Unproductive days

There some days when you just feel disconnected from photography. I have found a few tricks to reset myself to get into the groove. But there are times when I know that it will be an unproductive day.

Sometimes, I would take a coffee break and pass time people watching, or if the location of the café is not ideal, I would browse through photos of other photographers for inspiration. And sometimes I would move to a different place to shoot.

Still, there would always be a chance that nothing would work and the photos turn out bad. I would decide to call it a day knowing that at least I got out and tried to shoot.

There was a Singapore Youth Festival performance held in the atrium in front of Ngee Ann City. This lion head had either completed its performance or was waiting for its turn.

Korean traditional dance? Their costumes were the most colourful and striking. The only other costume that came close was the pink tutu.

These tourists were either lost in a moment in time as they looked up in awe at the towering skyscrapers, or they had simply lost their way.

This was an interesting roadshow. The emcee was hiding somewhere and pretending to be the car. He was talking to people who went near the car, encouraging them to get into the car to get a feel of the interiors.

Finally, a convex mirror that is at a height where I can get a proper shot.

The others that I’ve spotted along Orchard Road are usually too high for little me.

Too much flair in this photo. Pun intended.

We have Danny on the left and Earvin in red on the far right. Two photographers I met and befriended while out shooting on the streets.

A guy with swag versus a guy lost in his own world.

A fellow photographer shooting from the thigh.

Shooting with the Leica M8 meant that I managed to snap the lady but missed out on the guy behind her. I wanted to take a shot of him too but I fumbled with the manual focus and the moment was gone.

They don’t look happy.

I went close compared to the other photographers. But in hindsight, I was not close enough.

I could probably make a series of people engaged in tablet photography.

Colour coordinated couple.

I guess the kid is too young to wear a skull hence the monkey head.

While none of the photos stood out, I am still glad I made the effort to shoot. I told myself to be disciplined and shoot every Sunday. That meant sacrificing sleep and waking up early in the morning to take a photo walk.

Even if the day was less productive, at least I made the effort to stick to my plan and shoot. Being able to keep up the momentum and shoot routinely is important. If I were to be set back by an unproductive day, I would actually start to question my passion for photography.