693. Hengki Koentjoro

When we think of Fine Art Photography black and white nature… who do we think of? That’s right, Ansel Adams. Yosemite, half dome. You know the one. We’ve had the posters. But who’s been filling that space since then? Hengki Koentjoro. He is a nature photographer from Indonesia, born in Semarang, Central Java & now residing in Jakarta. He went to a Catholic High School in Jakarta and then studied at the Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara. His photographs are sublime.

These photos are powerful. Stark minimalists black and white contrast. But the simple figures whether they be human or or natural stand out. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so why am I writing all this? The words may just get in the way.

Here’s something about the artist that I found interesting:

“Hengki Koentjoro is an accomplished photographer, specialising in capturing the spectral domain that lies amidst the shades of black and white. His Childhood introduction to a camera on his 11th birthday is by now an earnest love affair that involves an elaborate choreography of composition, texture, shapes and lines.

Upon his return to Indonesia, Hengki settled in Jakarta as a freelance videographer and video editor for nature documentaries and corporate profiles. Delving into what he believes to be his true purpose in life’s journey of expression, he indulges himself in the art of black and white photography on the side. Exploring along the borderlines of light and shadow, yin and yang. Celebrating complexity in the minimalist. Diving into the spiritual in the physical.”

“Photography can never be separated from the aspects of making the common things unusual, welcoming the unexpected, indulging and embracing ourselves with the joy of photography”—Hengki Koentjoro, 2013

Makes sense. Those are things I’ve always found interesting. Drawn to. My aesthetic.

So there’s beauty here that words don’t speak to. Artists who are photographers are interesting to me. They aren’t painting their art. They aren’t creating a vision with words… it’s the way they see the world and then the way they interpret the world after they’ve captured it and seen it. That is interesting to me. All you have to do really is to just marvel at these images, take them in. Get lost in them. Let the world you deal with daily just drift away. Put yourself there, seeing what the artist sees. Being there. Visually and spiritually meditative.

Hengki Koentjoro’s visions. A good thing.