Hengki Koentjoro: Sky, Earth and Water
By Billy Kung
A photograph can be seen as a transparent window to an objective world, but it can also be seen as a mirror of the private, inner psyche of the artist. For Indonesian photographer Hengki Koentjoro, his love of nature found the perfect outlet for self-expression—through the lens of a camera. Allowing him to discover and be close to the world surrounding him, Koentjoro describes his passion as such: “. . . it helps me get my sanity back. The ocean and mountains in particular have that mystic power that I look up to deeply. Living in Indonesia is
a blessing. . . ”
Born in Semarang, Central Java, Koentjoro’s interest in photography began at age 11 when he was gifted a Kodak pocket camera from his parents. The camera not only served as a springboard for his imagination in his formative years, it eventually motivated him to enroll in the Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara, California. During his studies, Koentjoro discovered the works of one of the world’s visionary figures in nature photography, Ansel Adams (1902–1984), whose black and white images of landscapes have inspired a great many photographers and environmentalists.
