Rudy Sujanto: Illuminating the Magic in the Mundane
Rudy Sujanto, a city dweller at heart, captures the essence of urban life through his lens. His photography journey is not about exotic landscapes or meticulously crafted portraits, but about discovering the pictorial beauty in the mundane happenings around him. Rudy’s images are a testament to the enchantment found in everyday life, particularly the magic of sunrises and the silhouettes they create.
“I consider myself a city dweller who doesn’t have the pretensions to create strikingly beautiful images of exotic places or painstakingly crafted portraits of handsome models,”
“Instead, I try to find pictorial qualities from everyday life and happenings around me.”
Rudy finds a special kind of magic in sunrises. The play of light and shadow during these early moments of the day creates captivating silhouettes that inspire him. This fascination drives him to capture these fleeting moments repeatedly, preserving their ephemeral beauty through his photography.
When it comes to conveying messages through his pictures, he keeps it simple. “I do not have any pretensions to convey any messages whatsoever in creating my photos,”. “Just a beautiful photo to be shared among my followers on Instagram is my simple objective.”
For Rudy, the role of storytelling in his photography is subtle yet significant. While a single photo might not tell a coherent story, the collection of his street-level images paints a broader picture of city life. His photos reveal the hidden beauty in everyday activities, inviting viewers to appreciate the charm of the mundane.
“Perhaps there is no coherent story to be found in a single photo of mine,”. “But since my photos are street level and show everyday activities of lives in a city, probably one can sense that beauty also exists in the mundane.”
Looking back on his photographs, Rudy finds personal meaning in them beyond the instant gratification of social media likes. Winning prizes in photo competitions is a pleasant surprise, but the real joy lies in the moments he captures and the reactions they evoke.
“Aside from supplying me daily with dopamine from the ‘likes’ I get from my photos, it still wows me once in a while when some of them fetch a prize or two from photo competitions,”
Rudy’s journey with photography began in Jakarta, Indonesia, where he tinkered with his family’s camera as a teenager in the ’80s. He took pictures of his school friends but eventually lost interest. The advent of affordable digital cameras rekindled his passion, though it wasn’t until a few years ago, with the creation of his Instagram page, that he fully embraced photography again.
“I live in Jakarta, Indonesia. I tinkered with my family’s camera when I was a teenager and took pictures of my school friends,” he recalls. “This was in the ’80s. Then I lost interest and stopped for a long time. I rediscovered photography again when digital cameras got affordable but stopped again. My last bout with photography began again when I created my Instagram page a few years back.”
Through his lens, Rudy Sujanto finds and shares the beauty that surrounds him every day. His work reminds us that magic exists in the simplest moments, waiting to be discovered and appreciated. As he continues to explore and capture the urban landscapes of Jakarta, we can look forward to more glimpses of the extraordinary hidden within the ordinary.
The pictures and perspectives expressed above are those of the author(s) alone and do not represent the views of Rare Storyteller or its team.
to the world.