A Walk In The Garden No. 2
© 2010 Martin Liew Photography
Tonight I want to show you this night garden photograph I made a decade ago. Some of you might recognise right away where this bridge is located. Yes it's located at Toa Payoh Garden.
From time to time I found myself coming back to this place either for relaxation, or to make some interesting photographs. It's not too far from my place actually. Takes about 15–20 minutes walk. What i like about this garden is its one-of-a-kind hexagonal bridge, three stone bridges and a watching tower. Unfortunately the watch tower is permanently locked and entry is prohibited.
On one calm November night in 2010, I arrived at the garden and wanted to make night photographs of the stone bridges. I picked this bridge because it situated right next to a tree with two trunks, forming a letter 'V'. I don't know what kind of tree it is but it's definitely an old tree, most probably older than me.
At that time, I faced challenges in finding the right vantage spot for the right composition. It took me some time though and finally I decided on this, as shown above. The film I used was Ilford HP5 Plus. All along I've been using Kodak TMAX 400 for most if not all of my black and white night photography. But at that time I was thinking why shouldn't I try on a new film and hence I picked up a roll.
Compared to TMAX 400, I like the stark contrast this film creates and I yielded satisfying results on that night. On that same roll I made another photograph at another part of the garden. Check out that night photograph, A Walk In The Garden No. 1
Alright! I hope you like my work I showed you tonight. Hope my work inspires you to pick up night photography. Do subscribe for new updates. Thank you for your time and support.
Good night!
Photo Info:
Shanghai TLR | f/16 Bulb mode - 3 mins 30 secs | Ilford HP5 Plus | Film developed in Kodak D76 1:1 dilution 10 mins 24 secs | Scanned on EPSON V700 | Post-processed in Photoshop
Great work! I like how the light/tones falls off from light to dark from the left to the right of the frame. Well done for shooting the night on film. When I got my first DSLR there was no going back to film for me but for occasional use. Looking forward to following your work.
ReplyDeleteHi Joshua! Thank you for your kind words. I'm delighted to receive comment from another fellow night photographer. I've visited your website and I must say you have a great body of work. I've read your blog too and appreciate to know and understand how night photography has such an inspirational impact on you.
ReplyDeleteI started out doing night photography on film at about the same year as you did, and gradually I got into digital. I embrace both photography media forms. Each has its own characteristics, as we know. For film at night, I go for black and white exclusively. For color it would be light-paintings, star trails, twilights, etc etc.
Thank you for following my work and I look forward to see more of yours, too. Cheers!