Gferro who?

In his own words, in his blog... "Who Is G-`FerRo? An Engineer who takes photography as some sort of "escapism" from daily life ... A local Bruneian trying to share moments captured around the world…"

I was fortunate to finally meet the face behind such breathtaking photographs, ordinary shots transformed into works of art with such a sense of creative detail. This enterprising young man, an engineer by profession, seemingly mild-manner in nature, however speaks of photography with an innate passion.

A self-taught photographer with "QBE (Qualification by Experience)" as he jokingly says, Hj Afero was initially mesmerized when watching his friends dabble with their SLRs and then got himself the basic models, one after another. Eventually, he had so much fun with the cameras that he invested in better ones and the shutterbug seemed inbuilt in his veins.

He says, "When I look into the magazines and see photos of Brunei, I noticed that most of the photographers are not locals. My friends and I feel that we can elevate the status of local photographers locally and internationally. By sharing our photographs to promote Brunei, we hope to play our role and besides, locals know more about Brunei in order to bring it the perspectives better. It's not about the money but in playing our role as a citizen. I want to showcase what Bruneians can do. I also want to play my role to promote Brunei."

How true that is. In fact, both local and international organizations have approached Hj Afero to use his photographs. Recently, World Bank has even contacted him for permission to use his photographs in one of their online reports. Truly a notable achievement! He mentions that it's not always the camera that captures great photos. What matters most is the person behind the lens. He noted that a lot of his initially published works were done with small digital cameras, and it is only then, after a while that he evolved using specialized cameras and professional lens.

A word of advice to budding photographers, Hj Afero says, "Just do it." As he says, "Photography is an art of its own. Even if others do not appreciate what you do, it doesn't matter. Sometimes to get a simple photo, to create the right shot may take hours. But it's the result that matters. Today, one can learn photography even from the internet."

What does he do for fun, other than photography?

Travel is in his blood and very often, he travels, relaxes…and "enjoys the views", and along the way, takes the shots. Indeed, in his website, www.gferro.com, you will be amazed at the gorgeous shots that he has captured.

He caps, "If you don't have the mood to take the photo, the outcome will not be that good. Nowadays, Bruneians are quite good in photography…they know what angles and nots, and are artistic. Even if you have gone to the same place many times, there's always a new angle to take and wonderful photographs to take." Well, Hj Afero really does have his take on life and his art of creating memorable expressions.

Text by Caroline Ang. Image by Gferro.