Street Photo - Hoody Lady

Hoody Lady

It was mid day sun as I walked around this busy street in downtown area, keeping a constant look out for interesting characters. As I was walking towards the bus stop, I saw this old lady with her head covered with a floral patterns scarf. She kept her head low with her eyes fixated on the ground and walked at a slow pace, which allowed me to have enough time to halt, lift up my camera to focus and click on the shutter.

Here I used the Sunny 16 rule i.e. aperture set to f/16 at 1/300 seconds which is Seagull 205 rangefinder camera maximum shutter speed. As i was shooting on black and white film and with the super hot and strong sunlight, f/16 is good enough to expose for the shadows. During the film processing, I was able to control on the highlights development. So in this street photo, the old lady's face is still visible with enough shadow details, especially on her eyes.

I was focusing on her alone and after I scanned the negatives, I noticed the word "WANTED" on the bus stop advertisement panel in the background. Somehow the subject in this photo can be misinterpreted as a "fugitive". Well all by accident. I didn't notice the bus ad when I took the shot. If I knew, I would have changed my position and perspective where the subject's body shape would cover most part of the bus ad leaving the headline "WANTED" right on top. That might make this street photo more interesting and humorous, I hope.

Photo info:
Seagull 205 RF on Kodak Tri-X 400. Developed in 1:1 Kodak D76 for 500 seconds and scanned on Epson V700 with minor contrast adjustment in post.

Street Photo - Shadow Shifter

Shadow Shifter

Seagull 205 RF on Kodak Tri-X 400. Developed in 1:1 Kodak D76 for 500 seconds and scanned on Epson V700 with minor contrast adjustment in post.

Street Photo - Double Protection

Double Protection

Seagull 205 RF on Kodak Tri-X 400. Developed in 1:1 Kodak D76 for 500 seconds and scanned on Epson V700 with cropping + minor contrast adjustment in post.

Street Photo - Watching The World Goes By

Watching The World Goes By

Seagull 205 RF on Kodak Tri-X 400. Developed in 1:1 Kodak D76 for 500 seconds and scanned on Epson V700 with cropping + minor contrast adjustment in post.

Street Photo - Men on the Street

Men on the Street

Seagull 205 RF on Kodak Tri-X 400. Developed in 1:1 Kodak D76 for 500 seconds and scanned on Epson V700 with minor contrast adjustment in post.

Street Photo - Hello Kitty!

Hello Kitty!

Seagull 205 RF on Kodak Tri-X 400. Developed in 1:1 Kodak D76 for 500 seconds and scanned on Epson V700 with minor conctrast adjustment in post.

Street Photo - Lady on White Hat

Lady on White Hat

Seagull 205 RF on Kodak Tri-X 400. Developed in 1:1 Kodak D76 for 500 seconds and scanned on Epson V700 with minor contrast adjustment in post.

Street Photo - Face Off

Face Off

Seagull 205 RF on Kodak Tri-X 400. Developed in 1:1 Kodak D76 for 500 seconds and scanned on Epson V700 with minor contrast adjustment in post.

Street Photo - State of Being Incognito

State of Being Incognito

Seagull 205 RF on Kodak Tri-X 400. Developed in 1:1 Kodak D76 for 500 seconds and scanned on Epson V700 with minor contrast adjustment in post.

Street Photo - Five Monks Walking For Alms

Five Monks Walking For Alms

I'm not really a religious person but today's is a big day! And I hereby sincerely wish all my Buddhist friends and all fellow believers; young and old, a Happy Vesak Day!

Seagull 205 RF on Fuji Neopan 400. Developed in 1:1 Kodak D76 for 500 seconds and scanned on Epson V700 with minor contrast adjustment in post.

Street Photo - Umbrella Man

Umbrella Man

It was a hot weather as I walked this street and saw this man was handling the huge umbrella. I noticed that little girl who looked on the man curiously and perhaps trying to say something like "Can you quickly set up the umbrella to shade us all?" I can't remember if the man was setting up the umbrella or was closing it for keep. I walked away right after the shutter was fired.

Seagull 205 RF on FujiFilm Neopan 400. Developed in 1:1 Kodak D76 for 500 seconds and scanned on Epson V700 with minor contrast adjustment in post.

Street Photo - Runner

Runner

This is truly a lucky shot. Yes sir! Similar to that famous "Decisive Moment" street photo by Henri Cartier-Bresson. Take a closer look on the runner's right foot which is about a couple of inches off the ground. The timing for him to run into the Olympic logo sculpture can be anticipated but to capture this shot required luck indeed. As HCR said "It's always luck. It's luck that matters."

Photo info:

Seagull 205 RF on Kodak Tri-X 400. Developed in 1:1 Kodak D76 for 500 seconds and scanned on Epson V700 with cropping + minor contrast adjustment in post.

Street Photo - Bird Chaser

Bird Chaser

Seagull 205 RF on Kodak Tri-X 400. Developed in 1:1 Kodak D76 for 500 seconds and scanned on Epson V700 with cropping + minor contrast adjustment in post.

Street Photo - Groups of Threes + Sixes

Groups of Threes + Sixes

Take a couple of minutes to look at this street photo. Take a closer look. What do you see in it?

An old man, a man with 2 dogs and a couple crossing the road and three parked cars. It's OK if those are just what you see in the picture. Nothing wrong about it. However, if you look beyond the photo and see what I saw at the time of taking this shot, then we're tuned to the same frequency. Or are we?

