street photography – Page 21

Singapore’s Gardens by the Bay

Posted on August 27, 2014August 27, 2014 by eddietay in About Singapore, Colour

I finally visited Gardens by the Bay.

Check out the cool-looking Supertrees which are vertical gardens.

The above, I suppose, is an obligatory picturesque shot.

It’s a good place for photographers.

Lots of selfie moments.

You don’t really need to think to get a good shot – there’s something to be said about the blending of technology and nature at this place.

Picture-perfect convenient nature (if that’s what you like).

We’re in Flower Dome, one of the 2 conservatories here.

Mummy, daddy and baby cactus.

Phallus cactus.

Eagle photographer.

Eager photographer.

The future of tech and nature.

That’s Cloud Forest, another conservatory.

As I’m walking around, I can’t help but think perhaps this is the future of botany.

Maybe in the next twenty years, we’ll all be living in domes like this.

The temperature is nice though.

That’s the mineral exhibit area. Guess how I took this shot.

I’m a street photography genius…

This takes a lot of work.

Kudos to those who’ve put in the hard work to make this possible.

Oops – my lens fogged up when I stepped out of the conservatory.

I love mistakes like this.

I’m a nature photographer!

This is a nice blend of botany, technology, architecture, commerce, tourism and nation building.

A William Gibson quote: “The future is already here – it’s just not very evenly distributed.”

Check out my Saatchi Art page!

Singapore Hawker Food

Posted on August 24, 2014August 22, 2014 by eddietay in About Singapore, Colour

Hawker food!

It’s definitely one of those things overseas Singaporeans miss.

Here’s my routine whenever I’m back in Singapore:

Step one – in the morning, I’d dutifully go to the wet market, determined to buy some fresh vegetables.

I’m determined to buy those fresh fish.

I really want those fresh meat, yes. Good idea.

And then I’ll buy the newspapers.

Step two: I’ll soak in the atmosphere.

I’ll then look at all those hawker food.

Yummy pancake! You could have either coconut husk, red bean paste or peanut as your filling.

I usually buy one of each. It’s yummy breakfast/tea time/snack food.

Rojak! That’s a fruit and veg salad concoction that manages to be sweet, sour and spicy all at the same time.

A close-up of the rojak stall. It’s a good alternative snack.

You can see that at this point, my health diet plan starts to break down.

Good breakfast food!

I actually look forward to waiting in front of a stall for my food to be ready – it allows me to loiter and wait for the perfect moment.

Unhealthy thick noodle breakfast with sausages, chicken wings, potato wedges, etc etc.

Noodle stall – we’re still at breakfast.

That’s the fried butterfly, you tiao, salted bun, etc etc stall.

Good for brunch.

We’re all waiting with our smartphones these days.

Chicken rice! Good lunch idea.

That’s where I buy my century egg porridge. Lunch.

Killer prawn noodles! Dinner. That’s when I reach for my cholesterol pills.

That’s just rice with a choice of dishes … the sweet and sour pork is usually the best of the lot. Dinner time!

Yong tau foo! Where you choose your ingredients and noodles. I usually go for the dry thick yellow noodle with lots of sweet sauce.

(Again, my cholesterol pills would definitely come in handy.)

The thing about yong tau foo – no matter what you choose, you can’t go wrong.

Ingredients for a wonderful dinner.

There’s no such thing as the wrong kind of food…

Fish ball noodles! Good supper food.

Minced pork noodles! Is it tomorrow’s breakfast yet?

Curry puffs! Goreng pisang (fried bananas)! Good night-time snack.

Oh and I’ll never forget to have some fruits.

Fruits are important for a healthy diet…

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Singapore Local Culture

Posted on August 22, 2014August 22, 2014 by eddietay in About Singapore, Monochrome

This is culture as lived experience:

An ordinary life that is the subject of street photography.

Every year I return to Singapore for a period and some things don’t change.

The kacang puteh man is still there (there’s another photo of him in a post a year ago).

I tried another shot and he spotted me.

A cobbler.

And another cobbler.

I stopped to buy my son an ice cream.

When doing street photography, bring along your child – you’ll look less conspicuous that way.

See? This guy actually smiled at my son and I.

I look like I’m helping my son with a school project…

My son dared me to take a picture of him up close – and I did.

And he pointed to them and said it would make a nice photograph – so I obliged.

He didn’t think the above would work – I think he’s right.

And he said the cyclist was looking the wrong way … again he’s right.

“Why did you take a picture of that building, daddy? Is that considered street photography?”

Good question.

I thought the tie fluttering in the air might make this interesting.

He was trying to tack something onto the wood paneling and looked somewhat frustrated – I caught that moment.

That’s life – always under construction.

Thanks for reading.

Check out my open-edition prints at my Saatchi Art page!

Singapore Heartland

Posted on August 20, 2014August 19, 2014 by eddietay in About Singapore, Monochrome

Heartland is the title of a novel by Daren Shiau.

We don’t meet often, though our paths have crossed a few times at various literary readings/events.

