There are places that show you beauty, and there are places that wake something inside you. Indonesia did both. Twice. In two wildly different ways.
One was underwater, drifting through coral cathedrals off the coast of Bali. The other was deep in the jungle, where the rhythm of nature beats louder than time. These two journeys—diving in Bali and trekking in Sumatra’s Leuser National Park—reminded me why I carry a camera: not to capture what’s obvious, but to translate what’s alive.
Bali Below: The Magic of Breathing Underwater
Diving in Bali isn’t just about seeing fish—it’s about learning how to move differently. How to listen with your eyes, and how to float through a world where silence is everything.
Every dive was a meditation. The deeper I went, the more I forgot about time, about gravity, about needing to explain anything. Down there, all that mattered was the dance between light and motion. My camera became an extension of wonder—each photo a glimpse of the quiet magic that lives below the waves.
Jungle Heart: The Raw Pulse of Sumatra
And then I went north. Far from Bali’s beaches, I entered a world where the air is thick with life and the jungle never stops speaking.
Leuser National Park, tucked away in northern Sumatra, is one of the last wild places on Earth. A sanctuary for orangutans, rhinos, and creatures most people will never see in their lifetime. I wasn’t there for a checklist. I was there to feel small in the best way.
For days, I hiked through dense canopy, crossing rivers barefoot, sleeping in hammocks, and waking to the cries of gibbons echoing through the trees. The forest has its own heartbeat, and the deeper you go, the more you realize—you are not the center here. You’re a guest. A witness.
And then it happened. I looked up and saw her: a wild orangutan, hanging in the trees, eyes locked with mine. We stayed like that for just a few seconds. But in that moment, nothing else existed. That’s the kind of shot I live for. Not because it’s rare, but because it’s real.
Two Worlds, One Story
Indonesia showed me that adventure doesn’t have to be loud. It can be soft. It can be found in the flick of a manta’s fin, or the sound of rain tapping on jungle leaves. Whether underwater or under the trees, the thread that connects it all is presence.
These two journeys—Bali’s ocean and Sumatra’s wild—couldn’t be more different. But together, they tell the same story: a story of being alive in the unknown, and awake to beauty in all its forms.
What I Took With Me
I left Indonesia with muddy boots, waterlogged memory cards, and a heart wide open. This country doesn’t just give you landscapes. It gives you a deeper way of seeing. Through the lens, through the body, through the stillness.
And isn’t that what photography is for?
– Cristiano
