Personal Project: Old Railway Station

I continued with my personal project of architecture by going to the Old Railway Station in Kuala Lumpur. It is a grand old building, built in the colonial days in the early 20th century that still runs train out of it to this day. The facade is a brilliant white, and shows a mix of the ethnic culture of Malaysia as well as a mix of the old colonial days. I think that the railway station is one of the most beautiful buildings in the city, making a stark contrast with the skyscrapers that stand nearby.

For this shoot I used a twin lens camera, as I had for my last portrait project. This was the first time I had used it out on the streets, which definitely takes some getting used to. Thankfully, it wasn’t crowded there, so I could at least stand in the middle of the sidewalk and take several minutes advancing the film and focusing like some sort of annoying hipster tourist. A challenge with it was that getting an entire building and vastness of it was difficult in the square shape of the film. The end results were surprising because of the level of detail, especially from a distance. Hopefully, i can go out and try again, this time with a tripod so as to get more detail in the indoor pictures without the accidental movement. I would love to use the twin lens for architecture in the future so as to continue to achieve that high level of detail. I have been very happy with the results of the twin lens for architecture, more than I was with my portraits.

I have always had a sort of love-hate relationship with street photography in that I love to see other people’s work, but always end up being incredibly frustrated with it when I try to do it myself. I spent a lot of time last semester going to a few markets, trying to capture the vibrant life of the streets. Last semester I only used film, but this time when I did street photography in Hanoi, Vietnam, I used digital. I think that with street photography, I preferred the digital because it allowed for the bright colors that are so important to life. Having rolls and rolls of film from street, I found that the color allowed by digital brought a better depth and focus to the pictures.

For this shoot in Hanoi, I tried to focus on the faces of the people that filled the streets, and in particular the expressions they showed. Admittedly, I had preconceived notions of how the Vietnamese locals would react to having their photo taken. I thought they would refuse, or even become annoyed, as I had encountered here in Malaysia. However, it turned out that for the most part they were excited to have their picture taken, even wanting to see them afterwards. Another plus of having the digital was that I could show the locals their picture after it was taken. One of the photographs, the one of the man in a leather jacket, is interesting to me because he looks grumpy. A second after the picture was taken, the man smiled broadly and laughed, ecstatic to see his portrait. The entire time I took photos was like that. I assumed, erroneously, that the people of Vietnam wouldn’t welcome my being there, but instead they were welcoming and kind.