The novel is about the coming of age of a young man who grapples with class disparities, national service (conscription) and romance.

It is also about every Singaporean son…

The heartland is the social-cultural space we grew up in.

For me, it’s what nostalgia is made of.

There is a shiny global Singapore (Gardens by the Bay, Marina Sands, Clarke Quay, etc.), and there’s also the heartland of Singapore we return to in the evenings.

It’s the uncle we see every day, loitering at the void deck.

It’s hawker food!

It’s that uncle on a bicycle I side-stepped to avoid in the morning.

All of that adds up to a sense of community…

And both national and personal growth is a kind of departure, a severing of ties from the past…

We’ll never return to the seesaw of our childhoods again.

Things are too new to be comfortable.

All that unearthing and shifting of foundations…

There’s always work in progress.

Hence all we can do is learn to look back and find a glimmer of our home again in our imagination…

For collectors: open-edition prints are available at my Saatchi Art page.

Thanks for reading!

Singapore: Monochrome Visions

Posted on August 16, 2014 by eddietay in About Singapore, Monochrome

These pictures were taken around late July/early August, when National Day (9 Aug) was just around the corner.

I was in Singapore for about three weeks, and every single day, I carry at least 2 (and sometimes 3) cameras with me when I’m out and about.

So in a way, this post (and those that come after) is a partial answer to the question of what it is about Singapore I celebrate.

This was at the entrance of City Hall MRT station, and they saw what I was doing and posed for me.

They were holding up the sign to direct people who were going to watch the National Day Parade rehearsals.

It looks like they were posing. They were already in that position and they turned to look at me as I approached.

All the pictures here were taken on a single roll of Kodak BW400CN, on my Minolta AF-C, and as I looked at the negatives, I was amazed to see so many images of Indian and Bangladeshi workers.

In many ways, they are responsible for literally building Singapore.

Singapore is what it is partly because of them.

The physical infrastructure works like a clock partly because of them.

I was walking on a pavement and they were holding grass-cutters, looking at me the whole time.

They were waiting for me to walk past so they could resume work.

And my wife said, quick, quick, take out your camera, and so I did and took the above photo.

Check out the chiaroscuro.

I waved and they nodded and went on with their work.

This is Singapore.

This, too, is Singapore.

Definitely Singapore.

This picture was taken while I was in a queue. Yummy.

She spotted me and smiled.

This too is Singapore.

There were quite a number of soldiers in the area because of the National Day Parade rehearsals, directing crowds and traffic.

I’ve done my share of that when I was an army boy.

Lion City banner – I aimed my camera at the banner, and waited for someone to come along to complete the picture.

Check out the logo on the T-shirt. That’s the crescent and the five stars of the Singapore flag.

Patriotism is in the air.

Is he a tourist or a Singapore resident? You can’t tell these days.

This is a global Singapore.

This was at Little India.

Another take at Little India.

Sometimes I wonder: why do I take street photographs? What is it about street photography, such that I feel compelled to take pictures of strangers?

An answer of sorts:

Because I’m afraid of being conditioned by market forces into thinking of people as mannequins…

Thanks for reading, and check out my prints!

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!

And if you like this post, you’ll like my portfolio.

Shanghai Monochrome: Why It Does Not Have To Be In Focus

Posted on July 25, 2014July 20, 2014 by eddietay in Monochrome

Why It Does Not Have to be in Focus: Modern Photography Explained is the title of a book by Jackie Higgins.

To me, it’s a study on artlessness in modern art photography.

Why photographs do not have to be in focus is akin to why it is that modern poetry does not rhyme.

Ditto why it is that modern musical compositions play with dissonance.

The big word “modernism” comes into play here, with its suspicion of “correctness” as espoused by traditional aesthetics.

I could go on and on (an occupational hazard for a university professor) but I’ll restrain myself and say simply that we’ve learnt not to trust a person who is too poised, too eloquent, too ready with his or her words.

We’ve learnt not to trust that person who is too artful.

That perhaps there’s something reassuring about imperfections, acknowledging that sometimes, not getting it right is also part of the human condition.

So we look to artlessness and we stop policing ourselves about right vs wrong in aesthetics.

After all, we often don’t have time to stop and look.

Everything is done in haste.

To depict the modern condition, art has to be the modern condition.

The artist has to learn not to take himself/herself (or art) too seriously.

Art can’t be served on a plate.

Street photography is about stopping time and making the ephemeral make sense.

It’s about that grimace we’d rather not see in ourselves, that we’d rather suppress and not let others see.

Though if the day is good, we allow ourselves a little grin – that’s humanity too.

We could be lighthearted on a lighthearted day.

Or stand by and watch life pass us by, and smile.

It doesn’t have to be in focus, and it doesn’t have to be upright as well…

We look again.

We don’t always get it right.

Life goes on in a blur.

If you like this post, you’ll like my portfolio.

Have a good day!

Shanghai: How to Appreciate High Contrast Monochrome

Posted on July 23, 2014July 21, 2014 by eddietay in Monochrome

Yes, I’ve recently acquired a taste for high contrast monochrome.

