Capturing a Hidden Talent

When he’s not managing properties, Hartono Hosea is unintentionally making a name for himself behind the lens.

Type in Hartono Hosea’s name in a search engine online and it’s not his executive positions with the property subsidiary of the Sun Motor Group that immediately pops up. In fact, it’s not until the fifth link down on a Google search that displays his LinkedIn page – which does in fact list his professional achievements as the president director of PT Sunindo Indah Hotel and operational director of PT Sunindo Primoland from his career spanning more than 27 years (and counting).

Filling up the first half of a web page are images of fashion portraits and links to photography sites taken by Hartono – the eldest son of Sun Motor Group matriarch Imelda Sundoro. A quick look at his personal Twitter account – which is branded as h2photography (his initials squared) – and it’s clear that the 49-year-old has somewhat of a social media presence with almost 3,000 followers. His Facebook account is further testament to his strong online network with more than 170,000 likes on his page, along with more than 15,000 followers on his Instagram account.

But despite his clear fan base and talent – the first few images online resemble the type of shot one could easily see in a high-end fashion magazine – Hartono is adamant that he is by no means a professional.

“My images may look professional to other people but for me I still consider it as a hobby,” admits the father-of-two, who primarily only shoots on weekends unless he finds some free time around his working schedule during the week.

While businessmen often turn to golf to relax – and maybe even network – on weekends, Hartono turned to photography in 2007 as his creative means to escape. Purchasing a small point-and-shoot camera, Hartono started joining other photographers to shoot models in a group for practice. Less than a year later he started shooting models alone – so he could learn more and practice, he says – taking every free opportunity he had to build his skills.

“At that time I had to pay models Rp 500,000 ($42) to shoot them because I was a nobody,” he admits.

Today, the roles have reversed with Hartono no longer paying models to shoot them. “People now come to me, my profile has increased,” he says, adding that he sometimes has to turn people down because it doesn’t fit in with his work schedule.

Click here to read the full article from the July issue of The Peak.