Red Mini-Rover

Red Mini-Rover

© 2010 Martin Liew Photography

This is another part of Tiong Bahru estate area where i came across this red Mini-Rover, parked next to a road signboard. Ambient lighting was tricky and challenging, so I tried to expose for the shadows and later on to develop for the highlights. Four minutes of exposure on Rollei Retro 400 and developed in Kodak D76 1:1 dilution for 9 minutes 20 seconds yielded quite a satisfying result. I scanned the negative on EPSON V700 and post-processed the image in Photoshop for better contrast.

Tiong Bahru Estate

Tiong Bahru Estate

© 2010 Martin Liew Photography

Good evening nightographers! I believe most of our local readers know where this place is. Just so happened I came across this part of the estate building with the curved pine trees and thought it would be worth exposing for a frame.

Photo Info:

Shanghai TLR | f/16 Bulb mode - 3 mins 30 secs | Rollei Retro 400 | Film developed in Kodak D76 1:1 dilution 9 mins 20 secs | Scanned on EPSON V700 | Post-processed in Photoshop

Kitty Cat Sat On The Wall

Kitty Cat Sat On The Wall

© 2010 Martin Liew Photography

Good evening! Here's another night photograph of Tiong Bahru alleyway, not far away from the last photograph posted here. As the photo title says it all. Did you spot the cat? It's a long exposure of 3 minutes 30 seconds and despite the cat sat quietly and motionlessly on the wall, it turned its head a few times. Hence its head appears out of focus, but still distinguishable at a closer look.

Casted shadows of nearby trees and building structures made this photograph more dramatic, if not interesting. The light that hit across the white wall forming nice gradient shades of grey. These are some of the attributes I always look out for in night streets photography.

Then The Quiet Alley

Then The Quiet Alley

© 2010 Martin Liew Photography

In mid 2010 I visited Tiong Bahru on one weekend with my Shanghai TLR camera loaded with a roll of Rollei Retro 400 black and white film. I was trying to look for some nice ambience and subjects for night photography. Tiong Bahru today has flourished into a historically significant estate, combining its rich heritage and push for modernisation into a truly unique aesthetic.

I came across this quiet alley way and really like the ambience and atmosphere. Hence I set up my tripod and camera, and made the first exposure of the Rollei film for 3 minutes 30 seconds. Film was later developed in Kodak D76 1:1 dilution for 9 minutes 20 seconds. Dried negatives were scanned on EPSON V700 and post-processed in Photoshop for better contrast.

Will share more Tiong Bahru night photos in the coming blog posts. Do subscribe for new updates.

A Chair & A Ladder

A Chair & A Ladder

© 2009 Martin Liew Photography

Good evening! In my last blog I mentioned about posting a couple of night photographs with which I made on the same night on 23rd May 2009, Saturday. So here's one and let me share with you on the making of this night photograph.

Seletar Camp was formerly the site of the largest British Royal Air Force (RAF) base in the Far East. Plans to redevelop the Seletar area for Singapore’s aerospace needs were announced in 2006. Work on the project began in 2007 and is expected to complete by 2018. Helmed by JTC, the proposed Seletar Aerospace Park project was carried out on some 140 hectare of land. When completed, the park will serve as a key centre for aerospace activities such as the maintenance, repair and overhaul of aircraft engines.

Some of the proposed changes to the area include lengthening the existing runway at Seletar Airport and building a new airport control tower. To make way for these changes, some parts of Seletar Camp were demolished or shut down, including the Seletar Base Golf Course, one of the few golf courses open to the public. The members-only Seletar Country Club, on the other hand, remains open. One hundred and seventy-four out of the 378 colonial black-and-white bungalows were demolished to make way for redevelopment.

While the economic downturn in 2009 had affected the Seletar Aerospace Park project, measures taken by the JTC, such as extending expired leases to companies occupying the site, helped to put the project back on track when the economy recovered. It was during this time period, I visited the place. Some buildings were abandoned and left empty which could be preparation for the redevelopment. The doors to the abandoned buildings were left opened and I went in to explore.

