Coming out of the darkroom

THE venue was the National Museum of Singapore theatre. The lecture was History of Polish Photo Books, delivered by an artist by the name of Katarzyna Majak. The size of the audience it attracted? Less than 15 - making the 247-seat theatre look embarrassingly empty.

Seated in the front row was Gwen Lee, the co-founder and director of the Singapore International Photo Festival (SIPF) which organised the lecture. She and her minuscule team of three had organised the wide and eclectic range of photography-related talks, screenings, workshops and exhibitions during the eight-week festival.

And though she couldn't help but be disappointed by the turnout on Monday, she was determined to put it past her. She reasoned: "It's the long Hari Raya Haji wee…