Hyde Park, near Speaker’s Corner, September 2010.

London.

It was a fairly quiet affair. While the hacks reported a 80,000 turn out, I didn’t think there were quite so many. If there were, then perhaps many were behind the fences as the ticketed event excluded many of the faithful. The uniformed policemen had little to do, aside from chatting up the girls.

Of course, I was there more as a vulture to document those who didn’t buy a ticket to see the Pope, but showed up anyway. There was an instance where an elderly couple stood there, waiting as we all did for what seemed like hours till the sun went down, before the Pope-mobile finally made its way down to Hyde Park. She asked if I was Catholic. I said no, and she said she wasn’t neither. But her husband was, he was ‘disappointed’ with the Church, hence the long faces.

There were some oddities with a ticketed event, for a vigil, that I assumed was meant to reach the masses. It was run like a rock concert, tall green borders separated the rest of fawning masses from those who paid to see the man himself. On one instance, a little old lady – on crutches no less – hurried to a slit between where two green walls met, and peered into it, hoping to catch a glimpse of the leader of her faith.

I’d like to think the excluded are those who are most faithful, they sang praise and worship songs to a green wall, as they could only hear but a murmur from the exceptionally muted speakers with which the Pope’s voice could hardly be heard.

A portrait of faithful Britain ?

I was in transit at Changi Airport for a day, spending the night at the transit hotel. In Asia, there is generally less fuss about cameras in public spaces (if Airports are indeed public). On the other hand, Singapore is generally tourist friendly. I flew with the massive A380s, on the upper deck, throughout the flight, passengers were wanting to grab a shot of this historic engineering feat. I had my camera firmly round my neck for the entire leg of the journey, and nervously wanting to make a photo essay of this from the very beginning. While in transit, the airport seemed a microcosm of life, a bubble that exists within its own set of rules, and observing life inside, felt abit like being in another country all together. I was sight seeing I suppose. It starts at the departure lounge at Heathrow, and ends at the departure lounge at Changi.

So here’s the situation. Armed police officers have been using laws to search, arrest, detain and stop photographers both amateurs and award wining pros from making photographs in public. There’s something a little disturbing to find that one has to look over one’s shoulder just to take snapshots while in public. So in an effort to hit back at the lunacy, PHNAT has invited everyone with a passion for the photography to gather at a mass photo gathering to stand in support for street photography, and to defend our rights, to simply photograph. I love street photography. I love that things are always in motion around me. I love that I feel so alive when trying to capture the life and times. The streets are beautiful you know, there’s always something happening, some decisive moment that I am missing at every second corner and out on the streets, photographing people and how they interact with the world makes me feel so humble, so small and realise that I am a part of a grand scheme of things.

Some 2000 photographers descended upon Trafalgar Square at high noon on an overcast Saturday afternoon. I have never seen so many cameras concentrated in one location before. All the L lenses were out on the occasion, the Nikons certainly did not disappoint either, and the Leica Louts were standing tall and proud. There was a general atmosphere of warmth and I could tell that everybody loved their craft, be it a hobby or profession, everybody had a common passion to make photographs. Naturally, the first thing I did when I got there was to simply take pictures, and I was not alone. I could hear a harmonious wave of shutters going off. I felt comfortable, like we were one big family, and it was an amazing feeling to have the approval of everybody around us, when we wanted to take a picture. It was like being at the largest ever photo walk, and everybody knew what to do – everybody was photographing everybody else. I love photography, and today I realised I was not alone. We are photographers, we are not terrorist. And so I was glad to have attended and support this rally. I hope this set of black and whites documenting what I saw goes a little in helping the campaign and to helping those in power understand why we love taking photographs.Hope you’ll enjoy this one folks.

(oh and I also made a set of colour shots and you can see them at my flickr account here)

I’m a huge fan of The Americans, it is my favourite photo book of all time. I think of it as the classic paper movie and Robert Frank’s cinematic style is a massive influence on my work. I only wish I could capture a little bit of Robert Frank’s magic, but the man has an eye for not only a personal moment, but also a skill in creating atmosphere when he makes the viewer see his photographs in the sequence he had intended. I had been to Taipei once before in 2009, and the lasting impression the metal metropolis had on me, was its effervescent bustle. The city was bursting at the seams with motion, people, chatter and streetfood. A pumping jive which was electrifying just to watch the stories unfold before my eyes.

I didn’t photograph much during that time, but the memory of the visit loomed in my memory. I had promised myself that if I return to the city, I would try my best to capture the streets on film. I revisited the city in February 2010, returning in the middle of its winter and saw the dawn of the new lunar year – the Tiger year. Winter meant three days and three nights of rain, but it did not stop me from losing myself in the side streets and the underbelly of the urban jungle and being a spectator of the side stories. I wanted to capture the city’s essence, it’s pumping jive, the crass clash of the new metal and glass buildings building on top of the old shop houses. The city’s neon lit night, the blissful locals breathing soul into the city and all this life happening all around.

