Crossing Bridges Over the Years - IMAGE INTENSIVE

[ed9119]

The story of Crossing Bridges began in 2004 when Singapore and Indonesia's largest photography forums decided that it was about time we started making friends with forums from around Asia

It was a humble beginning birthed in Jogjakarta when Clubsnap and Fotografer.net both sent delegations for a joint meet-up and shoot in this historic city and home to Borobodur and the Javanese heartlands

Young Willy Foo discussing with Photo Editor of Kompas newspaper (Indonesia's largest circulating) Arbain Remby

Food was simple, accomodations were simple but friendships created were so warm and so lasting

This first edition of Crossing Bridges also set the tone for future editions of Crossing Bridges ..... intense shooting, intense friend-making, catching up on sleep while on the move .... such was and is the intensity of Crossing Bridges every year regardless of which country it was held in

Already even in 2004.... personalities that shape Singapore photography today started with young humble ideals
Can you spot them ?
Gwen Lee , a young lass then , today the Chairperson of International Photography Festival and Director of 2902 Gallery
Willy Foo, a strapping young lad then, today a multiple award winner, top Imaging technopreneur and the boss of Willy Foo LiveStudios

Crossing Bridges through the years continue to change the lives of participants with many turning professional , creating their own personal bridges regionally, dedicating their lives to worthy causes and spreading the love for story-telling through photography

 

[ed9119]

Crossing Bridges 2

In 2005 it was Singapore's (Clubsnap) turn to organize the 2nd Edition of Crossing Bridges . We were still a 2 country grouping then and decided to bring participants to Hong Kong and Macau.

It was planned to discover Hong Kong's little known outlying areas and Macau's tourist-free backstreets

We stayed at BO International (Scout House) off Johnston Rd in Kowloon

I just remembered that we walked, and walked and walked and walked and walked and walked and walked and walked.....

See the young future sports shooter Biscuit Chan in there ?

Spot future World Traveller and Adventure Wong Hsi May in there ?

Larry Loh and Ron Lee (both now successful and established full time profesisonals based in Hong Kong and Singapore respectively)

 

[ed9119]

We had no sponsors but we had FUN

2005.... those were the days when WB control in cameras were still an iffy affair

 

[ed9119]

Crossing Bridges 3 - 2006

Vietnam and Malaysia joined the Crossing Bridges project in 2006 through their country's 2 most active photography forums... Photo.vn and PhotoMalaysia.com

We shot around the old city of Hanoi, Halong Bay and took an overnight train ride to the hill country of Sapa that year. The grouping had grown to 4 countries .... yet the bonds of friendships grew even stronger perhaps again due to the common suffering of little sleep and harsh but beautiful shooting environments

 

[ed9119]

 

[ed9119]

Crossing Bridges 4 - 2007
Semporna, Tawau, East Malaysia

Photomalaysia.com organized the gathering to a remote part of East Malaysia bringing light to a unique culture that is very different from West Malaysia and also bringing the group out to an island village where participants worked with island kids on painting classes and photo sessions

photo credit : Sigg (Suhaimi)

photo credit: CYRN

photo credit: AndyAng

photo credit: ngebor

 

[ed9119]

Crossing Bridges 5, 2008
Siem Reap, Angkor Wat , Cambodia

Clubsnap organized Crossing Bridges 5 bringing participants to Cambodia for a week of shooting amongst the villages around Siemp Reap as well as the famed Angkor Wat temple complexes

Comments and quotes from Participants:

"Ya, we all reach home still in one piece.... other than skin abit turn black and leg a bit pain...
Think the "siong" part is climbing the mountain...believe we are the few to reach the waterfall. We are also the last to come down.
Btw, when we come down to the last big waterfall, a few local ladies when there for bathing...pretty nice scene you all have miss. "

------------
"my gosh... on the average each of them have 2 cameras.. i saw a guy with 4... covering wide and telephoto.. it muz be heavy to lug all these equipment around... i remembered the last time i carried 2 with me.. i was kinda afraid they knock to one another... then it started to pull strain to my neck and side shoulder... i guess it takes a lot of passion and endurance in this photo event... *salute* "

------------------
"The younger monks are basically a shy lot and were caught by surprise when the whole lot of us descended upon their peaceful monastery grounds, snapping at anything that moves. Even the chief abbot was not spared when he was caught on camera by hanoiroxy (from Vietnam) while taking a bath. I was guilty of joining him in the melee. "

 

[ed9119]

"Lots of color during the trip............... and NOT a SINGLE day of rain ...... (relief)"

 

[ed9119]

Crossing Bridges 6 - 2009
Wild West Sumatra, Indonesia

Fotografer.net brought us into the hintherlands of West Sumatra where we visited remoted mining towns, volcanic lakes, mountaintop towns and down towards the coast facing the Indian Ocean

We were 5 countries then... Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Philippines and Indonesia

On the 2nd last day of the trip, after shooting the Pacu Jawi bull races , an hour before, a participant from Vietnam broke his left arm jumping out of the way of rampaging cows.... we literally rode through a 7.8scale earthquake while still up in the hills.

