A Thinking Street Photography Site
A small gathering.
The eye leads you to a tower.
Why this and not that.
We’re still figuring it out.
A dream of a tree in a building.
Another look at the tree.
Just to make sure we aren’t dreaming.
Thanks for reading!
Camera: Olympus XA3
Film: Ilford XP2
A bit of self reflection.
Now you see me.
Now you don’t.
There’re lives here waiting to happen.
Journeys waiting to happen.
Games to begin.
Steps to take.
Obstacles to avoid.
Work to do.
Camera: Contax TVS II
Film: Kodak UltraMax 400
We shape the city.
The city shapes us.
We create new possibilities.
But there’re only so many paths you could choose to take.
Sometimes the view surprises us.
Sometimes it stops us from going further.
We have to do the work of philosophy.
To think about what we’re moving, and what moves us.
Camera: Contax TVS II
Film: Kodak UltraMax 400
We like to know where we are in urban space.
We cannot help ourselves.
We need to know where we are.
We need space to frame ourselves.
But space can speak for itself.
Sometimes we’re simply compelled to look.
And look again.
Thanks for reading!
Camera: Contax TVS II
Film: Kodak UltraMax 400
Whenever we’re in Singapore, my children get to attend school there. So they get to see their classmates in Singapore once a year, for a few weeks.
This area is near my daughter’s school.
The reds and greens interact nicely.
So yes, it’s good to carry a film camera wherever I go.
I spent a few mornings thinking about colours and composition.
Things make sense here.
This is everyday Singapore.
Camera: Contax TVS II
Film: Kodak UltraMax 400
Finally, I’m holding the book in my hands.
It’s called Dreaming Cities, and it’s a collection of poetry and street photography.
Here’s the blurb: “In this book, poems and street photographs dream of the modern city, laying a poetic geography over the urban landscapes of Hong Kong and Singapore.”
It’s been fun working with Math Paper Press, my publisher.
They’re a pretty happening group – Math Paper Press is an imprint of BooksActually, the bookstore to go to if you’re interested in Singaporean literature and art scene.
They work with Sarah and Schooling, the graphic design studio responsible for the design of MPP’s gorgeous books.
As any book lover knows, a book is a tactile object. It has to look, feel and smell right.
Math Paper Press and Sarah and Schooling know their stuff.
Things as they are…
A gate is always a promise.
Perhaps a promise of bigger things to come.
Something here.
A hint of bigger things there…
And something may blossom.
All it takes is a bit of introspection…
A possible vision here…
And a revision there.
This is the last of four related pieces, after Mundane Objects, Common Things, and Everyday Things.
Thanks for reading!
Camera: Canon Prima Twin S
Film: Fuji Superia Venus 800
These are things I see on a daily basis.
James Elkins: “When we are confronted with an unfamiliar object … we seek a body in it; we try to see something like ourselves…” (The Object Stares Back, p. 129)
I see, therefore I am.
This is my mind, even if it’s only for a while.
Sometimes I feel like this.
Mostly though, I’m like this.
This is a third companion piece, after Mundane Objects and Common Things.
Camera: Canon Prima Twin S
Film: Fuji Superia Venus 800
This is just a follow up from my previous post, Mundane Objects.
There’s always an exhibition waiting to happen.
Things discarded, things poetic.
To look is to give it meaning.
A regulation of things.
A potential.
A hint.
Something.
Camera: Canon Prima Twin S
Film: Fuji Superia Venus 800
I’m taking a break from street photography to look at mundane stuff.
Stuff our eyes don’t normally focus on.
But they do create an environment of sorts.
Repeat something enough and it becomes a life.
Pavements can be interesting.
Stuff lying around.
There’s an order of things here.
A call to discipline.
Camera: Canon Prima Twin S
Film: Fuji Superia Venus 800
Hong Kong Lucida 