Martin Liew PhotoBlog

Sunday, August 30, 2020

Street Photography with a 35mm Film Camera

On 30th July I bought a rather cheap 35mm compact film camera off Carousel for SGD$30. It's a Yashica Minitec AF. A point and shoot camera. Well, I got it away with the price because the built-in flashlight isn't working. I'm not doing any camera review on this blog. Anyway it's an enjoyable camera to shoot with on the streets.

Street Panorama – Weekend Shopping No. 3

Weekend Shopping No. 3
© 2013 Martin Liew Photography

Here I was at the same spot outside Mustafa Shopping Center, facing the road junction of Syed Alwi Road and Verdun Road. With the camera all preset, I kept on waiting for any interesting character to come by, and yes this African fellow walked right into the street scene. I had spotted him on the other side of the junction. He was on his cell phone as he crossed the road and halted right in front of me. I lifted my camera to my face, looking through the viewfinder. Then I saw an Indian man walking by heading to my left, also on his cell phone.

I anticipated as I got the composition right and was ready to press the shutter release button when all are in position. This is the fun part of street photography where we have to anticipate based on our close observation and knowledge of body language.

Photo Info:

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Wednesday, May 13, 2020

Street Panorama – Weekend Shopping No. 2

Weekend Shopping No. 2
© 2013 Martin Liew Photography

Here's another weekend shopping street panorama from my photo archive. I re-visited this location spot on numerous occasions and for the above street photo, I went back 4 years after a series of first attempts in 2009, as shown in the last blog post.

Like before, I waited at this particular spot for almost an hour, I think. An ideal spot for panorama photography where I had a clear wide view of the road junction and passing-by pedestrians. As I was waiting, I observed the street scene unfolding before me. Constantly on alert and trying to keep a lookout for interesting characters, or something out of the banal.

This is one of the many ways of doing street photography, which requires lots of patience and perseverance. My patience paid off when this Indian gentleman with a well-groomed white beard appeared. Yes, he looked into the camera as he walked by, merely out of curiosity about what I was doing.

Photo Info:

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View more of my photography work on my website.

Tuesday, May 12, 2020

Street Panorama – Weekend Shopping

Weekend Shopping
© 2009 Martin Liew Photography

Just another hustle and bustle day at the cross junction between Verdun Road and Syed Alwi Road in Little India precinct. I was standing outside Mustafa Shopping Center, watching people passing by. Many people came by to do their weekend shopping at Mustafa. Shoppers were seen hailing for taxi. Yes it's a common sight here on most weekends.

I was hoping to capture some interesting street photos with my swing lens panorama camera on Kodak Tri-X 400. This is one of the many shots I took on 13th December 2009, Sunday. A few more to come. Do come back here or subscribe for new updates.

Sunday, May 10, 2020

Street Panorama – THIS FASHION

THIS FASHION
© 2009 Martin Liew Photography

Here's another street panorama photograph from my photo archive. Not too sure if local Singapore ladies do remember this retail store. This Fashion was once the largest fashion retailer in Singapore with more than 60 outlets and over 350 employees. They’ve made a pretty huge impact on our Singapore women lives before H&M and Uniqlo. Unfortunately its abrupt disappearance almost overnight back in 2011 has stumped many Singaporeans.

Notice the two old trishaw riders? It was a common sight eleven years ago to see them resting at this spot. This spot is located at 108 Middle Road, Bernhard Schulte House, right next to Bugis+ building. Currently, this retail space is operated by a cafe, Mellower Coffee.

Trishaws today have become part of Singapore’s cultural heritage. As trishaws are no longer a common means of travel for locals, the passengers that trishaw riders now ferry are predominantly tourists who employ their services as a means of experiencing the Singapore of yesteryear. As such, most trishaws are now found operating in tourist areas such as Chinatown and Bugis.

Unlike those licensed trishaw riders, these two old riders are sole proprietors who operate their own trishaws at their own time. It was tough for them to make a living Fast forward to present days, it's scarce to see them around as they might have retired. Currently, it is mandatory for all trishaw riders to operate with a licence.

Photo Info:

Friday, May 1, 2020

Street Panorama – Protection

Protection
© 2009 Martin Liew Photography

Found this panorama photo in my photo archive and I recalled the time when there were many kiosk stalls set-up along the walk-way of Concorde Hotel & Shopping Mall. It was a blazing hot afternoon and the vendors would set up numerous umbrellas as shelter from the heat wave protection. There was this adult store and I thought the umbrellas are often juxtaposed with condoms for safe sex protection. Hence I positioned myself for this street composition and snapped away with my Horizon Perfekt swing lens panorama camera on Kodak Tri-X 400. Film developed in Kodak D76 of 1:1 dilution for 9 minutes. Negatives scanned on EPSON V700 and post-processed in Photoshop.