Arriving back to base hotel in Padang, we drove into scenes of chaos, darkness, upended buildings and homes on fire. Our hotel was shut down and we were not allowed to enter it to retrieve belongings due to safety concerns on structural integrity of the hotel. Hungry without dinner, filthy from shooting racing bulls in mud paddies and without much sleep while trying to evacuate an injured participant with a broken arm, we spent the night at a local photographer's (Thank You Dodi!) home ... 60 of us crammed into a tiny house meant for a family of 4. We cleared the furniture and slept (tried at least) on floors, in the bus and any little corner we found. Not able to get a flight back to Singapore due to cancelled flights by Tiger, we secured tickets to Kuala Lumpur where our Malaysian comarades helped us out tremendously. From Kuala Lumpur, some took buses while others grabbed the first available shuttle flight and the rest INCREDIBLY stayed on in Malaysia to continue their fellowship with Malaysian photographers from PhotoMalaysia.com

What is the best thing about Padang and West Sumatra ? The FOOD.... nasi padang in all its glory

not my image

beautiful Lake Meningjau

 

[ed9119]

the morning after the earthquake

 

[ed9119]

getting updates of the earthquake

Crossing Bridges participants toughing it out through the rain sleeping on floors or any dry patch we could find

Huge relief when we finally evacuated to KL

Extract from Strait Times on Oct 3

"
Lucky day trip for 11 Singaporeans
HAD they not gone on a day trip out of Padang, a group of 11 Singaporean photographers would have found themselves right in the middle of the devas¬tating earthquake that struck the Indonesian coast¬al city on Wednesday evening.
It was only when they returned to the city the next morning that they realised how lucky they had been.

The scene was "devastating", said Mr William Teo Jui Wah, one of the Singaporeans, who re¬turned on an Air Asia flight yesterday afternoon.

"Can you imagine? One day before, we saw the buildings intact, and the next day they were all crumpled," said the 65-year-old.

The group of photographers were on a week-long photography expedition called "Cross¬ing Bridges" with 40 other photography enthusi¬asts from Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam.

The group had set out on Wednesday morning from their inner city hotel to take photos of the scenery 90km from Padang.
That evening, as they were heading for dinner the earthquake struck.

With a bridge collapsed, the group bad to spend the night at the home of one of the Indonesian phootographers.
The single-storey terrace house was a tight squeeze, and they slept in whatever space they could find said Mr Ng Kwok Yong, 47, another member of the team.

The next morning, after collecting their belong¬ings from their partially collapsed hotel, the Singa¬poreans headed straight for the airport. CAROLYN QUEK & KIMBERLY SPYKERMAN

 

[ed9119]

Crossing Bridges 7 , 2010
Western Visayas , Philippines
Cebu, Bacolod, IloIlo, St Carlos

The Federation of Philippine Photographers Foundation with their counterparts in Cebu, Bacolod, Iloilo and San Carlos put in a huge provincial effort to bring Crossing Bridges to the Wetern Visayas that year.

We're talking SWAT teams providing security, ambulance with doctor and nurse, town mayors welcoming us and whole towns turning out to dance, sing and celebrate with us

We came home after the trip with the theme song "One Cebu!" firmly engraved in our heads

This image kind of summed up the atmosphere and fun we had that one week in Western Visayas

Journalists from all over the Philippines joined in Crossing Bridges

 

[ed9119]

Different arms of the army and police provided escort service during the trip

photo credit: Lawrence Ang

 

[ed9119]

some, made use of our security friends for other purposes...

catching up on snatches of much needed sleep when moving to Iloilo in a ferry

 

[ed9119]

saw lots of unusual toys and DIYs

2 cameras sawed in half to make a Homemade panorama camera

Mod'ed Infra red flash unit for infra-red modified cameras

 

[ed9119]

Panasonic Lumix supplied their LX and M4/3 cameras and lenses , threw in a t-shirt and a lunch for us

Laokayu and Nokkieg getting low down

 

[ed9119]

Gang Nikon

Canon Usergroup

Olympus Cultists

Apple iPhone broadcasters and bloggers

 

[ed9119]

Crossing Bridges 8, 2011
Ho Chi Minh, Long Hai, Phan Thiet, Dalat cities , South Central Vietnam

This was an epic trip of long bus rides rewarded with simply stunning surroundings, landscapes and people. So local were the shoot locations that we rarely tourists throughout the entire trip

[video]www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dndxk8LhTrU[/video]

 

[ed9119]

photo credit: Hosea

photo credit: Hosea

 

[ed9119]

Crossing Bridges 9 , 2012
Kuala Lumpur, Pangkor Island and Kangsar , West Malaysia

PhotoMalaysia took over the torch in organizing 2012's edition of Crossing Bridges in Malaysia. We made a focused loop out of Kuala Lumpur through to rural backwaters with visits to charcoal factories. Food is a speciality in Malaysia and we enjoyed giant prawn noodles and tons of satay while shooting through KL, Pangkor Island life, tin mines, royal mosques and the old palaces and ruins

This year, South Korea (Professional Photographers of Korea) and Sri Lanka (Photographic Society of Sri Lanka) joined Crossing Bridges

Team Singapore in discussion and briefing

Crossing Bridges 9 base hotel in KL