It is stark, clear, and in some ways, minimalist.

Stripped of colours, our attention is drawn directly to the subjects.

You could overexpose a bit to make a social statement about modernity – the face of the security guard is partially eclipsed, in contrast to the blown-out advertisement.

There’s the dichotomy between an individual and a building, and the image draws attention to rectangular grids of the building and pavement, in contrast to the white polka dots echoed in the two round shapes on the building.

The rectangular grids here are enhanced by the bus and the back of the shirt.

More grids, blocks and lines in the next few shots:

The face is blurred out, again emphasizing the blocks, grids and lines.

I’m about to reveal a useful street photography technique.

All these shots are done from a mobile elevated position.

I’ve set this up so I could do street photography on the move.

I spent $40 RMB setting this up, though the equipment involved, depending on the model, could easily cost more than $200 000 RMB.

I’m a very talent street photographer, you see.

Can you guess what it is?

It’s really a fantastic piece of equipment for the street photographer, which has to be manned by another person.

It’s called an open-air double-decker tour bus.

$40 RMB is the price of an all day ticket on a route with 3-4 bus lines.

My ten-year-old son wants to have a go. The next eight images are by him.

I gave him 2 very important street photography tips:

1) Try not to place the subject at the center.

2) Don’t drop the camera or else.

I’m responsible for the high contrast monochrome, of course.

But what can I say – he has good creative genes. 🙂

Okay, my turn.

The above is the street photographer assistant I hired, taking a break from handling that fantastic piece of equipment for me.

The youth of Shanghai, walking with a swagger.

I like the facial expressions.

Cool dudes.

A blurry shot, something I learnt from Daido Moriyama…

Thanks for reading, and buy my prints!

Shanghai On the Move

Posted on July 20, 2014July 18, 2014 by eddietay in Monochrome

The overall theme for this post is Shanghai’s speed and mobility.

I realize I have a preference for a “flawed” aesthetic.

Even with a digital camera (Canon 600D), I’m still going for the same vision as with my film compacts.

In fact, in some ways, I’m treating my Canon 600D like a film compact…

If you view the image at full size, you could see the grain almost breaking up the picture.

There’s a symmetry to this composition that I like.

It’s not focused correctly, just as we see things in glimpses.

There’s still a lot of construction going on in Shanghai.

This is visual evidence that the metropolis (population 23 million) is still growing!

It’s a city on the move.

With people on the move.

The three big Chinese characters are translated literally as “China dream”.

A city is the dream of its people made manifest.

The Chinese characters on the left can roughly be translated as “caring for the youth of the future” … I think.

The ones on the top right means “building the nation’s most eminent city”.

Where would Shanghai (or China) be, economically and politically, in the next 5-10 years?

This is one of the entrances to the Xujiahui campus of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, where I gave a talk entitled … lo and behold, “The Practice of Poetry and Street Photography” at a conference called Modern and Postmodern Arts: China and the World.

People pose here, at the campus gate, for photographs.

One of my favourite Chinese idioms – “a hundred years to cultivate a human being”.

The full idiom is something like “it takes ten years to cultivate a tree, a hundred to cultivate a human being”.

That’s a library, if i remember correctly.

Waiting.

Still waiting.

Now crossing – a nation of people on the move.

Places to go, people to see, things to do.

The next 8 photographs were taken by my son, though of course, I’m the one responsible for the high contrast monochrome.

The first six were taken when we were in one of the spheres of the Shanghai Oriental Pearl TV Tower.

The next two pictures (by my son) were taken at Urban Planning Exhibition Center.

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I think he’s developing a good sense of composition here.

Thanks for dropping by, and buy my open edition prints at my Saatchi Art page!

Shanghai Digital Monochrome: Power Station of Art

Posted on July 18, 2014July 19, 2014 by eddietay in Monochrome

We went to the Power Station of Art, and I happily brought my 600D with my nifty-fifty lens along do a a bit of indoors street photography.

He’s either an artist or a priest…

A photograph of a person taking a photograph… that’s the master trope of this post.

I am looking at people who are looking at art.

Perhaps a case can be made that I am also making art of my own, out of art itself.

This is art quoting art.

Fabric mirroring fabric…

Museum goers are also performing a kind of art…

Someone doesn’t like Dickens… or perhaps this is a comment on China…

Don’t ask me what it means…

See for yourself.

And have a dialogue.

Hmm…

The gift shop is tastefully done.

The helicopter view of the gift shop.

The real is a shadow … the pose is clear.

Participatory art… we like to see ourselves in art.

Is art real?

Always read what it says…

An owl of Minerva…

So many texts and subtexts…

The elephant in the room…

Even the pipes look arty!

Is this art?

Can this be art?

Better consult the catalogues…

Is it in the book?

We need to do some close reading.

There’s a decorum here, for the sake of the decor…

We need to find out more…

Look some more…

Pay close attention.

Look up…

Look down at the screen.

The answer is in the smartphone.

Thanks for dropping by, and don’t forget to check out my Saatchi Art page!

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