News

  • Nation
  • World Updates
  • Courts
  • Parliament
  • Columnists
  • Opinion
  • Honours List

Sunday October 7, 2007

Through a window, sharply


Shot Story
By Lai Voon Loong

A COUPLE of months ago, I was invited to Tokyo to cover the global launch of the new Nikon D3 and D300 DSLRs. It was my first time in Japan and I was looking forward to seeing if all the stories I had heard about how everything is so orderly and well organised were true.

It was evident even as I stepped off the plane at Narita Airport. The facilities were well signposted and organised. Every staff member was courteous and helpful, and we were out of the airport in no time – and this despite a slight miscommunication that had the meet-and-greet staff thinking I was arriving the next day.

It was the same on Tokyo’s streets. Taxi drivers were dressed in business suits; shopkeepers greeted all customers with the same salutation and a smile that I later found is very common throughout Japan. The traffic on the streets was orderly and I never heard the sound of a car horn blasting out angrily.

We were ferried out to the event on tour buses. I happened to look out the window as the bus stopped at one of the city’s busy intersections. The streets were full of commuters just emerging from subway stations on their way to work.

I found it very interesting that most sarariman, a Japanese term for white-collar workers or corporate executives, dressed alike. Their attire consisted mostly of a white shirt and dark pants. Some of them have matching jackets but during the summer months it gets too hot to wear so they drape them over their arms as they walk to their respective offices. The ubiquitous black briefcase or laptop bag was also present.

Though this image – aptly symbolising the single-mindedness of the Japanese work ethic – was captured from behind the tinted window of a bus, a fast shutter speed ensured a sharp picture. – LAI VOON LOONG / The Star

At the risk of sounding like I am generalising or stereotyping, they all looked alike, as if they were clones from a sci-fi movie!

I thought this photo portrayed the clone theme very well. Notice that these men’s steps are almost synchronised, as if they were all marching to the same internal beat audible only to themselves. All of them carry their bags in a similar way. Those who have jackets, drape them over their arms.

There is also a repetitive pattern among them with a worker carrying just a bag alternating with one carrying a bag and a jacket.

I like this photo because I feel that it shows the single-mindedness of the Japanese work ethic.

I shot this photo with a Nikon D200, which Nikon Malaysia had loaned me. Reader Cheng asked me about this camera in my last column (Questions answered, Sept 23). I must say that this camera performed faultlessly. It is one of the better mid-range DSLRs, which the new D300 will supersede.

I set the camera at a faster shutter speed of 1/250th because I was shooting from inside a bus and didn’t want my photos blurred by motion. I also had to shoot with a larger aperture of f4 to compensate for the bus’s tinted windows. An 85mm lens was the only lens made available to me, so I had to do a bit of cropping on the computer. But because I set the resolution to the highest setting, I still managed to get reasonably sharp photos, even after cropping.

These settings will be useful for those who do much of their travelling in tour buses or public transport and won’t have any opportunity to get close to the subject. More often than not, these types of photos will be taken while the vehicle is moving, so a faster shutter speed is a must.

  • A picture may be worth a thousand words but Star photographer Lai Voon Loong, who holds a BA in Media Studies, believes that behind every picture taken is a story worth telling, too. He’s open to queries and suggestions, bouquets and brickbats; send e-mails to starmag-feedback@thestar.com.my.

    • E-mail this story
    • Print this story

    Source:

    Contact Us