BUILDING A REPUTATION

Tatler asks who are known for photographers capturing the most. stunning architecture around Asia to show a different side to their cities

- Tatler Asia

SINGAPORE: FINBARR FALLON 

As an architectural photographer, Finbarr Fallon “consciously adopts a process of ‘slow observation’ to seek out compositions that capture form in unusual ways”. One such example is his ongoing series, Rain. “I love the atmospherics created by tropical rain at different times of day,” he says. “The sheer intensity of it, combined with subtle backlight or electric lights, renders familiar elements and hard edges of the city as softly lit silhouettes.”

Fallon took this image (opposite page) from an overhead bridge in the Central Business District during a torrential evening downpour. “The best images often come during fleeting moments like these, where the city transforms into an abstract scene of colours and form.” Shooting in the rain is also “a special embodied experience”. He says, “The white noise of heavy rain falling, and getting drenched, will get you into the headspace to focus on finding the fleeting moments to capture.”

SINGAPORE: LAURYN ISHAK

It was a scene never seen before, and one that photographer Lauryn Ishak hopes to never see again: the Merlion overlooking Marina Bay with a view of the Singapore Flyer, ArtScience Museum and Marina Bay Sands, but with no one milling about—considering how the Merlion Park is a popular attraction.

“It’s iconic of our time,” says Lauryn, who took this image (above) during the Covid-19 lockdown “when Singapore felt like a deserted city”. She adds, “What struck me most was the calm and quiet, and also how our iconic monuments became different versions of what we know.”