July and August is the time for graduation again. The sight of young people graduating and feeling gratified and excited for their future ahead is always incredible.
I've shot for Ashton during his 21st birthday! I'm deeply touched that he remembers me and went through the efforts to find me.
His brief was simple. He wanted a unique location for graduation shots, so we chose a heritage site, the Dragon's Playground in Toa Payoh!
The dragon playground was built around 1980s, and it was the second generation playgrounds built by HDB that featured mythical creatures. I used to stay at Toa Payoh and these dragon playgrounds were an iconic sight.
Heading there to shoot was so much fun and exhilarating as the playground height was really high and the steps and slides were really steep. It is a far cry from today’s playground. Throughout the shoot I was on tiptoes and kept reminding myself to be extra careful because I wouldn’t want to sprain my leg or fracture any bone.
In the mid 1990s, most of the 2nd gen playgrounds were phased out due to safety regulations. However, I am glad that HDB chose to keep this playground that is nested at Toa Payoh Lorong 6 - in the spirit of keeping the heritage alive.
Quoting George Bernard Shaw, “We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing."
To Ashton, congratulations on this significant milestone!