February 2017 – JZ ARTS

A PEEP INTO OUTRAM PARK

O U T R A M P A R K

English: Outram Park

Chinese (simplified): 欧南园

Located on: East West Line and North East Line

Code: EW16 / NE3

E T Y M O L O G Y

In 1858 the road was separated from Cantonment Road and was named Outram Road in honour of Sir James Outram, for his heroic role in the 1857 Indian mutiny.

H I S T O R Y

Outram Road, built in 1847, was then known as River Valley Road.
It was also known as Cantonment Road and it stretched as a single road connecting to Keppel Road.
Known as si pai poh in Hokkien, it means “Sepoy plain”.
The Sepoy Lines and police station and parade ground are at one end of Outram Road.
Both designations: Sepoy Plain and Sepoy Lines refer to the public shooting of 47 sepoys at the wall of Outram Prison in 1915. This was in the aftermath of 1915 Singapore Mutiny which was quelled by local and British Military forces.

N E I L R D

Beautiful shophouses built in 1924 in the Neoclassical Style with Peranakan motif tiles on the walls and floors of almost every house.

F U N F A C T: No. 147 Neil Road was owned by the late Mr Lee Kuan Yew’s grandfather and Mr Lee once lived there during his childhood.

@ T H E B A C K A L L E Y

G R A S S R O O T S B O O K R O O M

Cosy bookstore hidden at the corner along the stretch of shophouses.

N E W M A J E S T I C H O T E L

I really love the worn out feel of the ceiling.

Outside the hotel

E V E R T O N P A R K

OMG actually thought this was a playground from afar!

Everton Park is arguably one of the best kept treasures in Singapore consisting of 7 blocks of HDB flats.

Here, you will find hip cafes and creameries alongside traditional shops selling ang ku kueh, antiques and korean cakes.

” P R O V I S I O N S H O P ” M U R A L

The lifelike murals of Singapore’s past are the work of Mr Yip Yew Chong, 46, who himself is a resident near Everton Road and walked along that same road every day for close to 20 years.

http://yipyc.com/blog/2015/12/12/provision-shop-mural-art/

J I X I A N G C O F E C T I O N A R Y

For the past 26 years, Ji Xiang Confectionery (吉祥红龟果, ‘吉’ meaning Luck and ‘祥’ meaning prosperity) has been attracting an array of customers from the nearby offices and residences, who flock here daily in droves to have a taste of their famous ang ku kueh.

They started in 1988 selling only to flavours in their HDB kitchen and have garnered loyal support since.

OMG THEY ACTUALLY LET ME IN TO SNAP PHOTOS YASSSSSS

H U P A N N T R A V E L P T E L T D

“What’s one thing you love about outram park?”

“Safety. The Police Cantonment Complex is just opposite. But then again someone just got robbed at the atm outside our office. So….”

The kind aunties who took some time off their work to entertain my questions

They used to be a post office providing shipping services mainly for he foreign workers to ship their things and money back to their hometown. They too, used to provide services such as the reading of letters for some of the illiterate workers. However, as time passes the need for such services slowly diminished as banks too provide such shipping services and people are receiving greater levels of education.

N I K K O F A S H I O N H O U S E

HAHAHAHA this uncle is so friendly he went to dig out his old photos and even offered to take down some of the awards he received from the shelves when I was talking to him!

The uncle said that his tailor is one of the oldest tailor shops ( about 40 years ) in the area. He tailors the suits of Lee Hsien Long and many other MPs.

After their shift from the opposite block to their current location, they have split the shop into two with the wife selling beverages and the husband providing tailor services.

O L D P R O V I S I O N S H O P

Apparently this shop has been here for many years and the look of it has not changed since.

E V E R T O N F O O D P L A C E

When I ask the residents and some of the people who have worked in Everton Park for several years as to where they usually settle their meals, most of their answers were “Aiya, there’s nothing to eat at Outram Park, we usually walk or take a bus down to Chinatown and Tanjong Pagar. But if we do not have enough time then we will just settle of meal at the food court.”

