Great New Book of “Phone-ography”

This is a great opportunity to see the intuitive, quirky, beautiful, observant, inventive vision of four of Indonesia’s premier photographers ( Ahmad Zamroni, Dita Alangkara, Mast Irham, and Yuniadhi Agung) explored through their phones’ camera.  The book can be ordered here for only Rp 150,000 – thats less than 15 bucks for my non-indonesian friends – check it out!

Indonesia’s Air Gun Capital

GunTown001
« 1 of 11 »

all images copyright Getty Images/Ed Wray

In every corner of the world, people feel the need to proclaim their fame. To shout out to the universe that “we are significant and here’s the reason why” – There is a “carrot capital of the world”, Holtville, California, the “selfie Capital of the world”, Makati, Philippines and my home state, Idaho seems to be known throughout the world as “famous for potatoes” (at least from the number of people who say potatoes after I tell them that they’ve probably never heard of where I’m from). The small village of Cipacing, Indonesia is one such capital. It is the “Air Rifle Capital of Indonesia.” Dozens of homes in the village have sophisticated metal lathes, and woodworking tools with which the villagers have been turning out firearms since at least the late 1800’s. Although since the 1960’s when Indonesia banned guns, the community has mostly been making air rifles which people buy to hunt small animals and birds; but the skill of the villages gunsmiths sometimes gets used to make illegal firearms which are then sold to criminals or terrorists. Its a fascinating place.