TECHNICAL DETAILS
Leica D-Lux typ 109. 1/40 at f/2.8. ISO 800. 24mm equivalent focal length. Shot resting the camera on a railing from the observation deck.
SQUALL OVER SINGAPORE
Bukhit Timah Hill, at 164 meters above sea level, is the highest place in Singapore. Not exactly a location given to expansive vistas, for all the interesting aspects of the city-state. But high atop the Marina Bay Sands hotel, 57 stories above the waters of the Bay opposite the Central Business District, the observation deck provides what nature has not. I had not been to the top of the Marina Bay Sands before. $20 tickets to touristy places are not my usual affair. But in the free hours I had on the Sunday after arriving this trip, prior to my business colleague getting back to his home town, the view from on high was too tempting.
I left my hotel in the hipster enclave Bukit Pasoh road fairly early in the morning, intending to take my one down day on the streets. It was bright and sunny, the heat looming. I meandered along through Chinatown, the Indian quarter and around the deserted CBD, empty of a weekend. There was never a lack of interesting things to shoot along the way. By mid-afternoon I had made my way down to the Marina, and queued the hour it took to gain admittance to the observation deck. The nice part about the ticketed entry is that once you get up to the deck, you can stay as long as you like. A couple of drinks and some food, and I whiled away a couple of hours. The view is truly grand. To one side of the deck, you can look out over the city, and on the other, across the mad Singapore botanical gardens to the Straits and all the way across to Indonesia. By late afternoon, there was a noticeable darkness on the horizon. Clouds had moved in, and the humidity present. A low rain squall was moving over the strait, and it the light faded.
My plan had been to be atop the observation deck for sunset. I wanted to capture the glow of the sun low over the straits on the CBD skyscrapers just as their lights were coming on. Alas, it looked like that goal would remain unmet. I debated about what to do, and being an opportunist and lover of storms, decided to wait a bit more to see if the rain and ominous clouds would present any good photo opportunities. Fortunately, the patience paid off. The squall slammed in across the back side of the CBD with fierce winds and driving rain. No lightening. The darkness had kicked on the lights of most of the CBD. The observation deck does not permit tripods, so I balanced the camera (wrist strap firmly secured!) to the railing at the edge of the deck, shooing in between security cables they have slung across the top of the walls. Even before the rain hit, the winds 57 floors up were formidable. It made a half-dozen exposures trying to keep the camera steady and a relatively slow shutter speed, as I didn’t want to crank the ISO too high. Before too long, enormous rain drops began to pelt the deck, and there was quite a scramble for the perhaps 200 people up there to get into the foyer where the lifts are. Some got a good soaking!
After descending, it was pouring. Fortunately, the metro has a stop under the Marina Bay Sands, and I rode the subway back to the Chinatown stop. Still pouring in Chinatown! I had no umbrella, but did have a light rain jacket, and I needed every inch to pick my way doorway to doorway through the streets back toward Bukit Pasoh.
Opening up the images back in the hotel, I knew I had caught a great scene, and was optimistic that I would have a memorable image. I’m not disappointed.
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