ZHOUJIA QINGMING – Part 2

A small follow up to y last post about this celebration

Above is mister Lee Kum Yuen, he is the current master and son of the master who brought this Kung Fu / Lion Dance style in Singapore. There is a very interesting video here https://youtu.be/kZq6iGxfWUo.

I shot a couple of rolls with the Leica M4 and either the Summaron 35mm F2.8 (the one with Goggles) or a Summicron 50mm v5.

Above is the typical Lion Dance troupe transport, a lorry used the rest of the week for hardware work.

Below the troupes gathering before climbing up the slope to the part of the temple where the celebration takes place. (Did I mention if the other post the temple is massive?)

The slope is tough, the sun is hot, and yes they drum up-hill

Below starts the celebration directed by a monk,

below the final parade and one minute drumming of all the troops together.

The color shots are Kodak Portra 400, the black and white are Ultrafine Extreme 400, hand-rolled.

Oh yes if you want to see more, come back soon, I also did  a certain number of digital shots as well.

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Zhoujia Qingming

The Lion dance troupes from the Zhoujia style go each year to Bright Hill temple for Qingming celebration to honor their founder. The Zhoujia is a special form of Lion Dance, which is very energetic, founded in Singapore, there are very interesting videos on the history of this martial art, coming from the south China King-Fu. Mister Li, in his 80’s is he current master and the son (or grand son) of the founder

The Qingming or Ching Ming festival, also known as Tomb-Sweeping Day in English (sometimes also called Chinese Memorial Day or Ancestors’ Day).

The troupes gather at the bottom of the slope getting up to one of the temple courtyards (for those who do not know Bright Hill temple, it is a massive compound), they run up one by one up the steep slope (and very sunny last week).

The lion dancers perform around the yard at the sound of drums and pray as different shrines before ending before a table laid with offerings. They then move aside and align waiting for the other troupes to parade as well. A total of 6 groups were present this day.

 

Afterwards there will be some common praying to the ancestor, Kung-Fu demonstration , a full minute of full strength drumming and a final tour.

Not very easy to shoot action with the Hassie.

Hasselblad 500CM+80mmF2.8
Cinestill 50D

Bukit Brown Cemetery – The Ektar roll

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Ok these are the last pictures of Bukit Brown Cemetery, promised. Until I go back there sometime of course.

I forgot to mention that the pictures were taken the week after the tomb sweeping; a week were people go to the ancertors tombs, clean them and bring offerings. So on the pictures below you can see scent sticks and red candles.

A lot of offerings remaining at this place; candles and sticks of scent plugged in condensed milk cans.

Some Sikh guards guarding Chew Geok Leong’s tomb. Actually, a bit of google-ing and I learned there are more of those in the cemetery.

Camera: Hasselblad 500CM
Lens: 80mm F2.8
Film: Kodak Ektar 100
Scanner: Epson v500+Lightroom 3

Bukit Brown Cemetery – The film shots – Singapore

Sikh Guard – Bukit Brown Chinese Cemetery – Singapore

Camera: Hasselblad 500CM
Lens: 80mm F2.8
Film: Kodak Ektar 100
Scanner: Epson v500+Lightroom 3

The 3 films shot with the Hasselblad during out outing to Bukit Brown cemetery are are finally back from the lab. One of the best shots is this statue of a Sikh guard protecting a tomb (actually there are a pair of them). These were 3 different films, this one is an Ektar 100 which is probably the one that gave the best results, the portra 400 NC was not bad either, but I am disappointed with my first ever slide film, I’ll make another post on the subject.