making the shutter count

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Walking away: In a deserted train station on the NEL line, shapes and colors blend together as a lone commuter walks home from her daily transportation routine.

Photographer’s Notes: I saw this photo as a rhythmic visual expression of the inside of the train station. It was a slow day for photography for me as I found it hard to shoot such an abstract theme. As I was making my way to a friend’s home, I saw this commuter walk past and suddenly saw the various shapes come into place.

Viola Voila!: Ang Chek Meng practises on his violin minutes before recording a music video. He is a member of the T’ang Quartet, a Singapore-based string quartet that has played to international acclaim. They are currently the quartet-in-residence at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music at the National University of Singapore.

Photographer’s Notes: I was assisting in a full-day photo shoot cum music video recording of the T’ang Quartet in a posh residence (the creative director’s home) located at Changi. They were scheduled to play in three music videos and this was just before the last one, which would be recorded at night. The lights of the home were warm and on the sides of the living room, spotlights were still up from a photo shoot just before. I figured that if I shoot in low shutter speed and if I move in a right way, I can get all these crazy lights bouncing off everywhere. This was the first of few frames I took. With amazing luck, I managed to freeze him in one position, and still capture the rhythmic moves.

Life’s fading tempo: The pace of life winds down for 68-year-old Ah Cheng, who suffers from mild leprosy, as he treads through his daily routine. Confined to the wheelchair after an operation on his left leg, Ah Cheng sometimes tries to get up to walk as a form of self-motivated physiotherapy. With neither kin nor kith, the former rubbish collector will spend the remainder of his life under the shelter of Singapore Leprosy Relief Association (SILRA), where he has been housed for the past four years.

Photographer’s Notes: Ah Cheng was already snailing away when I saw him, so I fired off before asking the questions. It was probably more instinctly than thoughtful, and the rhythmic sense really came from a lack of it. Growing old slows down most, if not all, people, but suffering an extra ailment like leprosy feels like a complete halt. For Ah Cheng though, he walks on the wheelchair.

Nature’s rhythm: A face full of anticipation, Yu Zhong, 12, primes himself for the next batch of waves. Taken at East Coast Park during evening time (high tide),the waves crashing against the shore over and over again created a rhythmic symphony, which essentially convinced me to take this picture.

Photographer’s notes: The slightly darkened skies create an ominous feel, yet the boy’s peaceful/happy expression overshadow its gloom. It was a constrast I was looking for.

Highway to the future: The Kallang-Paya Lebar (KPE) Expressway fully opened last September and stretches from the East Coast Parkway to the Tampines Expressway. Running 12 kilometres in distance, the KPE is also Southeast Asia’s longest underground expressway.

Photographer’s Notes: When I think about rhythm, I think about a reoccurring pattern that plays out over a period of time. I knew I wanted a picture with a long exposure and captured this shot on an overhead bridge near MacPherson. The effect was a series of similar light trails that ran across the expressway.

Lead me to the Cross: Taken bellow the jetty in Labadour Park, it was formerly used to transfer shipments of liquid petroleum to and from a refinery at the nearby Tanjong Berlayer between 1962 and 1997. Today the refurbished jetty is open to the public.

Photographer’s Notes: I originally wanted to take photos of the waves rhythmic crashes onto the shore. But the draw of a endless series of pillars were just too hypnotic to ignore. Rhythm is not constrained by sound, but can also be seens as an accentuation of a series of things, in this case, the pillars. At the same time, the waves hitting the pillars offers a counter rhythmic pattern.