Monochrome – Page 9 – Hong Kong Lucida

Singapore as Comfortable Grid

Posted on September 6, 2014September 6, 2014 by eddietay in About Singapore, Monochrome

I’ve been reading Alexander Nehamas’ Only a Promise of Happiness and some of his words jumped out at me:

Beauty always remains a bit of a mystery, forever a step beyond anything I can say about it, more like something calling me without showing exactly what it is calling me to. Since no words are enough to convince me that something is beautiful (or its opposite), it is a call I can only hear on my own, beyond what anyone can say to show that making it part of my life might be worthwhile. (pg. 78)

We’re in the end looking at and listening to that innermost voice calling out to us … I suppose that’s a good description for anyone who knows what it means to be an artist, poet and/or street photographer.

Again, from Nehamas:

Even the narrowest judgment of beauty has far-reaching consequences and makes a difference to one’s mode of life. What such a life will bring is impossible to predict and, once it has brought it, difficult to evaluate. You can’t know in advance the sort of person it will make you and you can’t ever be sure of the worth of the person you have become. You can’t even be certain that you will eventually consider what you find through the pursuit of beauty to have been worth your while. (pg. 129)

I suppose all we could do is wait and see and hope to grow into the sort of person we’d want to be…

Sometimes it is tempting to fall into that path of least resistance, choosing a course of action simply because it is there and it is a well-worn path.

Go into a shop, buy a thing, any thing.

And sometimes it is after exhausting a particular option that one begins to want more…

What does it mean to flourish?

How may one begin to understand how one path leads to another?

Are we caught in a web of our own making?

Is there room to maneuver?

Or perhaps the grid is comfortable, after all.

A sort of ready-made architecture of success beckons.

We see.

We try to make sense out of this.

We look into ourselves and hope we find something significant…

Open-edition prints available here.

Sentosa Monochrome

Posted on September 3, 2014September 3, 2014 by eddietay in About Singapore, Monochrome

We’re on Sentosa, an island theme park.

The Merlion – Singapore’s tourist icon which is an allusion to the 13th-century myth of a prince spotting a lion on an island which he later named Singapura (“Lion City” in Sanskrit).

The fish tail is supposed to remind Singapore of its origins as a fishing village.

It looked more menacing than usual on that day under a harsh sun.

The Sky Ride!

Woohoo!

It’s definitely not for those with a fear of heights.

That’s the luge ride – the other reason we were in Sentosa.

This looks rather poetic …

Another poetic shot … what can I say – I’m a street photography genius!

Tourism in a bus.

Much needed on a scorching hot day.

An even better idea on a hot day (every day) in Singapore.

That’s what it says…

The view is nice.

There’re still quiet corners on Sentosa.

No kidding! Or is this a trick?

It’s not a trick. *wink*

Waiting in a quiet corner.

Yes, there’re many scenic moments.

This is definitely not a stealthy camera…

Thanks for reading and check out my Saatchi Art page!

Singapore Monochrome Zoo

Posted on August 31, 2014August 31, 2014 by eddietay in About Singapore, Monochrome

Singapore has a fantastic zoo.

We visit once a year each time we’re back.

I had a simple set-up that day – it’s a 40mm prime lens.

The challenge here is not so much to become the next National Geographic photographer, but simply to impart a bit of character onto the subjects.

That’s my favourite animal, totally at home in its tropical paradise – I was born in the year of the tiger.

A turtle flying through the water.

A dreamy iguana.

An enigmatic bicycle … (the kids had to pry their weird daddy and his camera away from this animal.)

We’re that sea lion, trained to perform.

See how hard it spins for its food.

The chimpanzees are high above, lording over us…

Check out that animal of a camera!

It’s a full frame Sony RX1r.

It’s a f/2 Carl Zeiss Sonnar lens!

It’s a full frame digital camera with a fixed lens, a challenge to a Leica fixed with a 35mm lens.

I could be Garry Winogrand with that camera! (I should say Winogrand’s book The Animals was on my mind that day.)

With that camera, I could become the next Daido Moriyama… look at that lens hood!

Okay … back to the main plot.

Once upon a time, Singapore was a small fishing village.

Then the elephants came.

We’re all looking out for our next orange squash.

Capitalism is fun!

All lined up and waiting to be splashed on by the sea lion … what fun!

Would you like to meet a capitalist snake, anyone?

That’s a white capitalist peacock giving us a rear view…

A charging polar bear!

