,” he said.
HPJ encourages its members to submit the best pictures they have taken that day for the society’s committee to choose the best photo of the week and grant the photographer a souvenir. Febrian has won the title three times.
One of his photos was of a worker who was carrying a huge sack of rice on his back, put there by another worker who unloaded it from a truck. He captured the worker’s grimace as he endured the pain from the weight of the heavy burden.
In the future, HPJ plans to publish a photo book and hold more photo exhibitions.
