4D | “The Night Watch” Submission


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18 x 11cm mounted on foam board

Artist Statement

All strange things happen at night, and we are strangers to the dark. We don’t quite explore it; we find ways to live around it, whereas for some, they guard the night while the city sleeps. The quietness and the mystery of the night, takes on a mystical charm which is so colourful, but also dark. We often forget the heroes who keeps us safe while we are at our most vulnerable. Find the unseen that is overlooked, bring forth and start appreciating.


Submission Layout

Dimensions: 18 x 11cm
Printed on matte paper and mounted on foam board

For “The Night Watch”, I decided to display my 30 shots in an exhibition layout to give a more impactful message to the audience as I felt it’s more direct and “interactive” than a book as viewers can get up and personal. The extensive amount of photos shows how well protected our country is at night, due to the security guards we have. This project has only covered a small part of the west side of Singapore and it has so much security, imagine the amount of guards we have for the whole Singapore? 

 For the layout, I varied the photos by arranging them according to their lighting – spreading the light and the dark equally, so that it would look more balance and not as concentrated in one area.

4D | “The Night Watch”

“The Night Watch” is a photographic series of security guards who protects the nation at night.

All strange things happen at night, and we are strangers to the dark. We don’t quite explore it; we find ways to live around it, whereas for some, they guard the night while the city sleeps. We often forget the heroes who are always around to keep us safe while we are at our most vulnerable. The quietness and the mystery of the night, takes on a mystical charm which is so colourful, but also dark. 

Being labelled as the second safest country in the world, we are able to sleep soundly knowing the safety we have. I wanted to prove how well-protected our country is by doing excessive research to come up with a large collection of photographs of security guards, hoping to give an impact on how safe we are, by showing shots of guard posts or security guards. I chose to shoot at night as it it when the city is most vulnerable, and with the heroes guarding the night, we can all sleep soundly in the comfort of our beds without any worries.

Find the unseen that is overlooked, bring forth and start appreciating.


For this project, I’ve been to about 3 industrial areas – Marsiling, Jurong and Bukit Batok, and many many many condos. I’ve shot about 50 places till my camera died on me. I wonder how I’m gonna do my Project 3… Nevertheless, here are the 30 images with a mixture of private houses and industrial areas that have made the cut for submission. 

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This project was quite tough as I normally start shooting after 11pm so that the street has lesser people and it’s quieter, in order to achieve the “stillness” I want in my photos. Basically for this project, it was a shoot and run style as the guards were quite aware of my presence and I think they thought I was some suspicious person LOL. The condo guards are harder to take as they are much more alert than the industrial areas ones. Overall, it was fun shooting this series and I am very satisfied with the outcome as it turned out exactly how I wanted it to be, especially the lighting 🙂 

But next time, if I’ve a chance, most likely I wouldn’t choose to shoot the night again. Although it’s beautiful, it’s super scary. But well, maybe? 

4D | Project 2 II

After consulting Robert on Project 2, he mentioned that the concept of atmospheric photos is too generalised and wide, and that I should scope down to a certain area. He suggested since I wanted to focus on night lights, I should try to further expand the professions in my “Before Dawn” series. Hence, I decided to focus on the profession – the security guards in Singapore.

Here are the first series of photos taken and showed on the first consultation with Robert.

Robert commented that this photo does not really work as most of my photos are quiet, still and taken as a far shot, and there is hardly any human presence in it. Whereas for this it’s nearer and the guard is quite evident in the picture which distracts the quietness of the photo.

I really liked this photo as there’s a series of lighting colours, however Robert mentioned that the focus of this photo is ambiguous. Is it the guards, or the car?

As most of my photo does not really have a human presence, or they are hidden, this picture might not work as well as the guard is quite prominent in the scene.

Do check back for more photos on the next post!

4D | Project 2 I

Lights of the Night, a continuation of “Before Dawn”

While I was doing my “Before Dawn” project, I realise that there’s this certain stillness to the night, everything takes on a mystical charm which is so colourful, but also dark, and all seems magical and suspended as if time was frozen. It isn’t noisy at night, be it sound or sight, as there’s lesser people and cars, I guess that’s what makes the night so beautiful and calm.

I realise that what is prominent in my “Before Dawn” series are the lightings. The subtle light in the photographs makes up the atmosphere, even if there is nothing happening in the picture. It is quite strange that even though the scene is suppose dead, stagnant and colourless, a subtle light that creeps in brings a certain life to the stillness.

For this series, I wanted to focus on Atmospheric photos. I find it fascinating at how lights can bring an empty scene to life and different colours portray certain characteristics. The quietness and the mystery of city nights, each corner of the street that seems abandoned, tells a story. Shooting late at night is like being between a dream state and wakefulness. I feel like I’ve stepped into an alternate reality.