Techniques
I went looking for air, not dinner. It was late, the kind of late where Orchard Road empties out and the malls go soft and grey. I wandered up to the second floor of Orchard Plaza, located at 150 Orchard Road #02-56, and there it was, lit and open, a little Vietnamese store that doesn’t…
Orchard Plaza after dark is a strange kind of quiet. The shiny malls down Orchard Road buzz with crowds, but up here the corridors hum under old fluorescent light, half the shutters down, the air still and slightly worn. I almost walked past Tha Siam Thai Kitchen. If not for the faint thread of Thai…
The first nasi lemak picture I ever loved was a failure. It was past midnight, under the harsh fluorescent stall light buzzing overhead, and I had shot the plate straight down the way everyone tells you to. When I looked at it later, everything had melted into one flat surface. The rice, the sambal, the…
The first time I tried to photograph a bowl of ramen at Cuppage Plaza, I nearly gave up. My broth had a shiny white blob on it, the egg looked grey, and the whole shot felt like a hospital cafeteria food photo. I sat there frustrated, soup going cold, wondering why my food photography never…
I walked into The Public Izakaya 2.5 Nitengo on a Friday around 10:15 PM, right as the after-work drinks crowd in Tanjong Pagar was hitting its peak. Walking into a packed room with a proper camera always gives me a wave of anxiety. I worry about looking intrusive or annoying the diners trying to settle…
I was sitting at a cramped counter in Cuppage Plaza, surrounded by the incredible smell of binchotan charcoal and roasting chicken fat. The mood was perfect. The dim tungsten lamps cast a beautiful, moody glow over the dark wooden planks of the counter. But when I looked at my camera screen, my heart sank. My…
When I find the late night izakayas Singapore offers, it’s not about extending a party. It’s about finding a space that holds this transition. These narrow, dimly lit rooms become my temporary sanctuary. They are places where the steady rhythm of charcoal grilling, the aroma of grilled meat, and the pour of cold sake, shochu,…
The humidity hits you the moment you step out onto the street at the end of the day, quickly followed by the sharp, intoxicating scent of charred garlic and sambal. Steam billows from a roaring wok, catching the green and pink glow of a nearby neon sign. A vendor expertly tosses noodles into the air,…
My first time taking a camera to Geylang at night was a lesson in humility. I had this grand idea of capturing the “gritty authenticity” of a late-night supper. I stood over a bubbling pot of eminent frog porridge at a spot on Lorong 9, camera raised high, trying to frame the perfect shot. I…
The afternoon sun cuts through the glass canopy of Suntec City, illuminating the constant flow of shoppers and executives. In this polished world of commerce, a different kind of space exists—the photo studio. It is a controlled environment, a blank canvas waiting for a story. For a photographer or photography enthusiasts in Singapore, choosing the…