Architect and photographer Andrew Intan shares his story on what made him fall in love with photography, and gives his two cents on how to stay creative during the pandemic.
Growing up with deep fascination in architecture, Andrew decided to pursue his architectural studies in University of Technology, Sydney. Throughout his journey in Australia, he found a new passion he fell in love with : photography. “The very first time I got into photography was when I joined an extracurricular activity in high school. But back then, I had no passion for photography at all. I was simply trying out something different. My passion for it grew when there was a vacancy for photography ministry in my church back in Sydney” he said.
With strong conviction that he was meant to use the opportunity to serve, Andrew began to find ways to improve his skills. He tried to figure out the best angle to shoot and saved up money to upgrade his photography equipment. “It wasn’t easy as a student who had very limited money and just learned from those who were better at it. But as I learned to take better photos, I started to find myself enjoying the act of capturing objects or moments and made others see them from my point of view. “
Landscape photography is the main theme found in Andrew’s instagram portofolio. When asked about the things that inspire him and his photography, he quickly answered : nature's beauty. “The scale of this world and the colours of the sky often draw me to take photographs of them. This is perhaps one of the reasons I like to take photos of mountains whenever I travel. Often, it’s not the mountain in itself that fascinates me but how these mountains can really remind us how small and insignificant we are in the world we are living in.” he explained.
Adjusting to life in quarantine during the pandemic, Andrew strives to maintain his creativity while staying at home. He encourages people to stay creative and start doing things they weren’t able to do in the past. “Do something you’ve been wanting to do that you haven’t had the chance to do before, like learning to play an instrument, learning to paint and sketch, or writing a book. You’ll be surprised to learn that some of these might turn out to be something you’ll end up doing for the rest of your life.”
To conclude the interview, we asked Andrew to pick one thing he would like to frame, if he had only been given the chance to frame one particular object. “I would like to frame my very first uni project, as a reminder of how bad I was and how much I have improved. We need those reminders to humble ourselves, and at the same time to encourage us to not be afraid to make mistakes.”