The importance of animal documentaries in my childhood
When I was little I spent most of my time at my paternal grandparents’ house and, in the living room, in a corner, there was a shelf with a vast collection of VHS cassettes with all the animal documentaries presented by Piero Angela.
I remember the yellow covers with all those images of animals that I looked at continuously, repeatedly and without stopping.
Even though my favorite episode was that of the Nile crocodiles (I was fascinated by their speed in biting the herbivores that came to drink), I was always struck by the cover image of the orangutan.
That bright orange of his stood out too much, it was too beautiful.
The charm of the Sumatran orangutan
Today, 30 years later, I am here to tell you how I took images similar to those I dreamed of as a child in my grandparents’ living room. I’ll tell you about Sumatra, between orangutans and the local population.
Trip to Indonesia: a dream come true
The idea of this trip had been flashing in my mind for some time but, between the pandemic and the change in my plans, I postponed the departure several times until, in the winter, I decided to buy a plane ticket.
If someone were to ask me why Indonesia and in particular Sumatra are so important to me, I would answer that for me the orangutan has a charm and importance on a par with other species such as the polar bear, the jaguar, the anaconda, the puma, the tiger or the emperor penguin.
It is one of those animals that “once in a lifetime…”.
Photographic exploration of the Sumatran jungle
This trip, like the previous ones, had a peculiarity: I was always in the same place for twenty days. Same accommodation, same family-run place where I went every day for breakfast, lunch or dinner.
I didn’t need to move, but this was basically for one reason: good photos aren’t taken in just one day. And therefore knowing that you could count on 20 days available would have increased the probability of encountering favorable situations. Mathematics question.
Photographing children in the river in the afternoon at 6pm is not like seeing them in the morning at 11am or the orangutans themselves who, if spotted in the warm hours, can offer better photographic shots.
The local population of Sumatra
Having a lot of time available, I made several trips at different times and it was amazing to notice the difference in colors in the jungle depending on the time of day and the weather conditions.
Same thing in the surrounding villages which in the morning are full of children playing in the water while in the afternoon there are only women washing clothes.
Throughout the day you come across men fishing in the river with a net, boys on motorbikes without helmets, women displaying their wares along large colored sheets and, above all, children playing in every way imaginable, always barefoot and reckless.
The cheerfulness of the local population
What particularly struck me about Sumatra and the people of Indonesia is the cheerfulness of the people.
Everyone greets you with a smile, even if you’re on your scooter and you meet their eyes for just a second.
Children shout “hello”, and if for some reason you stop somewhere, you find them all around just for the curiosity and interest they have.
I have met many of them playing with banana leaves, dry reeds or diving into rivers from really dangerous points (things that I didn’t do either due to how lively I was as a kid) but here I realized that they grow in a very specific way. totally different.
And then their smiles have a light that is almost no longer seen in the West.
My travel companion: Aseng
The most important figure on my journey is called Aseng, but I named him Mowgli, and it was he who accompanied me everywhere I looked for traditional things in the country, such as rice plantations, palm groves, villages, and schools (he even took me to the doctor when I caught a fever).
Always with the scooter that allowed us to sneak everywhere without major difficulties, I managed to take home the shots I was looking for: capturing the authenticity of the place.
