Picture says a thousand words

Garlands with the Sri Veeramakaliamman Temple in the background

Han Yang and I were so enthusiastic about the shooting trip in Little India. He recently bought his Fuji S3 Pro with a 15 - 200mm Nikon lens. Both of us arrived at the rendezvous at 7.30am in order to capture the so called "Golden Hour". Little did we knew, the weather decided to play a little joke on us. It drizzled. So we took shelter at a nearby market, ate our breakfast and waited for the mizzle to stop. Till 9am, finally we decided to call it a day and headed back to the MRT station. It was then, we spotted a construction site and Han Yang hoisted his camera to shoot anyway, "A little moisture won't do much damage lar."

While I shoot impulsively, pointing at almost anything appealing to me, Han Yang would be standing quietly aside, observing, figuring and then he positioned and snapped. Then he told me that it is better to get one or two pictures that tell a thousand words rather than going home with a full memory card loaded with just "photos".

We chanced upon a young Sri Lankan photographer while he was putting out the placard of his studio. Han Yang, being the usual extrovert stopped and chit-chatted with him. We learned that he sold off his studio in Sri Lanka and migrated to Singapore for a more stable life. Obviously, he is a supporter of the Tamil Tiger. Not taller than five foot three, Joy Alex was amazed at how Singapore is able to accomodate such diverse communities from different countries and ethnics and coexist in harmony and peace.

Eventually, the friendly Sri Lankan invited us to his studio, which is not very well-equipped (he doesn't have a diffuser, proper reflector...etc). But the smart guy is able to capitalized on his 10-year experience in the trade and make the most out of what he has. "You do not need to own the best gadgets in the world, it's the person behind the viewfinder that determines the quality of a picture." Joy brought out his Nikon D300 and shot some portraits of me and Han Yang. And I learnt one thing important: Don't use Auto mode if you really want to get better. Use Manual, now.

We stayed for more than an hour before we excused ourselves. Joy showed us the way down the stairs and it was then Han Yang decided to take a picture of Joy with his masterpieces pasted on the wall. And I got my first picture with a story.