In many ways, Singapore is the ultimate blend of modern and historical.
You certainly get the feeling that there is a concerted effort to retain many of the landmarks, monuments and styles from the colonial era. While a city like Hong Kong feels more dystopian due its sheer density, Singapore is far more inviting, peppered with green spaces and fewer skyscrapers.
From the gabled windows of Chinatown to the bright storefronts of Little India, the vivid pops of colour came up all over, the perfect backdrops for my roll of Kodak Gold 200.
My second dance with Kodak Gold 200 would see me shoot in a variety of conditions and throughout the day; from high noon shots to dusk, and trying my luck after dark too. As expected I had zero problems with the daytime shots and the colours are just so pleasing, delivering beautifully vibrant midtones while still retaining a slight fine grain to remind you that this is a no-frills film stock. Singapore demands to be shot on something like Kodak Gold, and I’m not sure any other stock would have done justice to this beautiful city.
Nighttime was a bit of a hit-and-miss affair. I’ve previously had a little bit of success by taking this film out after dark and was hoping to capture some of the Singapore nighttime ambience. While the lens on the Olympus mju ii isn’t the fastest, I know that it can hold its own. What I couldn’t hold properly was my hands, and ultimately these blurry low-light shots came down to my hands not being steady enough. I certainly can’t fault either the film or the camera for these ‘mistakes’.
48 hours in Singapore is simply too short to do justice to 36 film shots. These 30-odd images, however, will forever retain a special place in my film bank as a weekend where I ticked off a very special bucket list item.
