Achmad Zulkarnain (24, from Indonesia) was born without fully formed arms and legs. This impairment did not make him give up on life.
If you only knew photographer Achmad Zulkarnain through his work, few would guess that he was not lucky enough to have a fully able body like most people. Yet the 24-year-old has never seen himself as different.
“It is not fair when people think of me as disabled”, the opening line of a moving short report about Zulkarnain’s life and work, recently made by the media company Al Jazeera.
Achmad Zulkarnain once worked at an internet cafe that also offered photography services to customers. That was how the young man, born in the 1990s, discovered his passion for photography.
Zulkarnain spent all his money on a camera, and kept teaching himself until he could work professionally. Today, he owns the company DZOEL, which serves the demand for artistic photography among people living around where he lives.
Zulkarnain always has his own way of doing everything himself. When taking photographs, the young man opens the camera with his mouth, holds it against his cheek, and supports it with his shortened arms to press the shutter button. His movements are always precise and skilful.
After each shoot, from beautiful young women to majestic natural scenery, Zulkarnain puts the pictures into his laptop and edits them himself.
Getting around is no trouble for the 24-year-old either. He came up with the idea of a vehicle shaped like a car, with a motorbike’s engine and brakes, and a steering wheel from a go-kart.
Zulkarnain once took an impressive photograph on the Ijen volcano, 2,800 m above sea level. The young man once won a special photography prize for shots taken without a tripod.
The 24-year-old photographer loves his equipment more than himself. This shows not only in how he cleans and cherishes each item, but also in the time he fell from a cliff while trying to photograph a waterfall.
“Strangely, at that moment I was only worried about the camera, not about the bruises on my body. Because I love my camera so much”, Zulkarnain said in the report.
The owner of the blog Retouchist commented: “Achmad Zulkarnain showed me what real passion is”.
Even now, some people still look at Zulkarnain with strange, pitying eyes, but to him that no longer matters. The photographer simply focuses on making people happy with his photographs and passing on his craft to anyone who wants to learn.
“I do not want people to look at my work and remember me. What I hope they see is creativity”, the young Indonesian said.
Not only does he inspire less fortunate people, Achmad Zulkarnain also proves that every challenge can be overcome when we are determined to the very end.
“To do something as well as possible, you have to get rid of the idea that you are a person with a disability. You do not need a fully able body to pursue your dream”, the photographer said.
Thu Thao – https://news.zing.vn