J U S T W A N T C O F F E E

One of the aunties I spoke to who has worked there for several years told me that a hardware store managed by a old blind man used to operate here before the cafe took over the space.

C O F F E F

Just one of the many cafes located along the stretch of Everton Park

The aunty said that this is a must-go cafe! OMG the coffeeeee so fragrant…YUM
“Yi bei ka fei yao $5/6 shen jing bing! Xiang he jing! Hai yao zhan zhu he! Bu guo gen ni jiang the ka fei very xiang!” — Aunty from HUP ANN TRAVEL PTE LTD

Someone misplaced their grandma…that’s damn sad

C A N T O N E M E N T R O A D

T H E P I N N A C L E

The construction of the Pinnacle resulted in some of the shops that used to be located along Cantonment Road to have to shift.

Pay $5 for an extraordinary view of Singapore from the 50th floor! Or you can spend it on a bowl of tom yum ban mian

K E O N G S A I K R O A D

Outram’s Geylang. Keong Saik Road now known by many as the hip enclave was once a prominent red light district peppered with brothels back in the ’60s.

T O N G M E R N S E R N

One of the oldest antique shop that is still surviving! The aunty doesn’t speak but apparently it’s one of the few antique shops that actually allows buyers to haggle the prices of the antique…

Super duper long longgggggggg queue! But the chicken looks like it has been drenched in oil. You could probably check this place out if you are craving something to clog your arteries 😀

T O N G A H E A T I N G H O U S E

Known for their kaya toast!!!

He started out the business in 1939 at the turn of Keong Saik Road with its distinct red and white facade on the triangular plot of lan, the building has became somewhat iconic.

Unfortunately, the original Tong Ah building has been bought over and changed into the stylish Potato Head Folk.

They relocated just down the street .

They have expanded to selling tze char at night after their shift.

SaveSave

FAKE OR REAL? JIA OR ZHEN?

F O O D S T Y L I S T

Everyone needs a little help to look their freshest. Celebrities have makeup artists, Instagrammers have filters, and food has food stylists. Behind mouth-watering food photos is a stylist who tricks the viewer. I am fascinated by how food stylists have the ability to exploit the appetites of consumers by tricking them into believing the perfect and flawless image of food that is presented to them, but rather, the blemishes are actually covered up with mostly inedible materials to make the food more appealing.

Hence, what is presented to the consumers is a facade (假 → Jiǎ), for the reality (真 → Zhēn) and what goes behind the preparation of the photo ready food is rather unappetising and unexpected sight.

I adopted a cheerful and bright colour palette, revealing the tricks and deceits in a fun, playful and light-hearted manner as the ability to make food look more appealing with the use of inedible materials was what drew me in to this job. Food stylists are not cheats, they are simply in the business of improvisation and manipulation to appeal to consumers.

My name is

and I’m a food stylist.

C O M P O S I T I O N 1

I tried to incorporate some of the ingredients from the broth into the composition but instead of aiding in the integration of the type into the noodle, it made it look rather cluttered and complicated, distracting the viewers from the type making it difficult to make out the type.

C O M P O S I T I O N 2

Here are some other arrangements that I have tried.

I tried to form the 真 using the ingredients from the soup as well as the garnish but there was way too many things going on in that bowl and hence failed to bring attention to the type.

After taking some of these shots, I felt that the compositions look way too static and hence decided to include hands in my subsequent shots. Likewise, the usage of hands better depict the job of the food stylists as if I were to leave the tools in the frame without the hands carrying out the act of “beautifying” the food, it may be difficult for viewers to understand.

C O M P O S I T I O N 3

Here are some other arrangements I attempted.

After these attempts, I finally decided on using the cutleries to form part of the word so as to make it seem like a set when placed beside the first 假 composition.

The blueberries were way too dark and black in the shots and required some colour correction.

C O M P O S I T I O N 4

I decided on using the shot with tooth paste in replacement of the shaving foam as I felt that though the cool tones correspond with that of the blueberries, the word Gillette that was printed in bold white across the bottle was too jarring and was snatching too much attention away from the 真 which was the focus of the composition.

