Scott Bourne from TWIP posted a new article about photographing icons – not the American Idols, but those around us. He used the collapse of the natural bridge, Wall Arch in Arches National Park, Utah that collapsed a few days back. Something that was formed over thousands of years, gone just in minutes. If you were there, would you snap a photo of it, or think that this is just another tourist spot and ignore it?
Oh really? Well not anymore. Nobody will ever again take that picture. The opportunity is gone for good. These arches took millions of years to form, but they take only seconds to fall. And when landmarks like these are gone — they are gone.
Take for example this photo of the gates that once stood outside the Bidadari Cemetery in Serangoon which was closed in 2004. Inside it, there were many colonial styled headstones and statues that were wonderfully sculptured but had since been destroyed.
We will never see them again in Singapore. I am glad to have taken that afternoon to just take those photos. In our country where urban development usually takes precedence over conservation, we should capture them if we ever get the opportunity. We won’t know when we will have the chance again.
2 Comments
I totally agree with you !
Not every icons and landmarks would be preserved for our future generation.
I was planning to embark on my own photography project to capture our historical images before capitalisation and economic growth take over them but I haven’t started anything.
Reading your post, it’s time I started to capture the photos and moment in history before it is lost.
JH
http://www.tangenghui.com
http://photojournalism-tgh.blogspot.com
I guess its not too late yet, as we still have some of our history still in their original guise. Worse are some of the make-overs with awful splashes of colours…