HK Masquerade
Happy to have an article featured on a Hong Kong instagram site "HK Masquerade" that wrote a brief about the connection of my life story and my photo work. The article is translated very well in Traditional Chinese language for our Chinese language based audience.
Traditional Chinese text
我是Betty Goh，是土生土長的新加坡人。和許多新加坡人、還有世界各地忙忙碌碌的城市人一樣，社會的重壓讓我們過度專注於自己的學業與工作。
我大半生都沒什麼愛好，直到2016年生了一場病。我決定改變下生活方式，買了一台簡單的相機，在出差時拍攝景物。我能拍出不錯的「遊客照」，但總覺得少了點自己的靈魂與個性。
2018年我參加了德國攝影師Siegfried Hansen的街頭攝影工作坊，深受啟發。我發現原來日常的街頭也如此有趣，不一定要旅遊才能拍照。
Siegfried看到了我在抽象街頭攝影上的潛力，並鼓勵我朝這個方向發展。我也覺得我的性格和視角與這種風格非常契合。我熱衷於此，並努力實踐。
2021年，我被診斷出癌症。在此期間，我買了台新相機，開始了在醫院附近日常拍攝。 我開始感到我的照片是內省的、是靈魂的反映。
我從小在新加坡市中心長大，生活和觀念始終離不開繁忙的都市生活。城市裡當然流光溢彩，但在那樣的表相之下，城市人的內心深處仍藏著太多不為人知的孤獨、緊張和困惑。光明與黑暗共存，互相交疊，錯綜複雜，以至於難以言說。
我希望通過我獨特的鏡頭語言——反射、陰影、剪影、長曝光和多層次拍攝，捕捉日常繁忙街頭的微妙心理層面。我可以自豪地說，我的街頭照片大多不容易拍，全部是未經擺拍的單次曝光，幾乎不修圖。
最近我再次患上了癌症，目前正在接受化療。但我並不悲傷，因為攝影是我生活的動力。治療結束後，我將舉辦一場個展「潛意識」（“Subconscious”），以慶祝我對攝影的熱愛。展覽將於2024年9月13日至26日在新加坡舉行。如果你在新加坡，希望你能來參觀。
English Text
My name is Betty Goh, born and based in Singapore. Like many Singaporeans and busy city dwellers in the world, society and economic pressures have mould us to be overly focused in our studies and work.
I did not have any hobbies for half of my life until I fell ill in 2016. I decided to change my lifestyle a bit by buying a simple camera to capture scenes while travelling on business trips. I was able to capture good “tourist photos” but I felt that they lack of my own soul and identity.
In 2018, I joined a street photography workshop by German photographer, Siegfried Hansen and was totally inspired. I discovered that the regular streets are so interesting and it was not necessary to travel to take photos.
Siegfried saw my potential in abstract street photography and encouraged me to work towards that direction. I also felt that my personality and visual views assimilated well with this style. I was super enthusiastic about it and practised a lot.
In 2021, I was diagnosed with cancer. During this period, I bought a new camera and started my daily walks near the hospital. I began to feel that my photos were introspective reflections of my soul.
As I grew up in the heart of Singapore, my life and views evolved around the busy urban life from a very young age. There is a lot of vibrance and excitement in the city. However, underneath this skin, there is a great amount of unspoken loneliness, tension and dilemma hidden deep within the hearts of city dwellers. Both bright and dark sides co-exist. They are all overlapping and too complex for one to truly describe.
I hope to capture the subtle psychological aspects of the daily busy urban street life through my unique use of reflections, shadows, silhouettes, long exposure and layers. I am proud to say that my street photos are mostly difficult to capture, and all of them are shot unposed, within single exposure and with zero or minimal edits only.
Recently, I have cancer again and am currently undergoing chemotherapy. But, I am not sad because photography is my main motivation in life. At the end of these treatments, I am holding a solo exhibition “Subconscious” to celebrate my passion. It will be taking place in Singapore from 13 to 26 Sept 2024. If you are in Singapore, hope you can come visit.