Tooth paste vs Shaving cream.

A failed attempt at writing the 真 as the whipped cream melted out too quickly before I could get the shot. (wanted to see if I could use whipped cream even though shaving foam and tooth paste are being used on shoot as I wanted to eat the waffles after)

A R T I S T R E F E R E N C E

T A M A C A R E Y

I really love how she kept the background flat so that focus is given to the food and how the blue complements the food on the plates making them stand out more.

I also love the hard edge shadows which she has in all of her compositions.

D A V I D E L U C I A N O

The bright colour palette which he adopts in his works was what I had in mind for my compositions.

S T E P H A N I E G O N O T

Again with the flat background.

J O H N B E N T H A M

Flat background! Simple and minimal composition with he food featured being the only focus.

S T R U G G L E S

OMG SPENT ALMOST 50 BUCKS ON PRINTING COS THERE WAS THIS STRIP THAT RAN ACROSS ONE OF MY COMPOSITIONS AND EACH PIECE WAS 4 BUCKS OMG…

and I forgot to convert printing files to CMYK an expensive lesson learnt. ALMOST DIED AT THE PRINTING SHOP never gonna do last minute printing again (I hope)

I was very disappointed by how colours turned out in print as the bright and pastel look was gone.

AND GREATEST MISTAKE…I went to drag the pixels to fit the frame and hence the prints turned out grainy and noisy. Lesson learnt! Got to frame the shoot and stretch the image to crop.

B E H I N D – T H E – S C E N E S

Tools: Table lamp, paper for the background and some tables

P R E S E N T A T I O N

SECRETS REVEALED

FOOD BEHIND THE SCENES

OGLING AT THAT GLISTENING BIRD? IT’S RAW INSIDE.

The whole turkeys are first sprayed, usually with a browning ‘sauce’ which comprises of dish washing liquid + oil+ water + food colouring. They are then blowtorched till they gleam the perfect color. However, they are uncooked and raw like your fresh wound. And if that weren’t enough, the chicken is plumped up with newspaper and crumpled up paper towels.

LOOKS LIKE ICE CREAM? TASTES LIKE LARD.

Ice cream is typically made from animal fats and powdered sugar and coloured to simulate different flavours. In some cases, a food stylist might also fake ice cream with vegetable shortening as it scoops perfectly and stays camera-ready for hours.

DO YOU PREFER YOUR CEREAL DRY OR WITH GLUE?

Milk used in cereal photos is usually fake since the real stuff makes the quickly makes cornflakes look soggy, food stylists have come up with alternatives. old-school method of white glue, which photographs just like the real deal.

WANT THE GARNISHES TO FLOAT? SIMPLE, THROW IN A HANDFUL OF GLASS MARBLES.

TAMPONS? NOT ONLY USED DURING THAT TIME OF THE MONTH.

That moment when steam rises up from pasta like mist over a mountain is hard to capture naturally on camera. You can get the same effect by microwaving water-soaked tampons (cotton balls work too) and burying them behind a dish. (steam should always be shot against a dark background)

LIP STICKS? NOT JUST FOR YOUR LIPS.

Lipsticks are used to redden berries and to cover up the blemishes.

sNAILed it grossing her out

M A G A R E T

L O U D & C R A Z Y

M E S S Y & U N O R G A N I S E D

S P E N D S T I M E & M O N E Y O N U S E L E S S S T U F F

L O V E S S L I M E

G I F T F A D , I D E A O F C R E D I T , R E G I F T I N G

Based on the information she has provided me with vaguely, I decided on making her her very Slime Harvester since she loves slime very much. Margaret wants slime so I gave her slime.

We often base our decisions on what gift to get, vaguely on the information our friends have provided us with and it in inevitable for misinterpretation to occur resulting in your getting the person a gift that she “said” she likes.

Peter pointed out the idea of disguise; how if the snails were to be presented to Margaret in an ordinary plastic container, it would appear really gross, but with a nice and clean packaging, it makes it more acceptable and less disgusting.

M Y S N A I L A D V E N T U R E