Read - Write

Singapore National Library at Victoria Street during the 2005 Writer's Festival.

I didn't disturb the kids in taking the shot even though I had to get pretty close to get the shot with my 50 mm lens. They were so into their books that I don't think they would have noticed me even if I were singing Chinese opera in a kilt.

The kids not noticing the photog is ok for the concept of this shot, but my ideal for street photography is to get shots where I've made friends with the person first. Then they can look me in the eye and respond to me as a person and not just some guy with a camera. Hopefully I can get a smile. Anyway, that's the ideal. Not something that's easy for me to do.

Btezra's street portraits are very inspiring from that angle. Portraits of people not subjects.

Photography & Photoblogs in Singapore

Some interesting websites I’ve discovered for photography in Singapore.

More Singapore photography here and here.

Blogs by Photographers:

• Pond Musing – by a professional portrait photographer with remarkable insight into the art of photo making. Check out his Chinese opera sets.
• Shutterbugism – another professional photographer with great wedding and travel shots. His writing gives a peek into the life of a pro photog.
• Midnight Tales – the blog of a Singaporean street photographer.

Photoblogs:

• Some Fancy Piece – street photography.
• Countingsheep - Ashwin's photoblog, mostly b&w and shot on film.
• Eng Loy's Digital Gallery - Another wide ranging photoblog characterised by crisp, sharp shots and strong colour. I particularly like this shot - In Captivity.
• Tan Lip Seng is a Singaporean photographer who shoots marvellous pictures on colour slide film. To my eye there is a different look to these photos compared to a picture shot on a digital camera. Check it out yourself.
• Edenophotoblog does wonderful Singapore landcapes.

Other Sites:

• Flikr – A wonderful photo sharing service. Many Singapore bloggers use this to host their blog photos. A wide variety of photographic styles and subjects. One of the more active Singapore Flikr groups is the Singapore Flikr Meetup group.
• Flikr – tag search for photos tagged with "Singapore". Can be toggled to search for the most recent shots or for interesting shots.
• Clubsnap – Singapore based photography community and forum with articles on photography related topics. The article by David Wong on Photography 101 is informative and concise.
• The Nature Photographic Society of Singapore's website is a delight. The site is choc full of spectacular nature photography and interesting articles. The passion for photography and nature shines through in the photographs on this site.

Special Interest

• Eatzycath is a Singapore blogger who has a special interest in photographing food, both her own delicous looking creations and food sampled elsewhere.

I am sure that there is much more out there to discover.

Tag:Photography Singapore

Fountain of Wayne

This fountain is popular place for kids to play with the timed water jets. It was just a question of finding a good spot and waiting. The tricky bit is getting a simple shot. The place is crowded with kids and people walking by in the background.

I exhausted one camera battery, part of another and filled every CF card I had on me: 1 Gig, 256 MB and even my ancient 16 MB card. This is one of the few clean, unobstructed shots from the shoot.

Elsewhere: Pond Musing on Waiting for Grace. He lays bare the secret of great photography. The best writing on photo making that I've read.

Curves & Stairs in Yellow

Lookout tower in Singapore's East Coast Park.

I tried to get the yellow to approximate what it reminded me of: the beautiful, brilliant cadmium yellow of Van Gogh's cornfields.

Radiance

Antique & curio shop at Tekka market in Singapore's Little India.

Night Vigil

A little statue in a flowerpot by the roadside, looking a weather-worn and cracked. Wilkie Road, Singapore.

Amidst all the inter government squabling, suffering and horrific injuries in the aftermath of the South Asian Earthquake, it's heartening to hear about the efforts of Singapore's SCDF and other volunteers helping those who desperately need it.

Singapore's Red Cross is organising more help.

Isle Cafe

The Isle Café in Peace Centre is my idea of the perfect Singapore style coffee shop, down to the plastic utensils and folding tables.

The mee sua there is not too bad. Mee sua is a Hokkien dish of vermicelli, with minced pork and fishballs in a clear soup. The vermicelli is usually bland by itself, but it soaks up the tasty clear soup stock. Fresh cut red chilies add zing to this dish. The strong teh si (tea with evaporated milk) is a nice complement to the meal.

Murano

I can still remember the lunch we had in Murano all those years ago. Freshly caught sardines lightly grilled, with lemon juice squeezed on top. Such a simple dish, yet that juicy fish, with the clean tart taste of the lemon remains in my memory. The taste of the Adriatic.

Ponte dei Sospiri

The Bridge of Sighs from the Ponte della Paglia.

I stood in Venice, on the Bridge of Sighs:
A palace and a prison on each hand:
I saw from the wave her structures rise
As from the stroke of an enchanters wand...

Child Harold's Pilgrimage - Byron

Be Cool

Ban Loon

Store front in Malacca town. Under the equatorial sun in a town with no trees.

Light A Candle

SMU Campus by night.

In memory of those killed in the Bali bomb blasts. 1 Oct 2005. I wonder what more we can do to stop this cycle of violence and killing?

Elsewhere: Jasmin's moving written tribute to her dad and photo.

Snowglobe

It’s wonderful how a photograph can be a little time machine.

As I sit here typing this in the equatorial heat of Singapore, I’m transported back to the cold, snowy morning LC and I hiked along the banks of the l’Arve, years ago. I don’t know if we will ever make it back there, but at least here even amidst the muggy heat, there’s a cheery wave from the bridge in Chamonix, and the snow is falling.

Elsewhere: Raul’s amazing 11 year time lapse photograph.

No Photography

Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, Art Gallery by night.

Reading about Espion’s brush with the police while getting a beautiful series of night shots, got me thinking about doing street photography in Singapore. I’ve found that it’s not uncommon for someone to object to my making a photograph even if I’m quietly making the picture in a public place. Some thoughts about my experiences doing street photography here.

• It’s better to use a compact camera for street photography. I’ve found that the chance of someone objecting to me taking a photograph increases, in the order these thing come out of the bag: an SLR, a long lens, or a tripod.
• Smiling and making eye contact helps just as it does in most other non-photographic situations!
• If someone objects to me making a photograph, instead of insisting on my rights or making a fuss, it’s better to just walk away. There’s bound to be something else to photograph just down the road.
  

I do find it a bit strange though, why people object. I once wanted to make a picture of an antique statue in a shop window while standing outside the shop in the street, but the shopkeeper waved me away. If he had let me make the shot, I’d have posted it and said something like: here’s this cool/interesting/beautiful artwork at this shop along at -----. He missed an opportunity to get some free publicity.