Drinking Tuak, a photo from Sarawak, East

Photographer's Note

This is taken in a "Longhouse" in Batang Ai region, very near to the Indonesian border of Borneo.
The people you see are Ibans, heirs of fierce headhunters tribes who are now harvesting rice, breeding fish and welcoming foreigners like me to make a living.

Ibans usually live in a Longhouse, a long stilt building that can contain up to 30 or 50 different families, all ruled by a chief.
When not at work, Ibans are happy fellows that really like lifting a glass or two (or more), though there's no real alcohol problems in the Iban community. This was taken around 11AM, we were already to our third full glass of tuak...(and then there was dancing...)

BTW, what is tuak? it's a local alcohol made out of rice, there are two qualities : a milky white tuak that tastes a bit like sweet sake and a clear one that is much stronger (and better to my taste).
As I couldn't finish my third glass, one took it and shared with everybody here, the last to drink was a boy who was to me not more than 10 years old... Tuak drinking starts early when you're an Iban.

eelliott305, Darren, agarcia, eleparc, flip89, Izobretenik has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

jhonny_blue (4956) 2004-03-14 6:38

Beautiful family moment ! Your composition is fantastic !
Congratulations !

claudiaf (4438) 2004-03-14 6:40

Very nice moment.

cloverstar (0) 2004-03-14 6:58

Good composition, but I think a larger F-stop would have brought the man in the foreground a bit sharper. Nice expression of the childs face, and overall a nice candit shot. Well done.

clodreno (0) 2004-03-14 7:59

Nice image, may be not as nice as others I have seen from you, but still very good. I like the kid being so close to his grand fater/ father.. A very nice atmposphere in this image, it's seems very peaceful.
As usual your not is very informative and interesting.

eelliott305 (776) 2004-03-14 8:01

A very good shot (and note.) I think your focus has been concentrated on the little boy leaning on the man`s shoulder. His face is caught nicely in the light. The man is more interested in his drink. Interesting reflections on the mens` bodies.

Darren (6823) 2004-03-14 9:05

This is a good photo Luko and very typical of many of yours I think. Nice tight composition and I like that other than the boy, noone seems to be paying attention to you. It does seem a little blown out in spots, and on the boys face, this bothers me a little. Great note as well.

eleparc (24063) 2004-03-14 16:24

A very intimate scene ,luko, you are presenting today...I like it very much and alike Claude, I think it is great to see the tenderness of the kid towards his grand'pa. B&w is a good choice to focus our attention to the core of the picture. However, i would have cropped it tighter to the right of the woman i think.. A month ago, when I still was not a member of TE, I would have never said that , but I realize more than ever now the importance and impact of a tight crop. You do not need to agree luko, if that is not your choice.? This is only my advice;-) Nice diagonal line too with the heads of the subjects.

flip89 (3418) 2004-03-14 19:02

Beautiful photo-anthropological journalism. I love the lighting coming from the outside. Very natural. DOF is great too - to focus on the loving relationship between the father (or grandfather) and the child.

philip_coggan (11) 2004-03-15 10:05

Luko, I think you have the most marvellous job and life of anyone I know!

lukasfoto (3078) 2004-03-17 3:30

What a great shot! i like very mucg children face.. :))) well done

dsidwell (9783) 2004-03-17 12:13

Stunning tones and clarity, this image also has a lot of emotive quality, especially with that one face looking at the camera. Raise the tuak glass and toast!

naxius (16685) 2004-09-24 5:04

Ici ce n'est pas du tout le choc des generations, bien au contraire! J'aime beaucoup cette photo car on voit bien l'enfant ici se reposer sur l'epaule de son pere/grand-pere, on peut y sentir une totale confiance et tranquilite.
La presentation est parfaite.

Alexandre

Izobretenik (1268) 2006-06-13 8:18

Je pense qu'il s'agit de la derni鑽e de la s駻ie, n'est-ce pas ? Je les ai vues dans le d駸ordre mais j'ai appris tout un tas de choses et je t'en suis vraiment reconnaissant. Je pense m麥e que je vais garder le texte quelque part, histoire de ne pas oublier.

Merci !

Izo

Magritte (418) 2007-05-02 11:56

Sc鈩e de vie dans une maison longue...tuac � la clef. J'aime celle-ci, comme du reste toutes les autres (et ce n'est pas de la complaisance ou du fayotage!). Merci pour le mail, tant pis pour les singes(!) et chapeau pour la galerie sous-marine. Tout cela me permet d'attendre le mois indon駸ien qui se profile � l'horizon, alors je redis pas merci (faut pas en abuser) mais le coeur y est. A +

Brian (3) 2007-09-05 16:19

Hi Luko,
I was going through your Indonesia & Malaysia photos recently. I have a good friend from Indonesia who has told me all about the Dyak, and the delicious tasting Medurans. Well anyway, I didn't believe everything he was saying untill I saw them with their tuak here. That was one of the details he told me.
Brian