Bio
Ramadian Bachtiar is born in 22nd July 1980 in Jakarta, Indonesia. He is trained and worked as a marine biologist, and decided to be a fulltime photographer just recently. But he already reached a professional level in photography since 2004 - when he got his first assignment from National Geographic.
He learned photography informally since he was in high school. In 2000, he decided to take a formal photojournalism course at Galeri Foto Jurnalistik Antara. His interest in underwater photography is influenced by his academic background in marine science and his fondness in diving. He has explored the Indonesian seas from Weh Island in Aceh to the Mollucas and this lead to pictures’ publication in National Geographic Indonesia magazine, National Geographic Traveler magazine, Kompas daily, The Jakarta Post daily to name a few.
Ramadian Bachtiar is also a documentary filmmaker focusing in environmental themes and social issues. His documentary on Dayak People (indigenous tribe in Kalimantan, Indonesia) – Sui Utik had won the Nordic Ungdomm Film Festival in 2007. He learned filmmaking during his "fooling himself around" period at Telapak Foundation - an Indonesia based NGO in Bogor who focus their works on forestry issues. This made Rama also close with forestry world, and even closer when he joined Central for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) as their picture editor during year 2010.