Up close and personal with a polar bear.

There’re lines we cannot cross.

No worries – no one is going to eat us.

My daughter was impressed by this bird and followed it for a bit.

My son got real close and took the above shot.

“What’s that, daddy?”

“It’s a nice furry raccoon-like monkey animal creature.”

Children love the horse-carriage ride.

Nice pony!

A pony is not a baby horse.

It’s a small horse.

My son decided this particular otter was cute and took 16 identical pictures.

(That’s partly why I don’t let him use my film cameras.)

Bye bye! See you again next year!

For collectors: check out the prints!

Singapore Local Culture

Posted on August 22, 2014August 22, 2014 by eddietay in About Singapore, Monochrome

This is culture as lived experience:

An ordinary life that is the subject of street photography.

Every year I return to Singapore for a period and some things don’t change.

The kacang puteh man is still there (there’s another photo of him in a post a year ago).

I tried another shot and he spotted me.

A cobbler.

And another cobbler.

I stopped to buy my son an ice cream.

When doing street photography, bring along your child – you’ll look less conspicuous that way.

See? This guy actually smiled at my son and I.

I look like I’m helping my son with a school project…

My son dared me to take a picture of him up close – and I did.

And he pointed to them and said it would make a nice photograph – so I obliged.

He didn’t think the above would work – I think he’s right.

And he said the cyclist was looking the wrong way … again he’s right.

“Why did you take a picture of that building, daddy? Is that considered street photography?”

Good question.

I thought the tie fluttering in the air might make this interesting.

He was trying to tack something onto the wood paneling and looked somewhat frustrated – I caught that moment.

That’s life – always under construction.

Thanks for reading.

Check out my open-edition prints at my Saatchi Art page!

Singapore Heartland

Posted on August 20, 2014August 19, 2014 by eddietay in About Singapore, Monochrome

Heartland is the title of a novel by Daren Shiau.

We don’t meet often, though our paths have crossed a few times at various literary readings/events.

The novel is about the coming of age of a young man who grapples with class disparities, national service (conscription) and romance.

It is also about every Singaporean son…

The heartland is the social-cultural space we grew up in.

For me, it’s what nostalgia is made of.

There is a shiny global Singapore (Gardens by the Bay, Marina Sands, Clarke Quay, etc.), and there’s also the heartland of Singapore we return to in the evenings.

It’s the uncle we see every day, loitering at the void deck.

It’s hawker food!

It’s that uncle on a bicycle I side-stepped to avoid in the morning.

All of that adds up to a sense of community…

And both national and personal growth is a kind of departure, a severing of ties from the past…

We’ll never return to the seesaw of our childhoods again.

Things are too new to be comfortable.

All that unearthing and shifting of foundations…

There’s always work in progress.

Hence all we can do is learn to look back and find a glimmer of our home again in our imagination…

For collectors: open-edition prints are available at my Saatchi Art page.

Thanks for reading!

Singapore: Monochrome Visions

Posted on August 16, 2014 by eddietay in About Singapore, Monochrome

These pictures were taken around late July/early August, when National Day (9 Aug) was just around the corner.

I was in Singapore for about three weeks, and every single day, I carry at least 2 (and sometimes 3) cameras with me when I’m out and about.

So in a way, this post (and those that come after) is a partial answer to the question of what it is about Singapore I celebrate.

This was at the entrance of City Hall MRT station, and they saw what I was doing and posed for me.

They were holding up the sign to direct people who were going to watch the National Day Parade rehearsals.

It looks like they were posing. They were already in that position and they turned to look at me as I approached.

All the pictures here were taken on a single roll of Kodak BW400CN, on my Minolta AF-C, and as I looked at the negatives, I was amazed to see so many images of Indian and Bangladeshi workers.

In many ways, they are responsible for literally building Singapore.

Singapore is what it is partly because of them.

The physical infrastructure works like a clock partly because of them.

I was walking on a pavement and they were holding grass-cutters, looking at me the whole time.

They were waiting for me to walk past so they could resume work.

And my wife said, quick, quick, take out your camera, and so I did and took the above photo.

Check out the chiaroscuro.

I waved and they nodded and went on with their work.

This is Singapore.

This, too, is Singapore.

Definitely Singapore.

This picture was taken while I was in a queue. Yummy.

She spotted me and smiled.

This too is Singapore.

There were quite a number of soldiers in the area because of the National Day Parade rehearsals, directing crowds and traffic.

