Showing posts with label Bungy Singapore. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bungy Singapore. Show all posts

Sunday, February 15, 2009

Tiger, Tiger, Burning Bright

Time To Earn Your Stripes

Photographs copyright: DAVID McMAHON


No, it’s not Sher Khan, the fearsome tiger from Rudyard Kipling’s Jungle Book - but it’s just about the closest you’ll ever find to a genuine, fair dinkum tiger in the concrete jungle that is a modern metropolis.

I shot this on a Singapore street in December 2007. The huge pavement cafe umbrella was dripping wet from the downpour and I shot this frame specifically to capture the residual raindrops on the dark blue surface. But you can clearly see the word "Tiger" on the left and the corporate emblem for Tiger beer on the right.

When I was a kid growing up in India, a friend of my Dad’s was a shikari, or hunter. And one of my earliest memories of visiting their home was the sight of a tiger-skin, beautifully prepared by a taxidermist from the pelt of the unfortunate animal that he had shot.

Its glassy eyes seemed to fix me as a target and its fangs were so frightening that I could never bring myself to touch them. Now, of course, tigers are a protected species in India and I don’t think there’d be many recreational hunters who would display the cured skin of a big cat.

In my childhood and through to my late teens, we used to spend part of our winter holidays at a place called Hazaribagh - which in Hindi literally means the place of a thousand tigers.

Just the kind of place I’d love to go back to - armed with nothing more lethal than my camera.

This last shot was an advertisement painted on the side of a bus and I thought the colours were great as it went past me - so I had to take a quick shot while it was on the move. It was an interesting exercise, because I tried to compose the shot to exclude other vehicles and pedestrians.

Not often you see a tiger in the city.


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Wednesday, January 28, 2009

B Is For Bungee

Make Mine A Singapore Slingshot

Photographs copyright: DAVID McMAHON


Sorry, mate, I’m busy today. I only have a day and a half in Singapore and I intend to get around the city on foot and shoot as many photographs as I possibly can. It’s mid-December and the city looks beautiful and the sun is shining and yes, it’s too warm for me, but I’ll turn my collar up, sip iced water and continue walking because each step brings me another image for my camera.

Yes, I’m sure it’s great to do a bungee jump. But I’ve got another international flight to catch tomorrow afternoon, followed by a road trip of several hours on northern Indian highways, then a family reunion and a wedding to attend. Then I’ve got to get into reverse gear and do it all again and get home in just five days. That’s a lot of travel and not a lot of time.

Yes, I do have the spirit of adventure flowing in my veins. Honest, I have. I never blink when I’m faced with a challenge. But next time I’m in Singapore I promise to come straight here, pay my money and do the Xtreme Swing slingshot. No, I won’t go shopping first. No, I won’t even go sightseeing. I’ll get into a cab at Changi airport and tell him to bring me straight here.

No, of course I’m not scared. Mate, did I ever tell you about the time I faced a charging grizzly? I did not flinch. I did not take a backward step. I just stood there, switched on my camera and took a shot of him as he accelerated soundlessly across the dry ground.

Yes, I know the bungee slingshot is safe. But what happens if my wallet falls out of my pocket while I’m doing this caper? Whaddya mean, you’ll take care of my false teeth. I don’t have false teeth. No, I don’t have an artificial leg. Yes, I have normal heartbeat. And yes, of course I have a healthy spine. No, I don’t have a pacemaker.

Let me make a deal with you. Have you ever had a customer who’s done this gig and held onto a camera to shoot photos while he’s strapped in and flailing wildly? No? You haven’t? Okay, I want to be the first. Here’s my down payment. See you next time I’m in Singapore. Don’t forget a special harness to tie my camera to me.

You see, I’m a sucker. You can rope me in to anything. Well, almost anything.


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