Sometimes either the mood or the situation does not allow for shooting action: be it a dinner with a friend, a work related travel that allows little free 'creative' time or just being totally wiped out. I felt like that for the last couple of days: uninspired as work and heat did not help to get the gear out. Fortunately, there was a relaxing option on hand to catch a dinner with a friend in Singapore. And although not a single shot was fired, the time perhaps was not all wasted. As we walked the overwhelmingly busy Little India, grabbed a meal at Banana Leaf followed by a relaxing Turkish tea around Arab Street I did not have the energy to take photos. After being busy all day felt like a beer, tea or food and not thinking. Little India felt not very little: there were hundreds of men around the main throughputs mingling, queuing or walking slowly. Navigating these incredibly busy streets was a challenge. I was in mood to get out - and a meal in colder and less busy restaurant sounded like heaven.
But the next day, thinking of the experience, and how very different this was from my previous visit, I thought that this was uniquely Singaporean. A visit to Little India and Arab Street during the weekend captures the dynamics of life of the local labour immigrant: relaxing with friends after a hard week of work, watching the queues of people sending money back home or getting that extra cheap calling card. These were not the usual views of Singapore - this is how the real Singapore seems and operates...
This could make an interesting photo story. A few ideas:
* slow shutter, high vantage and one of the landmark buildings to get the constant stream of people on the streets of Little India
* crowds of friends relaxing by some tea and shisha around the Arab Street - get the details of the setting: the ties, the smoke, the deeply relaxed look on the faces of the patrons. Getting the smoke would be hard - but since things are moving slowly there...
So the next visit is already filling up with ideas for photos: not the new, flashy buildings common in the glossy magz - instead the core of the little country: the food, the people, the daily life...
I think I now look forward the next Singapore trip...
