Always talk to your taxi driver

Taxi cab drivers are often some of the most interesting people you'll meet. Most of the time, they're the most talkative "strangers" you'll encounter. Especially when I'm traveling I always make it a point to strike up a conversation. Today it turns out the cab driver was a big time photographer until recently. I probably learned about photography talking to this guy in the 30 min cab ride than I have from any photography book or fellow photographer. Most useful tip I learned is as follows:

*Photography jargon ahead, if not interested then skip paragraph :)* So we were talking about seeing a scene as various stops of light and he asked me if I could correctly determine the exposure of a scene without looking at a light meter to which I admitted I could not since I'm not 80 years old and all cameras for the last 20 years have had built in light meters (ok I didn't actually say the last bit). But anyways he was telling me that the way to see a scene in gradients of light and not as the details or the colors that compose the scene is to squint your eyes as much as possible so you lose all detail and everything becomes blurred. Then you start to see the scene before you in terms of the varying brightness of objects. It's a neat trick and it's an excellent way to practice seeing a scene. So why in this lovely age of light meters is it handy to be able to see in stops of light? Simple. Light meters are easily fooled by high contrast scenes. Ever been in an outdoor corridor that has light peeking through in certain areas? It's crucial to be able to "see" the difference in light of the various objects in each scene to determine the correct "middle" exposure to use.

There wasn't quite enough time for a full life story but it seems that up until just a few years ago he was a fairly successful business man and an avid photographer. It's the tough times he's fallen on that prevent him from continuing his hobby. He even lived in California for a period of time and extensively did underwater night photography. That's one of the best parts about talking to a taxi cab driver. While you generally leave with an incomplete story (or a sense of relief like the time pranay and I had an ex-felon as a cab driver), you do leave with a little piece of someone's life story.

And now that I'm done jabbering, here's some pictures from downtown Singapore. I'd strongly recommend clicking them to view them in higher resolution. Thumbnails just don't do nightscapes justice.


Shot of the Sands Hotel and Casino. This is now the premier hotel in Singapore. It's an incredible structure with a fascinating architecture featuring what is supposed to be a massive boat perched on top of 3 buildings that are shaped as waves. In the foreground you see helix bridge. Yep that's right a bridge that has an external structure of a DNA double helix :)


On the left of the photo is the Singapore opera house (affectionately named the durian after the popular local fruit it was designed to resemble). On the right is a giant ferris wheel.


Shot of the freeway and ferris wheel. There was actually some epic lightning going on in the background but I never could seem to catch it in the nearly 40 shots I took. Oh well, my quest for a good lightning photo continues.


Good look of the most popular and architecturally stunning area of downtown Singapore. The bleachers overlook a "floating" stadium where soccer matches and other events are held.



Shot from under a bridge in downtown Singapore, I rather like the symmetry and lighting.


Another shot from below a bridge in downtown. Just a different angle on a popular hangout spot.