Opportunity

A Photography Essay

I simply love travel.

I went to China, in 2005, and then in 2006 again just weeks before I enlisted. In 2005, I visited the Jiangnan region, including places like Suzhou, Hangzhou and Shanghai. In 2006, I went to Guilin in the Guangxi region.

It wasn't that expensive, because at that time there were promotional tour packages for trips to China, so the ticket prices were moderately alright. But I still felt apprehensive about going to China in general.

First of all, there is the people. Not to bad-mouth any China Chinese in Singapore, but we all have to admit that they are a little bit backwards in terms of education, as well as the basic sense of civility. I do remember writing many articles on public forums voicing out my distaste against the inconsiderate culture, but that was then.

Secondly, there was the idea of a tour agency. I like travel, but I hate the idea of following a tour group around. I still feel that tour groups are restrictive; their objective to cover the most ground in the least time bodes ill for photographers, and their ability to choose the poorest spot at the worst time to view a piece of scenery astounds me.

Thirdly, I disliked the notion of China as a photographic subject. The places I went were typically drab and uninteresting. I thought that Jiangnan would be a shopping trip for my parents and that Guangxi would be dull. I got this impression straightaway after reading the itinerary.

But I went anyway. Twice.

No matter the destination, seeing your plane from the waiting area is exhilarating.

So before I arrived at Changi Airport, I felt like this time round I should just set my camera aside and behave like a stupid dumb tourist in some stupid crappy country with shit all over the place. With the people kicking and punching each other over who stole whose cow. And then the police would come and shoot everybody and their mothers just for good measure.

I brought only the necessities. Nikon D80 without battery grip, with just a 17-50 f2.8 lens and a 80-200 f2.8 lens stashed somewhere in the luggage. I brought a tripod, not to deploy it when the light was low, but with the intention to bash anyone who tries to steal my camera.

As you can tell, I didn't really look forward to it.

The thing which changed my opinion.

But when I reached Changi Airport, things immediately felt different. The moment I set my eyes on the plane that we'll be boarding, I changed my opinion straightaway. Maybe this would be an adventure of sorts. A failed one, perhaps, but who knows what life has in store for us? C'est la vie.

The thing about predicting what will happen, is that you're always going to be wrong. In some ways you may have guessed right, but things aren't always going to be as what you thought it is.

My trip to China 2005, I brought back many images with me that I'd remember for life. Most of them, my exco as well as Eunice's have already seen. I submitted some for competitions and exhibitions, and won a few, including our own Photo Salon that year.

But it was my '06 trip to China that was truly exciting. Particularly because it exceeded my expectations.

The people, whom I thought would be rude and inconsiderate, were still rude and inconsiderate. They shout a lot and fight a lot. They regard the world as their spittoon and their command of verbal expletives could make Chee Howe cry.

Then there was the limitations of the tour group. Sure enough, I was present at the Elephant Trunk Hill, one of the world's most iconic natural rock formation, right smack in the middle of the harsh afternoon. I also got around shopping a lot; it was fun and I bought some photographers' vests, but it didn't make for good photographic opportunities.

And the itinerary, as expected, was dismal. There were too many long bus rides, and too many long pit stops along some desolate place. The weather was blisteringly cold, and I couldn't really press the shutter button through my thick gloves. The beautiful locations they promised us turned out to be general disappointments due to bad timing and clashes with tour groups from other agencies.

But I made a mistake when I did my predictions. I predicted only the experience, but not the images one can get at the end of it. Or maybe, you can't really predict what kind of photos you'll get at all. That's the amazing thing about photo opportunities, you can't tell when or where they'll come, but they will.

Photo opportunities are everywhere, but only if you look for them.

And photo opportunites, despite the conditions, despite the limitations, I found them everywhere. It doesn't take much to be optimistic and look at the world around you with the intention to make beautiful pictures. Yes, you could be taking photos in cow dung or the China guys next to you could be killing each other, but even those would make for good conversational topics once you get home. And a good slideshow too, if you bothered to take the photos.

It takes a certain level of skill and experience to take a photo with a correct exposure, things in tack sharp focus and the techniques in place. But it takes dedication to even get to take a photo in the first place. You must keep looking, taking it all in, just waiting for a moment to appear.

I took this from a moving bus: good light but trapped in a bus.

There's also something else. It's amazing how it works, but it does. Travel photography, regardless of the location and conditions, thrills. Inspiration comes automatically. Our eyes become amazed at things easily, and the desire to take a photo of stuff will come out. Somehow, it is a different experience from photography back home.

I have a theory how this works.

In Singapore, we have grown used to the sights of hawker centres and the HDB heartlands. Our eyes adapt to the common scenes we see, so much so we don't find them amazing anymore.

In foreign lands, however, we become wowed at things because it's not something we see everyday. The magic of photography comes as soon as we become interested, and start to shoot more. Photo opportunities begin to appear everywhere. To a local, you may seem odd, because they, like you, have regarded their daily sights as normal and uninteresting.

That's one of the few advantages of living in Singapore; you're a frog in a well. Once you're willing to travel elsewhere, be prepared to be amazed all the time.

You don't see this in the Singapore River.

Imagine if from the onset, I decided not to go to China at all, because I didn't want to experience lengthy bus rides, the possibility of my camera being stolen, or getting punched by some farmer who thought you stole his onion or bean sprout or something.

I would have lost all these photos. All the opportunities that I encountered in my trip would not have happened. The sunset picture, the mountain picture, the picture of the boat in some river - lost. The adventure I went through and the memories of these times gone.

Yeah, drank lots of rice wine there too.

When opportunities like these come, we grab them. Like Vietnam '08, for example. We may think that the itinerary sounds boring or the experience seems too tough and too tiring.

But you cannot predict such things, because they'll be wrong.

The sense of satisfaction you get when you complete a journey will come, and so will the memories of it. There's only this one time (as well as the next year) you'll get to participate in an overseas trip with the Club and Alumni, so take that opportunity!

Sign up for Vietnam '08! You won't regret it!

Of course, there's that price issue, but we're working on that!

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"The basic material of photographs is not intrinsically beautiful.
It's not like ivory or tapestry or bronze or oil on canvas.
You're not supposed to look at the thing, you’re supposed to look through it.
It's a window."

- John Szarkowski