From West Borneo, Indonesia this is Mario, Berlin-based Photograther. Mario shares his ways of creative exploration, urges more recognition for creative roles, and tells us his valuable must-reads.
Q N°1: Tell us what are you up to?
I’m a photographer and creative director currently based in Berlin. My work is mostly centered around capturing and embracing the beauty within life, be it the ‘bright’ or the ‘dark’ side of it, with a particular focus on metaphoric expression and human emotions.
Recently, I completed an editorial fashion shoot titled JOYCE / The Life Will Take Care of Itself, collaborating with some talented friends in Berlin. This project was originally inspired by my trip to Bali and initially named Heart to Heart before I even heard about the series which I found out a month later from my good creative friend Robbie who was featured recently (can you believe the coincidence? haha).
However, various situations, challenges, and other issues we encountered led us to revise the concept and arrive at its current version.
Q N°2: Home for you?
I was born and grew up in West Borneo, Indonesia, where I spent my childhood years and teenage life. After finishing high school, I started a new chapter by moving to Australia. Both countries hold a special place in my heart, as Indonesia carries cherished childhood memories, while Australia shaped me into the person I am today during my transformative journey into adulthood.
I genuinely miss both of these countries and consider them both as my home. At some point, once I’ve finished my artistic and personal growth in Europe, I’m considering returning to Australia. However, for now, Berlin serves as the ideal home base for me, for my upcoming explorations and creative growth.
Q N°3: Your creative life in 4 words?
Soulful, Collaborative, Play, Flow.
Q N°4: What advice would you give your younger creative self?
Ah, this question is quite a challenge, especially when you reflect on the joyous moments of creativity you did in your youth. In those days, my younger self truly mastered the art of exploration, unburdened by the fear of the work reaching a certain standard. I feel like I need my younger self to tell me that advice to just have fun with the process, embrace mistakes, learn and move on, haha! I have been re-applying this principle to my creative process since I’m aware of the principle.
Q N°5: Was there a moment or learning curve that dramatically shaped your path as a professional?
Hmm, it’s hard to put into words, but looking back, all the events and experiences from the past seem to have fallen into place perfectly. They played an integral role in shaping the person I am today and provided me with a profound perspective on my professional pursuits.
I wholeheartedly embraced a diverse range of photography jobs and assignments, including food, products, events, weddings, portraits, look-books, fashion, music, you name it haha. Every single one of these exploration brought me such excitement and fun from the challenges by each industry.
The different gigs I took on, the diverse experiences I had, they all taught me some truly amazing things. I learned from the variations, the differences, and those invaluable lessons. They gave me the confidence to know my worth in the industry today and also give me a clarity for which industry/type of photography that I truly enjoy creating for the most.
Q N°6: Please share one of your driving values or principles you adhere to on the day-to-day.
Obviously, having hard skills is important. It helps to bring ideas to life without getting overwhelmed by the unknown and techniques part of the process. But soft skills, things like the way of thinking, open mind, curiousity, feelings, senses, and so on are really really important for me, especially if you want to bring your perspective in to this world and show the world what you truly see through your eyes and mind.
This is for me what talent is and of course like everything, you can master and sharpening it. It is something natural yet it is also something that you gotta learn to master and nurture that makes you, YOU. So it’s a mix of both.
Q N°7: What skills are important to possess as a creative in your field?
Often, being edgy and rude are considered cool and classy in the industry. But honestly, I cannot imagine myself surrounded by that energy for my day-to-day basis in life. I believe it’s crucial to create a safe, caring, loving, and respectful space for creatives to thrive in, which I can find in this city more and more.
I am super grateful for my creative friends and peers, we happened to have the same values. We should be valued as true professionals, just like an IT guy working 9-5. Sometimes it feels like people underestimate the effort, skills and time we put into our projects, it’s a different kind of work, and it deserves recognition.
Ideally, I envision a future where these improvements are made, and our industry embraces a culture of respect and appreciation for everyone’s contributions. In the end of the day, It’s everyone’s work and talent being put in such project. I love and appreciate this collaboration aspect of it.
Q N°8: Could you recommend a book, platform or other that re-shifted your perspective and approach to creative work?
YES. Rick Rubin – The Act of Being is one of the best books I have ever read for channeling that creative nature all humans have if they care enough to nurture and embrace it. To trust and create a life from love and trust rather than fears which often move you away from your desire path in life.
Also in the beginning of reading The Artist Way which was recommended by some friends, and they told me that it has been very helpful and powerful to re-learnt that artist/creative instinct we all have when we were child.
Q N°9: Please share one of your driving values or principles you adhere to on the day-to-day.
To trust life and experience whatever comes and find the gold within every moment. I believe and know that whatever happen is shaping you to the best version of you that you truly desire.
To create from love and trust. be kind to one another, and be the change you want to see in the world (as cliche as it sounds, but for real this is really powerful when it sinks deeper in action).
Q N°10: As it’s growing to be an important demand and integral to future business models, what will attributes such as sustainability or freedom look like to you in your creative work?
Oofth, hahaha. To be able to execute an idea you have and always have a mean to do it with people besides you as a team and grow together I think is something that makes me want to keep doing what I am doing.
Having creative friends who are open and trust one another, and having the same values, this definetly will give so much of freedom in creation and execution of an idea.
Thanks for reading Heart to Heart with Mario Palufi (@mariopalufi)!
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