Graduation Day

Last summer, some of my friends from Yonsei Korean Language School finished their 6-levels language program and I got the chance to attend their graduation day. It was truly a bittersweet moment. I've became good friends with some of these people and I know how hard they studied and worked for to get to this point. I was truly happy for them for completing the whole program and made it this far. On the other hand, it was kinda of sad because I know we probably won't be able to see each other that often anymore. A good number of people are going back to their home countries after this graduation to go on with their next chapter of life and, to be honest, I don't know when I will be able to see some of them again in the future. Even so, I'm grateful for the experiences and good memories that we've shared together during the short time that we have in school. Some I got to be friends with and some, I'm even lucky enough to call my good friends. 

It's apparently a tradition at Yonsei KLI to wear Hanbok for graduation day, so almost everybody wore Hanboks at the ceremony. I went for a little fun impromptu photoshoot with a couple of my friends to commemorate their last day at school. Sharing with you some of my favorite shots from that afternoon. Hope everybody have a great weekend ahead! :)

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Here are some behind the scenes shots. My friends are one silly bunch :P

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Kanekin Community Photowalk

This past weekend, I had the chance to join the first photowalk hosted by Kanekin for their Kanekin Community members. The venue of choice was Kota Tua, also known as Old Batavia, a neighborhood where old historic buildings of Jakarta are located at. It's a pretty popular tourist (and photo) spot for tourists as well as the locals. We arrived at the place around 9 AM on a Saturday morning and the square was already packed with people. Families with children, students who are on some kind of group trips, couples who are on their dating outings, and of course all the people who are selling their goods and performing arts were spread all across the complex. We managed to walked around the area, visited the Bank Indonesia Museum and found couple of cool spots for shooting. 

Colorful grungy walls with interesting textures was probably the one thing that attracted my attention the most from this area. I ended up taking mostly portraits on this trip, recruiting help from my friends and some of the new people I met from the meet. So sharing with you some of my favorite shots from the day, here they are.

And if you happen to live in Jakarta, interested in the art & design community and want to join the next photowalk, you can join the Kanekin Community by signing up on their website. Who knows, maybe we can bump into each other on their next meet up! :)

Hope everybody had a great weekend! 

Special thanks to everybody who made these shots happened:
(in order of appearance) @gilbertrhezap @joshuasudihman @ellenwinarta @lydiaoey @luckyaldry @jochristian @cindy.octaviany

p.s: click on vertical images to see full-size/larger version.

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Timothy & Jennifer

Weddings were a big part of my 2015. There were lots of weddings that I attended last year and one of the highlight is easily to witnessed one of my sisters marries the love of her life. To be honest, as the eldest, you can't help but to worry about your siblings, right? Well, at least I'm that kind of person anyway. There were millions of questions and worries that went through my mind since they started dating, really, and even more so the closer it gets to their wedding day. Plus, since all of us lived in different cities at different times in our lives, I didn't really get to see the two of them interact as a couple very often, except for special occasions when we are all in the same city at the same time. (This situation didn't help either)

But this past year—especially these past couple of months—having been involved in the wedding preparation process, I think I actually get to know a lot more about Timmy and about them as a couple, even more so than the last 6 years when they were dating. I saw them interact with each other, handling various situations during the wedding preparation, and get to know more about them as a person and also as a couple through their close friends, who were a big part of their wedding day. I think I understand why God has brought the two of them together because even though they are sometimes a complete opposite of each other, but—as cliché as it sounds—they are very compatible with each other.

With that, I'm never good with words, but here it goes:

To Jenni, my beloved sister and my best friend, I couldn't be happier for you that you've met the man that God has made for you. I'm so beyond grateful that I could be a part of your big day(s). I'm sure that you have heard millions of marriage advices from others, but the one thing I hope that'll always stick with you is to keep Christ as the center of your marriage. I can only wish you a lifetime of happiness, a blessed & fruitful marriage, and so you may grow old together with Timmy. 

