City In Red

SCENES OF A QUIET Orchard Road, Marina Bay, and the CBD are now the new normal as people are told to stay home as part of "circuit breaker" measures.

But what about scenes of Singapore in red?

Finbarr Fallon, a British architectural photographer and designer, uses infrared photography as a medium "to tell a visual story of the city in nature through an unusual lens and to present it in an unexpected way, in hope that people see the city in a different way."

His Flora Phantasmagoria series features 14 photographs of Singapore locations such as the Padang, Bishan Park and Gardens by the Bay. Except the greenery is now awash in shades of scarlet.

Mr Fallon, who moved to Singapore in 2016, says, "the first thing that struck me, having moved from London was the livability of the city, the way the dense high-rise environment is diffused by greenery. Not only at street level, but within and on buildings - which made me aware of the importance of biophilic planning and design."

He spent two years on the series, with much of the time spent searching for compositions which tell the narrative of the city in nature. "Each photo is carefully framed to juxtapose the built environment and nature and to highlight the tensions between them, as the lifeblood of the liveable and land-scarce city," says Mr Fallon. He chose to take a wide variety of images to give an encompassing view of Singapore, from skyrise greenery to heritage trees in HDB estates such as in Toa Payoh.

To capture his shots, Mr Fallon - who dabbled in infrared photography in the UK - uses a special glass filter that is placed over the lens of an SLR camera. The filter only lets in invisible light from the infrared spectrum. "Due to the transparency of chlorophyll to infrared light, plants are highly reflective when seen in infrared. This results in images, when converted into grayscale, of greenery emerging as bright glowing forms. This data is then mapped onto a visible light image and cross-processed to create the vivid pink hues," he explains.

"People are immediately drawn in by the vibrant hues of the images. Bishan Park is a favourite as it captures the amazing juxtaposition of high density urban dwelling within nature."

The photos are also available in limited edition prints for sale. See more of Flora Phantasmagoria at finbarrfallon.com/portfolio_page/flora-phantasmagoria.