Seeing The Light

You’ll Have To Do Better Than That, Mate

Photographs copyright: DAVID McMAHON

Last July, during a family holiday in Malaysia, we found ourselves in the Chinatown area of Kuala Lumpur. It is properly known as Petaling Street and as we slowly but cheerfully made our way to the end of the shopping paradise, we spotted this neon sign.

Er, um, let me re-phrase that. My son and I spotted the neon sign, while certain members of our (extended) family concentrated on retail details.

The interesting thing about the sign was that it switched very quickly between on-and-off modes. He knew exactly what I was going to do and chuckled as I lined up the shot.

Mate, it was easier said than done. I hit the shutter three times before I was able to capture this late-night scene with all the elements of the neon sign ablaze.

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On The Straight And Arrow

Where Are We, Mate? In Los Angles?

Photographs copyright: DAVID McMAHON

No, I haven't rotated the image above, or tinkered with it in any way. I just thought I would walk under this huge neon sign and shoot it. Does this image force you to look twice? The angled neon sign, to a multi-level car park, is rectangular, about a couple of metres high and six or seven metres across. The blue arrows show the ``in'' lanes and the red circle shows the ``out'' lane. It's a viewpoint that challenges your perspective (and your powers of perception) because there is no ``normal'' point of reference for the eye.

Now look at the second frame, below. It's taken from further back and gives you a couple of points of reference - the street lamp and the floodlit building. All of a sudden, your brain can place the neon sign in perspective. I guess you could say it's a bit like a visual jigsaw puzzle.