Jakarta Street Portraits

I spent 2016 and 2017 living in Jakarta and documenting life in the streets as I saw it. Here are a selection of ten images that I think tell an honest story of the life of the lower classes in that city. Although this series is in digital black and white, I also shoot in colour and with different formats of film camera. Using black and white is a bold choice in a colourful country like Indonesia, but I wanted to strip away that distraction and try to juxtapose the pride against the harsh environment. I see my work very much in the Walker Evans style of street photography. There is nothing staged and there is nothing overly voyeuristic or sneaky about the way I approach my work. The majority of my subjects are well aware of my presence but I try to catch the 'off moment'. When people see a camera there is a tendency to pose, even if subtly. I capture the moment either side of that pose - not totally unguarded but the slightly unguarded moment. This sometimes awkward zone is a rich vein of inspiration for me and is well demonstrated in most of the images in this series.