shades of autumn: white

The beautiful blogs Bumbles & Light, Live & Love Out Loud and Project Alicia are hosting a photography challenge based around the shades of autumn. You can find out all the details by clicking on the button below.

At only 70-ish miles from the equator there's no traditional northern hemisphere change in the seasons here in Singapore. I thought this might be an interesting exercise in sharing the shades of a tropical Asian autumn; lush, vibrant and dripping with sweat colour...

...except for this week. Which is white week. Warning: there will be no snow, no frost, no ice in my photos. But there is white EVERYWHERE in this rainbow city. Perhaps it's all the white that makes the colours stand out all the more vibrantly. I'm afraid I have gone a little overboard on the number of pics this week - sorry - I did rather enjoy white, and it is the penultimate week after all! I found white an interesting challenge and quickly realised that, for me, it was important to have colour in each shot, even just a damp patch on a wall or the stamen of a flower. The flash of colour tells my brain that I'm looking at a white colour photo rather than a B&W.

This whole SoA project forced me to acknowledge a few things, the first being what an incredibly beautiful place I live in. I knew that before, but I didn't go searching for it in the way that have been this autumn. And the second thing is how much I love buildings. I'm completely mesmerised by them. Too bad I'm too old to follow in my Dad's architect footsteps (seven years at uni - pfff, seriously!).

So here are some of the whites to be found in Singapore this autumn. Kicking off, as usual, with some buildings.

living here has taught me, above all, that conservation needn't be conservative
(oops - that kindof suggests I live actually HERE, which I don't! Probably about $20million SGD short!)

say what you like about the colonialists, they knew a thing or two about decorative plasterwork

the modern city is pretty spectacular too

holland village even has its own windmill

when out and about with a camera, I've learnt to always look up

I've also discovered a real passion for overexposed white heat. The photos which follow are hard to look at for too long, and you can't really make out the details... EXACTLY like a sunny day here in Singapore. They make you want to dive into the nearest shady corner. I know that technically I've forced my camera to take "bad" photos here, but the feeling I get from looking at these pictures is viscerally evocative. (Can something be viscerally evocative?)

faded neon

sizzling hot in Haji Lane

the Sultan Mosque dazzling in the sun

what a lovely wall

And a few randoms others...

you see, without a flash of colour, it's hard to believe this is a colour photo, right?
He's one of the wonderful lions outside the Bank of China - I love these guys!

I can't explain why I love this picture so much. It's a water carrier hanging up outside Papa Palheta coffee house.

more lovely textures at Papa Palheta

And finally, some flowers.

the spider lilies outside our back door, in flower all year round

ooh I like my new macro attachment (need to work on the lighting though!)

look what happens when you put Picnik's cinema filter on a macro of a white flower!

See my green, yellow, orange, red, purple and brown photos from previous weeks here!