Singapore Vertigo

Singapore can be vertiginous at times.

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You look up.

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You could lose your balance.

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It’s a culture on display.

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A culture that wants to be legible.

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It wants to be read globally.

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To be taken seriously.

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There’s an official stamp on everything.

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We see what we are supposed to see.

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A people on display.

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No one can truly be at rest.

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We keep on looking.

Camera: Contax TVS II

Film: Agfa Vista 400

 

 

Street Thoughts

I don’t want to over-intellectualize things, but after doing this for a few years now, I’ve come to the conclusion that for me, to take street photographs is to think on my feet.

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When I came upon the above scene for example, I am reminded of how much culture depends on physical toil that is too often, invisible. We marvel at the Great Wall of China, at the pyramids in Egypt, and of course, there’s an invisible history of physical toil involved.

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I like the way signs are re-appropriated for other purposes. The full-size image of an air hostess welcomes you into the shop, which is closed for lunch. I make it a point to come here every time I’m in Singapore, to check out some of those NATO watch straps.

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The deployment of trees is part of the city’s architecture.

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The trees frame the building. Living in the city, we tend to forget that it is ultimately nature that frames human activity.

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Something we do every day, waiting at a pedestrian crossing. One of those insignificant yet ubiquitous experience that characterizes urban life which we tend to forget.

Thanks for reading!

Buy my latest street photography and poetry book!

Camera: Olympus XA 3

Film: Ilford XP2

 

 

Chinatown Moments

A history of the present…

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The streets are clean.

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Street tourism.

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Somewhat in your face…

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Street prayer…

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Street fruit!

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Street selfies…

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Another history of the present…

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Thanks for reading!

Buy my latest street photography and poetry book!

Camera: Olympus XA 3

Film: Ilford XP2