In the realm of photography, perspective is what differentiates one photographer from another. Thaib Chaidar believes that and challenges himself to keep finding unique perspectives as he wanders around the streets. Let’s learn how he sees things!

In your own words, what is Street Photography?

For me, Street Photography is a challenge to capture moments on the street as they happen naturally. I must say that it’s difficult in its own way. Street Photography relies on each photographer’s perspective, how they observe the objects and capture them. Because every photographer has their own way of seeing an object, the resulting pictures may be different.

Tell us more about your journey to become a professional street photographer!

I was involved in the photography world when a friend of mine asked me to join his photo studio business. I agreed and I started learning photography by myself. Five years later, I decided to recuse myself from the business and began my journey as a traveling photographer. In 2015, I started to feel excited about what street photography has to offer. I can take pictures of anything, anywhere and anytime, as long as it’s in the open public space.

Even though I have now won several photography competitions on the national and international stages, I’m still trying to keep my mind open regarding photography, learning and exploring new things that I come across. 

How do you find unique moments when you’re going photo-hunting?

Careful observation is the key for me. I would love to put myself in the shoes of my photo objects. I love talking to the people around the photo location to be more familiar with their emotions and feelings, and to try to understand what it’s like to be them. However, I have to stay focused and ready to hit that shutter button in case something unique happens, just like this one below.

I took this picture at the Angke Pier in North Jakarta. The rain just stopped pouring and the sky was still cloudy. It was not a pretty situation to take a photo but when I saw the group of men standing over the pier and I noticed another man walking towards me with a blue wagon and yellow containers on it, I knew that the color combination in this frame would make a great photo.

Liong Bread is a legendary bakery product originating from West Jakarta. This is a very meaningful picture for me because I not only saw a man selling bread in the narrow alleys in Glodok, working hard to take his family to a brighter future, just like he came from the darker part of the alleys to more open, luminous alleys.

The painting on the wall is good enough to be captured but when a man is sitting beside the painting and there is a bright wall behind the man, the picture I took becomes more complete. The presence of the man offers a different dimension to the painting and adds more life to the resulting picture. 

How do you get the inspiration for your street photography projects?

Inspirations come to me in various ways. As I said before, I observe things carefully and make myself always ready to take pictures. This also applies when I’m on vacation or on the way somewhere, not only when I’m photo-hunting. Other than that, I also like to learn from other experts in street photography by looking at their works and trying to find out how they take the pictures and see them through their eyes.

What do you think of Sony’s support of your works?

I feel Sony’s support in many different ways. First, I use their high-quality products, like the Alpha 7C II, for my professional needs. It’s a compact full-frame camera and very lightweight, perfect for my photo-hunting scenarios that require me to walk around the streets.

Also, I feel blessed to be part of the Alpha Team as this is a major stepping stone in my career. Being part of a team consisting of many other expert photographers, I am determined to keep improving my skills and techniques, especially in the street photography scheme.