Tourist In My Own Home | A LoBlography Challenge
This is my official blog post for the Lomography Singapore LoBlography Challenge, which I mentioned in the previous post. For this challenge, I get to use a sponsored La Sardina camera from the kind folks at Lomography to shoot anything I want. The prize? A brand new LC-A+, which I want! And what’s in it for you? Lomography piggie points! Read on to find out how to win some.
A bad tourist is one who braved through choppy seas, wild turbulence and the beaten road just so he could take photos of himself in the hotel room mirror. A good tourist, however, knows better than to make himself the subject of a foreign land, especially when there are many more beautiful things to capture.
Inspired by this article about a travelling photographer who gave tourist souvenirs a novel purpose, I set out on my own vacation on foot right here in Singapore. Subconsciously, the idea may have also stemmed from the feeling of being a stranger in my own home lately. And this is just my outlet to address that.
For this project, I needed souvenirs that are uniquely Singaporean. On the top of my head, I thought of fridge magnets, paper weights and postcards. Where I got most of the stuff you see in the photos below is a no-brainer. Let’s see if you can guess where. Leave your comments below. :)
This is a toy Chinese lantern that only cost $1. And clearly, the most popular tourist spot in Singapore with lanterns zigzagging above the streets in mid-air is none other than Chinatown!
Little lantern meets his bigger brothers and sisters. Spot the little dude.
While walking in Chinatown, I found this unique fridge magnet displayed below other more cliche Singapore-themed magnets. Instantly, it reminded me of history class about how our ancestors first arrived. Fortunately, the Singapore River is but a train station away from Chinatown. Once a bustling trading centre and parking space for bumboats in its heydays and, Boat Quay is now a popular entertainment hub.
Downstream towards the mouth of the Singapore River, past Boat Quay and the CBD is yet another favourite tourist landmark, and one that has been immortalized to death (if that’s possible) in many tourist knick knacks. I think at one point in history, the Merlion was the only unique thing we had. Fortunately for me, mass production means I now have a Merlion figure to be proud of.
For the uninitiated, Arab Street is one of my favourite places in Singapore, and apparently for other lomographers too. An iconic landmark within the Arab/Malay Muslim community, the gold-domed Sultan Mosque is prominently featured in many postcards depicting this vibrant area.
Trudging onwards (I had blisters at this point after hours of walking), I approached one of the more contemporary landmarks in the Singapore skyline, The Flyer. That’s a painted fridge magnet of the large ferris wheel in the foreground, by the way.
As I was running out of frames, I decided to make my way to the last destination on my list, the grand dame of hotels in the City Hall area, Raffles Hotel. With its colonial-styled architecture and lush tropical gardens, this landmark is more legend than hotel.
Of course, these are not the only shots I got from the 35mm negatives I used. Prior to this “be a tourist in your own country” idea took off, I played around with the La Sardina, especially with the bulb mode cause I never actually explored that before, even with the Holga. I must say, bulb mode has magic potential, as the following photos would testify.
The kitchen shot is easily my fave of the lot! The only light source was from the cooker hood. I think I left the shutter open for a good one minute. Cool, right?
My journey with the La Sardina isn’t over. I’ve still a roll of unfinished film in it now, and I’ll definitely post the photos up once they’re ready. I may even try using slides next! Anyway, here’s where you come in. A part of the LoBlography challenge is to get other people involved and interested in the La Sardina, and by extension the opening of the Lomography Gallery Store Singapore soon. Like the store on Facebook for all related information.
But having said that, you don’t have to wait for the store to open to start purchasing your own lomography cameras or films from the Lomography Shop online. I’ve got Piggy Points (that’s credits in lomo lingo) to give away. 10 lucky winners will each receive 10 Piggy Points to use towards any purchase in the Lomography Shop.
How to Win
To snag some of these porky goodness, all you have to do is comment on this post below. I’ll randomly select the 10 winners using a number generator (or, if you insist, I may just use the old school method of drawing strips of paper from a bag). For additional chances to grab the points by the knuckles, simply tweet the following:
- Help @theanalogdork win a LC-A+ & get 10 Piggie Points for use in the @lomography Shop! http://bit.ly/theanalogdork
- Tweet any other way you want but don’t forget to mention my Twitter handle @theanalogdork and http://bit.ly/theanalogdork
Contest ends on 8 October 2359 hours Singapore time. So help me help you win. And thank you! :D