It was so pitch dark that I couldn't see my own fingers. I brought along a powerful LED flash light with which I was able to find my way around. I took the stairs to the second floor and there I saw this damaged chair at the end of the corridor, right outside a bunker. Behind the chair, a wooden ladder leaned against the wall. In that instant, I knew this set-up would be good for photography. No shifting or re-arrangement of the chair and ladder was made. I wanted to make photographs as I saw it.

Quickly I set up my tripod and mounted the camera to get the desired composition. Then I paused and thought of ways to make the first exposure. It was pitch dark and leaving the shutter open on Bulb mode is a must. The crucial part is how to light the subjects. If you take a closer look at the above photograph, you can see obviously where the shadows fall and where the light source came from.

Yes I walked into the bunker with the strobe, stood about one and a half meter away from the door frame. There, I pointed at the chair and fired two flashes. Next I walked up to the door frame, still remained out of sight from the camera, I switched on my LED flash light set at a lower lumen power and started to light paint the wooden ladder for about a minute. The shutter was still opened until I closed it at a stop time of 3 minutes 30 seconds.

So that's it. That was how this night photograph was made. In the following month, I came back to this place on every weekend for more night photography. I brought my digital SLR camera and other useful light painting tools. Many successful photographs were made, including this damaged chair.

I hope you enjoy my night photography work. Good night.

Ghost Tree

Ghost Tree

© 2009 Martin Liew Photography

Here's another night photograph I made on that same night with the white guardhouse in our last blog post. It stood strongly within the Seletar Air Base premise along the roadside, about a hundred meters away from the white guardhouse. Not too sure if this dead tree is still around.

It does look creepy and spooky as it stood against the dark night sky and has an open field in the background. Street lights hardly cast upon the dead tree in whole. The lighting effect you see here in the photograph was created using a portable manual strobe. At aperture f/8.0, I opened the shutter for 36 seconds. Within this short time, I fired the strobe twice to the left side of the tree and once to the right side, in full power. As the flashlight fell off shortly and quickly, the light could only reach the foreground and a little further mid-range of the crooked tree branches. Leaving the ones further behind in silhouettes. Hence it has this pop-up three-dimensional effect. Somehow or rather the lighting made this dead tree looks "alive".

There are quite a few soft spots/bokehs in this photograph. You can see that the bottom left corner thick tree trunk or branch has this motion blur effect. The middle part foreground tree branch is out of focus. The only focused area is the main tree trunk covered with ferns. It's all due to the wide-angle lens I fitted on the taking lens of Shanghai TLR camera. The lens is meant for normal camcorder usage and its thread size fits perfectly right on the TLR taking lens. Focussing with this lens is challenging. This night photograph wouldn't be made possible without this wide-angle lens.

I'll be posting and sharing another two night photographs which I made on that same night with this ghost tree. Do come back. If you have not subscribed to my blog, do so for new updates. Thank you for your time. 

Good night.

White House

White House

© 2009 Martin Liew Photography

I was out doing light painting at Seletar Air Base in the wee hours on 23rd May 2009, Saturday. I brought 2 cameras with me on that night – Nikon D300 and Shanghai TLR. In case you're curious and want to find out what are the color night photographs I made, here's the blog in which the photographs are featured.

As I made my way out towards the main gate, there was this guardhouse and I stopped to make one exposure with my Shanghai TLR camera on Kodak TMAX 400. The shutter was opened for 36 seconds. The film was later developed in Kodak D76 (full stock) for 6 minutes. Negatives were scanned on EPSON V700 flatbed scanner and post-processed in Photoshop for better contrast.

I will show more other black and white night photographs I made on that same roll of TMAX 400. Do subscribe to my blog for new updates.

Holding Your Light

Holding Your Light

© 2008 Martin Liew Photography

There's always something about back alleys that attract me to explore the possibilities or opportunities for good night photography. It was one of those moments when I came across this location where I found the clean whitewashed houses along with this stand-alone street lamp, interesting for a black and white photograph.

