An islander's vision

Singapore

IT WAS in the late-1950s, before Singapore became independent. Those were also the days when the camera was not lightweight, when it was as heavy as a brick - and more, if you count the extra lens, the spare films, the batteries and flashlight. Yet Lui Hock Seng lugged his camera to work every morning, cycling from Geylang to River Valley where he was a storekeeper at Fraser and Neave, then largely a soft-drink producer.

The journey took him about an hour - and Mr Lui had to report for work by 8am. So if he had left home around 7am, he would have made it in good time. But Mr Lui started out at 6am, which would give him an hour to stop by at Merdeka Bridge, then the link between the city centre and East Coast via Nicoll Highway. Here, he would pull out his camera to shoot pictures of the boats moored nearby on the water and the fishing nets hung up to dry on the land.