Author: Ethan Chua
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Mobile Photography Accessories Worth Buying
My first real photography purchase after my phone was a lens kit. You know the type — a little pouch with a fisheye, a macro, a wide-angle, all clipping onto the smartphone camera. It cost me less than a nice dinner, and I was convinced it would transform my photos and enhance my mobile photography…
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One Week of Photographing Singapore With Only My Phone
I left my camera at home for an entire week. Not because I wanted to prove that a phone could replace it. That has never interested me. I simply wanted to remove the quiet excuse that I was waiting for the “right” camera before making a photograph. Singapore did not seem to notice the difference.…
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The Essence of Singapore Photography: Documenting The Culture of Hawker Stalls
It was a Tuesday morning at Old Airport Road Food Centre, one of the favourite photo spots for street photography in Singapore. I’d gone there to shoot char kway teow, the usual glistening plate, the wok hei, the kind of picture most tourists and photographers take, the kind the world wanted to see. But my…
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The Stories Above Eye Level
Most photographs begin at eye level. It is where we naturally look. Faces. Streets. Shopfronts. The rhythm of people moving through the city. There is nothing wrong with that—it is how we experience Singapore every day. But some of the city’s quietest stories have never asked to be seen straight ahead. They have always been…
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The Only Mobile Photography Apps Worth Keeping on Your Phone
The best photo I took last year came from my smartphone cameras, not a professional camera. It was a wet Tuesday in Chinatown. I’d left my proper gear at home, and I almost didn’t bother stopping. But the rain had just eased, the red lanterns were glowing against the dark pavement, and something told me…
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The Art of Photographing Leaves, Light, and Stillness
Some photographs ask you to react. Others ask you to wait. I have found that the quietest images—the ones I return to most often—belong to the second kind. They are rarely dramatic. They don’t depend on a striking skyline or a perfectly timed street scene. More often than not, they begin with a patch of…
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Ethical Street Photography Explained by Street Photographers
The first time someone confronted me, I was standing outside a provision shop in Chinatown. I’d just lifted my camera toward an old uncle stacking oranges into a pyramid. The morning light was gorgeous, soft, gold, sliding along the shopfront. I got greedy. I stepped too close, framed his face too tightly, and pressed the…
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Why My Phone Is the Camera I Use Most
People are often surprised when I tell them that the camera I use most is the one already in my pocket. Not because it is the most powerful. Because it is the one that never asks me to prepare. Photography has taught me that meaningful moments rarely arrive with notice. They happen between destinations, while…
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Photography Techniques in Small Cafes Without Making Them Feel Crowded
The first time I tried to take a picture of tiny shophouse café in Tiong Bahru, I ruined every shot in the first five minutes. I stood at the doorway, screwed on my widest lens, and tried to capture the whole room in one frame as the subject. I wanted it all — the counter,…
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What Food Photography Gave Me That Portrait Photography Never Could
I used to believe the most meaningful photographs were always of people. A face carries emotion with remarkable honesty. A fleeting glance, a hesitant smile, the quiet confidence in someone’s posture; portrait photography has an extraordinary way of revealing character. For a long time, I thought that was the highest purpose a camera could serve.…
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