Some good deeds can start with a simple message.


Exactly 4 days after the Help Portrait Indonesia, I had the opportunity of shooting another charity donation by a group of youngsters in Jakarta. Indonesia is the largest BlackBerry cellphone user in the world and these group of 5-6 young girls started their charity acts by using Blackberry messaging.  They message blasted their circles of friends to invite them to participate either through donation or participation. Driven by their passion for religion and helping people, about 30 people joined, came with over 15 cars, packing them full with supplies in the shape of staple needs: food, cooking supplies, to even a refrigerator. Some of them already know each other, some got introduced to each other that same day.


Living conditions are borderline questionable, and this donation definitely would help them considerably.
Despite their situation, the kids are open, happy, and so full of life.  They are amazing. Sometimes we can learn more from kids than adults :)


CONTACT:

Yayasan Berkat Kasih Immanuel
email: boss_gbl@yahoo.com
Phone: (021) 4417447


This post is not about the glorification of religion, race, social background.  It is about creating change.


Access was quite challenging.

Here are some shots of the kids around the neighborhood.

Dead rat on the tarp covering the adjacent buildings.

Quite impressive amount of items delivered.  Quite impressive indeed.

A simple game of musical chairs that lifted their very spirits

And a game of pass-it-on for the youngsters

After that a quiet moment visiting the elderly nearby.  Such a touching moment and I can’t help but to reflect.  This older gentlemen apparently was abandoned by his family (he has diabetes and could barely walk) and had to live there with 3 other people in that room.

Love one another, treat others the way you wanted to be treated.

Technically this happened in my first week I am in Indonesia.  I was in a gathering of Indonesian wedding photographers, when my friends, Sigit & Tito mentioned that they are in the midst of coordinating the first-ever Help Portrait: Indonesia (under the umbrella of HELP PORTRAIT movement).  I was invited to shoot behind-the-scenes, so I thought to myself, why not? I believe in their system. It’s a good thing and it gives hope – transformation, as they mentioned in their site. And I love stories through images. I’m sold on the idea.


The recipients of this Help Portrait Indonesia is a Catholic all-girl orphanage in Jakarta called Vincentius Puteri in Jatinegara, Eastern Jakarta (since 1938). This place houses about 170 girls aged from 6-18 and their goal is to nurture these individuals to become an independent, educated, and equipping them with tools to make their society a better place as well.


These kids have been through a lot at such an early age.  Some of them are without parents. Some has crippled parents, or ones who couldn’t afford to raise them.  Some came from a broken family.  Talk about issues, they have them.  I am sure they have their bad days and I can just imagine how hard it is for them.  But for that one day, it seems perfect.  They are all laughing, asking for their pictures to be taken, some of us loaned them our cameras for them to play with, we interacted, talked, and laughed.  That’s exactly why we were there – to give them support, to be a friend, even for just one day.  Seeing them happy was such a treat for me.


Over 50 people from wedding photographers/videographers, printing company, and make up artists were there to lend a hand.  We even had an Indonesian Celebrity Chef appearance.  Some took pictures, some did editing, some continuously did make up for 180 people. All had done a great deed that day. I loved seeing how everyone pitched in, believed in one goal, and that very day, made 180 very happy, ecstatic girls / women.


CONTACTS:


VINCENTIUS PUTERI
The orphanage operates solely through donations from different people / corporations.
If you would like to help or inquire about their mission, vision, or values, contact them through:
email:
pa-vitri@telkom.net
pantiasuhanvitri@yahoo.co.id

HELP PORTRAIT
Join your local group for the worldwide-movement on Dec 10th!   To find your local group, visit: http://help-portrait.com/

More photos can be seen soon on:

http://www.facebook.com/help.portrait.indonesia

http://www.facebook.com/aperturaphoto

This post is not about religion, race, color of skin, social standing, etc. It is about caring about people in our surroundings.  Change starts from within each and every one of us.


 

Some of these girls have never been made up before.  Some are nervous, some are just giddy with excitement.

I love the way she looks at herself in this photo.

Our Celebrity guest for the day, Ms. Farah Quinn.

It is amazing to see the impact a celebrity has on kids.

Being really shy in front of the camera.

During dinner, we had a couple of girls came up and sang for us as a token of their gratitude.  Here is one of them.

THE EXCITEMENT IS HIGH AND REAL!

We truly believe in the value in learning, and this time, we are going to be sharing some of our knowledge on creating some great portraitures. This is going to be our first debut appearance as speakers, and we are super excited. Not interested to learn about portraitures, no problem! :) The conference has a lineup of very, very accomplished photographers that would be talking about other things pertaining to photography.

Also, the parties are always badass :) Come and learn with us!

For more information, check out:

http://fconference.com

Last Saturday I had the privilege of covering the 50th birthday party of Jennifer Buckley, the mom (+ mother-in-law) of Jessica + Keith. The event, held at the cool Sage On The Coast in Newport Coast, was filled with their close family and friends and was one of the awesome(est) parties! Beautiful place, good food, good friends, and lots of dancing to cap the night. Happy Birthday Jennifer! Oh and congrats to Jessica + Keith for their soon-to-be-born baby boy! Woohoo! We thought Jennifer just arrived and was ready to surprise her, but apparently it was a false alarm :) Jessica + Keith during dinner – can’t believe it’s been a year since we shot their wedding and they look absolutely great! After unwrapping the gift, Jennifer found out that the next day they’re going to New York for 3 days… … and then found out that it’ll be 30 degrees out there :) Good use for the new coat! The Buckley “kids” And the dancing!