Buildings that Tell a Story – from Singapore to Balaton, Hungary

As a street photographer eager to capture people in their cultural setting and daily activities, it is rare that I find myself in a city where people do not seem to be “acting up”. But it happens, and in times like that I try to capture the environment through an angle that can tell a story about the people.

I suppose that can be street photography in reverse.

Two places I have been, more than once where I have had a tough time photographing people. One was Singapore, the one-city country where the pace of life is to “choreographed” for a photographer. Nothing unusual seems to happen in the streets! On one trip, I decided to take a few photos in Singapore’s Little India. The main artery is Serangoon Road which was built in the early 1800s and passes through Singapore's Little India. It also served as a highway between town and the Serangoon harbor in the northeast.

Again, nothing unusual happened on that extremely busy road that day. So, I decided to capture a feel of Little India through the door of a tailor’s shop. The wide-open diaphragm of my Nikon F lens was able to delineate the dress inside the dark room and at the same time gave a dreamy feel of the building’s outside through overexposure.

In some way, this is the quietest moment I have experienced on Serangoon Road!

My second challenging experience as a street photographer was in Balaton, Hungary. The lake is the largest freshwater lake in the Transdanubian region of Hungary and the largest lake in Central Europe. I stayed in a conference center which was part of the Soviet Politburo’s vacation destination a few decades ago. It was all concrete and square angles.

Yes, the lake is beautiful and the beaches full of people, but for me it was very asceptic. So, I looked around for a non-scripted angle and ended up with a photo of a building with character.

Of course, these two photos may not reflect what others have experienced in these environments, but they do testify to my moments in these two settings.

January28, 2018

© Vahé A. Kazandjian, 2018