After my time in Bali, I returned to Singapore for a final few days before flying home to the UK. Singapore was so hot and humid, and also quite hazy during my time there. It was one of the easiest places to be in during my asia trip, because everyone speaks english, signs are in english, even the plug sockets are UK ones! The city itself has a pretty interesting hyper-modern feel, it’s pretty clean and the architecture is all very new feeling.
I was lucky to be able to visit my friends Kim, Verena and Aaron, spend some time connecting with the local community, explore a few cool places around the city and finally spending some time to shoot some Parkour. My images follow…
Singapore is effectively a city-country, as there really is not a huge landmass. This is the view over the marina, looking at the financial district.
And this is the iconic Marina Bay Sands Hotel. The boat looking thing atop the three towers is a viewing platform and swiming pool!
Myself and my friend Verena decided we would try to make it up the tower and see all there was to see.
This is the view of the Gardens by the Bay, which I also visited (and you will see later in this post).
The infinity pool atop the hotel. Bit too crowded for me personally.
Looking down on the arena while they were setting up for the Grand Prix.
Looking out over the docklands, singapore is a major trade route and you could also see hundreds of cargo ships waiting in the bay.
With a little social engineering, we were able to make it out onto the observation deck to see the city from the top of the hotel.
This was the shot I was waiting all day for.
Wandering around the city at night, they like fountains in Singapore.
‘Hey Verena, wanna go stand in the fountain? It might look cool’
I was also blessed with meeting up with my friends from Europe, Andi and Redmer. We wandered around the streets during a little training time one day.
Downtown.
Redmer climbed this statue. It was a bit wobbly!
Then we realised how interesting it looked. After making him climb up and down it three times, we found the image we wanted.
Later that evening, the wonderful Derrick Siu managed another feat of social engineering, and got us into this 50+ floor condo building.
It was just a bit high up.
Then we committed to hopping into the pool, which was empty.
It was actually quite an interesting space, and there is a small ledge down the end, perfect for flips!
Andi, Aaron and Redmer spent some time playing around here with me, trying some photo ideas.
With every jump, I had to get the shot and then spin around so as not to drench my gear.
I still had to go and towel the camera off a couple of times though.
‘Lets try a swan dive photo’ turned from serious to silly, once we realised how preposterous the idea was.
The boys killed it with throwing difficult flips but with nice form, off of a slippery wet platform, in the dark.
But the results speak for themselves. Considering the total budget nature of these images, i’m really pleased with the look I achieved.
We also took time to wander around the Gardens by the Bay.
I found a nice spot of light, so took a portrait of everyone (except Verena because she was being all camera shy), and Kim took the one of me. If you click the face, you can see a larger photo to download for your next hilarious photoshop project.
Left to right – Redmer Agricola, Aaron Martin, Scott Bass, Kimberly Cheong, Andi Whole
If you go to singapore, you must visit the gardens by the bay.
These blue things are called ‘supertrees’. In time, the foliage will grow up them until the conical structure is hidden.
Redmer taking a moment.
My pals.
If you have a fast lens and a good night camera, there are hours of stunning images to shoot in the gardens.
This candid moment was one I will especially treasure. Kim is the kind of lady where, you turn around and she is doing something. That something can be a complete roll of the dice, but in this case it was beautiful.
The supertree grove.
And a cheeky handstand off the edge of the guard rail. Singapore was a really interesting place to visit, and it was really made better by the company of my friends. Next post will be a mix of my best 5Dmk3 images from Japan now I have finally processed them all!