Friday, April 24, 2020

Street Panorama – Remember Me as a Time of Day

Remember Me as a Time of Day
© 2009 Martin Liew Photography

First of all, I apologise for the heavy moire patterns or Newton's Rings in this panorama photograph. What is Newton's Rings? Based on Wikipedia explanation, Newton's Rings is a phenomenon in which an interference pattern is created by the reflection of light between two surfaces: a spherical surface and an adjacent touching flat surface. It is named after Isaac Newton, who investigated the effect in his 1704 treatise Opticks. So it could be the thin film surface, similar to a 0.15mm PVC sheet material, or the emulsion side of the film that caused such interference pattern during the scanning process.

I've searched online on how to fix this issue and have tried all methods but all in vain. Photograph was made in 2009 and negatives was scanned circa 2014. I've just got it post-processed in Photoshop today. Yes I would have done a re-scan which I will, but for now I'm eager to show it to you all.

A little brief story behind this photograph. It's the same multi-storey car park with spiral drive way (I've shown a couple of panorama photographs in my previous blog posts). This part of the spiral drive way leads towards the open space roof terrace. I found this vantage spot for this composition where the light and shadow created such nice contrast upon the otherwise symmetrical spiral structure. It looks like a portal in the sunny blue sky.

I don't know what title suits this photograph hence "Untitled". Until I do a re-scan and re-editing, I might have a good title for it.

Street Panorama – Drive Way Up

Here's another spiral drive way panorama I made of at the lower storey car park where I found the right vantage spot for this composition. Several vehicles drove right up and I waited for the right one to come into the scene. And there it was, I released the shutter and hence this photograph was made.

Photo Info:

HORIZON PERFEKT | 28mm | settings not recorded | Kodak Tri-X 400 Film developed in Kodak D76 1:1 dilution for 9 minutes | Negatives scanned on EPSON V700 | Post-processed in Photoshop

P.S. My apology for the moire patterns/Newton's Rings appear on the photograph. Will do a re-scan and update a better image quality in the future.

Thursday, April 23, 2020

Street Panorama – Spiral Drive Way

Another lovely sunny Sunday morning as I explored this multi-storey car park in Little India. I took the elevator to the top floor open space car park and it was deserted. Well, mostly on the upper storeys. Most vehicles were parked on the first three storeys. I walked down the spiral drive way and found this vantage spot for a good panorama shot.

After a few light readings, I set my HORIZON PERFEKT swing lens camera, composed and made this shot on Kodak Tri-400. Film was developed in Kodak D76 1:1 dilution for 9 minutes. Negatives scanned on EPSON V700 followed by minor retouching and contrast adjustment in Photoshop.

P.S. My apology for the moire patterns/Newton's Rings appear on the photograph. Will do a re-scan and update a better image quality in the future.

Sunday, April 19, 2020

Street Panorama – Riding Through The Padang

A sunny Sunday morning on 8 November 2009, I headed out to Singapore Flyer and walked down to The Padang when I saw this oncoming trishaw rider about 50 meters away. I took a quick light reading and set my camera ready. Looking through the viewfinder, I waited for the old trishaw rider to ride into the spot in the frame. The shutter was released and this is the shot made with a HORIZON PERFEKT swing lens panorama camera on Kodak Tri-X 400. Film was developed in Kodak D76 1:1 dilution for 9 minutes. Negatives scanned on EPSON V700 and post-processed in Photoshop for enhanced contrast.

Thursday, April 16, 2020

Street Panorama – Ubin Artist At Work

It's been almost 4 months since my last street photograph posted here. So many things had happened during this time especially the outbreak of Coronavirus in January 2020. Currently it's a lockdown situation in Singapore with heavy restrictions to stay at home and to wear face mask whenever heading out to buy daily essentials. Social distancing is closely observed and supervised by the Government assigned ambassadors and the Singapore Police Force.

While staying safe at home, I took time looking through my photo archives and found that I have some night and street photographs which I've never shown before on my blogs. I could have probably missed out or forgotten. Anyway here's one of them. A portrait photograph I made back in June 2018, with a HORIZON PERFEKT swing lens panorama camera on Kodak Portra 800.

Here's how I came by to make this photograph. One weekend, my friend and I went to Pulau Ubin for some event which I could not remember what it was. After alighting at the island pier, we walked towards the main village Wayang Stage area. We noticed this bespectacled man with a thick black beard was painting a portrait of an old man. I lifted my panorama camera and took a frame before he turned around and smiled at me. He took notice on my "weird" camera and a light conversation started. I asked about the old man in his painting and he told us the old man was the previous village chief, the late Mr Lim Chye Joo.

The black bearded painter is Terence Tan, the Ubin Artist. I asked for his kind permission to make another picture of him at work, and he gladly approved. So that was how this photograph came about.

We continued our conversation about his work and life living on the small island before his friend came along to greet him. Without further ado, I made my departure. If you're interested in Terence's painting work, click here to his Facebook page.

Photo Info:
HORIZON PERFEKT | 28mm | settings not recorded | Kodak Portra 800, rated at 500 | Developed and scanned at Triple-D Mini Lab | Further post-processed in Photoshop