Some more views at Tsim Sha Tsui.
Leica M3, 50mm Summicron Rigid, Tri-X
Some More Tsim Sha Tsui
Tag: urban
Things on Their Own
Another day of not going anywhere, thanks to Covid-19.
Walked around and looked at nothing.
But there’s no such thing as nothing.
Everything speaks.
Our aspirations and joy.
Rules in many languages.
Things tell our lives.
Things arranged into sense.
Things in order.
The observer becomes a shadow.
Tiong Bahru
Neat placement.
Trees, building, person.
A kampong feel.
Tree and curve of building.
Greenery, bicycle.
Lens flare!
Mundane, yet…
Urban Nature
Farm nostalgia.
Urban nature humour.
A sunny grove.
Home.
Tsim Sha Tsui at Night
So here’s TST at night.
Everyone has a place to get to.
Spotted.
Someone’s waiting.
Someone’s looking.
Someone’s packing.
Someone’s unloading.
Boxes that have lost their purpose.
The mannequins and model are more alive than actual people.
We’re all shadows in a cave of our own making.
Singapore Vertigo
Singapore can be vertiginous at times.
You look up.
You could lose your balance.
It’s a culture on display.
A culture that wants to be legible.
It wants to be read globally.
To be taken seriously.
There’s an official stamp on everything.
We see what we are supposed to see.
A people on display.
No one can truly be at rest.
We keep on looking.
Camera: Contax TVS II
Film: Agfa Vista 400
Street Thoughts
I don’t want to over-intellectualize things, but after doing this for a few years now, I’ve come to the conclusion that for me, to take street photographs is to think on my feet.
When I came upon the above scene for example, I am reminded of how much culture depends on physical toil that is too often, invisible. We marvel at the Great Wall of China, at the pyramids in Egypt, and of course, there’s an invisible history of physical toil involved.
I like the way signs are re-appropriated for other purposes. The full-size image of an air hostess welcomes you into the shop, which is closed for lunch. I make it a point to come here every time I’m in Singapore, to check out some of those NATO watch straps.
The deployment of trees is part of the city’s architecture.
The trees frame the building. Living in the city, we tend to forget that it is ultimately nature that frames human activity.
Something we do every day, waiting at a pedestrian crossing. One of those insignificant yet ubiquitous experience that characterizes urban life which we tend to forget.
Thanks for reading!
Buy my latest street photography and poetry book!
Camera: Olympus XA 3
Film: Ilford XP2
Spaces of Discipline
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
Urban Space in Singapore
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
Spaces of Beauty
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
Hong Kong Lucida 