Tag: Ilford XP2

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!

Mongkok

Posted on by eddietay in Monochrome

Again, I find myself wandering around in Mongkok.

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I find that the side streets parallel to Nathan Road are more conducive to street photography.

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The pace is slower, it’s less crowded and so you can see further and anticipate, unlike the pavements on both sides of Nathan Road on weekends or during rush hour.

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For the above, I zone-focused, snapped and turned around without even stopping.

Yes, it’s my Olympus XA2 again, loaded with Ilford XP2 400. It’s so small once you remove the flash.

So it’s always with me.

There’s yummy sugar cane juice at the coconut master’s shop.

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There’re quite a few shops selling traditional Chinese foodstuff along Woosung Street.

They sun some of their goods on the street…

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There’re lots of people in this particular shop.

So I hung around outside for a bit.

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This por por in the photograph below took some time to select the lap cheong (Chinese dried sausage).

So naturally I took a few shots of her.

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She suddenly turned around and said in Cantonese, “Oi, handsome, are you done? The hook is too high.”

So naturally I obliged.

Street photographers are supposed to fade into the background, but I suppose it’s hard to do so for me given my looks …

😛

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Thanks for reading!

Fa Yuen Street Market

Posted on by eddietay in Monochrome

Night photography poses a challenge for any photographer.

Even with a digital camera, you’ll need a wide aperture, longer exposures, perhaps a tripod, or image stabilization if you’re doing it handheld, and you’ll need to have a high ISO setting.

Auto-focus might be a problem if it gets too dark, as a digital camera may not be able to find a focal point quickly enough.

So if you’re a street photographer with a film rangefinder loaded with Ilford XP2 at ISO 400, the odds are somewhat stacked against you at night. This is one of those times when you wish you’d caved in and bought that Fuji X100s.

A street market at night, as it happens, is one of those wonderful scenarios where everything comes together.

As the light bulbs are bright, you’ll have natural vignetting. The goods might have been arranged to form a perfect frame within a frame.

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The stall hawkers, even when they spot you, would be too preoccupied with selling their wares to their customers, while the customers’ attention would be on those wares.

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This person did spot me…

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Oh well … and to challenge myself, this:

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Thanks for reading.