More explanations after the jump.

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Uniquely Singapore Street Photo

Seagull 205 RF on Kodak Tri-X 400. Developed in 1:1 Kodak D76 for 500 seconds and scanned on Epson V700 with minor contrast adjustment in post.

Warm Morning Breakfast

Warm Morning Breakfast

Took this shot while I was having my breakfast. The man's orange T-shirt goes very well with the surrounding reds and that logo casting its own shadows on the wall also attracted me to take this shot in the first place. There are lines, curves, shapes and identical color tone all come into place to form this photo.

Samsung S3 on Daylight WB at Auto ISO. Cropped and post-processed in Photoshop.

Street Photo - Fashion Doggies

Fashion Doggies

Seagull 205 RF on Kodak Tri-X 400. Developed in 1:1 Kodak D76 for 500 seconds and scanned on Epson V700 with tonality adjustment in post.

Street Photo - Merry-Horsey-Go-Round

Merry-Horsey-Go-Round

Every year during the Chinese Lunar New Year, there'll be a carnival set up at The Float, next to The Esplanade; the same place we held our National Day Parade, for the past three years. I don't really fancy such place and hardly patronize every year. However this year I happened to be in that area as I was heading towards The Helix Bridge linking to Marina Bay Sands.

The carnival operates from afternoon till night fall. I was there in the sunny hot morning and the whole place was empty and I came across this Horsey-Go-Round machine. I walked around it and found this interesting signboard, shown in the picture above, that reads "LARGEST PERSON SITS HERE!"

I guess it is to be fair for any body regardless of age and sizes, to have the chance to enjoy the ride, though it seems quite intimidating. On the flip side, it's for their own safety as they are over-weighed and might cause damage to the Horsey seats and result in unwanted accidents.

The next interesting thing I noticed was the Seahorse character alongside with a Horse. According to Chinese zodiac, this year is the Year of Horse and hence they had these creatures featured together on this machine, which is nice. All these elements came into place and I believe they make a Horse-say (means wonderful in Hokkien dialect) street photograph, don't you agree?

Seagull 205 RF on FujiFilm Neopan 400. Developed in 1:1 Kodak D76 for 500 seconds and scanned on Epson V700 with minor tonality adjustment in post.

Street Photo - Girl With The Lotus Flower

Girl With The Lotus Flower

Seagull 205 RF on FujiFilm Neopan 400. Developed in 1:1 Kodak D76 for 500 seconds and scanned on Epson V700 with minor tonality adjustment in post.

"#FREE MY INTERNET" Protest

Singapore media regulators at Media Development Authority (MDA) on 1st June 2013 imposed new licensing rules on 10 news sites run by Yahoo’s Singapore unit and two domestic media companies, requiring them to apply for individual licenses, furnish a “performance bond” and comply with government orders to remove any objectionable content within 24 hours.

A week later, advocacy group #FreeMyInternet organised a protest at Hong Lim Park which attracted approximately 2500 attendees. The protest was part of an ongoing campaign calling for the removal of the new regulations and amendments to the Broadcasting Act made by the MDA.

The #FreeMyInternet protest was preceded by a blackout of more than 150 participating blogs and a petition to rescind the new rules which has garnered more than 4,000 signatures. More report here.

I was there to witness and to support and to take pictures. I did not stay till the end anyway here are just a few shots I took on that eventful day.

Street Photo - Ice-cream Boy

Ice-cream Boy

Seagull 205 RF on FujiFilm Neopan 400. Developed in 1:1 Kodak D76 for 500 seconds and scanned on Epson V700 with minor cropping and tonality adjustment in post.

Street Photo - I Love SG

I LOVE SG

Seagull 205 RF on Kodak Tri-X 400. Developed in 1:1 Kodak D76 for 500 seconds and scanned on Epson V700 with cropping + minor tonality adjustment in post.

Urban Landscape In Whampoa

Slanted Tree

I have been staying in Whampoa Drive for most of my life and it's a pretty small housing estate area with a small bus interchange terminal, a not-so-active Community Center, two hawker centers (one opens in the day and the other in the night where a number of food stalls selling good food) and a wet market, where all are just a couple of blocks away from my place.

If one looks closely and observe well, one can discover a number of interesting things in this small neighborhood. Well, in my case, I noticed this small little slanted tree, shown above, during my bus trip from Toa Payoh towards the bus-stop where I would alight. And I thought to myself "how come I've never seen this tree before?". So this morning with warm morning sunlight shining upon this open field where the tree is rooted right next to St. Michael bus interchange terminal. I walked there and made a few shots with my Seagull 205 RF as well as with my Samsung S3 mobile phone camera.

More pictures to show after the jump.

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Street Photo - Snowman by the Red Altar

Snowman by the Red Altar

I was walking across the loading bay area between Peninsula Shopping Center and Funan DigitaLife Mall when I noticed this snowman positioned right besides a red colored Chinese altar. Without hesitation, I took out my phone camera and made a couple of shots. We don't really get by to see such scenario so I think it's worth to capture it before snowman is gone.

I posted the same image on my Facebook page with post and 16x9 pano crop in Snapseed app. Resized in Photo Editor for easy online post. However I did another proper post-process and cropping in Photoshop CS5 and this is what you see above.

Street Photo - Outside The Cafe

Outside The Cafe

Seagull 205 RF on Kodak Tri-X 400. Developed in 1:1 Kodak D76 for 500 seconds and scanned on Epson V700 with minor tonality adjustment in post.