WHO I AM
My name is Ferry R. Tan, born in Jakarta, Indonesia, in 1956. I am a Dutch-Indonesian photographer who began in the Netherlands in the mid-1970s and moved to Indonesia in 1995.I have been a photographer for the longest time of my life and never had a single moment of regret. Admittedly, my career path as an entrepreneur wasn't always smooth, but c'est la vie, only the sun shines for free. It took a long time to find my identity as a photographer. I started with photographing everything that came my way to discover what I actually wanted.
The answer would come knocking on my door many years later when a befriended architect asked me if I wanted to photograph his projects for his archive and customer portfolio. This turned out to be my turning point. I have found my calling; architecture photography.
I have always been fascinated by travel for as long as I can remember. As a boy I always loved to read books about fantastic adventure trips. In my head, I had traveled the world as did Jules Verne before I would travel as an adult for real life.
Somewhere along the road, my direction became more specific, and my interest in architecture took a sideways turn to the historical, simply because I find that the history has more to tell than the present. Soon I found out that travel and photography formed a perfect match. As fate would have it, I became a sort of traveling photographer who was looking for destinations with the architecture of the vernacular and the history of humanity associated with it.
I see myself as a curator and collector of experiences. My passion is to explore life through photography and travel, an ideal combination that not only positively influences my personal life, but also enriches my general knowledge. Someone once told me that life should not only be fully lived, but also experienced and for me it was through travel and photography. Nothing in life is self-evident and to know where the fire is, I must follow the smoke trail
I made successful trips but also a few disappointing ones. But to me success and failure have essential values to develop myself as a narrative photographer. I recall trips when I came back with just a hand full of good images, but I never gave up or saw it as a waste of time, rather as part of a learning curve. I consider photography as a medium for self-expression and a tool to discover the limits of my creativity that I constantly try to change. It is a form of art in which I can artistically profile and identify myself in an unlimited but aesthetically pleasing way.
I am not an architect and therefore do not have the right to be in that area. My photographs are purely interpretations of my personal experiences rather than a technical illustration of traditional architecture. Experiencing the restoration process has taught me to better understand and view traditional architecture from a different perspective that has little to do with technology, but more than that. As far as the architectural aspects of traditional houses are concerned, human factors weigh heavier than the architectural ones. It is built on the basis of functionality and needs of the users themselves.
As a photographer, I’m never an impartial observer but I feel involved. I have feelings and I know what I see and experience will evoke an emotional reaction. When I take photos, I look for these connections because to me photography does not always have to be about facts. It can also be the emotional reflection of the facts. I photograph from passion and I travel to learn what goes on in the world.
The reason why I started a blog was because I had to be different before I can make a difference. What's the use of traveling if I don't share my experiences with others? And wasn't it said that every picture tells a story? That's exactly why I wanted to become; a storytelling photographer and share my experiences with the world.
I once heard someone say: "Do what you love and love what you do" and that's how it should be.
Photography is my work
And travel is my game
They are the reason why I survive
In my Body and in my Mind
My work brings the food to my table
...and pays for my game
And my game brings the food for my soul
Therefore, I am my work and my game
Ferry R. Tan - 2020