Photography, what an experience!

This week, I had a two day course on news photography. We were not really taught the techniques of taking pictures, but rather the skills we require to take photographs of members of the public.

What I meant was, to request, persuade and convince strangers to let me take their pictures on the streets.

I must say it is really quite an experience.

In the line of my job, it is not uncommon to have to stop strangers and talk to them.

But the difference is, I always have a reason to do that—to find out the public’s response to a certain topic or current affairs etc.

To stop a stranger and ask him to let me take a photograph for no particular reason, only because I am learning photography? That seems like a tough task. Aren’t people afraid that their photographs might land in the wrong hands and be misused? How many people would actually agree? I doubt many.

I was greeted with a pleasant surprise though, when we were sent out to Toa Payoh for a practical session.

In slightly more than an hour, I managed to take shots of 14 strangers. That was a success rate of about 60%. Most of those who stopped to listen, agreed to their pictures being taken. I even had nice chats with a couple of them and they also told me quite a bit about themselves.

These are the photographs I took.

There was this Indian lady in her 60s (see collage: row 1, column 4) who was sunning clothes outside her HDB flat on the ground level. I went over with a friend and asked if we could take pictures. She readily agreed. From the glint in her eyes, I could see that taking photographs is not a common affair for her. She must have felt amused and happy at the same time. The commotion outside the flat disturbed her grandson who came out and asked what we were doing. When we explained to him, he was all smiles and even told us to have fun.

That felt so good.

The picture which I liked most is the one I took outside a hardware shop (row 2, column 3). I was attracted by the bright red, green and blue colour pails outside the shop. When we talked to the shopkeeper and commented that his shop is rather eye-catching in the neighbourhood, he sighed and said that most of the time he is all alone tending the shop and none of his children wants to take over the shop. I then decided to capture a photo showing him in between the pails to highlight his lone plight and the uniqueness of this shop.

However, during our evaluation session later, our instructor (who is a Straits Times photographer) commented that this photograph was not well taken as the shopkeeper is too small to be really seen. He preferred the other one (row 2, column 4) although he said it could be much improved as the shopkeeper does not look too at ease in his posture.

The most enjoyable chit-chat I had was with the elderly boss of a dry-cleaning and tailor shop (row 3, column 2). He was such a kind old man that I felt so comfortable talking to him. He cautioned me to be careful when I stepped onto a chair to take pictures of him from a high angle, and even told me to stop by again.

Not forgetting the two cute brothers at the basketball court (row 1, column 3) who stopped their game and patiently posed for us, the old man who jokingly coaxed his grandson to smile while he sulked (row 2, column 1), the cheerful uncle and auntie selling noodles (row 1, column 1), the jovial uncle selling fresh chicken at the market, (row 3, column 3), the two cute children playing with tortoise (row 3, column 4), the elderly selling newspaper outside his shop (row 1, column 2), and the Indian sweeper who beamed while her photograph was taken (row 3, column 1).

These are the times when you really feel the warmth of people in a neighbourhood.

Of course, not everyone I met is so nice.

There was this weird old man who refused to take a photograph and even gave my friend and I a scolding for no obvious reason.

When we saw him strolling below a block, my friend told him we were learning photography and asked if we could take a photograph of him.

He said no. So be it. We did not press on, thanked him anyway and took our leave. What exploded later really took me aback.

The old man raised his voice, “Why do you want to take a picture of me in this (he was wearing a white singlet and Bermudas)? Why did you ask me in the first place? Do you have brains? Or are you pig-brained?”

Thinking that the old man might not be in the right of his mind, we quickened our pace.

We heard him ranting and shouting in the background, shooting foul words off his mouth.

I was glad we ran fast.

In this short session, I began to understand why some people are such avid photographers. It really is something that will make one fall in love.

Much as I enjoy taking pictures, looking at the photographs I took, you can see that I am still pretty poor at it. I really should improve on my techniques and have more hands-on!