A Thinking Street Photography Site
It’s that existential condition, of always searching, waiting and thinking.
We can only have images of ourselves.
The glimmer is often only a few steps away.
Thanks for stopping by today.
Camera: Leica M6
Lens: 50mm Summicron Type II
Film: Ilford XP2
I’m a bit of a maximizer (as opposed to a satisficer) when it comes to choosing/doing things.
I try to find out all there is to know before making a decision.
When it comes to execution, I try to go through the various steps in my mind in order to get everything right beforehand.
Which is why zone focusing and street photography is such a re-creation for me.
We’re working with a circumference of acceptability.
Is good enough good enough? There’s motion blur here which adds to the sense of movement.
I was close enough, but it doesn’t mean I could see clearly.
And if we don’t always notice everything around us, why should we demand a photography that sees everything accurately and in sharp focus?
On the other hand, how much loosening up can one do before one loses discipline?
There’s a spectrum here, between trying to get everything clinically right and hence losing the moment and operating without some sort of discipline, as if one is holding a camera for the first time.
Sometimes, good enough is good enough in street photography.
Try to get everything right and one might lose the “street”.
There’s that tendency to overthink and hence lose the art.
On the other hand, one must possess discipline in order to lose it.
So my job is to learn everything I can, and then forget all I have learnt.
Imperfection is an art in itself.
And so is perfection.
And perhaps art is about improvising and about knowing how to move back and forth between perfection and imperfection.
Thanks for reading.
Camera: Leica M6
Lens: Summicron 50mm Type II
Film: Ilford XP 2
Given an ISO 400 film, if the light is good, I’d simply set the aperture to f/16 and shutter to between 1/60, 1/125, or 1/250 depending on whether I’m in the shade.
The f/16 aperture would allow for a broad depth of field, which allows me to zone focus with a wide latitude.
The whole procedure sounds complicated, but it’s for me the mid-point between going fully auto with a point and shoot camera, and going fully manual and getting all finicky and missing the moment.
It allows me to work intuitively and be disciplined at the same time – that’s the flow state I look for, whether I’m teaching, writing or on the streets with my camera.
I’m at Wu Kai Sha beach – yet again.
All images are from the same roll of film, all taken within an hour or so.
I like the word “take”. To take a photograph is to take something from the world you see.
There’s a contemplative and leisurely mood here I’d like to immerse myself in.
It’s nice to see people relax and do nothing in particular.
Like a frame with nothing at the centre, because the image is the frame.
My favourite street photography trick is to start whistling – people will look at me for a bit while my camera is pointing elsewhere and then ignore me after that.
They’ll think I’m a normal person… though the guy above wasn’t quite convinced…
At other times, they’re too involved with their own thing to notice.
I’d like to think that every photograph I take is an image of myself.
Sometimes there’s no need for explanations – it just is.
It’s a way of life – this awesome village house faces the beach.
We all have our journeys to make.
I wish I understand jogging.
I’m learning to look for patterns.
Looking for moments of insight.
We wait.
We’re on the lookout.
We look at ourselves.
We think some more.
Our pigeon thoughts will lead the way.
The pigeons are lining up in my mind.
Thanks for reading!
Camera: Leica M6
Lens: Summicron Type II 50mm
Film: Ilford XP2 400
Here’s a mishmash of images of Singapore, significant to myself.
Though the underlying theme here is about how we try to snatch something beautiful out of what is essentially functional.
Form follows function in much of Singapore.
Life, too, follows function: poetry is a luxury we cannot afford.
There is one way only. The rest is barred.
If you live with it long enough, it becomes beautiful.
Draw the curtains.
Poetry delayed is poetry denied.
We are at the zoo.
The helpful tram driver and a passenger.
After the animal show – poetry is found after the event.
Reflections in the MRT.
The tree is obedient, bent in the wind.
Perhaps something is poetry after all…
Thanks for reading.
Camera: Leica M6
Lens: Voigtlander 35mm f 1.4 Nokton SC
Film: Ilford XP2
All images were taken with one camera, one lens, on the same roll of film and on the same day.
This is a visual meditation on Occupy Central.
Once upon a time, Occupy Central was an idea. It was an event that was yet to come.
It then became an event.
It will be an event that is always already present, even if it ends today or at some point in the future.
At Admiralty.
At Mong Kok.
At Causeway Bay.
Thanks for reading.
Camera: Leica M6
Lens: Voigtlander Nokton Classic 35mm f 1.4 SC
Film: Ilford XP2 400
There’s a road map.
Is anyone reading?
Is anyone listening?
There are prayers.
We’re reading.
So much to think about.
The work of waiting.
The work of gesturing.
Do not forget.
Keep on remembering.
Teach the young.
Camera: Leica M6
Lens: Voigtlander 35mm F 1.4 Nokton Classic SC
Film: Ilford XP2
Occupy Central is, of course, a political protest.
But more than that – it is a festival.
A celebration of a city becoming itself.
A joyful gathering of sorts.
Everyone has a message to share.
The world is here – judging from the different languages.
So many dreams and hopes, so much energy.
The children are here.
There is music. This is a celebration.
Though there’re reminders of how serious this is, as a protest.