I want to keep things simple and this night scene has those minimalistic elements. Exposed this frame with Shanghai TLR camera on Kodak TMAX 400 for 5 minutes. Film developed in Kodak D76 full stock for 6 minutes. Negatives scanned on EPSON V700 and post-processed in Photoshop for brightness and contrast.

OUE Tower

OUE Tower

© 2007 Martin Liew Photography

This is one of the prominent landmarks located beside Collyer Quay at Marina Bay within the Downtown Core of the Central Area, Singapore. So much has changed in Collyer Quay since this night photograph was made in late April 2007. OUE Tower is within The Fullerton Heritage precinct which consists of The Fullerton Hotel Singapore, The Fullerton Bay Hotel Singapore, The Fullerton Waterboat House, One Fullerton, The Fullerton Pavilion, Clifford Pier, and Customs House. Level 10 of the tower houses the popular Chinese restaurant, Tóng Lè Private Dining (under Tung Lok Group), and at Level 8, the restaurant offers three luxurious-furnished rooms, complete with state-of-the-art karaoke facilities stocked with over 60,000 songs. How's that for a dining and entertainment experience?

This night photograph was made possible with my Shanghai TLR camera on Kodak TMAX 400 black and white film. Negatives are scanned on EPSON V700 and post-processed in Photoshop.

City of Caves

City of Caves

© 2007 Martin Liew Photography

Good evening! Here's an old night photograph from my archive, which I made on 11th March 2007, Sunday. It was twelve minutes past three. I was walking along the walkway outside the National Gallery, formerly the Supreme Court, when I came across this part of the building. I was drawn by the juxtaposition of shapes and lines between the brick wall, stairways, and window panels. The light and shadows were in good place and this is the final composition that was captured with my Shanghai TLR camera on Kodak TMAX 400.

Twin Cupolas

Twin Cupolas

© 2007 Martin Liew Photography

Most local Singaporeans would recognize these twin cupolas or maybe some, I reckon. In the wee hours on 7th January 2007, Saturday, I visited the Fort Canning Cemetery just to make night photographs of these twin cupolas.

A cupola is a light structure on a dome or roof, serving as a belfry, lantern, or belvedere. The twin cupolas were built before 1958, for the tomb of Mr. George Dromgold Coleman at Fort Canning Cemetery. He served as Colonial Architect in Singapore from 1826 to 1841, the first Government Superintendent of Public Works (1833-1841), and became a consultant to Sir Stamford Raffles on the 1822-1823 Town Plan of Singapore.

Upon reaching this location spot, the surrounding ambiance was pretty low. The main light source came from the building, Fort Canning Arts Center, to the right of the twin cupolas. The brightly lit interiors of the cupolas were fired from a portable manual flashlight, while the shutter was opened for 9 minutes. More than enough time for me to go around the other side of the cupolas, and fire two flashlights on each cupola ceiling. This was to create an evenly bounced light for the interiors.

In fact, I made two exposures with which the first one without flashlight and the second one as shown above. I prefer the second exposure for its three-dimensional effect.

Nature Distancing

Nature Distancing

© 2006 Martin Liew Photography

It was a quiet evening in Bukit Gombak Park on 21st October 2006, Saturday. It was my first visit there at night. I noticed this small stand-alone tree and decided to set up my Shanghai TLR camera. A long exposure timing of 9 minutes on the smallest aperture f/22, was made.

I like the night atmosphere in this park. I made another 2 consecutive visits nine years later on 3rd and 10th October 2015, both Saturday night. I posted some black and white as well as color photographs which were all captured on my digital Nikon D300. You can check out the photographs here in this blog post.

Would love to visit the Park again after the COVID-19 lockdown. News was announced that the upgrading had been carried out on 31st March 2019 and scheduled to open in early 2020 with new recreational facilities that include a hill trek, a nature play garden, and a dog run. More details on the National Parks website here.

Until then, I may or may not be posting new night photographs of the Park. Well, it depends after my visit or location recce. Do come back here for more night photographs in the coming nights.

Stairway Connector

Stairway Connector

© 2006 Martin Liew Photography

This stairway connector is located along Kallang Bahru, just beside a bridge across Kallang River and a park connector that runs the southern perimeter of Kallang Distripark. The stairway and park connector have since been upgraded, so it looks different now compared to the above photograph which was made 14 years ago.

