A Thinking Street Photography Site
Just for contrast here.
There’re busy scenes.
People are at work.
You could find quiet moments as well.
Sharing time together.
Alone together.
Or simply by yourself.
You could frame and reframe a moment.
Until you disappear and everything is just right.
There’re so many scenes to linger over.
There’re quiet moments.
Time for ourselves.
Time to think.
A colourful moment.
Crafting time.
Things get moved around a lot here.
No kidding.
Just a few more shots reminding me that everyday life is fascinating.
Things on offer.
Yummy cuttlefish!
Every day is work.
But if you find companionship then all is beautiful.
We all move from place to place.
We figure it out as we go along.
It’s all work in progress.
At the TST waterfront.
A bubby tent thing for kids I think.
Dreamy hazy glow.
Cultural Centre with a ghostly look…
A clearer view of the waterfront.
Where are we going?
The ice cream mobile.
The obligatory Orientalist shot of Chinese junk ship sail.
Watch your step!
Buskers … argh … someone’s finger got in the way. Still, I think it’s nicely flawed.
Nice architecture.
Time to walk …
Compositions like these are strangely satisfying …
It’s not difficult.
But the lines seem to be exerting a kind of tension.
Everyone’s in a hurry.
Rush rush rush.
Quick, quick.
She’s sauntering…
Time to slow down…
It’s a simple idea – one I’ve used many times.
A simple wall with interesting texture.
A window.
And equally interesting people.
The composition takes care of itself.
Thanks for reading!
Camera: Leica M6
Lens: Voigtlander 35 Nokton 1.4 SC
Film: Venus 800
When streets are busy, they look like this:
No one notices the guy with the camera:
People are too preoccupied:
Work work work.
Sell sell sell.
Buy buy buy.
Go go go.
Thanks for reading!
Camera: Contax TVS II
Film: Agfa Vista 400
Street photography is about found action.
It’s when you realize the environment is a material you could draw from.
It’s arrested action.
There’re inadvertent art displays.
Someone positioned these just so.
The goods are guiding our eyes.
The entire environment is for consumption.
Colours are for sale.
Shoes are waiting.
Thanks for reading!
Camera: Contax TVS II
Film: Agfa Vista 400
Singapore can be vertiginous at times.
You look up.
You could lose your balance.
It’s a culture on display.
A culture that wants to be legible.
It wants to be read globally.
To be taken seriously.
There’s an official stamp on everything.
We see what we are supposed to see.
A people on display.
No one can truly be at rest.
We keep on looking.
Camera: Contax TVS II
Film: Agfa Vista 400
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.
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.
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.
The deployment of trees is part of the city’s architecture.
The trees frame the building. Living in the city, we tend to forget that it is ultimately nature that frames human activity.
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
Hong Kong Lucida 