Chinatown Wet Market Series I: The non-fishy business

I went to Chinatown last Sunday. Chinatown is a place which i've visited numerous times for photographic purposes but never have i been so daring to shoot so willingly in the wet market. The experience on sunday was a good one. I approached the hawkers and were very pleased that most of them were more than happy to let me take their pictures. There are 4 series in all, the last one was the most gruesome one and not many can take that kind of pictures, including me. =P

The Ginger man at the grocery stall

A big pile of small onions


Vege & roots

His name is Richard. He invited me to take his picture.

Chinatown Wet Market Series II: Men behind the Fishes

If i didn't remember wrongly, his surname is Zheng. Mr Zheng is the first fishmonger i've approached in the market. He graciously allowed me to take pictures of him and his stall when i asked for his permission. Here's a picture of him extracting the innards of his fishes.

I didn't ask for his name. A quiet man who nodded his head when i asked permission from him. He acknowledged with another nod when i thanked him.

A tall built guy who is rather fierce looking. Initially, i didn't dare to take pictures of him. It took me quite a while to build up my courage to approach his assistant, a less fierce looking guy. He looked quite cool with his long hair, stubs and moustache.

He just arrived when i was shooting around his stall. His son was helping him to set up the stall. His face and built does resembles Ekin Cheng, what do you think?

Chinatown Wet Market Series III: Seafood

Fishes... I don't know what to call them but fishes.

These fishes are exceptionally beautiful, their fins are red in colour, look very outstanding against their fair body.


Sotongs on a green plate. Took a few shots of it before the stall owner arrived.

One stallful of prawns

This is not a seafood, he is my SCE mate by the name of Feihuang, a nice and down-to-earth guy. Met him at the market when he was buying vegetables with his sis. Feihuang: "When do you wanna play pool again?"

Chinatown Wet Market Series IV: Murders @ Chinatown

As i walked through the wet market of Chinatown, besides hearing the shoutings of the hawkers and barginings of aunties, a series of faint 'thuds' noises can be heard in the background.

"Can you hear the clubbing?", Francis asked. I didn't really get what he means initially, but everything came into full view as we walked through the market. In one corner of the market, i saw a huge fish lying on the floor with it's assailant on top. Mr fish is huge, about 1.5m in length. It was struggling, jumping, wriggling away, trying to escape from the clutches of it's assailant. Mr Fishmonger used his right knee to press the fish flat on the ground while he reaches for a club with his right hand. Raised high up in the air, he brought down the club on the fish's head with full force.' Thud'... The fish was still struggling... "Thud-Thud".. The fish became motionless. The fish was losing it's life. The fish lost it's life. Mr Fishmonger carried the the fish away, getting it ready to be chopped. I was quite dumbfounded at the scene. Not that i've never eaten a fish, it's just that i've never seen people killing fishes in such a manner before. I'm not accusing Mr Fishmonger of being cruel, it's just that i've never seen it before.

As he dragged the fish away by it's tail, i took a few steps forward to observe the spot which Mr Fish was killed. The tiles are stained with blood. I took a a few shots of that spot and the tools of murder before moving away to explore other parts of the market.

These are the clubs that were used to club the fishes

This was the exact spot which the fish was clubbed to death. The tiles are still stained with fresh blood.

This is the place where the smaller fishes are chopped up and diced for customers. Beside the chopping board is a pair of pincers which is used to extract the innards of the fishes before chopping them up.

As i was gathering outside the market with other photographers, i found a headless chick corpse lying dead on top of a trash bag. Dead bodies are found everywhere in this market.

Tiny India

Spent my sunday fruitfully on sunday shooting with SPN members. This shoot was organised and lead by Francis Lee, an experienced photographer with many years of experience. Together with 9 other photographers, we systematically combed down the streets of Little India, covering almost every corner. Some of the indians we met were friendly, others were not and a few others were a little nasty. Nevertheless, we had lots of fun firing our shutter at them. Below are the few pics i had taken, tried a few stuff like slow shutter on passing cyclists and passerbys to add motion to the pics. Saturation and contrast have also been increased above average to add a certain mood to the pics. Let me know what you think of the pics and the dark contrast.

Indian poster

Orange Tomatoes

When Ryan meets Rajah

Ah Pek cycling past vegetables stall

Patrons carefully picking vegetables from a stall

Union of onions

SAF tailor

The most camera friendly couple.

Five gods watching over one photographer.

Garang Guni man pushing trolley on the road.

Passerby walking past the vegetables stall.


This boss is more than happy when i requested to take this pic. His departmental store will be opened in a few days time. Good luck Boss! =)

Another generous boss willingly let me take a shot of him

Approached this guy with a smile, he smiled back so i shot him =)

This is taken with the help of my friend Hawk. I half jokingly asked him to go over and scare the pigeons away, he really went and i simply raised the camera to eye level and pressed the shutter.

My Mom, Our In-House Hair Specialist

It has been a long time since i blogged. How's everyone doing? =) Well, hasnt been shooting lately. Think my blog has been stagnant for too long, hence i'm here with some pics i've taken couple of months back.

My mom is a great woman. She dotes on everyone of us, always trying her best to console, counsel and support us whenever we're in difficulties. Other than the role of a mom, she's a very very capable woman too. She picks up lots of skills herself, skills like sewing, cutting hair etc..

My hair used to be cut by my mom when i was young. Well, no matter how i tell her i want my hair to be cut, it'll always turn out the same way. Hehe, well, those trademark hair styles are kindof memorable though. In the past, her tools is not more than a comb and a pair of scissors. Considering the humble equipments that she uses, our hair came out pretty decent.

Nowdays, she seldom cuts for me but ZG and my papa are still her loyal customers. It's really an interesting sight when we would just sit along the corridor outside our home having our hair cut. It's a little embarassing sometimes(if i'm the one getting cut) when neighbours walk past and witness the haircut and start to praise how capable my mom is.

Since more than a year back, her tools have been upgraded to a professional looking tiny black briefcase consisting a few pair of sciccors, electric shaver, comb, shaving blades and lubricating oil for the blades of the electric shaver.

The main workhorse lying on the window's grooves.

ZG irritated by the hair on his face.

ZG sitting along the corridor, having his hair cut by our personal in house hair specialist.