I’ve done my share of that when I was an army boy.

Lion City banner – I aimed my camera at the banner, and waited for someone to come along to complete the picture.

Check out the logo on the T-shirt. That’s the crescent and the five stars of the Singapore flag.

Patriotism is in the air.

Is he a tourist or a Singapore resident? You can’t tell these days.

This is a global Singapore.

This was at Little India.

Another take at Little India.

Sometimes I wonder: why do I take street photographs? What is it about street photography, such that I feel compelled to take pictures of strangers?

An answer of sorts:

Because I’m afraid of being conditioned by market forces into thinking of people as mannequins…

Thanks for reading, and check out my prints!

A little bit of GAS (Gear Acquisition Syndrome)

Posted on July 27, 2014July 21, 2014 by eddietay in Monochrome

So … I’m back from Shanghai, having tasted the power of a 50mm lens (80mm with a 1.6 crop factor).

What would that 40mm pancake lens I’ve been reading about do? Hmm…

That 600D has been hiding away in my closet for a long time, and now I’m beginning to think that with a small-sized lens, it might be a good street camera.

A 40mm would be a bit extravagant if you already have a 50mm lens.

Just zoom with your feet, I’d say.

But given the crop factor, it would mean 64 mm, a justifiable difference from 80mm.

So, yes, I headed off to Tsim Sha Tsui with the intention of not buying that Canon 40mm F2.8 pancake lens.

According to the Canon HK site, it goes for HK$1480.

I inquired about the price at Suning and the staff whispered HK$1380 conspiratorially.

I crossed the road and went into a small shop called Echo Audio and it’s HK$1100.

Yes! I made some money! A yummy pancake!

Roland Lim has a lot to say about buying cameras in Hong Kong.

Beware of those shops with “Tax Free” signs. Consumer goods are tax free everywhere in Hong Kong.

I’ve always been mindful of GAS (Gear Acquisition Syndrome).

Every time something fascinating appears, I remind myself it’ll be old news a year later.

First there’s Sony RX100, followed by RX100 MII, and now it’s RX100 MIII.

Ditto Fuji X100 and X100S. You can’t keep up.

I’m mindful of planned obsolescence when it comes to digital cameras – that’s partly why I’m into film cameras.

A Leica M6 would still be majestic 10 years later and hold its value at least on EBay.

You can’t quite say the same with digital cameras.

So anyway, a 64mm would fit between my Leica 50mm Summicron and that 80mm (50mm Canon nifty fifty).

I could be indoors and still be unnoticed despite the loud flipping of the slr mirror, given the distance.

This person spotted me but carried on as before.

The pancake is not as intimidating, compared to if I had my 18-135mm lens.

The fact is, no one noticed me.

The 600D with the pancake looks really small. (Though it is a bit loud).

He didn’t even look up.

Maybe I look like a tourist with a camera, in a tourist area.

He spotted me, but went on walking past me.

I’m in the MTR (subway) and no one stopped me.

I am invisible…

My camera looks like a toy.

Do I exist?

If I take a picture and no one sees me … do I exist?

People are too immersed in themselves…

Too immersed in their phones…

Finally – someone noticed!

Thanks for reading!

And if you like this post, you’ll like my portfolio.

Shanghai Monochrome: Why It Does Not Have To Be In Focus

Posted on July 25, 2014July 20, 2014 by eddietay in Monochrome

Why It Does Not Have to be in Focus: Modern Photography Explained is the title of a book by Jackie Higgins.

To me, it’s a study on artlessness in modern art photography.

Why photographs do not have to be in focus is akin to why it is that modern poetry does not rhyme.

Ditto why it is that modern musical compositions play with dissonance.

The big word “modernism” comes into play here, with its suspicion of “correctness” as espoused by traditional aesthetics.

I could go on and on (an occupational hazard for a university professor) but I’ll restrain myself and say simply that we’ve learnt not to trust a person who is too poised, too eloquent, too ready with his or her words.

We’ve learnt not to trust that person who is too artful.

That perhaps there’s something reassuring about imperfections, acknowledging that sometimes, not getting it right is also part of the human condition.

So we look to artlessness and we stop policing ourselves about right vs wrong in aesthetics.

After all, we often don’t have time to stop and look.

Everything is done in haste.

To depict the modern condition, art has to be the modern condition.

The artist has to learn not to take himself/herself (or art) too seriously.

