Singapore Through The Lens

THE discussion on Singapore’s image offered snapshots of Singapore as it could be projected.

Photographers Russel Wong, Bryan van der Beek and Darren Soh, and filmmaker Grace Song spoke about their roles as historians, capturing scenes of today for the benefit of tomorrow as well.

Darren photographs public housing and has a book coming out this year on how the buildings have changed over time.

For Russel, shooting in the commercial world offers its own set of challenges as brand want perfection and not necessarily reality, which is what he delivers in editorial photography.

Bryan likes to shoot life on the street, capturing significant and normal moments.

For Grace, a young filmmaker starting out on the road of creativity, the grants have helped to fuel her fire, and she is currently working in Thailand on a feature film.

In this era of short attention spans, Bryan voiced concern about the “stunted view” of photography that people are getting as a result of Instagram and Facebook.

People don’t pore over images. It’s a 2-second view, then it’s swipe to the next image.

Here is a brief segment of the discussion. You can watch the full session by clicking on the link at the end of the article.