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A photograph of a man and his son spearfishing, captured by Buchari Muslim Diken, an Indonesian police officer from Maluku Province,​​​​​​ won third prize at the Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum International Photography Awards (HIPA) this year. The theme for the ninth edition of the awards was ‘water'.  (Documentation of HIPA/gtm)

A police officer from Maluku Province, Buchari Muslim Diken, has bagged the third place in the ninth edition of the Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum International Photography Awards (HIPA).

The theme for the annual competition this year was “water”.

Diken, a second police inspector and a freelance photographer, submitted a black-and-white picture of a fisherman and his son spearing coral reef fish, off Negeri Liang waters, Ambon Island, Maluku Province, for the contest.

Diken said he had to dive underwater to take the award-winning shot, which took him three hours to capture. Diken said he snapped at least 100 photographs of the fisherman and his son, and chose the spearfishing picture of the young boy as it strongly reflects Maluku's traditional fishing techniques.

"Beta (Maluku's language for I) submitted the picture for the HIPA contest because this kind of local genius has become rare in our modern world. But, fishermen in Maluku, especially in Ambon Island, still catch fish in this old way," Diken said, referring to the tradition of using a spear to catch fish.

Diken, 32, has won several local and national photography competitions in the past. "I started submitting my works for the HIPA contest in 2015, and in 2017, a single picture of mine made it to the final. But, this year, I took third place in the contest's main category," he stated.

Founded in 2011, HIPA is an international photography award, initiated with the support of the crown prince of Dubai, Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid bin Mohammed al Maktoum. Offering US$400,000 in prize money, HIPA claims to be the largest prize among photography awards.

As the third-prize winner, Diken will receive a bonus of US$12,000 (around Rp168 million). He said he plans to use the cash to take his parents to Mecca, one of Islam's holiest cities in Saudi Arabia, for a Umrah pilgrimage. "It's a promise to my mother and father," he remarked.

For Diken, being recognized by one of the world's leading photography contests is more important than the prize. "Winning this prestigious competition is the dream of each and every photographer in Indonesia," Diken noted.

"I was shocked and surprised (on winning third place). I never expected my work would win at the contest. My wife, my child, and I spontaneously prostrated on the floor, offering our gratitude to the Lord Almighty Allah SWT," he added.

At this year’s HIPA contest, François Bogaerts from Belgium took the first prize, followed by Shantha Kumar Shivam Laila from India. Meanwhile, Australian photographer Jasmine Carey won the grand prize of US$120,000, "while Emirati creativity sparkled with a two-way victory through photographers Yousef bin Shakar Al Zaabi and Rashed Al Sumaiti," HIPA announced in a statement. (ANTARA)