Taken with Nikon FE2, Fuji Astia 100

“Even though we’re not related, but I call her ‘Ah Ma’ and have been doing so for the past 5 years or so. She sells random items on the streets of Orchard Road for some spending money. She lives alone, with no immediate family. She spends the rest of her time at the temple near where she lives. And her arthritis is so bad that her fingers cannot be stretched out straight anymore. But Ah Ma always looks very happy when I bump into her and always thank me for the little bit of money I pass her whenever I can. She remembers that I was doing my undergraduate program and asks of my family’s health and well-being.”

No one would have been able to guess the story behind this picture, if I hadn’t written it down. The smiling old lady might have been another face in the crowd or she could’ve been somebody else’s grandmother, living a life of comfort and not passing her days peddling her wares.

Whenever someone asks me what is it about photography that intrigues me, I always reply that it’s about capturing the moment or taking a picture that tells a story. It’s always about translating how you feel about something, someone, somewhere or sometime into a single frame. 

If you ask me how do I take good pictures, I will reply that it’s about knowing your camera, it’s about the moment, it’s about luck, but most importantly, it’s about you making that picture an imprint of your memory. It could be a message you want to convey or just a raw emotion, there are no limitations to what this single frame can do. 

I worry about taking good pictures sometimes, and not because I think that I’m a brilliant photographer, but rather, it’s the fear of becoming so technically apt that my pictures become sterile. That is why, I’m putting away my SLRs for the time being and going back to shooting on the LC-A+ and to bring my Gakken Flex out for a stroll. So that I don’t have to worry about setting my apertures correctly, using the right lens or metering, but to just enjoy the surprises that await.

Sometimes a great picture is simply how it makes you feel and how you feel for it.