been awhile.

Rebirth.

I would probably name this post that word if I'm in the mood to be pretentious enough. But nope, I think for the last two and a half months, I peeked out to a world where letting go, letting in, broadening possibilities, keeping myself occupied, I mean I see myself taking care of myself. This is something I've lost in New York; I was a total tube man flailing the shit out, somewhat out of control. Even in Jakarta I've tried and failed to go back to where I used to be in terms of photography. I was adamant that I can do 'this', but never see the possibility of 'that'.

So, I went back to the basics today: light-hunting, animal-preying, simple appreciations, and smiling while doing the photography. All unedited. All just there to be a part of a narrative, just like how this blog have started. Back then, it was just me, and no techniques, no clients, no pressure and expectations.

As a fake bum with chronic mental health issues, I just want to filter it down to that person that appreciates and play with the camera that her parents gave to her.

The Whys have changed to Why Nots. Bad days visits but not everyday. Mornings come and go but always ready to greet the sleepy 6 AM Olen. And I have never felt the deliciousness of a full-day day off when I was a freelancer.

Here we are then. I will stop rambling and this post is a g'mornin from Olen and her little Poleng troops; Penny and Molly the kittens, JoJo the puppy, Ganesha the housekeeper, Lucy the ginger cat (but she was sleeping inside the house), also featuring my neighbor slash fellow photographer Krisna and his dog Bule.

S'wastiastu!

P.S. You can click the picture to put them on slideshow mode :)

boop.

Summer in New York made me sort of anti-social. Well at least I haven't been going out as much as I used to, but people went to my place a lot for a quick rest or just a full day of watching TV and eating take outs. Yeap, life after graduation has been pretty slow.

At some point last week, I've decided to start taking pictures again for the sake of it. So I bought the camera I've been eyeing for two years, and to be honest, it felt weird looking at the pictures I took from the new camera. Maybe I have some sort of an attachment problem with my DSLR. Let's see how it goes, though. I mean now I'm pretty much free from academic obligations, so I'm looking forward to what I'll be creating from now on.

For now, here's a few pictures I took today of my New York familia, including our current foster dog Genevieve. She's a mix of chihuahua and cavalier King Charles spaniel. Very well behaved, breaking our hearts everyday, chill as fuck, and just a blessing from the world because she came during our finals which saved the household from blowing up into a pile of stressed and jumbled Asian puddle.

So yeap, stay dry wherever you are, peops.

bali '14.

To escape the bedug of Eid Mubarak, my family and I went to Bali for six days. It was a big change of scenery. Two weeks before that I was surrounded by concretes and windows with plants that are dying. Suddenly my lungs were inhaling the salty air of a paradise that is only an hour of flight from my hometown.

Despite the fact that the island was filled with people who fled from Jakarta for the same reason, it didn't stop my family to travel around to places where my nephew can scream with joy.

"Uwa uwa!" he shouted. "Sendal, digigit!" That was his favorite story of the whole trip that he kept on telling us --they went to the monkey forest and my nephew's sandal was bitten and stolen away by some silly monkey.

Om swastiastu.