I came across it and found the juxtaposition of the hoarding board and barbed wire along the right side of the stairway, made this photograph appear three-dimensional. It is the result of the juxtaposition of contrasting light and shadows.

Two bracket frames were exposed for 9 minutes each, on the smallest aperture of f/22. The first bracket exposure was composed more closer to the stairway, and the second one as shown above. The shadow areas were really dark. In order to show shadow details especially the concrete textures, flashlight was fired twice at the concrete surface on the left side. After some retouching, followed by burning and dodging on the second bracket shot, this is the result.

If you like my night photography work, do subscribe to my blog for more future updates. Thank you for your time and support. Good night.

Trishaw & Signboard

Trishaw & Signboard

© 2006 Martin Liew Photography

It was late September 2006 when I spotted this trishaw parked in a nearby neighborhood void deck against a wall signboard with a ceiling light which is on the far top right just out of the frame. As the above photograph doesn't show night sky and street lights, it can pass on as being made in day time indoor environment. Somehow the trishaw and ambiance grabbed my attention and I was compelled to make this photograph of what once was the essential mode of public transportation in the last century.

The first trishaws were officially registered in Singapore in 1914 although they were advertised in the papers as early as 1886 in the form of the Upton Park tricycle. These early trishaws were essentially modified rickshaws attached to a bicycle and as such was known as ‘pedal rickshaws’ or ‘pedicabs’ when they were first introduced. It was not until the 1920s that trishaws became more widespread on the island when a new wave of Chinese immigrants turned to trishaw peddling as an occupation.

It started to suffer a decline in popularity from the mid-1950s onwards. The rapid modernization of Singapore after independence in 1965 hastened the decline. By the late 1970s, trishaw riders were regarded as a dying breed with most of them primarily involved in the tourism trade. Today trishaws have become part of Singapore’s cultural heritage. As trishaws are no longer a common means of travel for locals, the passengers that trishaw riders now ferry are predominantly tourists who employ their services as a means of experiencing the Singapore of yesteryear. As such, most trishaws are now found operating in tourist areas such as Chinatown and Bugis. Currently, it is mandatory for all trishaw riders to operate with a license.

There goes the brief history of trishaws. The photograph was made with an old Shanghai TLR camera on Kodak TMAX 400, exposed for 3 minutes 40 seconds. The film was sent to a photo lab for development but negatives were scanned at home on EPSON V700. Post-processed in Photoshop for essential retouching on dust and common Burn and Dodge for better contrast result.

Dragon of Whampoa (Monochrome)

Dragon Fountain

© 2006 Martin Liew Photography

Good evening fellow night dwellers. This is the Dragon of Whampoa. It used to be a water fountain with water spouted out of its mouth. I like to call it Water-Dragon. On March 22, 2014, I posted a blog of the same title in which I shared a little story of this defunct water fountain. Click here to read that blog.

In that blog, I shared an old news about the current Moulmein-Kallang Town Council had plans to refurbish the Dragon fountain, but based on the current COVID-19 pandemic situation that caused global economic downslide, I doubt the Council will ever carry out the refurbishing plans.

Anyway, tonight I want to show you this old night photograph which was made way earlier than the color version I showed 6 years ago. It was made on a quiet mid-October night in 2006. As much as I disliked those super strong powerful LED floodlights, somehow its dramatic lighting contrast added this cinematic noir effect. Those crisscrossed tree trunks and its casted shadows on the foreground attributed the atmospheric mood as well.

The scanned image sat silently in my photo archive long enough, and hence I opened it in Photoshop and started editing this late afternoon. I did record all my camera settings, locations, date, and time on a little notebook, for all my black and white film night photography. Upon checking, I found out that I made a super long exposure of 9 minutes of this Dragon fountain. Yes it was over-exposed and after some retouching and editing, I managed to retain highlight details of the Dragon and this is the result.

Photo Info:

Shanghai TLR | 75mm f/3.5 (Taking Lens) | Kodak TMAX 400