Instagram exhibition showcases life in Singapore

SINGAPORE — Children celebrating Joseph Schooling’s victory at the Rio Olympics, with Singapore flags in hand. People eating durians together. Scenes from this year’s National Day Parade. These are some key aspects of Singapore, as seen through the lens of Istagrammers here.

Starting this Saturday (Oct 1), 100 photos showcasing life in the Republic will be exhibited across several venues, namely Raffles City (Oct 1 – 7), Junction 8 (Oct 8 – 16), Westgate Mall (Oct 17 – 23); and Tampines Mall (Oct 24 – 30).

Organised by Instagram community group InstaSG, and the National Youth Council (NYC), the campaign aims to showcase the “characters of Singapore; the people, the landscape, the food, the culture” through photography and social media.

Now in its third year, the exhibition received 15,000 photo entries submitted by more than 3,700 Instagrammers this year, up from some 5,000 photo entries in 2014. A panel of 22 Instagrammers together with Nikon Ambassador and professional photographer Bryan Foong shortlisted the top 100 entries.

Among the entries, the top two were awarded prizes.

Undergrad Joshua Ong (@joshieeeeee)’s casual wedding snap of his cell group leader and her fiancé sitting on a platform outside the Marina Bay Sands mall, was selected for the first prize — a Nikon D7200 set sponsored by the Japanese camera company.

Joshua, a 23-year-old Singaporean studying at the University of Melbourne, said he was inspired to snap the picture at Marina Promenade as it was “iconic and synonymous with Singapore”.

“I was trying to convey the idea that that there is a need to take a step back and reflect on the things we have taken for granted, especially when the demands of life become overwhelming. I submitted this photo because I thought it is a sentiment that is shared by many Singaporeans,” said Joshua, in an email to TODAY.

Mr Foong, who was on the final judging panel, said Joshua’s photo “depicts the past, present and future of Singapore from pre war shophouses to modern skyscrapers right in front of a couple who are about to start a new family”.

The second prize went to Ms Wendy Lee-Warne (@wendyleewarne) for her photo of a “uniquely Singaporean” and “multi-racial” danger sign in four languages.

The panel also chose six Instagrammers of the Year based on their “outstanding quality of photography and editing, their unique style on Instagram as well as their active involvement and contribution to (the) local Instagram community”.

They are: Jeryl Teo (@j9ryl), Dee Alkhatib (@deebawr), Filbert Koung (@freedreamer), Ben Lau (@lkkben), Leonard Giam (@leotomatic) and Simon Ong (@simon.ong).