Category: Colour

Searching for Singapore II

Posted on by eddietay in About Singapore, Colour

I usually have 2 cameras with me during a photo-walk.

The previous post was with my stealthy Olympus XA2 loaded with Ilford XP2 400 film, while this is a Summicron 50mm Type II Rigid on a Leica M6 loaded with Kodak Portra 400.

I sometimes go all Daido Moriyama with my Olympus XA2 (or I try, at least), while with the Leica, I get that understated Martin Parr social commentary look (or I try, at least).

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So that’s the flat visible from Bras Basah Complex, my favourite haunt since when I was a teenager as it’s the place to go to for secondhand books.

I took an Irish colleague there once and he said quite accurately that he could see that Bras Basah Complex was a formative part of my education.

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Good old civil defence!

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Singapore, along with its many historical landmarks, are works under construction.

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That’s just outside the Arts House. I supposed you could call this commissioned graffiti.

“If You Dream Too Long” calls to mind If We Dream Too Long, the title of a novel by the late Goh Poh Seng. I met him once at a literary festival.

The author of yet another great Singaporean novel, Heartland,  Daren Shiau, once told he admires the writings of Goh a lot. Heartland is many ways a response to If We Dream Too Long. Read these two books if you want to know Singapore.

Yes, yes, that’s my inner Singaporean literature nerd emerging.

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That’s outside Ngee Ann City, a very appropriately named shopping complex because it’s so gigantic.

Yes, the humongous bookstore Kinokuniya Books is in there. It’s a place I go to for inspiration.

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The stone lion outside Ngee Ann Complex, representing prosperity and all the good stuff and guarding all that conspicuous wealth inside the shopping mall.

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That’s the ice-cream uncle at Orchard Road. I’ll usually buy a durian ice-cream wrapped in bread from him. It costs all of SGD$1. Pretty amazing.

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That’s “Urban People”, the art sculpture in front of Ion Orchard, delighting tourists always.

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We’re always being framed by brand names at Orchard Road, with fashion models watching over us, reminding us of what we could be if only we’re willing to spend just a little bit more …

Thanks for reading!

London Street Photography II

Posted on by eddietay in Colour

From my London folder again…

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I was happy to have caught this gesture…

He’s framed by various pictures, and there’s a statement here to be made about the idealised/commodified/cosmetic appearances of the pictures vs his heartfelt sincerity. Check out the arrow that’s about to pierce his heart.

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The British Museum … it’s difficult to photograph such an iconic place because you know it has been done so many times…

I chose the seemingly unthinking approach: capture it at any angle and it’ll still look wonderful. Kudos to the architects…

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Here’s a museum interior that plays with religious icons … there’s definitely a connection between religious devotion and museum space.

In a way, we’re here to worship art and/or the past.

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At the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Here’re the acolytes …

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I’m a tourist!

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A busy scene with the seated person as a focal point, at the still point of the turning world …

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“At the still point of the turning world. Neither flesh nor fleshless;
Neither from nor towards; at the still point, there the dance is,
But neither arrest nor movement. And do not call it fixity,
Where past and future are gathered. Neither movement from nor towards,
Neither ascent nor decline. Except for the point, the still point,
There would be no dance, and there is only the dance.
I can only say, there we have been: but I cannot say where.”

(T. S. Eliot, “Burnt Norton”, The Four Quartets)

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Thanks for reading!

London Street Photography

Posted on by eddietay in Colour

These were taken from a London trip some time ago with my trusty now classic Canon G11.

I’ve been looking through my folders and was actually surprised to realize I had been doing street photography without really knowing that was what it was.

These are all shots taken in-between vacation family pictures when I thought the combination of people and scene looked interesting.

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Slow Day

Posted on by eddietay in Colour
The usual media depiction of Hong Kong revolves around skyscrapers, the Peak, and the excellent dim sum, of course.

But there is also another pace of life which you can see on weekends.

All photographs are taken at Ma On Shan, New Territories.

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You’ll see people cycling, fishing and taking leisurely walks.

There are fast-paced days and there are slow-paced days.

Today, we’ll go slow.

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The cycling route can be rather scenic.

