Building Characters with ‘Photo Hunting’ at Museum Taman Prasasti

More than 50 students of BINUS NORTHUMBRIA School of Design joined a ‘photo hunting’ session at Taman Prasasti Museum at Tanah Abang, central Jakarta on Thursday (10/04/2014). They were the participants of Photography 1 class, led by Dianti Andajani.

The photo hunting was the second such program in the semester. The first one was at the ‘Old Town’ area of Jakarta. Based on the curriculum for Photography 1, there are three photo hunting sessions in one semester. Dianti explained the three photo hunting sessions aimed to give students a chance to learn photography in stages. In each stage, Dianti teaches different materials.

In the first session, students were introduced to their cameras and learned the basics of photography. Then, in the second session held at Taman Prasasti Museum, Dianti led the students to the next stage. Students get to know and learn to use their cameras, not only understanding the basic operations but also incorporating their characters and their feelings while taking a picture.

“In the first photo hunting session, students could only take standard pictures; there was yet no ‘flavor’ in the pictures they took. But in the second session. they learned to use their feelings. Their characters start to come out; we can see this in the pictures they took. The results are much more artistic,” Dianti said.

As for the third photo hunting session, students will be expected to know and use more advanced photography techniques, like how to catch the light in the process of taking pictures.

Taman Prasasti Museum was chosen for a specific reason. While it is difficult to find a location to take artistic pictures in Jakarta, the museum is an excellent choice due to its preserved beauty. Dianti said Taman Prasasti could quite ably meet the needs of the students for a location to learn photography.

“It was quite difficult to an artistic place like this in Jakarta. This museum is quiet and has photogenic corners. It is also safe, not too big and not too small. It is appropriate to take along this many students,” Dianti explained.

Out-of-classroom activities, like the photo hunting session, according to Dianti, are required to learn photography. This sort of activity can help students make the connection between theories they learn in the classroom with the application in the field.

Dianti hoped that with this activity, students could learn and understand the stages in the photography learning process.  She also hoped that students could take artistic pictures and could play with ‘flavors’ when hunting for pictures. (RW)