Reflections on Street Photography by Ngee Ann Polytechnic Students

Last week we played host to over 45 Ngee Ann Polytechnic students at the SIDEWALK Street Photography Exhibition at IPA Gallery. Averaging about 17 years of age, the students were from business, science and engineering courses but were visiting as part of a little photography module tutored by Cindy Tong and Jennifer Koh. They were surprisingly inquisitive and asked much of the participating SIDEWALK photographers present.

Below are some quotes from their reflections post-visit collated by Jennifer Koh.

Some of the quotes we found most interesting include:

“Sometimes, when something is more anticipated to happen, it is less likely to happen, hence, the photographers always go with what they get, without any expectations of it. Expectations destroy the flow of nature in documenting the streets.” Gerry

“The ordinary things we see everyday can be extraordinary too.” Hui Xuan

“The street is like your stage and the people and things around are like your performers.  It gives me the feeling that photojournalism (editor: street photography in this case) has a link with literature… you are the person that takes the picture and what you want and where you want people or things in the picture is your decision.” Edward

“It doesn’t matter what kind of camera the photographer uses, it’s how we want to portray something common in a different way.” Sufieyan

“During the first lesson a question was asked, photography and photojournalism, which is truth and which is beauty? My answer then was photography is beauty and photojournalism is truth. Now my answer is, it can be either. It really depends on what the person wants the photo to express.” Yu Ting

“I feel so much passion in the photographers who presented and it shows through their pictures, What’s important is that they like what they do and this is the only place where they know the value of the pictures instead of the price.” Xin Min