What Has The World Come To?

Well, I actually wanted to reflect on something else. But I attempted my Visual Trigger assignment and found that it was more like a reflection than an actual piece of writing for the homework, so I decided to share it as a reflection instead, and work on another piece of writing altogether.

Credits go to “versatile” from ClubSnap

The above photograph was posted recently on ClubSnap, the authoritative photography forum that boasts the largest population of local photography enthusiasts, with several members from as far as Australia and beyond.

The shot was taken at the recently concluded Big Boys Toyz 2006. It is essentially a motorshow, with a lot of other attractions factored in, such as hot babes clad in bikinis, and even a “mud fight” between some of them, in a cordoned area filled with nothing but muddy water. Hardly what I will call a mud fight, and yet nowhere near a crystal clear swimming pool.

A picture says a thousand words. What does the one above tell you? Does it tell you that Singapore has many avid photographers? Or does it convey to you that a motorshow has subject(s) so photogenic that no matter you are a teenager, a working professional in your twenties, or a middle-aged man, you simply cannot miss it? The equipment involved is not of concern here. Everybody just seems to want to take a few, (more like a few hundred), JPEG files home for memories or other undesirable intentions.

The aforementioned photograph has evoked strong emotions and triggered my thoughts about a certain popular category of events.

A motorshow is well, an automobile show, isn’t it? It is an event where hot-blooded males attend to ogle at fast cars, while ladies grace to fantasise riding in one, isn’t it?

Well, times definitely seem to have changed, a lot. I said a lot and I mean a real big difference. Nowadays, attend any motorshow and chances are, you see hot-blooded males turn up more to ogle at “SWTs” (sweet young things, although the majority of them hardly qualify to be titled that), and not cars. They are there for the “race queens” and automobile models, not the cars! Oh, I have yet to mention, even “ah peks” in their fifties or sixties are there just to ogle at the race queens!

Worse still, are the hordes of photographers, professional and non-professional alike, who tout their DSLR (Digital Single Lens Reflex), PnS (point-and-shoot, also known as compact) and handphone cameras, snapping away relentlessly. What is worse is that the majority of them are not taking photographs of the cars, but the models “on-display”.

What has the world come to? I understand that the race queens are part of the crowd-pullers, but shouldn’t the main attractions be the cars? I am not sure if it’s a social norm for Singapore nowadays, or if it is just me.

Oh, by the way, although I have no means of proving it right now, even the ladies are shooting the race queens and models nowadays! I guess it’s time for me to sit back and reflect more…

Oh, and one last thing, as a photographer, I guess I am somewhat guilty as well, though I shot at neither the aforementioned event, nor the Singapore Motor Show, which dropped its curtains in mid-November. Perhaps it’s just our primal instincts… Hmm…

Attached below are two more pictures that I feel convey the same story to me, though perhaps in a slightly differing manner.

Credits go to “Kensuke” and “sugary88″ from ClubSnap respectively.