Art can’t be served on a plate.

Street photography is about stopping time and making the ephemeral make sense.

It’s about that grimace we’d rather not see in ourselves, that we’d rather suppress and not let others see.

Though if the day is good, we allow ourselves a little grin – that’s humanity too.

We could be lighthearted on a lighthearted day.

Or stand by and watch life pass us by, and smile.

It doesn’t have to be in focus, and it doesn’t have to be upright as well…

We look again.

We don’t always get it right.

Life goes on in a blur.

If you like this post, you’ll like my portfolio.

Have a good day!

Shanghai: How to Appreciate High Contrast Monochrome

Posted on July 23, 2014July 21, 2014 by eddietay in Monochrome

Yes, I’ve recently acquired a taste for high contrast monochrome.

It is stark, clear, and in some ways, minimalist.

Stripped of colours, our attention is drawn directly to the subjects.

You could overexpose a bit to make a social statement about modernity – the face of the security guard is partially eclipsed, in contrast to the blown-out advertisement.

There’s the dichotomy between an individual and a building, and the image draws attention to rectangular grids of the building and pavement, in contrast to the white polka dots echoed in the two round shapes on the building.

The rectangular grids here are enhanced by the bus and the back of the shirt.

More grids, blocks and lines in the next few shots:

The face is blurred out, again emphasizing the blocks, grids and lines.

I’m about to reveal a useful street photography technique.

All these shots are done from a mobile elevated position.

I’ve set this up so I could do street photography on the move.

I spent $40 RMB setting this up, though the equipment involved, depending on the model, could easily cost more than $200 000 RMB.

I’m a very talent street photographer, you see.

Can you guess what it is?

It’s really a fantastic piece of equipment for the street photographer, which has to be manned by another person.

It’s called an open-air double-decker tour bus.

$40 RMB is the price of an all day ticket on a route with 3-4 bus lines.

My ten-year-old son wants to have a go. The next eight images are by him.

I gave him 2 very important street photography tips:

1) Try not to place the subject at the center.

2) Don’t drop the camera or else.

I’m responsible for the high contrast monochrome, of course.

But what can I say – he has good creative genes. 🙂

Okay, my turn.

The above is the street photographer assistant I hired, taking a break from handling that fantastic piece of equipment for me.

The youth of Shanghai, walking with a swagger.

I like the facial expressions.

Cool dudes.

A blurry shot, something I learnt from Daido Moriyama…

Thanks for reading, and buy my prints!

Shanghai On the Move

Posted on July 20, 2014July 18, 2014 by eddietay in Monochrome

The overall theme for this post is Shanghai’s speed and mobility.

I realize I have a preference for a “flawed” aesthetic.

Even with a digital camera (Canon 600D), I’m still going for the same vision as with my film compacts.

In fact, in some ways, I’m treating my Canon 600D like a film compact…

If you view the image at full size, you could see the grain almost breaking up the picture.

There’s a symmetry to this composition that I like.

It’s not focused correctly, just as we see things in glimpses.

There’s still a lot of construction going on in Shanghai.

This is visual evidence that the metropolis (population 23 million) is still growing!

It’s a city on the move.

With people on the move.

The three big Chinese characters are translated literally as “China dream”.

A city is the dream of its people made manifest.

The Chinese characters on the left can roughly be translated as “caring for the youth of the future” … I think.

The ones on the top right means “building the nation’s most eminent city”.

Where would Shanghai (or China) be, economically and politically, in the next 5-10 years?

This is one of the entrances to the Xujiahui campus of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, where I gave a talk entitled … lo and behold, “The Practice of Poetry and Street Photography” at a conference called Modern and Postmodern Arts: China and the World.

People pose here, at the campus gate, for photographs.

One of my favourite Chinese idioms – “a hundred years to cultivate a human being”.

The full idiom is something like “it takes ten years to cultivate a tree, a hundred to cultivate a human being”.

That’s a library, if i remember correctly.

Waiting.

Still waiting.

Now crossing – a nation of people on the move.

Places to go, people to see, things to do.

The next 8 photographs were taken by my son, though of course, I’m the one responsible for the high contrast monochrome.

The first six were taken when we were in one of the spheres of the Shanghai Oriental Pearl TV Tower.

The next two pictures (by my son) were taken at Urban Planning Exhibition Center.

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I think he’s developing a good sense of composition here.

Thanks for dropping by, and buy my open edition prints at my Saatchi Art page!

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