Lombok Family | Indonesia Documentary Photographer

Surgery|Jakarta Documentary Photographer

 Esther's aunt on the left, and mother on the right.

It was a sweltering day in Jakarta and I was struggling to keep my eyes open. We had just stopped by my friend Esther's aunt's place to wish her luck for an upcoming surgery. After about 25 years with diabetes, she was also having kidney issues. She was all ready to have surgery when her surgeon had second thoughts because he was worried about the results.

Esther's brother and sister-in-law were in town visiting from Singapore with their son and they thought it would be a good time to drop by. Esther's mom and dad had accompanied us as well.

 Esther's dad, right. Esther's aunt lives in a house with interesting furniture and little-kid drawings all over the walls.

Esther's brother led a prayer. Hopefully this energy aided in her recovery.

 Esther

Let's hope Esther's aunt feels better.

Jakarta Post photo essay|Jakarta Documentary Photographer

Recently, I was an extra in an Indonesian film called "Di Bawah Lindungan Ka'bah, which is in theaters now. When I wasn't on camera, I had free reign to take photographs. A photo essay was published in The Jakarta Post with my writing and photographs August 13th.

Check out the article online.




To see some of the other photos from behind the scenes, check out these (1 and 2) photo posts.

Part II of Di Bawah Lindungan Ka'bah, Indonesian Film

These photos were taken by Photographers Aldi Reynaldi and Erik Wirasakti. Big props to them for sharing them with me!


These are the real stars.


It's hard having the camera turned on me, as a photographer, but luckily Aldi and Erik did a good job.










Me at the post office, handing over some Dutch money from the 1920s for a parcel I was sending home to Holland.



Our compartment on the train to nowhere. We rode that train back and forth all day. The smell of a steam train is quite overpowering, especially for a Dutch noble-person like me.




The post office employee actually had three different parts as an extra. Not fair! We had fun making up little dialogues while we were filmed over and over.





Me and my hubby, according to the script. He was 59, he said.

On the Set of the Indonesian Film Di Bawah Lindungan Ka'bah | Documentary Photographer

I was lucky to be asked to be an extra in this film, set to release around Ramadan. My part was a "Dutch noble-person" and my job was to wear a dress and pearls and ride a train back and forth. I almost got a speaking role (in Dutch!) but it was stolen from me by a very cute 8-year old boy.



The casting process for Indonesian extras was this guy yelling a lot about the characteristics he needed and people rushing forward with arms raised.


Many of the extras worked at the train museum as vendors and became vendors in the movie! That meant they were old hands at acting out their roles.

I got some time to talk with the still photographers documenting the film. They had already been with the project for a couple months of shooting in other parts of Indonesia. They were very open and friendly and I told one I was a photographer and that I wanted to take photos behind-the-scenes if it didn't disturb them. He said it was fine as long as my camera settings were set to silent--he thought I wanted to shoot the actual scenes as they were rolling. I thought that exemplified how generous they were. I just meant I wanted to take photos of the goings-on around the set, and he thought I wanted to be right next to him taking photos as the cameras rolled.



This post is pretty large so I will add the photos I got from the photographers on set to the next post. Check it out, too!












Patrick was a fun expat from Scotland who lives here in Indonesia now. He's an engaging storyteller and sought me out often because he said he missed speaking with people who spoke English as a first language. It was funny that he said that because I was having trouble understanding his thick (to my ears) accent. He's a foodie, too and makes his own pasta among other things. Pretty impressive in Indonesia! It seemed surreal to be talking about feta and ricotta cheese here. He is the father of the cute 8-year-old who stole my speaking part. But it's okay.







This was supposed to be my husband in the movie. I decided he was my uncle instead. He was from Semarang and his mother was German; he had been an extra before.















Some of the makeup crew.





This is the hunky Indonesian equivalent of maybe Matt Damon and the star of this film. He had to wear lots of makeup so he looked darker. He is actually from Sumatra originally so that part was accurate but I guess this generation spends more time indoors than they did in the 1920s. I was amazed that his makeup didn't get all over everything.





The film takes place in Padang, Sumatra and this is what they wore there back in the day.













We had to ride a steam train back and forth. For the good parts, this is what we saw out the window.







My friend Ashley got to wear mustache. Ash's stache. Good times.







My hubby, looking dashing.







This guy's jacket reminds me of that musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, even though I've never seen it. I was amazed that he was comfortable wearing that in the heat, although I am continually amazed by warm-clothing-wearing here.



This guy is not acting. He is really sleeping on a pile of bags.