Morning Round

Photograph Print by Yip Cheong Fun.

This artwork is mounted on mattboard.

This picture of a lone street vendor shows that somewhere near Bedok, it was still possible in the old days to get away from the maddening crowd. The Indian vendor showed an uncanny ability to keep the basket on his head. Infra-red photography used to give grandeur and excitement to the coconut trees on the left. The picture is distinctive in the way light and shadows are played, and the way the sky is displayed. Particularly interesting are the clouds and the leaves of the coconut trees. There is dramatic intensity in the scenery.

A picture like this sways our nostalgic feelings. Singapore has changed dramatically in a short period of time. Many of the photographer’s images help us to recognize the speed of such changes in the landscapes and the lives of the people. This is one of the most compelling of Yip’s images of the past. His infra-red lens and camera conjure up a past that few young people in Singapore have even seen or experienced. In this study, there is a keen and conscious recognition of poetic space and the juxtaposition of various elements of past and present. This is indeed a remarkable artistic effort.

This is one of the many award-winning pictures of a Chinatown photographer who has been conferred the title of Honorary Outstanding Photographer of the Century (the Century’s specialist in Seascape). Yip Cheong-Fun, the Master lensman, was also awarded the coveted 1984 Cultural Medallion by the Government of the Republic of Singapore in recognition of his artistic talent and creativity and for commendable achievement in photography.