Presenting my Taipei Street Stories. A digital paper movie, told from the streets of Taipei.

58 photographs.

Under construction, the new building on the old.

Street food seller opening for breakfast.

Three days of rain, all the umbrellas are out.

Fireworks. First day of work, in the new year of the Tiger.

On the way to the bank, Monday morning.

Breakfast time.

The owner of a Beef noodle soup gesturing while watching TV.

Selling coats on the walkway.

Women inside a street market.

Shoppers making their way into the street market.

Flogging clothes on a pedestal.

Clutching a shopping receipt. All receipts also double as a national lottery ticket.

Burberry scarf, lottery ticket seller.

The rain has stopped, but the umbrella now sheilds from UV rays.

Post, green is local; red is international.

A couple on a vespa on a date.

Fish by the sea.

Fishermen bbq sausages while fishing by the sea.

A couple on a date, one of their hang out spots.

Kids playing on the beach.

Sunday afternoon.

A street fiddler.

Watching Taipei.

Two men and a dog.

Enticed by the street food.

Enticed by the street toys.

Husband and wife.

A street artist with a customer.

Praying with posters.

Waiting for the bus.

Artist in transit on the MRT.

A cluster of vespas.

The cluster on the move.

Crossing the road.

Watermelon umbrella.

Husband and wife, much later.

Watching the city go by.

The year of the Tiger, shop window.

Day turns to night, ximending.

Collecting for charity.

Friends.

Kevin’s Tattoo.

Waiting for takeaway at Hi Sushi.

Visiting the bookstore.

Totally engrossed.

An angel promoting her store.

Red Lanterns outside of SOGO, department store.

Mother and daughter at night.

The city lights, after dark.

A couple speeding, probably  away on a date.

Inside seven eleven, shopping dog.

The house cat, cleaning.

Riding the MRT one last time.

Four types of city transport.

Bicycles, all chained and unused.

Old guys playing chess at the park.

Old guy falling asleep at the park.

Cleaning up, closing up.

I have been taking my Leicas with me everywhere I go these days and shooting the streets with these compact machines are just a wonder. Now that I have gone Leica, I wonder why I didn’t start earlier. I have found that so far the combination of the quiet shutter, the unassuming classic body, the compact lens design all contribute to this Leica ‘stealth’ which allows the photographer to get closer to their subject. Actually, I think this stealth is more the fact that people around feel more comfortable in the vicinity of such a small camera, as opposed to the monster of an SLR which my D700 is. This comfort level does seem to encourage me to take more photos. I took the camera out for a photowalk with a photo buddy, Mark around Soho, Leicester Square, Chinatown and through to the very touristy environs of Covent Garden. Of course, this part of London doesnt really need much introduction, famed for food, shopping and theatre – it is the hub of entertainment. I am told that the red light district in Soho is quite sterile when compared to their European counterparts – such is the degree in which this area has mellowed, with time. I like Soho, it is easy to get to, being that it is right in the centre of London, and there is always a cheerful buzz about it during the weekends, plus how can one resist Four seasons Roast Duck in Gerard Street right?

I did some work for Daddy Donkey a while ago to help them create abit of photography for their website. If you don’t know Daddy Donkey, they are the ultimate burrito-mobile machine based in Leather Lane. They make great burritos, I recommend the steak one – it really is as juicy as advertised. I remember the brief for this one because it was alot of fun to do. Joel (the owner) wanted something freestyle and a set of photographs which capture the bustling street feel and also the vividness of the the food. Leather Lane and the vendors who set up their stalls spring to life during the busy weekday lunch periods… and boy were they a tough crowd to manoeuvring around! I shot this throughout an entire service, from about 11 am just as they were setting up shop through to seeding myself – literally – in the centre of the moving crowd to catch some up close and personal wide angles and finally to the winding down period as people return to their offices. It was tiring, challenging but I really had alot of fun doing it. You can see the final results over at the Daddy Donkey official site, they are using alot of the material as a flickr slideshow.

As I was archiving this job, I realised there was enough unwanted material which could be used to put together a photo story of some sort. As you know, I like putting together behind the scenes articles, I was trying out new photo effects as well, in particular I was interested in replicating cross processing, lomo, polaroid, you know sort of faded out vintage film like effects on digital.

Anyway, enough gibberish, here are the results, no subtitles to go with this paper movie (hopefully not needed), and I hope you’ll enjoy the show…