CELEBRATING INDEPENDENCE DAY

I went to school on Thursday (18/08/2017) for an Independence Day Celebration. Our nation, Indonesia celebrated its 72th year of independence since 1945. We all came to school as usual, which was at 6.30 am and started with a class gathering inside our classrooms.

The event was organized by our school's student council together with our teachers and it was held at the field. We gathered at the field at around 7.30 and we were 500-600+ in total so it was really crowded. All of us wore red and white, two colors which symbolize our national flag. Students from each class had registered for some competitions earlier and we were pretty excited. Yet the sun was shining quite prickly so the weather was sunny and hot.

The first competition is called "Crack 'Em Up" or "Lomba Makan Kerupuk" in Indonesian. It is a very simple game where contestants line up horizontally and every contestant has to finish a cracker that had been hung on a plastic rope on a certain height. The challenge is to finish the cracker as fast as each contestant can by only using mouth and no other parts of the body. The winner is the one who finish the crackers the fastest. The rest of us (who did not join the competition) stood behind the line to watch the contestants thrive for glory. It was funny and interesting.

I could not take pictures with my mobile phone since we were not allowed to bring our mobile phones. So my friend lent me his camera (I also helped him with his photography assignment). It was Canon EOS if I am not mistaken. And so I captured some moments:

The participants were quite excited

before they competed with

each other.

This is the situation when the

game is going.

There were still 5 other competitions that day. I first took some time to see the bazaar called "STORM5" which was held by students from Grade 10. Unfortunately everything was pretty much sold out by the time I got to the stands. So I ended up having breakfast at the school canteen. Then I got the field when the other competitions were about to start. 

I actually participated in one competition called "Mystery Box" but I failed to win the game with my teammates. Then I saw some other competitions including "Tug of War" or "Tarik Tambang". It was really intense since two teams fight for glory by pulling the rope with their strengths. At the same time, there was an Arm Wrestling competition held on the other side of the field and students flooded the area to watch strong arms battling for victory. There were several other competitions but I did not see it since I was hanging around watching the other competitions.

I did not take many pictures that day since I borrowed the camera from my friend and the battery was also dying. Yet, I tried capturing some portraits with the camera. Actually, I have zero experience with a professional camera. But I asked my friend to tell me some features and I ended up getting some portraits even though the results are not really good.

This is my personal best shot of portrait.

I like the composition and the depth of field.

And this is just a random shot

during the competition.

It literally felt burning since we got sunbathed for 4 hours long. We were all very tired as the competitions were over and the event had finished. So we all got back to our classrooms to pick up our belongings and return home at 11.30 am. 

Dirgahayu Republik Indonesia ke-72! 

May God bless Indonesia, our nation.

-  D E T A I L S -

Shot with: Canon EOS (friend's camera)

Edited with: VSCO and Snapseed

Key Features: Exposure Control, 

Grain, Contrast Lowering

Filters: M5

I N S T A G R A M

@richienakata