Friendly Gathering with Model Shoot at Pekanbaru Air Force Base

Photo by Abbas Abdurrahman

More than 160 photography enthusiasts from several towns in Riau Province, Indonesia, joined a model shoot held on Saturday (5/26) afternoon. The event was said to be special since it took place at Pekanbaru Air Force Base, with two Hawk fighters and three new Kawasaki motorcycles as shooting properties.

The 12^th Squadron area became a photo hunting field where the Commander of the Squadron, Lt. Col. Prasetiya, also blent and chatted with some participants. More special, the Commander of Pekanbaru Air Force Base, Col. Bowo Budiarto also appeared and brought his camera with him.

In shooting session, the photographers were divided into four groups and each group got a female model posing for them. The models then posed alternately among the properties, and every photographer looked fun and enthusiastic as well to press his/her shutter button.

Although the event was organized by Komunitas Fotografer Pekanbaru (Pekanbaru Photographers Community) or popularly called KFP, it was open and every photography lover could join. “As a matter of fact, several photo communities in Pekanbaru took part,” said Damriadi, KFP chairman, in the middle of model shooting at the Air Force Base, “You know the participants are not only Pekanbaru citizens but some of them also come from several towns in Riau Province. This is the biggest .”

Members of varied photography communities, the participants are actually also members of Fotografer.net – the biggest online photography community in Southeast Asia. “This is the biggest event involving several photo communities at this Air Force Base we’ve ever held,” Damriadi added.

Entitled “Fotografer.net Gathering Pekanbaru,” the model shoot was only the beginning session. In the evening, the participants were invited to gather in a café to have dinner and a kind of sharing moment.

Two photographers shared their photos and photography experiences in front of the attendees. Arbain Rambey, senior photo journalist of Jakarta-based Kompas Daily, and Kristupa Saragih, founder of Fotografer.net, attended the evening gathering.

In his speech, Kristupa said that the gathering might not be the biggest among Fotografer.net gatherings, but it involved more photo communities than previous gatherings. “And that’s fabulous,” he said.

Prior to the gathering, Kristupa accompanied by some KFP members held a media visit to a local newspaper, Tribun Pekanbaru, in the morning.