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There’s an often-mentioned creative writing strategy: when writing a poem about love, never use the word “love”.

This entry is about cycling with my son, without photographs of us cycling.

You can see our bikes in the background though.

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At moments like this, we slip into another time. You’ll see people enjoying being alone, in their own space-time bubbles.

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This is the bike shop we go to when there’s something to the bikes I can’t fix. They’re really friendly and will actually tell me I don’t need that pair of fancy bike gloves when a generic one would do as well.

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My cynical self would think about the way they are setting up their profit margins. But they sometimes do minor repairs and maintenance for free as well.

The boss will just tell you it’s free of charge and please buy your next bicycle from him.

She was shielding her eyes from the sun, so naturally I brought my camera to my eye.

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That’s at the end of Wu Kai Sha beach. You’ll see quite a number of village houses.

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An open door.

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You could see the contrast between village life and high rise living here.

Hong Kong is a city of sharp juxtapositions.

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Thanks for reading!

River Safari

Posted on by eddietay in About Singapore, Colour

We’re still on the theme of street photographs taken during family outings some time back.

This is the newly-opened River Safari in Singapore.

I went absolutely berserk with the various compositional possibilities in front of the large fish tank.

As everyone else is looking at the exhibits, no one is looking at me – that’s the perfect set up for a street photographer.

I’ll call this series The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Taking Photographs (see Damien Hirst).

Utter fascination.

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Innocence.

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Musing. This is a work of art.

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Look! Look!

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Looking.

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The trick to this is knowing telepathy and fish language.

I’ve managed to convince those fishes to frame themselves around the human exhibits.

I am a very talented photographer.

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Still looking.

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Finally, a decisive moment.

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Thanks for reading!

Village Life in Hong Kong

Posted on by eddietay in Colour

This is the dilemma I face whenever we have a family outing.

Should I bring along my Leica M6, my Olympus XA2, Canonet or Yashica? Do the kids look like they’re going to give trouble? Are we going shopping which means I need a high ISO film?

At this point I would once again settle on my Canon G11 over the 600D. With a family in tow, I’ll go for a compact auto focus auto exposure digital everything because there’s usually no time to focus (in both senses of the word) if you’re looking to do a bit of street photography at in-between moments. I’ll bring along my Leica when the kids are older…

My daughter’s kindergarten organised an outing last Saturday for their students and their families. There was a huge turnout. Five gigantic bus loads.

Here’s our guide:

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She sings very well.

Here’s our driver:

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I was 2 seats behind and this is a reflection of him from the driver’s rear-view mirror between two curtains.

We were at a farm at Sha Tau Kok. It was a 20-minute walk to the farm and there were fascinating ruins.

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I think some of these are occupied.

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There’s a certain socio-political economic situation to village houses in Hong Kong.

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In land-scarce Hong Kong, villagers are given a plot of land to build a three-storey house in recognition of their indigenous status. They could remain as they are but a three-storey set-up means you could lease out two floors and live on the rent alone.

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Usually the villagers in a single village are related and have the same surname.

And they would set up small businesses. This area for example is a cycling, fishing, kite-flying and bbq area combined with a vegetable farm.

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When we say Hong Kong is short of land, we are thinking of built-up areas like Kowloon or Hong Kong island.

Sha Tau Kok where we were is huge and relatively sparsely populated. But it takes a certain character to enjoy life here I suppose.

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Here’s another village. I was told it’s a traditional Hakka village. Because these are popular sites for local excursions, the villagers have set up small stalls selling traditional snacks.

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The black blobs are called errr… “tiny chicken poop” in Cantonese. Yummy! I was told it’s good for my sore throat.

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Thanks for reading!

At Tsim Sha Tsui

Posted on by eddietay in Colour

Again, at Tsim Sha Tsui.

There’s so much happening here.

I don’t mean shopping and eating, though there’s lots of it too.

Sometimes we’re bored while waiting for the bus…

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But there’s so much to see …

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I suppose it’s about framing and movement…

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There’re so many people at work.

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I figured I could fire off two clicks before they notice me …

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I simply love the lomography effect with Fuji Superia 800 film.

Thanks for reading today.