Singapore Travel Story by Joe Tobiason

For our latest feature, we’re sharing the work of film photographer Joe Tobiason. Joe traveled to Singapore and captured the unique architecture of the city with Mamiya 6 medium format camera. Here is more from Joe about his time in Singapore…

We had a 5 day mini-vacation in Singapore on the way home to the US. I was ecstatic because I needed a new battery for my Mamiya 6 MF, and, once I got one at Riceball Camera, I was set to go.

Downtown Singapore was an interesting place to make photos. It seemed like it had cultures just sitting on top of each other. You could stand in Chinatown while seeing the colonial British architecture and then have the skyscrapers of the financial district stick out their heads in the background.

It made for a perfect setting for a camera like the Mamiya 6. The square format really lends itself to get lost in loops around the frame. The square of the photos made the lines of the buildings more exaggerated and the people walking through the frame stand out more.

While making the photos, I overexposed them a lot, trying to contribute to the clean look that the city is so well known for. It really let the blues and greens of the shadows sing as the light bounced around the reflective windows and onto the streets below.

Analog cameras and films used: Mamiya 6 MF (Find at KEH Camera or on eBay) | Kodak Portra 400 (Find on Amazon)

Connect with Joe: Website | Instagram | Facebook

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