Remember what the umbrellas are for.
Marx: “Philosophers have interpreted the world in various ways; the point is to change it.”
The students, the future, have spoken.
Now it’s time to figure things out.
Camera: Leica M6;
Lens: Voigtlander Nokton Classic 35mm F/1.4;
Film: Ilford XP2 400.
Sometimes I don’t know where I am.
This place is accessible via a walking or biking trail.
And you get to see a sinking village house.
My wife organizes these day trips for the family and I simply tag along… I’m fortunate that way.
I’ll go anywhere as long as there’re things to see.
I know for sure this is somewhere in Yuen Long.
And the village is accessible only via a boat.
It’s another way of life.
It’s a “can do” DIY attitude I need to learn.
He saw my camera but basically ignored me and went on with his work.
I’m trying to improve my Chinese.
Assuming I got that right, it says “the only human-operated bumboat in the whole of Hong Kong, from 6am till 11pm”.
My set up for the day was a Contax TVS II loaded with Ilford XP2 400.
Thanks for reading!
Check out the open-edition prints!
I was in Shanghai last week and so, quite naturally, I brought along 3 cameras.
Assuming the scans turn out fine, we’ll have quite a few posts on Shanghai.
A warm up shot while hiding behind a pole.
Quite literally, this is street photography.
I walked up and down the same street for about an hour, happily snapping away.
This is Huashan Road on a weekend mid-morning.
There’re lots of malls along this road.
I was told this is where Shanghai people do their shopping, whereas those malls at Nanjing Road are for clueless tourists.
I suppose a shot like this is not too difficult.
While I was in his face, his attention was elsewhere.
It’s amazing how people (myself included) are generally unaware of other people.
I was distracted (only) momentarily by the yummy international (check out the flags) street food… but resist I must.
After all, as a street photographer, I need to know myself.
I have yet to master Level Nine of Street Photography Kungfu, which involves taking photographs while munching on a chicken wing.
I hear that very few people attain this level in their lifetime.
Shanghai people are known for their very cosmopolitan dress sense.
People here are generally very stylish.
Handbags do matter, as my wife tells me.
There goes a happy couple.
Another strolling couple.
Teenagers out for a walk.
A street vendor selling handmade miniature bicycles.
I chatted with him for a bit – he says it takes 4 hours to make one, and they go for 40RMB, in case I’m interested.
I assume they’re policemen – they always walk in pairs.
I’m right in front of them with my camera, and they seem quite used to having their photographs taken.
They’re actually quite friendly, as many people stop them to ask for directions.
The advice though, needs a bit of work. Once in a while, I hear them say “walk in that direction for a bit and ask someone there”.
People at work – I’m quite proud of the composition here. The bodies are pointing to the centre, guiding the eyes to where the boss is.
Ladies chatting.
Scooters, motorbikes and bicycles are very popular modes of transport here.
There’re special lanes for bikes and scooters.
A scooter on the road.
A scooter on the pavement.
Scooters and bikes parked on the pavement, with an attendant.
Interesting scooter handles. That’s a good hack.
This person spotted me and stared for a bit.
Naturally, I responded with the street photographer’s standard operation procedure.
I fumbled with my camera, tried to look confused, and uttered a few choice words in a lesser-known Klingon dialect
All images here were taken with my relatively hard-to-find Minolta Af-C with an unbelievably accurate meter, loaded with the acclaimed chromogenic BW film, Ilford XP2 400.
They’re all from the same roll of film.
The light was good that day.
For collectors: a few images here are available at my Saatchi Art page as affordable open edition prints.
Thanks for coming by!
I suppose this theme is like a visual fixation for me.
This post is dedicated to those who know what it feels like to be doing street photography in your own neighbourhood.
In our own ways, we’re all searching for something, using our cameras as visual search engines.
What are we looking for? For another way to look, to turn everything into a work of art…
I suppose it’s about moments that surprise me.
That tree now looks like an explosion with the HDB flat facade as backdrop…
I keep coming back to HDB flats (public housing that 80-85% of Singaporeans live in), because it’s the cookie-cutter, middle-class, ideological environment I grew up in and which is part of who I am.
For those looking for general info concerning public housing in Singapore, this article from Wikipedia is a good general source. You could purchase these (highly-subsidised) flats through various schemes which are generally pro-marriage, pro-family, pro-heteronormative, etc.
It’s all very Bauhaus-influenced, with a rational/functional ethos to it.
Chua Beng-Huat, a sociologist at NUS, has a wonderful book called Political Legitimacy and Housing: Singapore’s Stakeholder Society. It looks at the ideological and social-engineering aspect of Singapore’s public housing policy.
I’m fascinated by how newness can emerge from familiar/regimental environments.
I have a thing with hawker centre food …
These are some people I’m learning to see again with my camera.
These were all taken on the same day I was due to go back to Hong Kong.
At the airport … back to Hong Kong…
Is Hong Kong any different?
In the end, it’s all about finding your place, moving up or down…
I should say all of images here are from the same roll of film: Ilford XP2 in an Olympus XA2.
The Leica M6 is now my back up camera (!!!)
Thanks for reading!
Hong Kong Lucida 