Ah Eng

[~Arcanic~]

1st time i actually saw this thread,
a bit heart wrenching i must say... :cry:

kinda reminds me of the nkf recently, stories about the patients and all... =(
its a good series of photos u got there, it really depicts what their life is about.

 

[Paul_Yeo]

how about another Photo Aid fund raising ? :embrass:

 

[betazone]

Agreed with tsdh on the low-key thing, overall a very good insightful views into a part of singapore we seldom see, thanks for posting.

My only suggestion for you; probably you may want to be more on low-key and hi-contrast pictures to create more dramatic feeling.

 

[Voigtlander]

Congratulations to your most excellent documentary of a side of Singapore that is seldom seen by the majority of us. In our quest for better equipment, let us not forget our less fortunate countrymen.

 

[eikin]

good honest documentation, i think that makes the difference.

 

[Pablo]

I've aborted posting this series a few times, wondering if it was the right thing to do. When I think about how much I spend on camera equipment while people like Ah Eng are barely eking out a living, it seems pretty obscene. Yet there's a story to be told here, by a willing story-teller. Does a photographer only record happy scenes? Would that not be compromising the truth, which is that there IS poverty and suffering in the world? In fact, Ah Eng has it good here in Singapore. There are MANY other places in the world where the poverty and suffering would be unimaginable to Singaporean minds, including myself.

In the end I've decided to post it, because of the story to be told, and hope that some good may come out of it, if only that we realise how good most of us have it, and open an eye to the plight of those around us who may need our help and compassion. I recognize that the story is much more powerful than the photography (which is mediocre at best), so please be kind.

This is Ah Eng. She is 65 years old and lives with her 42 year old daughter and her 95 year old husband. She has a son who stays with his wife in another part of Singapore. She has no grandchildren even though her son has been married for more than 10 years.

Her daughter was born "a very beautiful child". At the age of one year, she started suffering epileptic fits. She did not adapt well to Primary School, and was taken out of Primary One after a few months, to be brought up at home. By her late teens, she was suffering frequent fits and became housebound. She also has diabetes, and severe osteoporosis, from lying in bed the whole day.

The family gets help from a Christian outreach organization (known in the neighbourhood as "the red-shirted people"), who applied for public assistance from the government on their behalf (the family gets $230 per month). They also provide free transportation for medical appointments and free supplies of provisions such as rice, oil, noodles and soap. Ah Eng fashioned the cross over her daughter from a pair of chopsticks so that "Jesus would look after her daughter".

Ah Eng used to work at a garment factory near her home, earning a few hundred dollars a month. That was how I first got to know her, being the company doctor. She stopped work when the factory closed down, and also because her daughter's fits took a turn for the worse, becoming much more frequent. She now works at the hawker centre for 2 hours a day washing dishes, and earns $10 for that. She is afraid to get a job further away from home, because if anything happened to either her husband or her daughter while she was working, they would not even be able to call for help.

Hi StreetShooter,

Fortunately you spent the money that you did on your camera gear.
If you did not you would not have been able to show me and countless others what you see here.

I am bedind you as a photographer because you can take the time to shoot not for yourself nor profit, but to show/remind us of the world we don't see often enough.

In this series of photo's your tallent/compassion and money invested in your gear has payed off selflessly :thumbsup:

Cheers to you.

 

[slacker123]

incredible.

thank you for this outstanding piece of photojournalism. it captures emotions extremely well and my emotions are deeply reflected in your pictures. I have to think about myself and my past actions and "what have I done to help" conviction just by seeing them.

its not so much of photographic technique. its just - emotion captured in its rawest form.

 

[KNIGHT ONG]

A very touching photo essay .. :thumbsup:

You have captured their emotions well and thanks for sharing.

 

[MatthewSL]

well done. its very touching ........

 

[unseen]

I just want to up this thread again, so that more people can go through this really wonderful piece of work that I've always admired in the past year.

 

[drumma]

I just want to up this thread again, so that more people can go through this really wonderful piece of work that I've always admired in the past year.

thanks! a touching series indeed.

 

[Terence]

SS :thumbsup:

 

[P24]

Respect. Good piece of work.
Hope this work would turn witnesses and viewers into supporters.
Respect for the lady who has dignity.
Sven

 

[Ramius75]

Good job there :thumbsup:

This is one of the reason i pick up a camera too, to record things down as a testimonial of human kind and the place we live in.

 

[rhp]

As a photographer, it was hard for me to decide on posting this. Was I being exploitative? What do I hope to achieve? I still don't know.

great photos. the bigger the impact on the viewer, the better it gets.

 

[skipper53]

Human history is nothing more than a epic piece of literature.
Stories, delicately stiched to one another.
In 2000 years of recorded history, society has witnessed so many facets of the human race that nothing seems extraordinary any longer.
And thus we have forsaken the fact that upon this Earth dwell over 6 million people, over 6 million faces, over 6 million unique stories to tell.
Thank you for portraying one of those 6 million extraordinary stories so beatifully.
Story telling doesnt require anything more than a good heart