Category: Nat Museum P.C.

The Only Girl In White

Lip Seng


This is another image that I took at the Singapore Youth Festival opening ceremony at the Singapore National Stadium. I montaged a piece of magenta diazo film with the original transparency to colour the white shirts of the performers, all except for one. I already had the idea of applying the colour derivations technique to the scene even before I pressed the shutter. The final image has a much greater visual impact. This image was very successful in gaining acceptances at photographic salons. It was awarded a number of PSA Gold Medals for the Best Contemporary Slide of the show in various international salons in 70’s and 80’s.

(Courtesy of: The National Museum of Singapore Permanent Collection, National Heritage Board, 2008)

One Fine Day

Lip Seng

I won my first Photographic Society of America Gold Medal for the best slide of the show in Mexico International Salon in 1968. I started to do derivative works in 1967. Due to my knowledge in black white processing, I started to use lith film to create picture with dramatic visual impact. One of my favourite technique was to retain the colour of a subject (in this example, the yellow umbrella) while changing the rest of the image for dramatic effect. By montaging the lith film (obtained by contact printing in the dark room), I was able to create a bias relief effect when I mounted the two pieces of film slightly out of registration. I wish that I had Photoshop at that time. Now is much easier to achieve such an effect at a click of a mouse. You still need a well composed image first to execute the techniques though!

This image happens to be one of my 24 colour transparencies in a pictorial panel that gained the prestigious Fellowship of the Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain (FRPS) in 1970. Watch out for more images from this FRPS panel later in my gallery.

(Courtesy of: The National Museum of Singapore Permanent Collection, National Heritage Board, 2008)

In A Singapore Market

Lip Seng

This was one of my very first acceptance in the Singapore International Salon in 1962. I used a Rolleiflex twin lens reflex camera fitted with Rolleikin to capture this image at the China Town market. Kodachrome film was used. This picture won the Silver Medal and US$100 cash (top award) in the New York World Fair “The World and Its Peoples” Kodak International Picture Contest in 1964. After 42 years , the image is still as brilliant as brand new, a testament to the longevity of good film (if kept properly).

(Courtesy of: The National Museum of Singapore Permanent Collection, National Heritage Board, 2008)