And to Timmy, I'm so happy to welcome you to be a part of the family and to be my brother (as you know, I never had one so I think this is exciting :P). Couldn't imagined a better man to be Jenni's life partner and I wish you'll follow after Christ to be the head of the family with Him as the center. And congratulations on finally ending the whole LDR thing :) Now you get to spend the rest of your life together with her. Yeay! 

Anyways, I think I'm better at expressing my feelings through the lens instead of words. So here's the last post for Timothy & Jennifer's engagement session. Congratulations on your wedding guys! Love you tons! :)

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Extras

Here's another video that I made with their friends, sharing about who Timmy & Jenni are to them and their messages for the happy couple on their on big day:

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Timothy & Jennifer Summer Session

Jakarta, 28 November 2015. From the night of the wedding reception:

“Good evening to all family and friends,

I want to start off by thanking Jenni and Timmy for letting me take part on their special day. For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Angelique and Jenni is my best friend. Jen, I can’t stop saying this but you look absolutely stunning today!

I have known Jenni for 13 years now. I’ve had the opportunity to watch Jenni blossomed from the slow, cuek, galak girl, to this wonderful woman that stands before us today. She is the sweet, caring best friend that you always have around. She is humble, a good listener, and she has a heart of gold.

Jen, I could spend the whole night talking about you, but let's make it short! To walk through life together with you has been amazing. I remember how we always have a good heart-to-heart talk. It's always fun spending time with you. You have been such a blessing to me, you're like that one sister I never had. Tim, now to you..... I can’t thank you enough for making Jenni the happiest girl. The way you treat her, spoil her, and make her laugh. Your goofiness, your compassion, your loyalty and your love for her assured me that Jenni would always have you by her side. You are everything and more that I could ever hoped for Jenni. I know you will take good care of her 'til she is old and wrinkly!  

I have witnessed how their relationship has matured throughout the time. The commitment and the persistence that they have for their relationship are what keep them going. Jen, Tim.. Earlier today you made a promise to each other, to always be there for each other, to have and to hold.. This next chapter of your life might not be easy, but I know that the strong foundation that you have built for 7 years upon trust for each other and love for each other, will bring you through.

I’m gonna miss you when you go back to the States, but I know that you are just a facetime away! We have always conquered this LDR relationship! 

To close my speech today, John Lennon once said, “A dream you dream alone is a dream. A dream you dream together, that is reality.” … And that reality starts now.

Congratulations once again to the happiest couple, Mr. & Mrs. Timothy Juwono!” 

—Speech by Angelique Setjoadi, the Maid of Honor.

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For those of you who follow me on instagram, you probably figured by now that my sister finally tied the knot about two weeks ago. I'll be sharing more of the engagements pictures that I've taken for the couple on this blog. And since we had a couple of sessions, I'm going to break the post in a couple of parts. 

For now, here are the shots from our summer session in San Francisco. Stay tuned for the next part! ;)

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Dumo Village

After the two unscheduled pit stops that we had (1st pit stop & 2nd pit stop), we finally arrived at the location that is actually on our itinerary, Dumo Village (두모마을). This place was my favorite location during our road trip. Apart from being a little bit cloudy, the weather was perfect, and with a view like this, how could anybody complain, really. The canola field was really beautiful and everything was in full bloom. You can see rows and rows of this beautiful flower growing on the terraced paddy field.

Up to this point, I've had my fair share of traveling, moving around, living in different cities, and meeting lots of people from all over the world. I can say for sure that the best and most memorable experiences I've had were usually because of the people whom I shared those moments with. The people factor can really make or break an experience. It might sounds cliché, but it's true and finding the right people is something that is not easy to do. Having friends who have similar interests, passions, life principles with you AND with whom you can connect and be real with is like winning the lottery. And at that moment, I felt like I've won three. Plus, we actually got a chance to travel together and shoot together. That's just a big bonus. 

We didn't do anything particularly special at the village, but just the fact that I could share this experience with these three amazing individuals—having fun shooting together, talking and being inspired—was really something that I'm grateful for. This trip is one of my favorite moments during my stay in South Korea and I gotta say, I probably wouldn't enjoyed the view as much as I did without these guys—Hannah, Noah, and Ken. 

(Also, check out Ken's snaps and post on the trip here.)

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