A Thinking Street Photography Site
I’m still walking around…
The streets are exhibitions waiting to speak.
What would the stall say?
What’s he thinking about?
We’re all concealed by what we buy and sell.
We all buy and sell.
We’re all waiting.
Until it’s all meat…
Camera: Olympus XA2
Film: Ilford XP2 400
I have so many posts of the street markets at Shamshuipo.
My only excuse is that things are always changing, and the streets are never the same from hour to hour.
I’d wonder about the kind of life stories people have.
What would we say, if we have had a chance to speak about ourselves to one another?
I’m the guy with the camera who thinks too much.
While someone else is having his siesta.
The streets are so busy.
Camera: Olympus XA2
Film: Ilford XP2 400
Some more Chinatown…
Singapore’s Chinatown is very … organized.
It’s for tourists, of course.
With lots of souvenirs to buy.
There’s lots of waiting to do. (Durians!)
And pockets of intense concentration.
Camera: Olympus XA2
Film: Ilford XP2
These are b/w street photographs of Little India.
Think of these as a nod towards Aik Beng Chia’s work on Little India.
Check out his excellent work Tonight the Streets Are Ours here and here.
There’s definitely a strong sense of community here.
People are always in touch with one another.
Scenes of friendship.
Street scenes.
Joy of the streets.
The streets are institutionalized and framed.
That doesn’t mean we should stop searching and looking.
Camera: Olympus XA2
Film: Ilford XP2 400
That’s the courtyard between the 2 main exits of Raffles Place MRT station.
Lunchtime – that funny, in-between time that is part-leisure, part-work, part-consumption.
People relaxing.
Waiting.
Posing.
Catching up.
Having a smoke break.
All caught up and immersed in the ever-present, not too far away from a reminder from history, of how times have changed and will change again.
Thanks for reading!
Camera: Olympus XA2
Film: Ilford XP2
That’s part of a performance: it’s the London edition of Singapore: Inside Out.
The street composes itself.
Young artists.
Rectangular grids are easy to do.
The street is its own art.
The people and the streets are one.
Respect the street.
Thanks for reading!
Camera: Olympus XA2
Film: Ilford XP2 400
I’ve set a challenge for myself – to do tourism slightly differently.
It’s a way of not spending money.
Go to touristy sites and look at tourists.
Turn that obligatory landmark photo into a street photograph.
And then suddenly, everyday life becomes intriguing.
Quiet moments are especially beautiful.
You could still be a tourist in the Tube.
Thanks for reading!
Camera: Olympus XA2
Film: Ilford XP2
Never turn your back on the street.
Some streets are for sale.
Other streets are for friends.
Streets are for hanging around.
There’s a street attitude to tease out.
You’ll never know who is looking from the street.
Some streets are nicer.
Some streets are more equal than others.
Thanks for reading!
Camera: Olympus XA2
Film: Ilford XP2 400
There’re no real aims to street photography.
You walk, you see, you shoot and hope it makes visual sense.
It gives one something to do – one could be a tourist in a way as to avoid a degree of manufactured experience.
Go to all the tourist spots – but go at it from a tangent.
Sometimes you wonder why there’s so much of sitting around.
At other times you see there’s another way of seeing – capturing the London Eye without capturing the London Eye.
One could pretend to be a tourist and not stand out from the crowd.
Perhaps there’s such a thing as visual addiction.
By doing street photography, one commits to a certain way of being in the world.
Thanks for reading!
Camera: Olympus XA2
Film: Ilford XP2 400
In general, there’re two approaches available for the street photographer who uses both digital and film cameras.
With a digital camera, you could take multiple shots of the same scene.
You could take a shot that you think might not work but do it just to see what happens.
In other words, you could AFFORD to experiment with a digital camera.
With a film camera, you’d tend to be more circumspect.
This means that film photography reveals your competency.
After all, even if you could afford it, a wasted shot is wasted film.
Thanks for reading.
Camera: Olympus XA2
Film: Ilford XP2 400
Hong Kong Lucida 