First Camera

My father taught me the basics of photography when I was about 11 years old. The photo shows both of us with cameras, so this could have been my first camera. Although my father would have set up the shot, it was taken by my younger sister and the original was slightly out of focus so I sharpened and colourised it. I took many blurry photos, as no autofocus was available.

In 1967 we were living in Singapore and a favourite trip was to Tiger Balm Gardens (Haw Par Villa), a fantasy garden filled with strange sculptures including depictions of hell and an empty swimming pool redecorated with mermaids.

When I returned to Singapore in 1919, the hell tableaus had been moved to a more discreet location than in the 1960s, but I found them and took photos to frighten the kids.