Category: Altered Reality

Three Workers

Lip Seng

One of my more successful international salon pictures was taken in the ’60s. The Outram prison in Singapore was being demolished then. This was not a set-up image: I just managed to capture the three workers going back to work after their morning tea break. This image illustrates the importance of being at the right place and time to capture a good image. I montaged the original trans with a piece of positive film to create the bias relief effect. This transparency won a plaque at the 16th Worcestershire International Salon, UK in 1968. This is one of the National Gallery, Singapore, Permanent Collections.

A Rough Journey

Lip Seng

This is another image from my FRPS pictorial panel in 1970. It was also the Gold Medal winner of the 6th Como International Salon of Italy in 1969.

I have applied Diazochrome Derivations technique onto this image. This time the original was montaged with a piece of violet diazo film. The location of the picture was at Changi, a site planned for development at that time. The worker (Samsui laborer) was set up to create the picture that I visualized.

The Frame

Lip Seng

The image was a montage of three films altogether. The original colour transparency was sandwiched (in the middle) by a piece of high contrast ortho film (the image of the frame) on one side, and another piece of blue Diazochrome film (for the image of blue sky) on the other. During the mounting process, the blue Diazo film was adjusted out of registration to create the outlines. All these years, contemporary style has been one of my favorite creations, now made much easier with the advent of digital imaging and Photoshop.

This image was awarded the PSA Gold Medal for the best contemporary slide of the show and the Wellington Lee Award of the 28th Singapore International Salon of Photography in 1977. This is one of the National Gallery, Singapore, Permanent Collections.