40mm – Hong Kong Lucida

Brick Lane, London

Posted on July 18, 2015July 18, 2015 by eddietay in Colour

Brick Lane!

This was where I was really inspired.

The arty and grungy environment gets one in the mood for street photography.

Everything seems to fit.

The people and the walls go well together.

A fantastic indie label.

A self-portrait.

He was cutting grass.

Cool dude.

The colours are simply wonderful.

They saw me and waved.

Beautiful people, beautiful wall art.

The kids were enjoying the art too.

Lots of cyclists.

A smile and a frown.

Hard at work.

Another cyclist.

Cool name for a shop.

Taking a break.

Nice juxtaposition.

Another cyclist.

Mischievous dino – I thought the colours went well together.

The street art is gorgeous.

Street art is meant to be seen with and by people.

They had those in Paris too.

Just another day for her.

A reminder that I need to get closer.

At Brick Lane, the street photographs present themselves one after another.

I can’t click fast enough.

This place is a visual cornucopia.

And I saw this – an exhibition of Singaporean art at Brick Lane.

As it turned out, I bumped into Randy Chan, the curator of the exhibition. I recognized him from a photo in a newspaper report on the exhibition.

More on Singapore: Inside Out in another post.

Funny.

I couldn’t resist a final shot at the entrance of this excellent place.

Thanks for reading!

Camera: Canon 600D

Lens: Canon 40mm f/2.8 STM

London’s Chinatown, Hamleys and Oxford Street

Posted on July 11, 2015July 11, 2015 by eddietay in Uncategorized

Again, in London.

The Hong Kong MTR in London.

Ooh.

Aah.

Kowloon is in London.

Heroic-looking man. There’re 5 people here but the eyes are drawn to a specific person.

The folks at Hamleys.

Along Oxford Street.

Waiting man.

Thanks for reading!

Camera: Canon 600D

Lens: Canon 40mm f/2.8 STM

London Street Photography

Posted on July 8, 2015July 8, 2015 by eddietay in Colour

There’s no method to this madness called street photography.

At Trafalgar Square: a straightforward shot.

We’re all distracted people.

Admiring Cezanne at the National Gallery.

Consuming Monet.

Blurry man against blurry painting.

Around the Bloomsbury area – the lines “made sense” to me.

A busy shot at the Covent Garden Market.

T-shirts!

Time for a sip.

Thanks for reading!

Camera: Canon 600D

Lens: Canon 40mm f/2.8 STM

London’s South Bank

Posted on July 5, 2015July 2, 2015 by eddietay in Colour

At London’s South Bank.

Cool dude.

Life is a tragicomedy, of course.

The cavernous basement at Tate Modern.

A couple admiring Cy Twombly.

Artist at work.

A copy of a copy.

A copy of a copy of many copies.

Again, at the cavernous basement.

Two beer or not two beer … my answer is very clear.

Why is this a question?

Cool dudes.

The obligatory landmark snapshot.

Camera: Canon 600D

Lens: Canon 40mm f/2.8 STM

Exhibition Road, London

Posted on July 3, 2015July 3, 2015 by eddietay in Colour

I was in London for a few days for a conference and of course, I brought my cameras along.

This was taken along Exhibition Road.

Here’re some shots in the museums along the road.

At Natural History Museum:

Roar.

Funny juxtaposition.

The above was at the Science Museum.

There’s a line of tension marked by the positions of the people.

At the Victoria and Albert Museum.

I think it looks better in monochome.

Thanks for reading!

Camera: Canon 600D

Lens: Canon 40mm f/2.8 STM

Street Photography at Central, Hong Kong

Posted on June 3, 2015June 3, 2015 by eddietay in Uncategorized

I was at Central with about an hour to kill before a lunch meeting.

Coincidentally, of course, I had my Canon 600D with a 40mm / f 2.8 STM lens.

I really like the above, with its three partitions.

I thought I’d try my hand at street photography from a distance.

Street photography with an urban landscape component.

I walked up and down the Central Escalators for a bit.

I feel I have more time to think about the background.

The background is the foreground.

Another urban landscape-ish skyline shot.

Lots of people are hard at work in the sun.

That’s a really big camera.

Working hard.

Thanks for reading!

Camera: Canon 600D

Lens: Canon 40mm F 2.8 STM

Singapore Zoo Monochrome

Posted on December 6, 2014December 3, 2014 by eddietay in About Singapore, Monochrome

At the zoo in Singapore with my son.

We did a double photo combo, with my 10-year-old son holding the Canon 600D with a 40mm f 2.8 STM lens and I holding my Leica M6. I’ll post my photographs another day.

All photos here, except for the elephant shot, were by my son.

On the way to the zoo, he found the water droplets at the back of a bus interesting.

He’s developing a good visual sense, I must say.

Nice monkey.

Nice erm … plant thingey.

Looking up to see itself.

Nice fishes.

A very charming gentleman.

Nice big mole.

I waited for a while before everything came together in this shot.

I told my son to wait till all the necks were parallel with one another.

Would have been better if they were between the trees in contrast with the background.

A horse (pony?) sticking its neck out.

Feed the goats!

My son was fascinated by the polar bear show.

It’s a powerful looking bear. We were told polar bears weigh only about 350 grams at birth.

This is grace.

Power.

Determination.

When I grow up I want to be a polar bear.

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!

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